Formerly the centre of the ancient Kingdom of Champa, Nha Trang has a rich historical past. The kingdom dominated the region from the 2nd century A.D. until the 15th century when it was defeated by the Ly Dynasty, founders of the independent Vietnamese state. Nha Trang is now the capital of Khanh Hoa province and has a population of approximately 300,000 inhabitants.
As we drove through the city, we saw fairly new buildings (commercial and residential) painted with bright colours... the beach in town, the sunshine, and the summer hues gave the place a very mediterenean feel.
We opted for The "countryside" tour in order to see rural farming villages nestled in the verdant valleys of gently sloping mountains.
This countryside excursion reminded me of one episode of Alternatywy 4 (a Polish TV series of the 1980s that aimed at ridiculing the workings of Communism by depicting lives of a group of people in one particular residential building in Warsaw). In this particular episode, the small community was visited by a delegation of foreigners from Western countries and were depicted as a “model community.” They were told to dress up and act in a certain way (for show)... Of course, the actors rebelled and the "show" became a caricature of Communist propaganda.
Well, one of the “highlights” of our countryside tour was a brief stop at a rice field where farmers were working. As our bus pulled up to the side of the road, a group of women started hacking the soil (not even pretending that the whole thing was for show) while an older man circled them on a plough drawn by two water buffalos. The scene was rather grotesque. We all laughed at the experience.
Sadly enough, the whole tour seemed staged: a visit to a local school,
local market,
and local temple,
Needless to say, the tour gave us little sense of genuine Vietnamese rural life.
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