In fact, before writing this guide, I was quite hesitant in my heart. The Internet is full of content instructing people to buy G7 coffee, crocodile leather bags and agarwood bracelets. These contents are nothing new and the same. As a result, after buying those things, nine times out of ten, they will end up being shelved and covered with dust. But people who are really good at it, or rather, people who really want to bring the wet and lazy sea breeze smell of Nha Trang into their homes, will not pay attention to those things at all.
Don’t go to Internet celebrity stores, it’s more serious to go to the vegetable market
What I’m talking about here is not the Nha Trang market filled with tour group buses, where you’ll get ripped off if you go there. I’m talking about the fishing port at five in the morning, and the unknown small market where locals carry plastic bags in and out at dusk. Only that kind of place is alive. The ground is always wet, mixed with the smell of crushed ice, fish scales and unknown spices. At this time, your sense of smell is more important than your eyes.
That sweet smell can be taken away
Following the sweet and fishy smell, you can find an old lady selling dried seafood. Don't buy items that are packaged in shining gold and look like New Year gift boxes. Look for dried squid and shrimp that are wrapped in old newspapers or spread directly on bamboo plaques to dry. Yes, it looks a bit dusty, and there are even one or two flies on it. Buy it and simmer it on the fire, or tear it into shreds and dip it in lemon chili sauce (Muối ớt Chanh). That is the taste of the barbecue stalls in Nha Trang night market.
Coffee is not for drinking, it is for counting time
I know you're planning to buy coffee, but don't buy instant coffee, even if it's G7. Go buy the cheapest drip kettle (phin). The one is made of iron and the corners are even a little rough. Then I randomly weighed a bag of robusta coffee powder that was by no means exquisite. It tasted so bitter that it could kill people, and it also had a burnt smell. You take it back to the office, and in the afternoon when you're most sleepy, instead of using the coffee machine, use this pot. Watching the process of brown liquid leaking down drop by drop. It takes about ten minutes to drip a cup of coffee. These ten minutes are the Nha Trang time you stole quietly. No one is urging you, there is no sea outside the window, but you already have it in your heart.
Those deceptive “luxury goods”
What about agarwood and pearls? The doorway here is too deep. Unless you can follow local knowledgeable friends, as mentioned by users, then just take a look. Spending hundreds of dollars to buy a bunch of agarwood, do you really believe it is genuine? Why not buy a few packs of the local special green lemon chili sauce? It is very cheap, only a few dollars per pack. When you get back, you can not only put it in steamed buns, but you can also eat it with plain-cut chicken. It is much more affordable than the chemically made incense sticks you use at home.
Bird's nest water, just drink it as a drink
There is also the ready-to-drink bird's nest in a glass bottle called bird's nest water. It has a sweet taste and can be seen everywhere in supermarkets. The price is extremely cheap. Don't think of it as a treasure with great tonic effects. Just think of it as the Vietnamese version of canned rock sugar pears. If there's room in the suitcase, stuff a few bottles in, but if there's no room, leave it alone. That thing is not delicate. What is really delicate is the coolness you feel when you drink a bottle in one breath while sweating profusely on the streets of Nha Trang.
What should be brought back most is actually that laziness
In fact, shopping guides will teach you how to spend money, but they cannot bring back the most important thing in Nha Trang, which is the sense of relaxation and freedom without any worries. You buy a bunch of specialties and distribute them to your colleagues anxiously. What happens after you finish them? Life is still the same.
If it can be carried, I would like to put the sea breeze on the big stone at Zhongyu Stone Headland (Wuzhiyan) into a bottle. Or, compress the air mixed with the smell of incense and the sound of bats at Champa Pagoda in the evening into a can. When you open it, you can instantly return to the moment when you were watching the sunset in a daze without thinking about anything.
So you see, when the guide is written to the end, it feels like nothing has been written. You only need to remember two things: First, don't touch those expensive things unless you are guided by someone you know well. Second, save your budget for Banh Mi and sugar cane juice on the street, which are what local people enjoy daily. Don’t make a trip look like you’re meeting a key performance indicator. What cannot be taken away is what most encourages people to return.
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