Nha Trang Part Trois

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013 Nha Trang, Vietnam

 Last night after dinner at Veranda (really good again) we wandered into the Nha Trang Historical Village, which is a number of buildings off a courtyard displaying Vietnamese artifacts and crafts. One of the main crafts in Vietnam is embroidery. The picture above is just one of dozens of examples of unbelievable embroidery, all done in silk, displayed in this museum/craft shop.

This is another example of the silk embroidery here, incredibly detailed and very beautiful.

This is another view of the palms in the waterfront park, the sea and the offshore islands, from our breakfast restaurant on the roof of our hotel.
This morning we wandered down the beach to the south again, where it's very quiet. As we got closer to the end of the beach, we recognized a westerner whom we'd seen there the day before. He looked very comfortable in the surroundings. We'd been talking about what a great place Nha Trang might be to spend a couple of months so we said to him, "You look like you've been here awhile". He said, "Ten years". Eventually, we discovered that he was an American war veteran who had met his Vietnamese wife when he was stationed here in 1968. They had lived in Houston and Singapore, working for Dupont, for over 30 years but had come back to Nha Trang when he retired. They pay $300 a month rent for a new house and live on half his pension. After the first year, they went back to Houston to visit their children. While they were there they sold everything they owned. Now he owns a bicycle and a motorbike. That's it. They go to the US for a month or two every winter to see family but otherwise live in Nha Trang. He said there were quite a few American war veteran expats who live here.
He said that as long as southeast Asia is politically stable and he can still swim and ride his bike every day, they'll continue to live here. If they get too old and disabled, they might eventually move back to the US, although health care there is no bargain.
After chatting with him, we spent another couple of hours lounging on the nearly empty beach and bobbing in the warm water. Then finally, it was time to come back to the hotel, shower and get a bowl of shrimp and corn soup down the street (28 dong or $1.40 each).
We have to be at Sinh Tourist nearby to catch our bus to Dalat at 7:30 tomorrow morning. This afternoon we'll get mostly packed and then go back to Lanterns for dinner. We should be at our hotel in Dalat by about 1 pm tomorrow.