Vung Tau

The Lonely Planet Vietnam issue describes Vung Tau as "a commercialized beach resort on a peninsula jutting into the South China Sea. The business of oil drilling here means the azure horizon is marred by frequent oil tankers and the population flecked with joy-seeking expats. The beaches here aren't Vietnam's best, nor is the water pristine due to pollution from oil drilling, but Vung Tau is an easy, fast beach foray out of HCMC. Beach goers looking for a tropical-holiday feel might do better making the three-hour (FIVE hour)trip to beautiful Mui Ne Beach."

Not a ringing endorsement.

Nevertheless, Steven and I headed out for the weekend to Saigon's nearest beach getaway.

There are two ways to get to Vung Tau, for those of us without our own means of transportation: by bus (two hours for two dollars) or by hydrofoil (rapid-ferry - one hour and fifteen minutes for ten dollars). We decided to splurge.

At 10:00 on Saturday morning, Steven and I were calling out last minute items and rushing out the door to catch our 10:30 a.m. ferry. We commissioned our two xe om drivers, who argued a moment about where exactly it was we were going before taking off down the street. Once down by the river, it became apparent that they didn't know where the pier was, as they indicated that they would off near where they thought it was. Steven and I started back down the street in the direction they had pointed and made it to the ticket booth and onto the ferry just before it pulled away from the pier.

The ride to Vung Tau was comfortable and uneventful and we arrived an hour and 15 minutes later.

The ferry pier at Vung Tau is a sight it itself, looking quite out of place with its strange modern design, looking somewhat like enormous metal slices of bread placed on blocks of varying heights (I hope I have a picture of that one - much too hard to describe in words). After leaving the ferry, Steven and I decided to walk around the other side of the peninsula where our hotel was and refused numerous offers from xe om and taxi drivers before we finally found ourselves alone on the wide tiled sidewalk along the seawall. With the South China Sea to our right and rows of small attractive hotels, punctuated with the occasional Vietnamese/Chinese temple to our left, we took in the sights under a beating South Vietnamese sun. After about 10 minutes of walking, relief came in the form of a row of bushes shaped into an enormous dragon draping the sidewalk in it's shade. When we found ourselves between two of Vung Tau's few attractions, the an enormous sculpture of Jesus on a hill and an island temple, only accessible in low tides, we decided to make our way down to the beach.

Steven went first, climbing down a hillside covered with boulders and millions of smaller red and blue pebbles, with confidence, in improper footwear; while I followed, gingerly, wondering where I had left my sure footing, as I struggled with my awkward beach bag, threatening to fly around from its place tucked behind my arm and hurl me down the hill. When I finally made it to the ground, I found Steven, doubled over, his head inches from the ground by his feet. Thinking, something awful had happened while I was preoccupied with my descent, I rushed over to him, only to hear him say, "Careful! You'll squash them!" It was only then that I noticed that the ground was covered with millions (maybe billions?) of tiny little balls of sand, placed outside tiny little holes, made by tiny little crabs. We'd never seen so many crabs in our lives in one place. They were everywhere.

As we headed toward the larger beach, I gave up the impossible task of trying to avoid squashing all of the little sand balls and let Steven convince me that the crabs "run into their holes when they see your foot coming." All of the single rooms were full at the first hotel; the second was too fancy for me and the third was completely booked. At the forth, we found a great room with a/c, tv, a stocked mini-fridge and a balcony with a view of the beach for $18. We showered, changed and went for lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant before settling into our 20,000 vnd chairs ($1.50) on the beach.

Contrary to all of the negative reports, we found Vung Tau to be clean and picturesque. The beach wasn't completely devoid of litter, but it wasn't horrible and the water appeared clean enough to swim in (or so I deduced from my seat under our umbrella, not having brought an extra change of clothes and forgetting that the Vietnamese swim fully dressed). Steven enjoyed a swim in the rough water while I read in the shade.

After the beach, we went back to the hotel to see about renting a motorbike. Because Vung Tau gets very few foreign tourists, it doesn't seem to be a priority for those working in the tourist industry to speak anything but Vietnamese or, as Steven decided after the receptionist at our hotel couldn't understand when we asked her for her name in Vietnamese, even Vietnamese. Finally, after lots of gesturing and pointing in my phrase book, we managed to arrange to rent a motorbike at a rate of $11 for one day.

We headed out on our bike just before dark and rode along the oceanside road towards the more northern beaches. We had dinner at a local seafood restaurant there and then headed back into Vung Tau to dog track where we lost two bets in quick succession. We headed back out and spent the rest of the evening riding around Vung Tau and up and down the beach checking out the evening nightlife. Riding along the seaside road under the starry sky, I was reminded again why I like living overseas.

The next day, we left the hotel early and after a fruitless search for breakfast - apparently anything called a cafe or a coffee shop only serves cafe or coffee - and decided to forgo breakfast entirely and climb up the hill to the huge Jesus statue before going back to the hotel to check out. We drove over the the park, left the bike in the bike lot and followed the other visitors up about 15 flights of stairs to the top, where the journey continued, for people in appropriate attire, myself not included, to the top of the statue where you could take pictures looking over Jesus's shoulder. While Steven climbed to the top, I wandered around near the base, appreciating the craftsmanship of the sculpture and wondering about the seemingly incongruous placement of the two enormous, relatively modern looking, cannons that flanked the Jesus sculpture on each side.

Back down the stairs, we rode back to the hotel where we checked out, left our bag at the counter and stopped for lunch at a restaurant with the worst Indian food on the planet. After lunch, I took over and practiced my "in-town" driving and my roundabout navigation and then headed back to the beach for another swim/read in the shade.

At 4:30, we were on the ferry back to Saigon, with much more pleasant memories of Vung Tau than the expectations we had brought with us the previous day.


Woman fishing with a net along the road




Bread-shaped pier


Temple along the road


Ditto








Bush Dragon


Bush Dragon


Steven on his way to the beach


Mini-crab sand balls


Mini-crab sand balls


View from our balcony


Mural on our balcony


Balcony view


Steven from our scenic breakfast spot that didn't serve breakfast


Steven with his coffee


Climbing up to Jesus Statue


Huge Jesus Statue


Inside Jesus Statue


Jesus' Face/View


Jesus' Statue View


View of Vung Tau beach


Island temple




Jesus' cannon


Our beach chairs


Fully clothed Vietnamese women in the water


Fully clothed Vietnamese women in the water with no zoom




I couldn't help myself


View from the pier


Fishing boats near the pier

Things I like about Vietnam

Steven left his passport at the post office when he picked up a package the other day and asked me to go back to the post office this afternoon to pick it up. I had the paperwork he had recieved from the post office when he picked up the package, but I could not seem to find an address for the post office on the paperwork. I decided to ask the xe om driver to see if he could find the address.

I went down stairs and handed the paper to a driver outside our building (our regular guys weren't there). I pointed to the word for post office and said, "where?" He looked at me and shook his head and walked over to consult with another driver a few feet away, who spoke English. I explained that I needed to go back to that specific post office, but I couldn't find an address on the paperwork. As we looked over the papers, a woman from a nearby stall came over. A few seconds later we were joined buy two people from the shop behind us. They all began discussing the situation and passing the paper around. The driver who spoke English pulled out a map and I told him that I remembered that it was in Cholon near the market because Steven had told me how he had enjoyed the fragrance of the streets near the spice market. Looking at the map, we found the marker for a post office. He then showed the driver how to get to the post office as another man with the paper, handed it back to me and pointed at a stamp that showed it had, indeed, been stamped in District 5, Cholon.

Once my driver was sure of the location, I thanked everyone and they went back to their respective posts. Consequently, the driver took me to the post office, through the nice smelling streets of Cholon's spice market, and I was able to retrieve Steven's passport.

This was just one example of something I like about living in Vietnam. Not that there aren't other places of the world, including many places in the states, with friendly people, but the Vietnamese people seem to be, as a people curious and friendly and always willing to help if they see someone in need. Something we've experienced more than a few times since being here.

This inspired me to make a list of the things I like about living in Vietnam for those days when I miss my friends and the freedom of running in Grant Park. And I hope to continue to add to this list throughout my time here.

Things I like about living in Vietnam:

1. Nonverbal Conversations that end in complete comprehension on both sides.
2. Smiling elderly Vietnamese women in Vietnamese pajamas and conical hats.
3. Similing elderly Vietnamese men.
4. Friendly hello's on the street.
5. Xe om rides through the city.
6. Streetside seafood restaurants.
7. Learning Vietnamese with Phuc (Phooo) and Phuc in general.
8. Shopping in little street markets.
9. Friendly Vietnamese people.
10. Rice donuts with mystery red filling from Tour Les Jours Bakery.
11. The park near Diamond Plaza.
12. The open streets, huge trees and wide sidewalks of Ho Chi Minh City.
13. Cool refreshing afternoon breezes.
14. Refreshing afternoon thunderstorms.
15. Having an apartment to ourselves (even though we do miss Steve and Radka!)
16. Hanging laundry on the porch.
17. Sleeping in an airconditioned room.
18. Our open "Asian-style" bathroom.
19. Ridiculously cheap vegetables.
20. Ridiculously cheap seafood.
21. Cooking with rice noodles.
22. Tiger beer (it has grown on me...)
23. Our family-run neighborhood convenience store.
24. Having lunch with Steven at his yummy Vegetarian Restaurant.
25. Practicing my rudimentary Vietnamese on the street.
26. Planning weekend getaways.
27. Talking to my Mom and Dad on Skype (even though in person would be better!)
28. All of the challenges I've yet to overcome, like learning to order a variety of dishes at a street restaurant with no menus and riding a motorscooter in HCMC traffic.
29. Rice fields.
30. Beaches on the South China Sea.
31. Coconut canndy from the Mekong.
32. Impromptu conversations with local Vietnamese (over a beer and shellfish the other day).
33. Becoming a regular face in our neighborhood.
34. Xe om drivers who seem to appreicate a friendly no thank you and a smile.
35. The crazy things people strap to the back of their motorbikes (like numerious cartons of eggs).
36. The variety of vehicles on the roads from bicycles, motorcyles, cars and buses to cyclos, half a motorcycle attached to a large metal crate, and three-wheeled contraptions that move with a pump of the handlebars.
37. Three dollar massages.
38. One dollar manicures.
39. Indian commercials.
40. BBC World News.
41. Eating with chopsticks.
42. Writing my blog.
43. Crossing the street through a sea of vehicles with confidence.
44. $.75 bootleg DVDs.
45. New friends.
46. Walking to the movies through the park.
47. The elevation of micro-wave popcorn to delicacy level.
48. The sense of accomplishment for small things.
49. Bags of orange sticky rice.
50. Eathing chicken pho at a market restaurant watching the pouring rain.

Halloween at AIS HCMC

Our Gum & Cigarette Lady

There is a woman who sits outside of our apartment building every day selling gum and cigaretts (and various other things) out of a rolling stand that she rolls out onto the side walk every morning and back in every night. Ever since we moved in, she has offered us friendly smiles whenever we see her, but she has proven to be so much more than just a friendly neighbor.

She is our mail recipient - on two occasions when someone has sent mail to our home address: 147/1A Nguyen Tri Phuong, F8, Q5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, as oppossed to our mailing address at the school, the mail person has given her the letters and she then gives them to us. So apparently we can recieve mail at our home, you just have to write c/o Gum & Cigarette Lady.

She is our emergency door opener - one day when Steven locked his keys in the house, effectively locking himself in the vestibule of our building, unable to get back into our apartment or out onto the street, she came to his rescue and let him out of the building with her front door key. Steven didn't even have to tell me what happened because when I returned from my run, she pantomimed the whole incident to me, laughing the whole time. Steven was so grateful that he said he might start smoking just because of her (since he doesn't chew gum).

She is our taxi hailer - just one appealing look at her when our regular xe om drivers aren't around and she is on the job waving over someone from down the street.

She is our friend - every so often, she will walk over to me at the door as I return with a large purchase - hanging pots for our balcony, a new broom and dust pan - and ask me about them, making what sound like approving comments as I demonstrate my new purchases. I am looking forward to giving her some of our fresh basil once we have our first crop.

Today I asked her her name in Vietnamese, but she didn't understand me. I am going to keep trying. I think she'll appreciate it.

And the new President is....

President Obama!!!!!!!!