KSV News: Short Round 047
Modern Vietnam- 8
South On The Coast To Cam Ranh and Beyond
Let’s start at seaside Tuy Hot, roughly mid way south on the South Vietnam coast. We stumbled on an absolutely gorgeous beachfront resort in the rain. For just a little over $250 per night, we had our own private bungalow with swimming pool!! We just absolutely had to stay for two nights. There is just so much new high end resort development that stumbling on a beautiful and new resort like this is guaranteed.
On the road again!! Driving south to Nha Trang along the coast was something out of the movie South Pacific. In this area, there are hundreds of picture-perfect (literally) offshore Islands visible from the rocky coast line. It’s just so beautiful that it is impossible for me to describe. We must’ have seen over 10,000 fishing boats moored in the many dozens of natural harbors along with many thousands of “working” fish traps and habitats. The area produces just enormous amounts of both capture (caught) and cultivated (farm raised) seafood for local and international markets. Including the Vietnamese lobster which has long skinny “claws”. Near the harbors, the narrow coastal roads were lined with buses loaded with locals and tourists who migrate to this area just for a seafood lunch.
Vietnam’s domestic aquaculture (farm raised fish and critters) has now surpassed its capture (fishing) harvest. And its annual seafood export values were over US $10 Billion two years ago. What appears to be a mom and pop type business is actually an economic powerhouse for Vietnam. Plus, it is hard to find a hungry Vietnamese.
Further south on the coast, we visit the town of Nha Trang, which housed a major Army / ARVN base and airfield during the American War. Those are both gone. The city itself is located on the beautiful Nha Trang Bay, which was chosen by Travel + Leisure in two succeeding years as one of 29 most beautiful bays in the world. Nha Trang is surrounded on three sides by mountains and a large island and four smaller ones are on the fourth side. It seems clean, new and inviting for a resort town. Like a cleaned up Miami Beach- a good choice for your seaside vacation (see photo attached). Russian tourism is being encouraged by charter flights to nearby Cam Rahn International Airport
Continuing south on the coast for a bit, we come to Cam Ranh. You will recall that this major shipping port and upgraded airfield was a hub of US logistics during the American war. Four years after the fall of Saigon and the unification of North and South Vietnam, Cam Ranh Bay became an important Cold War naval base for the Soviet Pacific Fleet. But, the Russian government later announced that it would withdraw from Cam Ranh Bay completely before its rent-free lease was to expire in 2004.
Today, Cam Ranh town, south of the airbase, still has the look and feel of a Soviet development. It seems older, dirtier and much less appealing than it’s northern coastal neighbor Nah Trang which is now known locally as the “Russian Riviera”. Plenty of Russians on vacation walking about. Many with their Vietnamese girlfriends who have learned to speak enough Russian to get by.
I really wanted to see the facilities at the port of Cam Ranh, but after waiting at the gate for half an hour, we were told that American tourists were not allowed to visit. But I did find something very interesting. Virtually all of the traffic going to the Cam Ranh ships for export was large truckloads of crushed rock. Assuming they are shipping it to China, which has a huge demand for their construction developments,. On an earlier trip, we observed that they were mining the bottom of the Mekong river for gravel and shipping that to China. Anything to make a buck- good on them!!
Our drive south continues to take us along breathtaking mountain and coastal views. Thousands of fishing boats and fish traps. Along with many, many hundreds of electrical windmills. Their wind generating capacity is scheduled to reach almost 1/3 of the total Vietnam electrical output within 10 years. We pass an undeveloped area, which is under discussion for the production of a major new nuclear power plant. The project comprises two units with an expected capacity of approximately 2,400 MW, employing modern technology and safety equipment developed by the Russian state-owned nuclear energy corporation, Rosatom. Vietnam’s evolving energy sector of hydro (reservoirs & dams) , wind, solar and nuclear creates solid path for the future. Who says “planned economies” can not compete with Adam Smith’s “Invisible Hand” free market economies?
On the road again… we pass several truckloads of new Vietnamese automobiles. The Vietnamese car market is relatively small, albeit the fastest growing in Southeast Asia. All currently produced models are designed abroad by foreign brands, and many rely on knock-down kit production. Due to high import taxes levied by Vietnam on automobiles (83%!!!), the Vietnamese government protects its domestic auto manufacturing. So, the Vietnamese are operating a huge assembly plant to create foreign automobiles for export from imported foreign parts (we drove by the HUGE plant). And, the Vietnamese are assembling foreign components to make their own brand- VinFast.
It is estimated that there are approximately 45 to 60 million motor scooters currently operating in Vietnam. (Assume that every man, woman and child in the state of Texas owned two!!!) This staggering number underscores the scooter’s dominance as the primary mode of transportation in Vietnam. Several factors contribute to this: affordability (scooters are significantly cheaper than cars), practicality (scooters are easier to maneuver in dense traffic and park in limited spaces), lower running costs (fuel, maintenance, and registration are less expensive for scooters), and the accessibility of financing options. Car ownership remains a luxury for many Vietnamese due to high taxes and import duties. Very limited automotive traffic on the highways (not in the jammed and chaotic) cities) is the result- great for our driving journey!
Next stop: South along the coast to Saigon with our round trip of South Vietnam completed.
SF
Bob Koury: Website & Digital Manager
Nha Trang Coast
View From Our Cam Ranh (on the beach- literally) Cottage