It’s easy to see why the southern Vietnamese city of Nha Trang is such a popular tourist spot and why US soldiers went there for R&R during the “American War” (as they call it here). The miles of clean, white sandy beaches, flanked by hotels, Miami-style, beckon. There are also cultural attractions, as we found and the city is known as the seafood capital of Vietnam.

The Ponagar Tower is a Cham temple founded sometime before 781. It sits on Cu Lao mountain, and climbing the steps to its highest level provides sweeping views of the city and its harbor.

The Long Son Pagoda is a Buddhist temple, known as the oldest temple in Nha Trang. It was originally in another location, but after a devastating typhoon in 1900, it was repaired and relocated to its current position. It’s done in traditional Vietnamese architecture. The Buddhists of the temple erected the giant Buddha statue at the top of the hill in 1964.

The giant Dam Market goes on and on. It’s a true local market as well as tourist attraction and sells everything.

We were told the Truong Son Workshop was a crafts shop and were expecting a typical shopping stop. We were were surprised and delighted by this unique and beautiful garden spot. There one elegant hall after another with people demonstrating traditional crafts and art forms–rattan weaving, conical hat making, clay toy kneading, embroidery and much more. Lovely people played music on traditional instruments, danced between bamboo sticks, (Joel joined them), made rice milk and showed us fine artistic creations. And the gardens! Not only were they lush and beautiful, but they were decorated with the intricate bamboo figures created locally.