Always remember Ninh Thuan
Thursday - September 12, 2013 17:33
It's been a long time since I went sightseeing in far away places. I remember the last time I went sightseeing in Madagui with a youth group. On the occasion of the recent September 2 holiday, the Company organized a tour for everyone in Ninh Thuan. Unexpectedly, this place is the hometown of many employees in my company: Mr. Trung (working in Ha Tinh), Bich Phuong (Company accountant), Mr. Thang (supervisor at Diamond Island project), Mr. Dang Khanh (Chief of New Pearl project). At first there were a lot of people registering, but at the last minute some members at the Nha Trang project couldn't go. I thought this outing wouldn't be as fun as expected, but I didn't expect that in just 2 days and 3 nights, it would leave in the hearts of each member an unforgettable joy, a little nostalgia, a little harvest after the trip.

Before going, everyone was excited, the Organizing Committee prepared everything including food, drinks, games, prizes... Not only that, Mr. Trung was even more impatient, sending an email asking everyone:
-         When will everyone get on the bus to Ninh Thuan?
-         Everyone go out quickly. Everyone remember to bring a bag to store apples, sew a three-gang bag to carry the apples.
-         Feel free to pick apples, there are many..... depending on each person's capacity and stomach.
 
  
Everyone got in the car and prepared to go to Ninh Thuan
 
Coming to Ninh Thuan, everyone can enjoy the first breakfast dish: "Fish cake soup" which is delicious and cheap.

Everywhere here is beautiful, Du Am cafe has a beautiful and poetic scene, the two of you were so absorbed in taking pictures that you forgot to leave the car.

After having breakfast and drinking coffee, everyone went to Mr. Trung's house to visit the apple orchard.

Every house here has an apple orchard, and every fruit looks ripe. When I got to the garden, I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw the whole garden was green, with few leaves but many fruits, and the branches were heavy. Just as Mr. Trung said, "bring a three-carton bag with you to store it".

    
Mr. Trung's apple garden
 
The apples here are very sweet and fragrant, and there are also fruits as big as a fist. Just looking at apples makes people crave them. Hjhj
 
     
Trung's family and front yard
 
On the next journey, everyone got on the bus to visit Ba Moi vineyard. The harsh sunlight doesn't seem to make people hesitate.

    
On the way to the vineyard

Here, looking at the vineyard under the hot sun seems to make visitors feel dizzy between the color of the sun and the green of the big grapes.

    
Plump grapes in Ba Moi vineyard

In addition, I also enjoyed fermented fruit (grape) juice. The astringent and sweet taste of grapes made me feel like I woke up. A glass of juice soothed the sweltering heat of the Central region's afternoon.

After enjoying the meal, we got in the car to go back to Phuong's house to have lunch and rest to prepare for the afternoon trip.
 
  
The whole group had lunch together at Phuong's house

At about 3:00 a.m., the whole group got on the bus and headed to Thap Cham. The scenery here is extremely beautiful. As soon as you arrive at the Tower, you will immediately feel excited and comfortable with the quiet space, fresh air, large campus, the green of the leaves blending with the gentle sunlight, making the scenery here even more brilliant. To get to Cham Tower, you have to go through the stairs through the forest, you will feel like you are reaching the top of a high mountain.
 
    
Road to the Tower

Standing on the Tower and looking down, you can see the whole scene of the campus below, the houses and mountains in the distance of Ninh Thuan seem to be just under your feet.

    
Panoramic view when standing on the Tower looking down

When I look at the Towers here, it reminds me of the history of the formation of the Tower and the Cham people.

In addition, they also sell handmade souvenirs and stone bracelets, which look really eye-catching.

After visiting the Tower, we returned to the hotel and prepared to go swimming in the afternoon. Arriving at the hotel at 5:00 p.m., the sky was already dark but the sea here was still cool and attracted many people to bathe, and we girls just liked to play in the water, play with the waves, and take pictures of the sea at night.

    
Ninh Thuan beach at night
 
In the evening, the whole group went to enjoy banh xeo, one of Ninh Thuan's specialties. The banh xeo here is very fragrant, sitting at the table I can still hear the faint aroma of the banh xeo. Perhaps the aroma of the cake has attracted diners to come here to enjoy. The color of the cake is eye-catching, the fat of the cake is just enough, the filling is abundant, the freshness of the seafood in the cake still retains its flavor. Eating a plate of cake is nothing.

Banh xeo here is very different from my Saigon, first tear the cake, put the cake and vegetables in a bowl of dipping sauce, mix well and enjoy. There are also 3 types of dipping sauce here, depending on the diners' choice of which type they want to eat. Maybe because of that difference, almost every diner who visits Ninh Thuan comes to enjoy banh xeo here.

After finishing the banh xeo, we returned to the hotel, went to the beach to have a late night meal of "Ninh Thuan Seafood" and play games to win prizes.
 
     
Late night party at the beach
 
There are grilled dried squid, stir-fried snails with coconut, steamed crab with tamarind, pork sausage... wow, it's really good. Now that I remember it, I still like it. While eating and playing games, I laughed until my stomach hurt.

-         In the first game "Moving bubbles": 5 teams (1 male - 1 female/team), each team tries to move the bubble up and down the body without using their hands, moving the bubble up to the forehead, down the neck, down the stomach, behind the back..., whichever team pops the bubble first -> loses. The audience below shouted and cheered for the pairs to play enthusiastically. The way each pair moves is skillful, the ultimate goal is still the prize.

-         In the second game “Putting Yogurt”: 6 teams (1 male - 1 female/team), this time the female feeds yogurt to the male while both of them are blindfolded and not allowed to talk. In addition, the male also has his hands tied to avoid "snitching". After the game ended, looking back at each team, their faces were covered in dirt, yogurt was stuffed on their foreheads, under their necks, noses... Once again, the audience was able to laugh heartily.

After playing, Mr. Trung expressed his feelings: "I no longer feel like eating yogurt anymore."
 
     
Game 2 “Put yogurt”

-         Go to the third game "Eat Grapes": 4 teams (1 male - 1 female/team), the male will carry the female (blindfolded) and run to the bunch of grapes hanging on the rope prepared by the jury. The two of them work together to make the woman bite the hanging grape and then release it into the man's hand. The man will keep it until the game ends and count the number of grapes in his hand. The team with the most grapes will win.
 
    
Game 3 “Eat grapes”
 
The end of every game leaves the participants as well as the cheering audience with an indescribable joy, making moments of relaxation like this difficult to come by.

The first day of the sightseeing journey in Ninh Thuan was really fun. After a whole day of sightseeing everywhere, eating and drinking, everyone returned to the hotel to rest to continue their trip tomorrow. As soon as I closed my eyes to sleep, I remembered the fun scene of the game at night, my eyes were closed but my mouth was still smiling because it was so fun, the funniest were the first and second games. I think everyone is like me.

It was only 5 a.m. on September 1, but everyone woke up, went to the beach to enjoy the wind, and mentally prepared for the second day's journey. The first journey of September 1, we went to Phuong's house to have breakfast with braised beef with bread. After eating, we set off to Vinh Hy.

When you arrive, you will see small boats of fishermen, green hills and mountains, clear blue sea water, cool air, but the weather is very sunny.

    
Vinh Hy on September 1
 
To get to Vinh Hy Island, we have to take a boat or small boat there and admire the scenery while going there. At first we planned to row baskets to Vinh Hy island, but we couldn't, we had to go back and take the boat.

    
 
The water here is so clear that when you look down you can immediately see incredibly beautiful coral reefs. Truly a creation of nature.
I really couldn't believe my eyes, for the second time I was amazed by the beauty of nature. Standing from the boat, looking down at the coral reef, it feels like you are very close to it, waving your hand and you can touch it. I couldn't control my emotions when I saw the coral: "Wow! The coral is beautiful!!!"

    
Coral in Vinh Hy
 
When we arrived at the island, we split up, some went swimming, others sat to rest, grilled, prepared food... I just liked walking barefoot on the sand, looking at the beautiful scenery here. There is everything here, fish of all kinds and colors, corals, snails of all colors, and also some funny creatures.

Finally, we said goodbye to Vinh Hy and returned to the hotel, preparing for the final journey. Another strange dish for me "Banh asked pork intestines, fish cake", hearing the name doesn't sound strange but when I see the dish, the way of eating it is different.

After this trip, I also learned another dish of banh hoi: put banh hoi, pork intestines, fish cakes, and herbs into sesame rice paper, roll it up, and you have a delicious banh hoi roll dipped in a special dipping sauce of your choice. Delicious!

Turning around, there was not a single piece of cake on the table, we all "eaten it up". In addition, we also visited Mr. Thang's house (working on Diamond Island) and then went to sing karaoke.

Goodbye Vinh Hy, goodbye Cham Tower, goodbye everything in Ninh Thuan, we returned to Saigon to continue our work. Leaving behind beautiful scenery, delicious and strange food, and solidarity games. In addition, after the trip, I also learned about many historical sites. I don't know if I will ever be able to go like this again. Hopefully every year the Company will organize a useful tour like this.

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