Yesterday was a sweaty, hot, and relaxing day. Today began with sleep.
The bus left for Vung Tao Beach at 7 am. I shuffled down to the usual breakfast, and then when the bus left the hotel, I tried to sleep as much as possible after a long night the evening before.
Two hours later, I arrived at a beachy little town on the water. We stopped at a monumental statue of Jesus, similar to the one in Rio, on top of a cliff. We climbed up 811 steps to get to the statue... So you know that the rest of the day would be similar in difficulty for a while. The view was very beautiful with the green ocean water and city split in every picture. I find it interesting that the Vietnamese try to leave the natural beauty of the land as much as possible, so though we could see the view perfectly though the trees, the pictures were not as perfect. The top of the cliff around Jesus had wild flowers, benches, a small shop, and a monument of Mary and baby Jesus. You could take a staircase up through Jesus and stand on his arms, but I needed long pants to be respectful, so I ate ice cream and bought myself a fan.
Once everyone was down from Jesus, we walked back down the way we came, took a million and one pictures with the whole group, and drove about a mile down the road to a huge beach resort. We immediately all reapplied the sunscreen that we had applied and literally ran to the ocean. It was perfect, still water with very little waves. After a quick trip to the pool as well, we were called in to lunch. There were fresh clams, prawns, cuttle fish, pork, and a giant hotpot with all different kinds of seafood and Asian vegetables. It was strangely delicious, and I actually ate the clams! (Mom, I have made so many progressions in my taste buds!) After lunch, we all went back to the beach of course to reapply sunscreen and continue relaxing. This was the first time on the trip that we actually had a chance to sit and relax. There was a small breeze, and it was so warm. Of course I wanted to nap, but couldn't because the UEF and Pitt students started playing games on the beach, and it was far too entertaining to sleep through. It was just a very fun day, and I didn't feel uncomfortable or too hot and sweaty for words. But alas, the fun must eventually end...
On the way back from the beach we stopped at this little marketplace, and Kate and I bought ice cream, fruit leather stuff, and jello cups. The little snacks that everyone bought were shared among the group and they were all so delicious... Except for the shrimp papers which were literally dried shrimp pressed into rice paper which smelled like fish food. After we got back from our adventures, a few of us were craving some substantial, filling food. Of course we started a search party for hamburgers, and we found this awesome hole-in-the-wall place called Soul Burger. It was gloriously delicious. I ordered the Blues Brother burger that had a fitting description with bleu cheese and bacon. I can't say that I hate Vietnamese food, it's just not as satisfying. There's something fulfilling and meaningful in comfort food. I can't wait to come home to normal food that won't shock my system the next morning. After dinner, we planned on having a hotel party, but everyone was so tired and sunburnt that we couldn't rally. We all decided to sleep, but not until we all called our moms for Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day everyone! I hope all the mothers out there had a relaxing time like we did in not Ho Chi Minh City. It's actually feeling like summer finally.
No comments:
Post a Comment