Basket boats on An Bang Beach

We went to An Bang beach today, and as I arrived I felt immediately at ease. The ocean front was very beautiful with its fine tan coloured sand, refreshing ocean, cool breeze, and views of islands ahead and the skyscrapers of Da Nang in the distance to the north. But what struck me the most is how undeveloped the beachfront was. Besides lounge chairs, sun umbrellas and some really basic looking restaurant buildings made with bamboo and straw façade over correlated sheet metal roofs, there wasn't much else here. I'm sure that will change soon enough but it was a nice change from the usual built up beaches we've visited over the years.

As we left the taxi and walked onto the beach we were greeted by someone from one of the nearby beach restaurants who wanted us to use her lounge chairs and sun shades in return for having lunch and drinks from her restaurant. We agreed and spend a good day at the beach. The kids stayed nearly the whole time in the ocean enjoying the waves. On March breaks we typically go down south to Mexico or the Caribbean but the kids rarely go in the ocean, preferring to play poolside instead. It was great to see them having fun in the ocean for a change.

There's healthy competition between the closely packed restaurant owners on this beach. I watched some of the restaurant staff trying to convince tourists that their restaurant is the best. At one point an exasperated lady, who was laughing while two restaurateurs argued, agreed jokingly that she would take her lunch from one spot while her husband would sit at another. Such is this country, with its energetic pursuit of the tourist dollar. You can either be annoyed or entertained. I'm sometimes annoyed, especially when I'm hungry or hot, but I'm usually amused. We are definitely noticing more of a hard sell approach here in Vietnam compared to anywhere else we've been in South East Asia. On our first day in the market in Hoi An people wanted to lead us back to their store to show us their wares, which side tracked us on one occasion. It seems hard for some locals to take no for an answer.

At noon two fishermen brought back the catch on basket boats made from woven bamboo shoots. They looked like large round bowls, and the fisherman rowed it with one paddle. Once it was on shore, a few people used a thick bamboo pole on their shoulders to lift it on shore. Today some tourist men helped out, accompanied by laughs and picture taking from their spouses and girlfriends at this brawny attempt to impress. It don't think the fishing was very good this morning though. All I saw in the boat was a half filled bucket of small fish, which may just have been the returning bait.

Here's some people bringing in the boat.