On Sunday we drove about two hours to Vung Tau Beach in the southeast of Vietnam. As much as I wanted to sleep on the drive there I stayed awake because I couldn't stop looking out the window of the bus. The drive goes through some very rural parts of Vietnam and seeing the dichotomy of that versus the city was unbelievable. We drove past farms that had little shack houses made of bamboo and palm fronds that just had hammocks for beds and didn't even have walls. At one point in the drive we literally passed an ox-drawn cart on the road. It was crazy to see how some of these people live and I was blown away by the standard of living for these people.
When we finally arrived at Vung Tau, the first thing we did was climbed up what seemed like thousands of cobblestone steps to the top of a mountain where an enormous statue of Jesus was waiting for us with open arms. We then proceeded to climb up inside the statue and stood out on those open arms. The view was incredible. Words cannot describe the overwhelming beauty of the beach and and the surrounding town. Unfortunately, we could not stay up there long because there were a ton of other people waiting to come out and see.
We then went to a hotel/resort that was our base camp for the day and went swimming in the ocean. The water was so unbelievably warm and stayed shallow as far out as we were comfortable going so in my mind that beach experience was perfect. The only problem was that if we went out too far we started to run into a lot of trash and a lot of jellyfish too. The jellyfish were really cool but then someone got stung so we kept our distance. The most fun thing to do was have my good buddy Chris "Dad Jump" me where he would go underwater and I would stand on his shoulders and he would stand up and I would jump off soaring into the air like the graceful swan that I am. You can check out Chris' Blog here: http://chrisherrick.blogspot.com/
At the beach we were served a glorious lunch that started with a plate of fried calamri, then steamed oysters, then we were served chicken wings and steamed prawns, and finally a fish soup and a large seafood hot-pot. The hot-pot was not as good as the one we had before, but it was still quite delicious.
After lunch we headed back to the water for bit and departed around 3:30 for the ride home which for me involved sleeping.
We ended up stopping at a truck stop on the way home for some snacks and to use the bathroom. I was not expecting to get such a cultural experience out of this but it was incredible. There was a whole farmer's market type thing going on outside with people selling dried meats and seafood and fresh fruits and vegetables and there were people inside selling food out of street food type carts and stands everywhere and there were a bunch of little convenience store type places selling snacks and drinks. It was completely different from anything else I have ever seen and it was utterly fascinating.
When we got back to the hotel there was a schism in the group. We split into two schools of people: Those that were pining for the fjords and wanted american food, and those of us that wanted to immerse ourselves in the Vietnamese culture. So the burger group went and got burgers (lame) and I and a few others went to a noodle house. The noodle house was very strange, it looked sort of like street food with a woman cooking out in front of the little shop, but inside were a few small tables and chairs. There was only one thing on the menu and that was a beef noodle soup with very thick round rice noodles. I'm not sure what this dish was called, but I wish I did because it was delicious.
After that I fell asleep.
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