Van Gia - an interesting destination

If someone asks, when traveling in Khanh Hoa, besides Nha Trang, are there any other interesting destinations? Many! That is my answer, including Van Gia town. Indeed, Van Gia town today is a peaceful and attractive picture for tourists. Recently, on the occasion of some old classmates living in Tay Ninh coming to Nha Trang for a trip, I took them to this town.

Near Nha Trang, transportation is quite convenient; if traveling by bus, it takes less than two hours. Located by the sea, Van Gia in recent years has attracted tourists with its pristine and peaceful beauty, blending harmoniously modern and traditional elements. Hotels and guesthouses with full amenities are abundant here, and the simple yet lively and hospitable life of the locals has created conditions for tourists to experience and discover many things.

In the middle of summer, the sky is blue as jade, from morning to afternoon under the bright sunlight, Van Gia always appears before our eyes like an ink painting. Green coconut groves rustling in the wind, small boats bobbing offshore, all create an extremely peaceful and poetic scene. For us, the most impressive thing is the morning activity picture in this town. When the sky and earth are still dim in the mist, people are already seen doing morning exercise in the coastal park along Tran Hung Dao Street. Meanwhile, on the sea side, the sun begins like a red fireball slowly rising, dyeing the whole sky and water surface pink. The sunrise at Van Gia beach is truly beautiful. My friends, everyone was amazed, taking out their phones to capture memorable moments in the space with the faint salty and strong smell of the sea, amidst the gentle sound of waves lapping the shore.

A small fishing port of the town is not far from the park, just a short walk away. Here, from the previous afternoon, nearly a hundred fishing boats with deep nets went out to sea and returned early in the morning with baskets full of fish. My friends from Tay Ninh, who are used to living in mountainous areas, were delighted to see the fresh fish and wanted to learn about the fishing profession here. Some asked to take photos with the fishermen, others took pictures of the bustling fish buying and selling... A very young boat captain told us: "Seafood in Van Gia is not only abundant but also diverse, especially at the town market. Besides the small port for deep-net fishing boats, there is also the quite large Quang Hoi fishing port, about 3km from the town, which daily supplies seafood not only to local markets but also to many places in the Central Highlands - Central region."

In Van Gia, besides easily visiting many beautiful sights in the area such as Van Phong Bay, Son Dung Peninsula, Diep Son Island, Co Ma Cape..., tourists can also visit many historical sites right in the town or in neighboring communes with dozens of ancient temples, communal houses, and pagodas, including Phu Cang communal house - a national-level historical and cultural relic. Built in the late 17th century, it still preserves unique architectural, cultural, and historical values in the formation and development of the Vietnamese community.

In addition to the pottery craft village in Trung Dong (Van Binh commune), when coming to Van Gia, we also visited the agarwood carving craft village in Van Thang commune. Since ancient times, Van Gia has been considered the main cradle of agarwood trees, hence the folk verse: "The cinnamon tree of paradise grows in rocky crevices/Agarwood of Van Gia spreads fragrance in the mountains/We two are like cinnamon and agarwood/Destined to be together for a hundred years." Because of this close association with agarwood, the agarwood carving craft village here has existed for over 100 years. Currently, the village has about 400 households engaged in this craft. It is a hereditary profession. Visiting this famous craft village, it is truly interesting to directly watch and experience the work of the agarwood carvers, learn about the process of creating agarwood on the agarwood tree, and the preliminary processing and crafting of exquisite products from agarwood.

Another attraction when exploring Van Gia destination is its cuisine. If you go to the market, you can easily choose to buy fresh snapper, mackerel, cobia, shrimp, or squid displayed at very reasonable prices, and here dishes made from seafood are sold everywhere. There are fish hotpot, squid hotpot; grilled blood cockles, steamed squid with ginger; fish noodle soup, fish cake noodle soup; and savory pancakes, sizzling pancakes with shrimp and squid... Many dishes, each one imbued with the flavor of the sea.

Because it is only 60km from Tuy Hoa city (Phu Yen province) and also from Nha Trang city, Van Gia attracts quite a number of tourists. During our few days here, our group met many Russian and French tourists strolling around the streets and even in the market. For my friends, when saying goodbye, everyone said they would return to Van Gia to explore more places...

HOANG PHU LOC