Day 9

Early this morning we got on the bus to go to Vung Tau which is a Provence south-east of Ho Chi Minh City and it has a few beeches on the South China Sea. To get there we had to take a boat down the Siagon River and we sailed past dense jungles. I estimate that we could see about five feet into the jungle. I don't have any pictures of the jungle, but check some of my friends blogs for photos of the jungle. Occasionally there we a few houses made of various natural materials along the riverside. Wouldn't that be an interesting place to live!

At the beech we played a few games and enjoyed the water. I also found a few sea shells along the coast line (there were TONS of them). We took turns basket tossing each other as high as possible, and during my turn I reached about five or six feet vertically above the water at my maximum height. I rotated in the air and hitting my back on the water was painful! I kept my phone in Trân's backpack so it wouldn't get damaged; I didn't get any my own pictures while at the beech. I plan on sharing photos with my other friends though.

A Temple off the shore

After swimming we went to lunch at a seaside restaurant. After lunch we went up to a Jesus statue on a nearby hill. From the top our lunch restaurant was clearly visible and it is in a beautiful location. The Jesus statue was maybe 50ft tall and he was watching over the entire bay.

Jesus

Jesus's View of our lunch restaurant

On the boat ride back Trân and I walked to the outside of the boat for a brief break from the inside cabin. I estimate that the boat a moving about 50mph (not sure of the speed in knots), so the speed was sufficient to stick your hand over the side of the boat and adjust the angle to produce lift and downforce. I do this regularly when riding in the passenger seat of a car back home and I thought Trân might enjoy it. So I showed her how to shape her hand and then she immediately understood the concept of lift in a practical sense. One of the best things about Vietnamese people is their expressive nature. Trân always makes me smile when something surprising or unexpected happens because she has such enjoyable and present reactions. When her land started to take off she exclaimed "WHAT?!"; her accent combined with her expressions make her reaction very enjoyable. This routinely happens and I love it. She says "oh my gosh" very frequently and it makes me laugh each time. Many of my UEF friends have enjoyable expressions as well. My riding buddy Tâm always makes me smile when something surprising or new happens.