The round boats of the bay

Walk along almost any stretch of sand near Nha Trang at dawn and you will see them: round, dark bowls sitting on the beach like upturned hats. These are thúng chai, the basket boats of the Vietnamese coast. They look like a curiosity, and visitors often treat them as one. For the families who use them, they are simply the way you get from the shore to the larger boat anchored further out, or across shallow water to check a net.

Bamboo, resin and patience

A basket boat begins as strips of split bamboo, woven tightly into a wide, shallow bowl. A rim of thicker bamboo gives it shape. The weave is then sealed so it can float: traditionally with a mix of natural resin, tar or similar coatings, and today sometimes with modern materials as well. The result is light enough for one or two people to carry, and wide enough to sit in with a load of nets or fish.

There are different stories about why the boats are round. You will hear explanations that touch on taxes, on cost, on how well a round hull handles surf. We prefer not to choose one. What is clear on the beach is that a round boat is cheap to build from local materials, easy to repair, and can be paddled in any direction with a single oar.

A working morning

Watch for a while and a pattern appears. A boat is dragged to the waterline. Someone steps in, kneels or sits, and starts paddling with a sculling stroke, the oar working in a figure of eight off one side. The boat moves forward with a slight wobble. On the way back it sits lower in the water, carrying whatever came in overnight.

The most impressive thing about a basket boat is how ordinary it looks in the hands of someone who has used one for years.

Spinning for visitors

In some places around the bay, basket boats have also become a small tourist experience. Rowers spin the boat in fast circles for passengers, which is fun to watch and louder to ride. It is a good way to sit in one yourself, and the income matters to families who also fish.

If you want to see the boats as a working tool, though, go early to a quieter beach, stay at a distance, and simply watch. It is one of the most honest views of Nha Trang you can get: the city still turns toward the sea first thing in the morning, and a bamboo bowl is often the first step out.