NHA TRANG COUNTRYSIDE SIGHTSEEING
Coming to the lovely seaside city of Nha Trang, snorkeling to observe the stunning colorful coral reefs, and enjoying the distinctive delicacies. Aside from that, you don't want to miss out on adding some unique tourist locations to your itinerary, such as mat weaving, making conical hats, making rice papers, and making noodles and vermicelli.
Many artisan villages sprouted up from time to time, but we don't know when. We can only estimate that, despite the ups and downs of time, that village, that traditional vocation, has persisted for more than 200 years and generations of people here, and has become the unique name on the tourist map.
The area is less than 15 kilometers from Nha Trang city and takes around 30 minutes to travel around. Coming here, you will notice a calm wind, with no hustle and bustle of the metropolis. The folks here are still trying hard to keep his father's ancient trade alive.
1 / The Sedge Mat Weaving House:
I do not intend to retire at the age of 55. Mrs. Ha's two sisters are still enthralled by the labor of manufacturing sedge mats daily. Work began in the morning and continued until the afternoon when they made 2-3 mats depending on the variety. During lunch breaks, the daughter can assist in carrying on, so that everyone can still hear the sound of the weaving frame emanating from her residence.
With over 30 years of experience, Mrs. Ha has created a variety of mats and distributes them to households in Nha Trang City that require them. Her family has been weaving mats for three generations. Everyone in the house understands how to do their jobs well.
When all of the elements are in place, two people must work together to weave a mat. After the thorns and mat are connected, the lead worker stands on the frame while others thread a thread into the form. With a forceful whack, the main worker whacks the thread into the other.
The stamping action must be definitive and strong enough to ensure a stable, unbroken sedge. Therefore, you have to visit to see the weaving mat and will know how to make the products is not simple.
2 / The Conical-Hat House:
Cones hats are usually woven with different types of leaves such as conical leaves, palm leaves, bamboo leaves, and others specialized in making hats. But mainly made of conical leaves. Hats usually have a strap made of soft cloth or velvet, silk to hold on the neck.
The cones are usually pointed, but some types of cones are broad & flattened. Cone leaves are arranged on a frame of small bamboo sticks bent into an arc, pinned by a thread, or silk, twine. The hat is polished each piece of bamboo, small & supple and then rolled into a circle of different diameters too small cones. All are lined up in a pyramid shape.
To make a conical hat, the craftsman took each leaf, flattened it, then took scissors to cut the top end and needle them together, about 24-25 leaves for a turn, and then evenly arranged on the cone mold. The leaves are thin and also quickly damaged when it rains a lot, so the craftsman took advantage of the dried bamboo shavings to make the layer between the two layers of cones to make them both hard and durable.
In the next stage, the craftsman took a hat and tied it tightly into the mold with a hat frame before they started sewing. The worker put the leaves on the ribs and then used twine & needles to stare the cones into a pyramid. After forming, hats are applied with a layer of varnish to increase durability & aesthetics. In between the 3rd and 4th spokes, the worker uses only two symmetrical pairs to tie the strap. Straps are usually made from velvet, silk, in many colors.
3 / The Noodles House:
The process of making vermicelli, in general, is quite sophisticated and takes a lot of time. But basically in every handicraft village, every family making handmade vermicelli has the same method: carefully selected ordinary rice to get good rice, usually season rice. Rice is washed, treated, and brought to water overnight. Then put the soaked rice into a blender puree with water to form flexible, soft rice flour. The dough is incubated again and stripped of sour water, then put on the pressing table, chopped into a large calf-sized batter. The dough is again kneaded, mixed in clean water into a liquid solution, and then passed through a screen of clean grit, broken dust to form rice starch.
Rice starch is added to the noodle. The vermicelli mold is usually made of long tubular material. On the top of the mold is a piece of metal with perforated holes. The squeezing process is usually done by hand or using the arm to compress the dough in the mold through holes. The dough flows evenly through the holes when the mold is twisted, compressed, forming vermicelli, falling into a pot of boiling water pre-set under the mold. The noodles are boiled in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes, they will be cooked, and quickly picked up in a pot of clean, cool water to prevent the noodles from sticking together.
Finally, the process of picking up the noodles in a pot of coated water and using your hands to squeeze into vermicelli, vermicelli leaves, or noodles. The finished vermicelli or noodle is placed on bamboo baskets lined with banana leaves, dried, and incubated before being sold in the market.
4 / The Rice-Paper House:
Rice-paper or rice paper is a type of rice cake that uses the main ingredient of dried starch, which can be crispy (when eaten in North Vietnam) or which be soft and dipped in water (when eaten in the Middle South to Southern Vietnam). It can make spring rolls and is also the raw material for making a very Vietnamese dish called spring rolls or rice paper rolls.
Use a ladle to pour flour on a pre-stretched cloth over a large pot mold with boiling water inside. Then use coconut shells spread evenly a thin layer of flour in a circle (coated cake), this action must be skillful, agile takes place in just a few seconds (can sprinkle more black and white sesame on top). Rice-paper cooked, using a thin bamboo or a tube under the cake removed, spread on a tray woven with bamboo and sun exposure.
The thickness and thinness of the cake are prescribed depending on the usage. If it is to be baked, the thickest will be thick, the wet roll will be thick and the rolls will be as thin as paper.
After drying, when using, depending on how you eat, you can bring the bread to crispy on charcoal or dip it in water to soften (maybe baking or not baking).
