HCMC and Vung Tau

Good Afternooooooooon, Vietnam! Kate and I are now in Nah Trang, after spending four days in Saigon and one day in the beach town of Vung Tau. We were staying right in District 1 (central HCMC is comprised of 16 Districts) and the endless, aggressive scooters flying all over the place quickly alerted us to the fact that we were no longer in Cambodia. Also, there are no tuktuks in Saigon, which seemed weird coming from Phnom Penh.

Most of our days in the city consisted of sight-seeing, pho-eating, and moto-dodging. Many of the attractions in Saigon are linked to the Vietnam War (or American War, as it is referred to here), so we often needed to counteract our cultural experiences with ice cream, cheap beer, and films...I must admit that we went to see Transformers 3 one night in order to dissolve those images of the Agent Orange aftermath and wartime atrocities. After a failed attempt at visiting the Saigon Racetrack (always thinking of you, Dad!), we also spent a day exploring Cholon in District 5, the Chinatown of Saigon. This area is known for good food and atmospheric pagodas. Out of the dozen or so temples in Cholon, we visited the Quan Am, Phuoc An, and Thien Hau pagodas.

War...What is it Good For?

Scooter Madness and Fresh Coconut

The Horse of Quan Cong - Shake the Bell if you are on a Voyage

Kate at Reunification Palace

One day we took a hydrofoil to the beach town of Vung Tau, south of Saigon. It is a popular weekend retreat for those wishing to escape the big city, but it is small enough to see in one day. Our afternoon there was pretty normal (explore the city and climb to see the huge Jesus statue on the hill...which is taller than Rio's puny savior) until this group of 13 rowdy, middle-aged Vietnamese men demanded that we sit with them on the beach. We were wary at first, because we thought they were trying to rent us beach chairs and sell us beer, but they were so friendly that we went and sat with them. As soon as we entered their boisterous little circle we were plastered with lychee, steamed baby crabs, bbq squid and Heineken. While the first few minutes of this gathering were awkward, due to the language barrier and general oddness of the situation, the beer soon loosened everyone up and our hosts began toasting to no end. As we were preparing to head back for our ferry, one of the senior members of the group (and the employer of most of the guys as well) kept repeating that all the food and beer was free because he expects us to return to Vung Tau and buy him beers next time! We'll be seeing you again, Vinh, we promise...what great people.

One last thing: there are LOTS of fat little boys here!