Vung Tau Beach or Bust

Saigonese Gone Sunning On Sunday morning, my Aunt Thuy, her husband Thanh and Aunt Thu all headed to Vung Tau, a popular beachside community south of Saigon. What is usually a 2 ½ to three hour road trip takes one hour and some change by way of ferry. The ride winds its way through the Port, which oddly, looks a lot like the Port of Houston.

Anyhoo, the ticket costs 140,000 dong , about eight bucks, so at that price, my family had never ridden it. I offered to taken them, since we could all enjoy the day, and it was the quickest way to get there.

Helping Hands On that note, I want to talk a little bit about generosity. In the Vietnamese culture it is understood that family helps family, and that includes everything when it comes to expenses.

If someone gets sick, if someone needs something, then it’s family duty to dole out the dough.

And the wealthier you are, the more you should pitch in. It’s just the way it works.

So while I am soooooo far from wealthy, it’s understood I pay. My mother has been sending home money to her family since they reconnected after the Vietnam War. And since I am here, I have an obligation to give money to each of my mom’s uncles and aunts.

It’s not a lot, but money goes a long ways here.

Currency Caveat

If it seems I am constantly quantifying things I do by cost, it’s because I am. It’s a reality check for me, a reminder of just how spoiled and good we have it as Americans. We take so much for granted.

A dollar here is up to a day’s salary. It’s wierd because I am soooooo far from rich, but here money goes a long ways.

Having said that, today was family day, and the weather was nothing short of perfect.

Getting off at Vung Tau’s port we were greeted by transportation. We jumped onto rickshaws, since they were cost less than a buck to get us to the beach.

We did take a quick pitstop to see the 200 year old whale bone remains. Story is that a fisherman had a a fierce battle with him at sea.

The bones are kept inside the back of a buddhist temple.

Much respect is paid to them as a way to protect the Vung Tau local fisherman

Beach Bankin

Besides being flocked by throngs of tourists, Vung Tau is also a fishing community. More recently it has been deluged by oil tankers. This is where tradition meets modern day capitolism.

Here's the other sign that things are good in Vietnam.

The beach was packed with locals.

I mean, there had to be thousands of Vietnamese people here. It was nice to see that in spite of their everyday living, there does exist recreation time. And semblances of capitalism proliferate these areas. Lottery tickets and KFC?

By the way, I'm told working at KFC is a job that while many in the US would turn their nose on..... it's a coveted one here.

Modern and air conditioned, and up two a whopping 2 US dollars a day? I’ve never met friendlier fast food staff.

Lounging Local Style

Now when it comes to seeing my family, I do as they do. And that means hiding from the sun under an umbrella. Vietnamese women HATE to get sun. Something to do with working in the rice fields...meaning you are poor....

Also, the vietnamese, primarily the women, are VERY conservative. I did not see one woman in a bathing suit swimming. They did sell those bathing suits with skirts, but the water didn’t look inviting anyways.

So lounging at the beach, in the shade, we rested and ate crabs. My family balked at paying 180,000 dong (11 bucks) for two HUGE fresh crabs.

I didn’t. We ordered up a feast. How often can you get these for this price in the US??

Around 3:30 in the afternoon, we headed back to the port, where we would learn the tickets on the ferry were sold out.

So for two uncertain hours, we waited to get on board, hoping there would be no shows.

We BARELY made it after my uncle learned about some scalped tickets being sold on the street corner. I mean, we literally jumped on and the ferry started moving.

When my parents used to live in Vietnam, they would frequent Vung Tau beach on the weekends. My aunt told me some really nice stories about coming here with my them, and how at the time, I was just a tad too young to go.

I thought about them quite a bit on this day.

Maybe I’ll take them here soon.

Cheers and happy training!