One word that describes today: Sweaty. Today we went to Vung Tau beach with about 8 or 9 UEF students. (Julie was originally not going to go but my marketing/persuasion skills came into play and I got her to come :]). In order to get to Vung Tau we took a taxi to like the downtown area and then we boarded a hydrofoil. It looked like a giant above ground submarine. The seats on the inside looked like rows of comfy lawn chairs and there were areas of the boat where you could go outside. Me and my UEF crew (wow I sound like such a dork for saying that) took a bunch of pictures outside with the beautiful sea in the background. (I also took pictures with this random person because he said he never saw an American before haha). The boat ride was about an hour long until we got to the Vung Tau area.
Before we went to the beach we went to a temple/pagoda with beautiful architecture and multiple Jesus and religious statues. There was also a huge Buddha that was female, which I have never seen before. When we went inside the temple Tin, Chi and Ha taught me how to pray and do the rituals. When you are kneeling on the ground you pray for something while shaking a cup with more then 75 sticks, each with a different number. You shake this container until one stick falls out. The number you get predicts the events that will happen to you this year. I got number 38 so Tin gave me my "fortune" I guess you could say and Anh read it and said that it was very good! (She doesn't know how to translate it but she did say that one part said that my family will be in good health. Woo!)
After this we went on a hike of more then 1,000 steps. This was a challenge to say the least. I ended up in the back with Tin and 6 or 7 UEF students because we all stopped like every 5 minutes to stand in the shade. The air was so thick that it was really hard to breathe. However, we did make it to the top of the mountain where the giant Jesus statue greeted us. They had a whole area set up with benches that were donated. There were a few donated by Philadelphians which was nice to see! The view was BEAUTIFUL! On one side you saw the sea, the other you saw the city and the other sides were houses in the hills. (Unfortunately the pictures that I took didn't do it justice).
After we finished the hike (and all drenched in sweat) we went to lunch. The food was pretty good! We had fish cakes, shrimp on a skewer, rice and pho. The only thing that I did not like was that they crammed us into two small tables so we were on top of each other, sweaty and there was no air conditioning.
After lunch we finally hit the beach! If you met me you know that I am NOT a beach person and would go anywhere else except there but this was a very nice beach! The water was clean and warm and the sand was clean and soft. They even rented us umbrellas and chairs. It was a very relaxing few hours after that looooong hot hike!
We left the beach around 4:00 PM and got back around 7:00 PM. We all wanted to do different things so Carly, Amy, Jen, Jake and I wandered around Ho Chi Minh City looking for a fancy restaurant. We were about to give up until we came across a place full of lights and Jake had said that Tin recommended this to him. BEST DECISION EVER. The food was inexpensive and PHENOMENAL. I had noodles with seafood, a bottle of water and THE BEST CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM YOU HAVE EVER HAD IN YOUR ENTIRE LIFE all for 182,000 dong (which is about 9 US dollars!!!). I will never be satisfied with American ice cream again. It is a real shame.
We got back to the hotel around 11:00 and I fell asleep at 11:30 (with my laptop open while I was writing this). It was a very relaxing day; a nice change from the rest of the week!! Tomorrow we go to the market, I AM SO PUMPED!!!
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