This was the day to travel from La Gi, Binh Thuan Province to a place called Ke Ga. The journey was about 30 km and took about one hour. The luggages were taken by taxi and I travelled on a scooter.
Buy a delicious banh mi and orange juice at a banh mi shop on the way, where we also stopped by yesterday. The bread itself is crispy and tasty, probably because this place is also a banh mi bakery. The banh mi is very popular for breakfast.
Arrived in Kega without problems and checked in to the accommodation. Good location to observe the sea at any time with a sea view from the bed.
I am a tidy and clean person, so the first thing I do after checking in is to clean the room: floor, shower, toilet and balcony, as I will be staying for a week. The idea of hygiene is not yet common in Vietnam, and there is often a lack of sanitation in both the visible and invisible areas. This is a far cry from the Japanese culture of separating the outside from the inside.
Vietnamese hot water distribution systems installed on rooftops. There are two systems: one that turns to water as soon as the hot water in the tank runs out, and one that surges again when the hot water runs out, making it difficult to disrupt the hot water supply. The hot water was never inconsistent here, but there were days when only boiling water was available, so we used the bidet hose as a substitute for cool water while adding the boiling water in the basket.
There is little road traffic in the vicinity, but trucks and commercial vehicles are often seen hurtling by.
This is the only shopping street in the village of Ke Ga, with some 20 stalls and shops in residential buildings lined up over a distance of 200 metres. Most restaurants are open only in the morning, and there are very few options for places to eat during the day and evening.
Residents of Ke Ga don’t typically walk much. Electric self-powered vehicles, Honda Cub and scooters are the main means of transport.
Banh canh in the village of Ke Ga. Within this small village, both stalls and shops were available at local prices. This is probably because there are not enough foreigners to make a profit.
Vietnam has prices for foreigners and out-of-town Vietnamese. Even I, who has been in Vietnam for three years and I speak a little Vietnamese, sometimes pay the foreigner’s price. This varies greatly from region to region. I don’t like areas that charge foreigner prices and I can say that I am not likely to visit there again.
In Ke Ga village, there is little to no choice of meal if you miss the morning hours. Around 6 in the morning, we headed out to the shopping street and ate at several food stalls.
Drinking buckets are common in food stalls and small restaurants. These buckets contain tea, which is scooped into a cup and drunk. The cups are not washed and are shared. This bucket of water should be avoided from a hygienic point of view. It kind of reminds me of club activities when I was a student.
Pet monkey kept by humans. As the monkey was still a little chimp, it was not ferocious. They just seem to be afraid of people.
Ke Ga wave check. Wind direction can be adjusted on the south and east coast sides. South coast has size but onshore. East coast has no size or power but offshore. Both are not good.
Ke Ga beach is also a fishing village with Vietnamese boats everywhere. The size of fishing villages tends to be larger when they are less affected by the waves.
The round little boats are a symbol of Vietnam. It seems to be designed to miss the force of the waves and are less likely to sink. Although they are small, I have never heard of one sinking. However, it is difficult to ride the waves.
Similar waves are breaking everywhere. There are no surfers. The surf season is off throughout Vietnam in summer.
There are many rocks in Ke Ga. The Ke Ga lighthouse is active as it continues to shine.
It’s just a beautiful rock but you can feel the energy of nature. The Vietnam cross-country surf trip has just started, but I have the impression that there are many natural resources in Vietnam.
The structure of the platform, with the engine, I think this is the latest model. I have seen many times this type of motored boat being used to go over the waves. I don’t think they’ll ever go back to rowing.
Crab nest. I stuck my hand in to see how deep it was, but it was too deep to reach the end. I dug it up and found a length of 50 cm in a spiral shape.
Conduct a thorough wave check before surfing at your first surf spot: alone, in an unfamiliar place, in a foreign country, nerves run high.
Ke Ga beach at low tide. Children would play on the beach every day.
Sandbags and boulders to protect houses from the waves. Mixed with rubbish. Beach erosion is also strong here.
Vietnamese living on the beach. Coastal erosion is a troubling problem, but an ideal living location for surfers.
Typical at low tide and in the surf. The amount of rubbish is also very high here on the beach. The sea water is also dirty.
The river water flowing into the sea was blackish and mixed with many small woolly worms.
Ke Ga Beach formation. A mixture of natural and black sand layers.
Delicious coconut cookies. 10,000 VND (50 JPY).
Construction of the gate and the house. Sand is abundant in this area.
Freshly squeezed Vietnamese orange juice. 15,000 VND (70 JPY). Delicious. I’m hooked.
This restaurant is the only restaurant that opens after lunchtime. I visited this seafood restaurant every day, so much so that I would not have been able to stay in Kega without it.
At night the village is dark. Not many shops were open and close early. It is difficult to tell whether any shops are open or closed.
There are no customers, but it is bright and the chairs are nicely lined up. The rest of the restaurant is dark, so we decide to have dinner here. Pho seems to be the only thing available, so I ordered pho. I wonder if I can survive here for a week if there were this few shops.
After almost finishing the pho, I noticed a large number of small ants in it. Seriously? It must have been made without rinsing the ingredients. I informed the shopkeeper. Later, I was charged for the full bill.
(Surf trip record: Ke Ga, Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam – August 2019)
