7/3 Vung Tau

Having seen most of the major sights in HCMC, I decided to head south in a hydrofoil and see Vung Tau, a popular beach town south of HCMC. I first bought a bus ticket for the following day to get to Phnom Penh, then couldn't resist a chocolate croissant and coffee at a Vietnamese cafe (there are many of them, due in part to the 100+ years of French colonial rule). By the time I got on a hydrofoil, it was noon and the last hydrofoil leaving Vung Tau that day was at 4:30, so it was going to be a brief visit.

The hydrofoil was uneventful. The windows weren't really the see-through variety, so I couldn't see much along the river, which was partially the reason I wanted to do the trip. I also got chatted up by a Vietnamese guy who was on summer break from the University of Nebraska. I don't care if he's Vietnamese, I don't want to talk to a cornhusker. Actually he was nice, but I just wanted to zone out and listen to "This American Life" episodes.

We arrived in Vung Tau a little after 1, I booked my 4:30 trip back to HCMC, and then just started walking towards the beach. Since it was mid-week, the place was pretty deserted, so I got a lot of attention from motorbike taxi drivers. I always had at least one guy slowly driving alongside me saying "where you go?"

The beach itself wasn't very impressive, but I'd already read that so I wasn't disappointed. I found a nice little restaurant near the beach and had some seafood with fried noodles. Vung Tau is situated on a peninsula between a big hill to the west and a little hill to the east. My plan was to hike up the big hill, enjoy the view of the town and the ocean, then cool off in the ocean before getting back on a hydrofoil. I ended up not having enough time to hike, but luckily there was a cable car that went almost to the top. The big hill, it turns out, is a major Vietnamese tourist trap. Initially I hated it, thinking it was disgustingly touristy, but eventually came to love the cheesiness of the ostrich farm, go kart track, and man-made waterfall. In a way, it was an opportunity to see what Vietnamese tourists enjoy. I couldn't really get a good view of everything from the top, but I still got some good shots of the ocean below. I was stopped by a man in a golf cart on my way back to the cable car station and he informed me that the circus animal show was about to start, but I sadly had to decline because I had to catch my hydrofoil.

I returned to Ho Chi Minh City, and Chris and Mimi and I scarfed some banh mi sandwiches as an appetizer then had some wraps and other small plates that were presented in a way similar to sushi but involved Vietnamese food.

Photo album: https://picasaweb.google.com/108933817613007660268/20130703VungTau?authuser=0&feat=directlink