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Who's the preetiest of all?
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Invited some tourists for the birthday party
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A surprise party for the two guys
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The spa-look of our room
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Wading along the White Fairy stream
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Jars of fish sauce - a must in Vietnamese cooking
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Souvenir girls at the beach
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With the fishing folks
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The Cham Tower amidst its greenery
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No wories - children of the Cham Tower
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The Cham Tower in its grandeur
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Moulin Rouge by the beach
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Pang Thiet and his mischief
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Raw 'Mai' fish salad. No fishy smell
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The dragon fruit farmer family
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At the dragon fruit farm
SUN...SAND...SEA
As soon as we entered the main area of Pan Thet, we were greeted with rows and rows of dragon fruit gardens on both sides of the road. The luscious looking red coloured fruit hanged low at the tip of the leaf, waiting to be harvested. The fruit belongs to the cactus kingdom and I was pricked more than once by the sharp and hard thorns at the edge of the leaf blade. We scrambled down from the coach, filtering out to the one of the farmer's house, heading straight to the fruit garden.
The fruit closely resembles the scaly body of the dragon. The kids and I were excited wandering around the garden, taking photos and soaking ourselves with the greenery dotted with the lovely pinkish-red colour fruit. The fruit is oval shaped, elliptical or pear-shaped. Inside, the flesh has subtly flavoured sweet taste or sometimes slightly sourish. The flesh is either white or red with black seeds dotted all over. The seeds resemble sesame seeds and taste like cactus seeds. It imparts a crunchy texture. Dragon fruits are also called cactus fruits.
The farmer and his family were delighted at receiving their Singaporean visitors and requested for photographs to be taken with them. A sack of dragon fruit was presented to us and I could not wait to taste them. The fruit, apart from being refreshing and tasty, has loads of vitamin C and is said to aid digestion. To obtain a bumper crop harvest, light bulbs circled the farm. They are switched on at night so as to 'confuse' the plants. The artificial light aids in ripening the fruits at a shorter time. This technique of 'confusing' the plants is aslo used in aeroponics whereby the temperate vegetables are 'fooled' with the cool mist sprayed on their roots.
The dragon fruit was introduced in Vietnam by the French over a hundred years ago. For its large attractive flowers which bloom only at night, the flamboyant plant is also known as "moonflower" or "lady of the night". The Vietnames first used it as decoration for their praying altar. When the Vietnamese discovered the plant's tasty fruit, they cultivated it for food. The Vietnamese now regard this fruit as indigenous. It is very popular with the ladies and is consumed by them to lose weight. Only of late, sometime in 1970s, was the fruit grown in Vietnam on a large-scale as a commercial crop. As one of Vietnam's most profitable crops, it is exported to markets all over Southeast Asia, besides America.
Lunch was at Huong Bien, Pang Thet. The restaurant faced the South Sea, a rough and open sea with the waves hitting the rocks mercillesly. We had fish salad, prawns, cuttlefish dipped in peanut sauce, vegetables, soup and rice. I must admit that it was my first time eating raw fish - the 'mai' fish, only found at Mui Ne, mixed with fish sauce, chilly and herbs.
The dish was well-mixed and there was no fishy smell to it. The fish salad had to laid on rice paper and sesame cracker. You next add strips of cucumber, green mango, plus basil and mint leaf before wrapping it with the rice paper and sesame cracker. It was superb - crunchy, with the herbs and chilly fusing as one wonderful taste. The thick barbequed rings of cuttlefish was out of this world too. Succulent and sweet with its freshness sticking on my tongue for a long time.
Idham cornered a few students for the interview and video taping segment. Idham is passionate abut filming and video taking. He even had been attending lessons on film making and upgrading himself with some video programming software from the internet. After that task, all of us trooped to the beach to take some shots at the beach while balancing ourselves on the moss-covered rocks.
Our next stop over would be The Cham Towers. After listening to its long history from Mr Bien and the hypothesis on how the the tower was built, we were eager to witness this world heritage monument. Standing on the top of the hill, one can admire the beautiful landscapes of the coastal region of Nha Trang. The evening breeze added to the calmness and serenity of the place. We managed to get some photos with the local children there. No worries written on their faces. It was pure joy and estacy that let them pass each day. We continued our way to Mui Ne. By then some of the students were already tired and some slept through for the rest of the journey only to be woken up by Mr Bien's chatter on the next spot - The White Fairy Stream.
Wading along the White Fairy Stream was fantastic. The fine red sand mixed with the black basalt rocks which had been left powdered and grounded due to the thousand of years of the erosive power of the water. The stream bed was soft and cushiony, like walking on a plush red carpet. The sandstone bank carved a myriad of figures - all calling me to fly up with them as the ball of red sun took it rest beyond the horizon. We forced our way up the hill where we witnessed the most awesome sight from the raised elevation.
The sun was flirting with the clouds, throwing its silhouete on our faces and the brick orange coloured hills and ridges around the stream. The silence and and the darkness were eerie and spooky. We took a breather for a while as Idham interviewed some students on their experience. The stream was named such because the villagers saw fairies descending from the hills and playing in the stream. The place is sought after by couples during full moon nights. They would simply sit at the sight to behold, admiring the reflection of the moon as the light hits the surface of the shiny stream. For us, the lighted torchlight's beaming reflection on the water was just as good enough as having the moon beam kissing and caressing the water surface.
Checking in at Dynasty Resort was a luxurious experience. The room was spa-like, very woody-earthy in atmosphere and simply exotic. Dinner awaited us with a surprise. A birthday bash for Jeremy and Pang Thiet. They were pleasantly surprised by the huge cake and the Birthday Song!
It had been a tremendous day and I couldn't wait for another break of dawn.
The fierce morning sun did not spare us from its strong light. We would be travavelling for three hours to Mui Ne, with a stopover at a dragon fruit garden. Throughout the journey, we reminded the student leaders to be active listeners whenever the tour guide took position with his microphone. They were busy scribbling notes about how the dragon fruit became an economic produce for export to USA market.
The journey to Pan Thet was uneventful and a smooth one. The mountain range resembled ladies with long hair sleeping under the sun. The roads were lined with shops, houses and street vendors selling baguette. The narrow modern houses caught my attention. According to our guide, there is a restriction to the size of a residential unit built. Within the towncentre, a building must not be bigger than 5mx4m in measurement. As such, Mr Bien has no room in his house because of the rule imposed. Houses away from the town centre are bigger as they do not fall under the restriction.As soon as we entered the main area of Pan Thet, we were greeted with rows and rows of dragon fruit gardens on both sides of the road. The luscious looking red coloured fruit hanged low at the tip of the leaf, waiting to be harvested. The fruit belongs to the cactus kingdom and I was pricked more than once by the sharp and hard thorns at the edge of the leaf blade. We scrambled down from the coach, filtering out to the one of the farmer's house, heading straight to the fruit garden.
The fruit closely resembles the scaly body of the dragon. The kids and I were excited wandering around the garden, taking photos and soaking ourselves with the greenery dotted with the lovely pinkish-red colour fruit. The fruit is oval shaped, elliptical or pear-shaped. Inside, the flesh has subtly flavoured sweet taste or sometimes slightly sourish. The flesh is either white or red with black seeds dotted all over. The seeds resemble sesame seeds and taste like cactus seeds. It imparts a crunchy texture. Dragon fruits are also called cactus fruits.
The farmer and his family were delighted at receiving their Singaporean visitors and requested for photographs to be taken with them. A sack of dragon fruit was presented to us and I could not wait to taste them. The fruit, apart from being refreshing and tasty, has loads of vitamin C and is said to aid digestion. To obtain a bumper crop harvest, light bulbs circled the farm. They are switched on at night so as to 'confuse' the plants. The artificial light aids in ripening the fruits at a shorter time. This technique of 'confusing' the plants is aslo used in aeroponics whereby the temperate vegetables are 'fooled' with the cool mist sprayed on their roots.
The dragon fruit was introduced in Vietnam by the French over a hundred years ago. For its large attractive flowers which bloom only at night, the flamboyant plant is also known as "moonflower" or "lady of the night". The Vietnames first used it as decoration for their praying altar. When the Vietnamese discovered the plant's tasty fruit, they cultivated it for food. The Vietnamese now regard this fruit as indigenous. It is very popular with the ladies and is consumed by them to lose weight. Only of late, sometime in 1970s, was the fruit grown in Vietnam on a large-scale as a commercial crop. As one of Vietnam's most profitable crops, it is exported to markets all over Southeast Asia, besides America.
Lunch was at Huong Bien, Pang Thet. The restaurant faced the South Sea, a rough and open sea with the waves hitting the rocks mercillesly. We had fish salad, prawns, cuttlefish dipped in peanut sauce, vegetables, soup and rice. I must admit that it was my first time eating raw fish - the 'mai' fish, only found at Mui Ne, mixed with fish sauce, chilly and herbs.
The dish was well-mixed and there was no fishy smell to it. The fish salad had to laid on rice paper and sesame cracker. You next add strips of cucumber, green mango, plus basil and mint leaf before wrapping it with the rice paper and sesame cracker. It was superb - crunchy, with the herbs and chilly fusing as one wonderful taste. The thick barbequed rings of cuttlefish was out of this world too. Succulent and sweet with its freshness sticking on my tongue for a long time.
Idham cornered a few students for the interview and video taping segment. Idham is passionate abut filming and video taking. He even had been attending lessons on film making and upgrading himself with some video programming software from the internet. After that task, all of us trooped to the beach to take some shots at the beach while balancing ourselves on the moss-covered rocks.
Our next stop over would be The Cham Towers. After listening to its long history from Mr Bien and the hypothesis on how the the tower was built, we were eager to witness this world heritage monument. Standing on the top of the hill, one can admire the beautiful landscapes of the coastal region of Nha Trang. The evening breeze added to the calmness and serenity of the place. We managed to get some photos with the local children there. No worries written on their faces. It was pure joy and estacy that let them pass each day. We continued our way to Mui Ne. By then some of the students were already tired and some slept through for the rest of the journey only to be woken up by Mr Bien's chatter on the next spot - The White Fairy Stream.
Wading along the White Fairy Stream was fantastic. The fine red sand mixed with the black basalt rocks which had been left powdered and grounded due to the thousand of years of the erosive power of the water. The stream bed was soft and cushiony, like walking on a plush red carpet. The sandstone bank carved a myriad of figures - all calling me to fly up with them as the ball of red sun took it rest beyond the horizon. We forced our way up the hill where we witnessed the most awesome sight from the raised elevation.
The sun was flirting with the clouds, throwing its silhouete on our faces and the brick orange coloured hills and ridges around the stream. The silence and and the darkness were eerie and spooky. We took a breather for a while as Idham interviewed some students on their experience. The stream was named such because the villagers saw fairies descending from the hills and playing in the stream. The place is sought after by couples during full moon nights. They would simply sit at the sight to behold, admiring the reflection of the moon as the light hits the surface of the shiny stream. For us, the lighted torchlight's beaming reflection on the water was just as good enough as having the moon beam kissing and caressing the water surface.
Checking in at Dynasty Resort was a luxurious experience. The room was spa-like, very woody-earthy in atmosphere and simply exotic. Dinner awaited us with a surprise. A birthday bash for Jeremy and Pang Thiet. They were pleasantly surprised by the huge cake and the Birthday Song!
It had been a tremendous day and I couldn't wait for another break of dawn.
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