Tourist market in Bai Dai
By Khue Viet Truong in Nha Trang
Bai Dai (Long Beach) in central Khanh Hoa Province is gaining much appreciation and admiration from tourists thanks to its pristine beauty and white sands.
Bai Dai stretches for ten kilometers across Cam Hai Dong Commune in Cam Ranh Town, and boasts shallow turquoise waters and a vast sandy arc that appears during low tide on calm days, which are an increasing draw for visitors.
Those wishing to discover this secluded beach should pass over a mountain on Nguyen Tat Thanh Street for ten kilometers from Cam Ranh and then turn onto a stone-paved path for about one hundred meters.
As the sea here is shallow, visitors will see a lot of children playing together under the glistening sunlight and non-swimmers alike walking or sitting in the water. The surroundings of the site also give tourists a poetic scene as forests of poplar trees sitting atop the beach’s stunning sand dunes let tourists enjoy the tranquil atmosphere and cool off while lying under the trees.
When a 21-kilometer road opened in late April of 2004, linking the southern part of the Lo River in the provincial capital of Nha Trang to Cam Ranh Airport., the authorities planned to turn Bai Dai into one of the major tourism areas in the southern part of the province and build a four-star tourism complex with luxury resorts on a 200-hectare site. However, they have failed to carry out those projects.
What Bai Dai lacks in accommodation, it makes up for in cheap eateries with around one hundred makeshift restaurants lying along the one kilometer stretch of beach, giving visitors many options to experience indigenous specialties with many kinds of seafood dishes made in diverse local cuisine. Here, visitors can feast on fresh squid, fish and crab for about VND180,000 per kilogram and have it cooked to order.
Finally, and somewhat surprisingly, most of the restaurants offer tourist services such as hiring swimming suits and floats and providing a fresh-water well where tourists can rinse off or bathe free of charge.
The restaurants are built simply with leaf roofs, bamboo pillars and cheap plastic chairs and tables, creating a bustling tourist market. Restaurant staff always clean up the garbage tourists throw out to keep the beach clean. “The beach helps us to earn money so we have to keep it clean,” said a local restaurant owner.