Our son had never been to this part of Vietnam before and on the advice of his friend and our guide – Rita, we headed east this morning. The drive time was 5 hours, as we took a slight detour so Mick and I could see the factory our son had built here.
We were collected from our apartment this morning by a different luxury bus and driver, and without question, this is the fanciest 7-seater bus I’d ever seen.
I did try the massage option my chair had on this trip, but we did not need to turn on the TV as there was so much to see. Actually, the massage was a necessity to help take my mind off the stop / start driving method our driver employed for the whole 5 hours!! Blimey.
About 40 minutes out of Ho Chi Minh City we arrived at an industrial area where we were shown the VMS Factory. Our son had lived and worked over here on and off for a few years negotiating and overseeing the construction. The few photos I took don’t really show the size of it, but it is huge – 30,000 square metres factory space across 3 sheds. The factory builds machines for underground mining.
We missed the offical opening ceremony in mid 2019 as we were living in France at the time.
The factory employs between 350 to 400 workers per shift, including about 100 office staff, and there are two shifts each day. The workers arrive by bus and can buy their breakfast when they arrive.
The early shift starts at 7am, lunch is at 12.00pm and is provided by the factory, in two shifts, as feeding 350 people in one go would take some logistics. The canteen can fit 300 people in one sitting though. Half the workers take a rest in the first half of the 45 minute break while the other half eats their meals. Then they swap over.
We learnt that Vietnam has very regulated work conditions. Wages are paid on a monthly rate and workers receive 13 monthly payments per year, to cover annual holidays (2 weeks each year). Regulators check the business’ records to make sure staff are not getting too many hours overtime; some is ok, but if it is too much and too regular, the officials will insist that another person must be employed.
Mick and I were very impressed by what our son achieved in Vietnam and pleased we had a chance to have a first-hand look.
Our next stop was a roadside restaurant where all 6 of us shared a typical Vietnamese meal, and typically, there was way too much. Unfortunately this was where Mick left his hat behind.
Our final destination, Bamboo Village Resort is very fancy and we each have a beachside villa.
Mick and I took a walk around the local streets in this tourist area and found a shop that sold rip-off t-shirts, so we bought a few each. The lady insisted on giving us a discount on the advertised prices and I insisted that we pay full price, but she would not allow it.
There were many shops with young women out the front waving at Mick and me wanting to know if we wanted a massage, but we respectfully declined. Dinner for us was the fresh fruit we had been left in our room, as we were still full from lunch.
Next Morning
My son had seen Rick Stein and Luke Nguyen on TV visit the fish markets on the beaches at Huynh, close to here, and was keen to see them for himself. So we woke early and caught a taxi into the Mũi Né Fishing Village Markets.
As we drove to our accommodation yesterday, we passed harbours filled with loads of fishing boats, crammed one against the other, in different sizes – small, medium and large. This morning, we got a closer look at them and the small round boats that are used as punts to transfer the seafood from the fishing boats to the shore.
These markets are where local people buy and sell fresh seafood taken straight from the basket boats. They are held each morning between 5.30am and 6.00am, and can be set that regularly because the tides are consistent here. During this time, the boats return to shore in turn and bring a large amount of seafood such as live crabs, scallops, groupers, stingrays.
I read that tourists can come to the market to choose fresh seafood and later find a restaurant to enjoy their purchase.
I think we went to the wrong markets.
As this definitely was not a tourist attraction. The plastic on the shore was distressing. There were also chickens and cows happily roaming though the rubbish, and no-one blinked an eye.
There did not seem to be any limit on size or amount of seafood caught.
A few steps from here there were some street food stalls. I guess they were cooking seafood, but also the common breakfast food.
This certainly was a local experience – we were the only tourists there, and our son has now questioned Luke Nguyen’s report. It looked nothing like this on his show (apparently).
In a short while we’re heading for Dalat. Another five hour journey ahead of us, this time quite windy and hilly. We are all hoping we can survive the stop/start technique – I can see my massage chair getting a workout.
Mick and I do not know what is in store for us in Dalat – but we’re looking forward to it.
Jane and Mick's Holiday Adventures 