Vung Tau

I am in VungTau, which is west of Saigon to visit with a teacher that I worked with on a previous volunteer assignment. I took the hydrofoil-speed boat- to get here. It took about an hour and it costs $10 USD, which is a good deal and fast. By car, it would take at least two hours. The boat holds at least 100 people, and it even has life jackets. Ha!! Getting off the boat can be a little bit of an ordeal, as you it docked up next to two other boats, so you have to traverse across these other boats, but they help you. The local people are much better at it.

Before I left Saigon, Thanh had arranged to have a student reporter interview me for a local paper. He did this without asking me, but it was ok. The reporter, Ms. Huan, didn't speak English, only VNese and Chinese, and so Thanh had to translate. She was very young but friendly. She was interested in the volunteer project I was doing in HaNoi but I tried to focus my answers on Global Volunteers Org. Later, she told me I could get a copy of the paper but I will have to get it translated. Ha!! I did this too because I thougtht might be good for the GV.

In VungTau, I called Mai Hein. She is an Eng. teacher in VungTau high school. She didn't know I was coming but came promptly to pick me up and take me to her house. I first met her in 2000. Her husband found me a budget hotel near their house. Again, the price and location was right. Later, we went out to a very nice restuarant for seafood. This city is a seacoast town, so lots of local seafood. Some of the food I didn't know, but we had crab, bass, shrimp, and tofu. We walked back to the hotel.

The hotel speaks no English, so I had to convey my room problems via crude sign language. Two problems: The AC was running but no cool air and the fan didn't work. The owner went to work quickly replacing the fan. That was all I needed for a good night's sleep, as there was no noise outside. This morning, I found a great Cafe place(coffee house) which had huge aquirium tanks as an inticement for customers. After that I walked to the local street market. Again some of the fish I saw there were unique. One huge basket of maggots(at least that is what they looked like to me). I did take a photo.

Mai took me to her school, which is brand new. It is one of the 5 national high schools in VN. Very nice, with a swimming pool and gym facilities. The students are on vacation now, but will start back in a few weeks. We had a hard time leaving the school, because the guard locked the gate and now he could not be found. The German shephard dogs the sleep near the gate seemed unconcerned about our dilemma. Ha!!

Lastly, I walked on the beach. Many locals here, enjoying the warm water and hot weather. The ocean and the beach both look clean.

I just like to make one comment about the internet cafes in VungTau. During the day, they are jammed with local kids, 5 years and older, playing additive video games for hours. And they charge them a much high price than local internet. Also, the computers are so jerry rigged, virus infected, and outdated programs, that I am surprised they even run.. ie. There is no spell checker on this program so I am sure I have some errors... I think I am spoiled..

I have been taking some photos and would like to add them but I haven't found the right internet cafe yet. Be patient...Later