A massage team of three, led by a wizened matron, will pummel, pound, twist and knead you for thirty minutes for four or five dollars. Other vendors offer small, ripe pineapples, mangoes and fresh coconut. We set up sun umbrellas on a shelf of sand just above the waterline, watched by a gaggle of kids. A charcoal-gatherers' encampment lies just behind, by the mouth of a creek where cattle browse. An expanse of refuse mars the walk down the beach to Ninh Thuy where dozens of traditional fishing vessels painted aquamarine and bright primary red are careened or bobbing in the shallows.
Boys play soccer across the sand.
People and supplies are ferried out to the fishing launches in the basket boats, thung chai , which can hold four or five people and are made from woven bamboo strips covered with pitch. Slabs of ice, sawdust-coated, will chill tonight's catch. Residents fetch well water in old kerosene cans balanced on a yoke. A few bright, shiny modern homes display their prosperity to passers-by. A woman works at her sewing machine.