Day 7

Today was beach day at Vung Tau. I was really excited to be able to see a beach in Vietnam, and after all this extreme tropical weather, everyone was looking forward to this trip. We woke up at the ungodly hour of 6:30 to catch a boat up to Vung Tau. The boat was rocking like crazy. To get from the dock to the boat was a piece of wood that was falling apart. I really thought I was going to plummet into the water. Fortunately, I safely got on the boat, but the rocking made me want to puke. But after last night, I was so tired and passed out right when I sat down.

When I woke up, we were already at Vung Tau. We climbed on the bus, and it took us over to the beach. I think we were all ready to jump in the water, but there were a few games planned for us. There were some very interesting choices for games. In one of the game, each team had to sit on the ground, put their legs around the other person and this made a long line of us all attached. I’ve watched Human Centipede one too many times so I knew this wouldn’t be good. We were suppose to move together using only our hands to move along. The first to reach the end would win. I couldn’t stop laughing. It was the weirdest game I’ve ever been a part of. Sand was getting in all the wrong places, and having someone’s feet around me was just not pleasant. The other team gave up after literally 5 seconds, but somehow they forced us to finish. Afterwards, we finally got to go in the water. I’m used to going to the beaches off the coast of Maryland and Jersey which can have some huge waves. This beach was pretty chill without any waves. I felt like I was in the water for 15 minutes when Brice came along with his bullhorn and herded us back to shore. He knows how to make a scene. Apparently it was time to reapply sunscreen. Thanks mom.

After the beach, we went to lunch at one of the nearby restaurants. There was so much seafood that I couldn’t eat anything except the rice, some veggies and eggs. It kept me full though. We noticed that the Vietnamese really love their seafood. When we went to Dominos, they even had a seafood pizza. That’s pushing it.

Next, we hiked up to Jesus. There was a large mountain that had a large Jesus statue at the very top. Not as big as the one in Rio de Janeiro, but it was pretty huge. That was quite the workout. While the rest of the group went ahead, the group I was walking with took quite a few stops along the way. Of course, it was because we had to take pictures. Not because we’re out of shape. Anyways, a century later, we finally got to Jesus. People can actually climb to the top and stand on Jesus’s shoulder but long pants were required. Why would they expect someone to hike up this gargantuan mountain in long pants? I’m sure Jesus would’ve been fine with shorts and a t-shirt. We stayed up there for a bit to take pictures and buy souvenirs, then we took the long trek back down. (It must suck to be the workers who are stationed at the top of the mountain. Must suck to climb that every day).

Oh, hey look it's Jesus

We went back to Ho Chi Minh City on that awful boat once again. It was freezing this time because they had the air conditioning on to the max and a fan. It wasn’t pleasant. I tried to sleep most of the time so I wouldn’t feel myself slowing freezing into a popsicle.

For dinner, we went to the Black Cat for dinner which apparently is one of the top 10 eating experiences in the world according to CNN. That’s pretty neat. Everyone was excited that they served American food so everyone got a fat and calorie packed burger. I didn’t enjoy my veggie burger too much but the fries were pretty good. Afterwards, we all went to Go2 which was a small restaurant where we chilled for a little bit before we headed back.

Tomorrow we’re back to company visits. Well, the weekend was fun while it lasted.