SEA Trip by Any Means

Vung Tau, August 29th 2011

The rain subsided and so did the pain on my right feet. I almost put off getting on the cable car thinking that it might rain again and I won't be able to see anything anyway. But I saw the local vendors along the street starting to take out the authentic Vietnamese stools, the short and small plastic stools, and place them by the street. I took that as a sign that the locals are sure the weather will be fine for a long period of time. I went back to the cable car station and purchased a ticket. 100,000 VND.

The station, the cable car, and the interior.

Taken from inside the cable car...

... still from the cable car...

... and a close up of the houses. The people here seem to love to paint their houses with white.

You can get on this tram for 10,000 VND to tour the park. In the name of budget, I didn't take it. Luckily I didn't. The park turned out not to be as enormous as it seems to be on the map.

I went to the cherry blossom garden, but there were no blossoms. I went to the horse farm, but all the horses were inside the barn. I went to the deer farm, but I saw only 2 deer. I went to the waterfall, but it turned out to be an artificial waterfall.

So... I stood by the edge of the hill and cast my view upon the South China Sea...

... and the city of Vung Tau...

... and the beach resort.

I admired the drop of golden sun upon the white houses.

I'm back inside the cable car again. This is another shot from inside the cable car.

I walked back to the harbor. It was a 45 minutes walk, but took me more than an hour, because at times I stopped to take pictures. This one of it.

All the way from the harbor the cable car station and now back to the harbor again, taxi motorbikes stopped to offer me a city tour. Almost every time I said no, the taxi motorbike driver would ask 2 questions: "Where you go?" and "Where you come?" But the interesting one was this:

"Round round city?" offered the taxi motorbike driver.

"No, thank you. I just want to walk," I answered.

"Round round city. Motorbike," he offered again and mentioned a sum of money which I paid no attention at all for I had no interested at all.

'Your country is so beautiful. I want to walk and enjoy your country. I want to feel the streets under my feet." I looked down to point at my feet, but ooopsss... my swollen right foot bulged back at me.

"Oh! You first time Vietnam!"

"No, this is not my first time in Vietnam."

"How many?"

"This is my sixth time in Vietnam."

"You like my country?"

"Yes, I do. Very much."

He smiled from ear to ear, and rolled off.

That's the boat houses floating afar. This is actually a perfect spot to view sunset, as far as the weather permits. But if I do so, I might have to stay overnight in Vung Tau for the last boat from Vung Tau I know leaves at 16:45.

Across there is Vung Tau Harbor where I was supposed to get on the hydrofoil and return to Sai Gon. Yes, where I was "supposed to".

By the time I should be boarding the boat, I saw Vietnamese and Westerners running towards the front building. I got confused. The sea is behind and why do you run to the opposite direction??

Then everyone was standing in front of the harbor's lobby. I asked a man in uniform but he did not answer. I approached a Western couple and asked what was happening. Then she told me that the tide had risen too high that the boat couldn't anchor.

Therefore, we were to take a bus up to another harbor where we could board the boat. You won't believe how excited I was. I had often wondered what it is like to ride on a Vietnamese public bus. But no matter how adventurous I might be, I don't have enough courage to take a try. When I first came to Vietnam, I examined the bus map but understood nothing. Furthermore, let alone communicating in English with the bus driver, communicating with hotel staffs is already a problem.

But now, I am on a Vietnamese public bus! I don't need to read the map, don't need to ask direction, and don't need to worry about getting lost. I just follow everybody.

We passed through the heart of Vung Tau and I then noticed how busy and noisy Vung Tau was. It was exactly the opposite face of Vung Tau.

Using my Nokia, I recorded a video of the bus ride until we were on the boat. Too bad I was too excited at the beginning that I didn't make a recording when we were rolling along the busy streets of Vung Tau with a bus driver who pressed the horn every one minute or less.