Travelogue :  Kyvan's Southeast Asia Adventure

Travelogue-Specials:

sign the guestbook of this travelogue!

 
Nov 17, 2005
Vung Tau: Hot Temperatures and Hot Tempers
Day 2
 

I woke up at 430 am because my sleep rhythm was so out of sync. We ate breakfast at Pho 24, a clean establishment with modern interior design, black shiny tables, forest green walls. A wonderful presentation of rau (herbs and other greens) which they had already leafed for us. The pho itself sucked! I was expecting the best bowl I had ever eaten. But I can tell you now that the best bowl of pho we ate in Saigon is on Bui Vien St. near the corner of De Tham in the backpacker district. For what was equivalent to 13 cents US, we had pho with the most succulent soup, fully flavored with juicy beef, and with delicate and tender rice noodles. We were please with this discovery of ours.

Onward to the Vung Tau port where we spent 100,000 VND/each ($6.30/each) for a one-way trip down Song Saigon which took approximately one hour. Our boat was a submarine-like ship and it's fast! In Vietnamese, this type of ship is translated as a "high-speed, underwater winged boat." It sits like a bus...so very impersonal, but over here things need to be practical and I'm all for that.

So we were off jetting through the river. There were cay beo (green pitcher-like plants) floating everywhere. And wouldn't you know it...our ship breaks down in the middle of the river. The temperature in the cabin was rising. It was getting hot! People were pissed. All Vietnamese people. "Why are we stopping...met qua! (so tiring!)" I thought it was cool. So they sent another hydroplane and we were off again down the river towards the South China Sea into the beach city of Vung Tau.

Upon arriving, we were hounded by taxi drivers for rides. We negotiated with an individual driver for 15,000 VND to take us to bai sau (back beach). The scent of ocean was prevalent and I was looking forward to eating seafood. So we swam in the water which was warm! but brown. I got to see con cong (small crab) which digs holes and sculpt little balls that create a wonderfully soft texture on the surface of the sand. It's so quiet here for a beach that is so warm. In fact, some of the pools of water that had collected in the sand were incredibly HOT! So hot it stings! It was time to eat lunch.

Well, at the restaurant, we experienced our first significant scam that really screwed us up royally. We ordered tom rang muoi (salt and pepper shrimp), and they gave us tom hum rang muoi (salt and pepper lobster). Look, these Vietnamese people know the difference between tom (shrimp) and tom hum (lobster). And we ordered tom. Tom hum was not even on the menu. And so we thought that's what they serve as shrimp in Vietnam. Anyway, we were charged the market price for lobster which turned out to be $51 US. SCAM! They knowingly served us the more expensive dish because they knew we had the money to pay for it. Anyway, after our first argument (of many to come in Vietnam), they took $20 off our total. BE CAREFUL! Everyone in Vietnam scams. Conning is their way of life. This is how they survive. People are desperate. They will never have enough change for you. Dishonesty prevails. But just watch your money carefully, and learn to adapt. You have to understand these people are poor. They live under a massively corrupt government where officials fly to France for breakfast and return when their people suffer in poverty.