Postcards from Nha Trang, Vietnam, 2005

Vietnam beat Malaysia in football 2–1 and the young people in Nha Trang watched it on a huge outdoor LG TV-screen. When the match was over hundreds of motorbikes, most of them Honda Wave, started racing back and forth along the beach road Tran Phu. The red flags with the yellow star flew in the dark, and there were often three or more on each bike. When the (rather drunk) drivers started to fall over each other in piles after midnight I went back to the hotel.

The next morning however, the Vietnamese were out early as usual. You don't see many Vietnamese on the beach except between 5 and 7 a.m. – not counting the salespeople that work the tourist crowd of course. But the old women, the school kids and people working in town go to the beach in the early morning, bathing, playing badminton, doing physical exercise or walking before going to work. Then the cleaning crowds arrive to pick up litter and make the sand nice and inviting for the foreigners.

Tourists usually stay away from Nha Trang in November and December, and for good reason. It rained every day of my week, but not all the time, and the temperature was nice. I was surprised nobody sold umbrellas, until I discovered the flimsy plastic raincoats that most people wore. Walking the beach early in the morning is a great way to start the day. It wasn't until my last day I noticed the used syringes left by the heroin addicts... maybe barefoot eventually will go out of style in Nha Trang.

Compared to my first visit ten years ago, most streets now have pavement, and there are more motorbikes. Very few people wear helmets. The taxis outnumber the cyclos, but there are still a lot of bikes. There are few accidents, but the first time I saw a hundred or so vehicles heading full speed into the same crossing from five different directions I feared the worst. Somehow, by drivers constantly honking the horn and gracefully anticipating other drivers actions it worked. The traffic pattern evolved into something similar to basket-weaving. There is a certain collective spirit in this; everyone is responsible for avoiding accident, nobody has "right of way". Everyone eventually came out on the other end unharmed.

There really is no need to speak Vietnamese to understand this sign. The skull is very expressive, I think. It actually reminds me of some Middle Age European images of Death, minus the smiling mouth. Also – red, black and white always were the most effective combination.

Russian money came late to the tourist industry in Nha Trang, and Russians remain less than popular (they never really managed to capture the "hearts and minds" of the Vietnamese during The American War). Even so, they make up a sizable part of the visitors. This half-finished ghost of a resort just north along the beach from the town has been abandoned for some time, and the workers have been unpaid for over a year. The developers, a Russian together with an American and a Vietnamese, were arrested on bribing charges and are said to be in prison, bringing the project to a halt. Please note the hideous architecture, which should be punishable in itself.

Building for yourself makes all the difference. This happily posing mason team was constructing a small house overlooking the beach in Hon Chong. In the background giggling shoolgirls, disappointed in not being closer to the camera.

One of my favourite roadsigns – but what does it mean? Prohibited to use rolling beds in the street? Sleepwalker crossing? Do not forget your siesta?

Firing up the coal stove to grill the corncobs. On the bike or motorbike you can balance everything you need to be in business.

The cyclo-drivers are older than the ones that drive the taxis. The hard work also takes it toll. For 1 US dollar they pedal you around town for an hour. In India authorities are in the process of outlawing the rickshaw, considered to be associated with colonialism and clash with the image of modernity. Cyclos in Vietnam will be around for a while longer, I think.

Ana Mandara is the kind of resort where rich and clueless Americans feel at home: overpriced and written up in Wallpaper, Conde Nast Traveller and all the rest. Here you can pay 500+ US dollar for a night in designed luxury, while you can get a perfectly nice hotel for 20 US a bit further up north on the beach. I could not escape feeling a bit of Schadenfreude when I noticed that the sand outside Ana Mandara is the worst in Nha Trang, coarse and large-grained, more like gravel than the powdery sand on the northern part of the beach.

This is how the poor part of population lives in Nha Trang, in tin-roofed shacks along the mouth of the river. Many of the inhabitants work the fishing boats. Vietnam is still one of the poorest countries in the world.

The classic tourist image of Nha Trang is this: the blue fishing boats in the harbour during the day, red flags fluttering in the air. Intense colours. Yes, it's beautiful.

The nets have been cleaned and the round dinghy (made by weaved bamboo) is dragged out to sea. When night comes the fishermen go out, and return in the morning. You can see the string of boat lights from the beach. But the take has been getting smaller, and many worry about overfishing.

Crabs, lobster and shellfish are some of Nha Trang's staple foods. If you have access to a kitchen you can buy directly from the boats in the morning.
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