These days there’s not much happening in my life therefore the lack of posts. I haven’t been to any new restaurants because since 1 November we have a new caterer at school and they are great at their job! I called there to ask which of the vegetarian dishes are vegan and the lady I was talking to said that she would make sure that I get vegan lunch every day! Yay! And on top of it, it’s really delicious! Because I have a proper meal at school now, most of the time I’m not that hungry in the evening so I just make a smoothie.
Today is Saturday and I finally cooked something myself again. Tortillas! Unfortunately my avocado was completely rotten so no guacamole. But I made some cashew “sour cream”.
Last weekend, Nina, who is an intern at my school, and I went to Vung Tau by scooter. Vung Tau is the first beach where you can actually swim north of Saigon. It’s not that far distance-wise (about 100 km) but it took us 4 hours (including a break) on the scooter. Here is a map of the route. It included a ferry which was an interesting experience. It cost 4000 d (about 20 cents) for the two of us and the scooter 🙂
About half way we had a break at a rest stop. They have these hammocks everywhere!
And then, after 4 hours of noise, dirt and challenging traffic we finally arrived in Vung Tau! We went to the beach
and watched some tiny crabs making funny sand balls.
Then we started looking for a hotel and were wondering why all the cheap ones were already taken. Because it wasn’t busy at all. We finally got a room at Song Lam hotel (which was a nice hotel by the way) and went on another ride along the coastal road to look for another beach. Apparently the so-called front beach has a nicer view, the back beach is better for swimming though. So we went back to the back beach and suddenly knew why all the rooms were already taken. It got busier and busier by the minute and just before the sun set it really seemed that half of Saigon was there now.
In the evening we went for a walk, passed a book shop that impressed me somehow,
and went for dinner at a very yummy and super cheap com chay. The whole meal (glass of home-made soy milk, soup and rice with veggies and mock meat) was 10000 d (50 cents)!
On Sunday we went for a walk up a hill with a huge statue of Jesus Christ. Apparently this is the second largest Christ statue (after the one in Rio) in the world. Or at least this is what I think I read somewhere. From the hill you have a really nice view. From the top of the statue it’s probably even better, unfortunately we were both not dressed appropriately (covered shoulders, pants/dress covering the knees) and weren’t allowed up there.
We then went for another cruise along the coast and had one last drink before heading home.
The way back took us only 3 hours although it was about 110 km (we went via Bien Hoa). But because it was along the highway most of the time we were able to go a bit faster. If I did the trip again, I would probably go this way. Although I’m not sure if I wanna do it again if I have to drive the whole distance (Nina has never ridden a scooter). Driving here is just so much more exhausting than in Germany or Australia. Anyway, it was a fun weekend!
Miss Saigon 