Today I decide to visit Phan Thiet the main town at the opposite end of the long beach to Mui Ne. Yesterday I popped into a tour stall to ask about a city tour – but was told they only deal with Russian tourists.... odd. So I decide to put my own together, there’s not too much to see and at least that way I can avoid the fish sauce factory tour (I did one last year in Phu Quoc – interesting but not necessary to repeat!) So this morning another first as I find my way on a local public Vietnamese bus to go to town. The conductress couldn’t understand where I wanted to go (I’m not sure I was that clear anyway....) so I pointed in the vague direction of town and proffer my 7000 dong (about 25p) for the 12km ride. The bus was smallish but quite reasonable. But no aircon and daily highs of 35 degrees and very small Vietnamese plastic seats made me long for a fan.... I had found a map but it wasn’t that helpful – Vietnamese road names are quite difficult to get a grip of but I assumed I would get a sense of where to get off. I needn’t have worried. All of a sudden at one stop the whole bus jabbered at me in Vietnamese and pointed to the door – this I assumed was where 7000 dong gets you, either that or I had done something socially very unacceptable.... So off I get to find I have alighted at the main mall, a Co-op – wherever else would a Westerner want to go! This was quite a small mall and I think the only one in town with a supermarket, and a few jewellery stores, clothing stalls and an electrical appliance dept, but it was air conditioned and was welcome after the very hot bus ride. But it was not where I wanted to be. I was aiming for what looked like the older part of town where the market and a couple of other places were. But I couldn’t work out how to get there as I didn’t actually know where I was... But by hand signals and showing my map the security guard managed to mark on the map where I was, so I set off.
The town appears to be relatively new with quite wide streets and traffic enough to make it fun to cross the road, but nothing like Saigon. Lots of mopeds and bikes and schoolgirls riding straight backed and elegantly in the traditional Ao Dais. The older part of town is on a little island joined to the mainland by a number of bridges. As you cross the bridge, the water is filled with yet more of the blue fishing boats that I saw in Mui Ne.
I was headed to an old part of town to see Duc Thanh school, preserved as it was when Ho Chi Minh taught there in 1911 before he went off to Saigon and beyond to become the leader he later was. It was small but good to see, I was the only person there and it was guarded by a lonely Vietnamese soldier who looked to be doing his homework as he studied his books – he nodded politely and no fee was charged.
I passed a lovely old colonial house (see pic) which was in a really bad state of repair. I also wanted to go to the Ho Chi Minh museum but that was (and has been for some time, I understand), closed which was a shame. But there was statuary in the well tended little park beside it – a huge one of Uncle Ho and a smaller one of Mickey Mouse....
The only thing left to see was the market which was as usual; colourful with fruit, flowers and the usual pots and pans. Generally it was also quite sweet smelling until as usual, I find myself in the meat dept..... for some reason I was reminded of Dyl and Toto, so moved swiftly on.... The only one unsettling episode was a small child in the market put on his most pathetic face and held out his hand for some money. I politely said no and prepared to walk on, he persisted and put on an even more pathetic face, I said no again and at that point he started hitting me – no one took a blind bit of notice! After that I take a look at the 32 metre tall Phan Thiet water tower which is the proud symbol of Binh Thuan Province – well it is an important part of the city.....
At that point to avoid being beaten by yet more pathetic children, I decided to come back to the beach – I had no idea where the bus stops were, I couldn’t even read where they were going if I saw one so wimped out yet again and found a taxi....
Tonight I also sample my first glass of Dalat, the Vietnamese local why why that I haven’t had for two years. It’s a bit posher here than what I was used to – they sell the export version here and very nice it is too! The hotel don’t sell it so I was in another more local place, and yes I did have to resort to asking for “why why” – they still can’t get “white wine”... In fact out of the hotel my Vietnamese has come to the fore before, to get back here from town I could only get the taxi to understand “Sailee Cluh”...
