A trip to Vung Tau
South of Saigon on the way to the Mekong Delta
06.06.2009 - 06.06.2009
-30 °C
Took the hydrofoil about 2 hours south of Saigon to Vung Tau a quite pleasant coastal town with a touristy feel to it. Spent the day on the beach drinking beer and eating fresh crab.
Overlooking Vung Tau is Vietnam's version of Rio de Janeiro's "Cristo Redentor" this one however is not quite so impressive nor large but makes for an interesting sight at it looks out over the South China Sea. There are many Catholics living in the South, so such Christian artifacts are not uncommon here.
Around 4:00pm the weather started to close in and a thunderstorm hit the beach which was rather pleasant after a very hot day. The thunderstorms and rain are particularly enjoyable here. Once upon a time we'd complain about the rain in Melbourne, now we'd do anything for some. We tend to forget what it is like when we live in dessicated old Victoria, (the dead-garden state.)
Decided to hire a minibus to travel back to Saigon (just to be different) and to our dismay it took over three hours, the last 1.5 in heavy traffic entering Saigon. Take the hydrofoil both ways.
Last order of the day was to look at a few art galleries and select a couple of oil paintings for the home. After some hard bartering from Loanne (with me feigning disinterest) we picked up a couple and had them rolled up for the trip back. Nana and the boys took the night off and stayed in the hotel room watching the French Open tennis and playing Nintendo DS.
Speaking of the French and seeing all of the old colonial style buildings, the Saigon Opera house being one case in point, one can only speculate as to the degree they must have pissed off the people here to have been so inextricably booted out.
Posted by fpc3 03.06.2009 07:45 Archived in Vietnam Tagged family_travel
