Day 7

Today was our day to go to the beach and everyone was super excited when we all met in the lobby this morning. Unfortunately Kyle was feeling pretty sick and decided to sit this trip out and opted to get some rest in his room. After a good breakfast and waiting for Matt to get downstairs so the second taxi with Dr. Berman, his daughter Jess, Mike, and I. Thank God the trip to the dock only took a couple minutes because Dr. Berman, Mike, Matt, and I all had to squeeze into the back seat of a tiny taxi and I had Mike and Matt sitting on top of me.

When we arrived at the dock Feng and Kean from UEF were already waiting for us with Mr. Tin. After a few minutes we boarded the hydrofoil we would be taking to the beach. I have to admit the hydrofoil was pretty cool especially since I had never been on one before. When we got on we were told where our seats were. Our group was seated in the front of the hydrofoil which was awesome because there was a big glass windshield that allowed us a great view of our journey. I got up a couple times and went to the small outside smoking spot so I could get a closer look at the flora and fauna as well as to get some pictures of our trip to the beach.

After about an hour or so we got in to our dock and proceeded across the street to get some drinks to cool off at an outdoor café. The place was pretty cool because it had a really awesome outdoor seating area with vines growing over a wooden frame above you. It created a sort of canopy that helped shade us from the sun. After our pit stop we grabbed a bus that Mr. Tin had arranged for us to a Christian place with a huge statue of Jesus at the top of a decent sized mountain. Luckily the mountain had stairs so we could climb all the way to the top in the scorching heat. The walk up was really cool though because there were a lot of other great statues and a great view from the top of the ocean and the city below. At the top we saw a huge cannon, which was weird considering it was located right next to the enormous statue of Jesus. We found out from Mr. Tin that the mountain used to be an old French fort. The cannon was left there as a symbol of the fort that was once there.

After wandering around at the top of the mountain for a while we started to make our way back down. I felt really bad for Mike because he had been feeling pretty bad all day and I seriously thought he was going to pass out from the heat on the way down the mountain. Luckily he made it down in one piece and we all got back on the bus and headed to the beach. There was an option to go to a Buddhist temple but I was really ready for the beach so I opted out of that. David decided to go though and I gave him my camera to take some pictures with.

At the beach I found some locals to play soccer with and I was having so much fun. Most of them were pretty decent but there was one kid who was really pretty good. At one point we were playing a variation of 5 vs 2 and between the two of us we beat the same kid about 12 times. It was really funny. When the rest of our group got back from the Buddhist temple David and Mike joined in with our game. [David was pretty good but a little spastic with his skills. Mike was talking himself up all day but from what I can tell he just had played intermural soccer (not that theres anything wrong with that). It was really funny to watch Mike talk such a big game and then not be able to back it up. He spent most of his time in the middle due to his lack of control and foot skills.] We all were having a great time but eventually we all got to hot and took a swim in the ocean. The water was really warm and not so refreshing but it was still a good time. The water there was really really dirty though. I’m talking trash bags and all sorts of garbage in the water. At one point I pulled a net and a plastic trash bag from around my ankle.

After some swimming we headed back to the shore and played some volleyball with the UEF kids. It was a lot of fun. After all the time in the sun I was getting pretty beat and burned. Luckily it was about time to leave by the time we finished volleyball so we hopped in the showers at the beach and got cleaned up then got back on the bus and headed back to the dock to catch our next hydrofoil. We got on the hydrofoil home and I sat next to Tony. On the way back he showed me some of the music he likes and let me listen to some Vietnamese music too. I really liked it all and asked him to make me a cd to bring home. David also sat next to me and we decided we were going to serenade Feng with a song which was hilarious. After our serenading David did his magic and played connect four with Feng while making a dinner date for the following night (cheers to David). Unfortunately Feng gets really bad motion sickness and got a little3 sick on the ride back. Once we got to Ho Chi Minh City again she was fine thankfully.

The ride home did take a lot longer than expected because a tree or something got stuck in our engine and they had to send divers in to cut it out with machetes. Pretty crazy experience to be a part of. The whole time I was just waiting to get back to our hotel room so I could bathe in aloe because I got pretty sun burnt while I was playing soccer on the beach with everyone. Once I finally did get back to the hotel room I took a nice cold shower and felt a little better.

After everyone finished getting cleaned up we all went out for dinner to this really awesome bbq. Matt and I demolished that place in terms of food. We got a family meal for 4 and split it between us, plus another couple chicken skewers and some clams. It was so good. It was a welcomed break from some of the more exotic Vietnamese food we had been eating. After filling our stomachs to the brink of exploding we walked back to the hotel and headed off to bed. The sun had really taken its toll on us and we all called it an early night. Today was amazing, hopefully tomorrows class and site visit will be just as awesome.