A short trip to the beach

Martin sms, saying he wanted to to go a beach near Saigon. And I suggested Vung Tau.
My plan was to take the hydro-foil fast ferry, which would take about 1 hour 45 minutes, at early morning then we'd have sometime for landscape and the finally the beach.

I chose Nghinh Phong peak, the southern end of Vung Tau city dividing its beach into two parts. The West coast is Bai Truoc ( Front beach) and the East coast is Bai Sau (Behind beach). I thought it was a right place to visit for my personal interest of standing high enjoying large view and for Martin's first time there. Moreover, it was just on our way from the port to Bai Sau.

Of course, to have the best view, we climbed to the top of the mountain where stood a statue of Jesus. It really took our breathe,  and our early breakfast, away. In fact, we had to stop 3 or 4 times in the middle of the route but finally we did it, pheewwww.

 This woman was collecting dried "hoa sứ" for tea making.

 One of the two cannons on the sides of Jesus statue, on the top of the mountain.

Behind Martin was the east-side cityscape, including Bai Sau.

Jesus, welcoming all people didn't matter they were Christian or not

 So steep.

 

 The port at Vung Tau.

Leaving Nghinh Phong peak, both I and Martin ran out of energy and decided to have lunch soon and "Lẩu cá đuối" (Demon fish hot pot) was undoubtedly a good choice. Martin was uncomfortable with the heat of the air and the heat from the meal. We sweated like in steambath. Diving in the peaceful salty water after lunch just made things perfect!

That night, we sat at Coffee Bean in Nguyen Du street, opposite to Duc Ba Cathedral. Such a view for a coffee shop. So sorry Rock was sick and unable to join the Vung Tau trip, but he recovered quickly and got fine enough to wander around the city center that night, gossiping about cars, girls..etc. It would have been much better if these two guys had more time in Saigon, and in Vietnam so that they could see and enjoy more. However, they made a tour from Ha Noi, Hoi An, Hue, to Saigon. That was more than my travel experience in my own homeworld.

 

Martin and Rock.

Some travelling experience I gained for myself:

- I planned everything by searching on the Internet.
- Diadiem.com has a good map of Vung Tau and Ho Chi Minh city.

- It's better buying hydro-foil tickets, especially round-trip ticket, soon if the plan is on weekend.

A lot of people will travel from Saigon in Saturday morning and from Vung in Sunday afternoon.

- Buying the ticket at Ben Bach Dang: 10 Ton Duc Thang Str, District 1. 

There are several companies with slightly different schedule but one same price.

(I just remembered two names: Vina Express and Greenlines)

- 1-way: 200.000 VND

round-trip: 400.000 VND

- Round-trip ticket is better.

- Some mistakes with tickets usually happen on the come-back trip. Several tickets have the same number. But if you have a ticket, they won't kick you out.

- Taxi is the best vehicle.

Just use Vinasun or Mai Linh. I don't trust the others. 

Ask them to turn on the meter.

- "Bai Sau" is better than "Bai Truoc", everybody says so.

- Looking for a restaurant? Be careful with Hoang Hoa Tham street.

( I had one experience there with my friends. We paid surprisingly high price for an ordinary dinnder. People on a travelling website say some taxi drivers may take visitors there and get money from the restaurant for that)

- Demon fish hot pot: 40 Truong Cong Dinh Str.

I visited there twice and really satisfied. The restaurant is small, no air conditioner. But it's the best for the hot pot.

- Get back to the port at least 15 minutes before the departure.

art photos from Vung Tau trip

My Facebook album is loaded with photos and comments now. I've also created a special serie of retouched photos for my friends. This is also an opportunity for me to improve my photoshoping skill :-D



Teen style


Family style


Urban style


Summer style


Fashion poster style

Note from Vung Tau trip (2)

About our choosen hotel:
thanks to mr.Q, a friend in the group who used to work as a tourist-guide, we found a new-built mini hotel with good room and acceptable price. They allowed us to put all 8 guys and gals in one room.
The hotel also had wifi. The host was very nice. We could go out very late and rang the bell when coming back, hehe.




The promenade of Vung Tau is somehow similar to those in Nha Trang and Quy Nhon. However, it seems to be much longer, more urban-developed and more crowded at night especially this is a big holiday.



People here have good quality life. There are very rich people, who work in petroleum field, living and working here. Thus, play-boys can survive well here with all popular entertainment.
The architecture of the city is okay, too. There are even some high-tech Korean style public buildings, unfortunately this is a vacation and I didnt try to take photos of them, hehe.

Note from Vung Tau trip

30th April and 1st May is such a big event in the history of Vietnam. This is the reason why we all have such ... big annual holiday every ending of April. hehe.

This year, I joined my old schoolmates in a motor-bike trip to Vung Tau, a popular beach city about 125 km from Ho Chi Minh city.

Though going the a beach city, we just bathed in the sea for about 2 hour when there was no more extreme sunlight. Most of our daytime was spent on photographing because my friends are real photomaniacs. I am now having sunburn all over my hands and neck, and then a lot of dead skin cells. Forget it, here are some photos to note:




The first night: we went to a club named Blue Moon. This club was said to be popular in Vung Tau. We didnt like the music, the DJ wasnt good enough to us. However, some of us were drunk, including me. Then we hanged out in the after-mid-night street of Vung Tau for awhile then get 'home', a small hotel room for 8 people





The first morning was all for photography. My friends chose the place near a lighthouse. It was okay.


Here, my friend Hoa is posing at the foot of the lighthouse. The risk was falling down from the "M" but he and the other didnt care.


The sunlight was burning our skin, but couldnt stop us.


That night we went to a big karaoke center after being pick-pocket-ed by a restaurant for our dinner. The karaoke located at 8th storey, which was quite strange to me.




Then 'home' again and had a small party in the room. There were fried octopus and some fruit.
We departed the next morning to come back to our city.bye bye Vung Tau !