July, the 27th 10ish pm. The plan was hatched to go to Vung Tau for a day trip on Saturday morning for some sun, sea, and sand to tour our friend, Uly who was visiting us in Saigon for two weeks.
Vung Tau - FYI - is the nearest getaway south of city (2 hours by road or 1 & 1/2 hours by ferry). The name Vung Tau came about because the geography in this area also forms a natural bay where many merchant ships would stop to seek shelter back in the day. In time, this area became known as Vung (puddle) Tau (ships). In the french colonization days, this area was named Cap Saint Jacques . I first went to this place - which I prefer to call by its french name - back in 2006 when I was alone and homesick in VN. My Vietnamese BFF, Thuy, invited me to this quaint place it being her hometown. I had a lovely time staying in their farm, where among other things, I witnessed a chicken being killed to be served as my meal, homemade beer, capped off by a raucous Vietnmese after-wedding party we crashed (this merits another blog entry). Since then I’ve been back one more time and have thoroughly enjoyed the picturesque place with the statue of Christ on top of a hill overlooking the coast (so very Rio de Janeiro - for it was copied there!).
Saturday, the 28th somewhere between 6am-6:30 am. Struggling to wake up and bargaining for a few more mins of shut-eye until the half hour struck and it was a mad scramble to get to the shower and pack our beach wardrobe and paraphernalia for the trip.
By 7-ish am we were in the bus station being told by the lady in the ticket counter that the 7.30 am bus had no more seats left. The next one to leave would be the 8am. We didnt want to wait that long so we quickly made a decision to take the ferry instead. Took a quick cab drive and encountered some minor confusion as he didn’t know what “ferry” meant; we quickly changed the term to “hydrofoil” + saigon river, and then we were on our way. By 7:30am we were boarding the ferry; by 7:31 I was feeling cold already under the very frigid airconditioning, and by 7.32 i was smelling the not so appealing smell of gasoline all over the place. When the ferry started to leave the dock, I started feeling drowsy. I wasn’t sure if it was biyahilo or just plain antok. I willed myself for the latter with much effort. The windows in the ferry were frosted (now why would they do that, right?) so there were no views to be seen. From my seat, I could see Uly outside near the rails animated in conversation with a girl oblivious to the pounding of the waves and the wind around them. Well, at least one of us was enjoying the trip. Lem was far, far away in dreamland, while I focused my attention on trying to sleep and willing the ferry to go faster.
We got to Cap St. Jacques by almost 10am in the midst of strong, cold winds and cloudy weather. But that was okay because foremost in our minds was to EAT something and we knew what CSJ was famous for - banh khot tom cha - a miniature fried rice pancake with shrimp dolloped atop eaten with leaves and spicy sauce.
Yummy! So yummy in fact that we didn’t notice the rain pouring heavily outside, until it was time to hit the beach and we realized the perfect plan of sun, sea and sand was nowhere in sight.
It pretty much rained and poured the WHOLE time we were there, so we ended up staying in this new mall called Imperial Palace, drinking coffee in Highlands Coffee (the way we do in the city), eating in the food court (the way we don’t do in the city) rather than checking out the abundant seafood restos in the place because the weather was so freakin’ bad it didn’t allow for adventure and exploration. We realized soon enough that it was no use sticking to our plan of staying the whole day in CSJ (which increasingly I felt like calling by its local name, Vung Tau), so we booked a 2pm bus and asked to be picked in the mall.
The trip back home was spent in a cramped, smelly bus which had so many pick-up points it felt like a few hours until we were finally on the highway and seeing nothing but trees and the road, and of course, the rain. It didn’t help that the lola seated on the front was having a bad case of car sickness, and was giving off sounds of a guttural nature that almost led me to grab my own plastic bag and unleash my frustrations too about life and all that. Haha. Traffic was bad and we were stuck in numerous bottlenecks. My two companions were occupied in their own worlds - Lem was sleeping and Uly was deep in conversation with his seatmate - do we see a pattern here?! For some time I was occupied with maneuvering Lem towards our side cause he kept encroaching on his seatmate’s territory (poor guy started dodging Lem’s head as it tried to aim for his shoulder to sleep on. Haha). After that, all I could do was look out the window longingly for some air. Unfortunately, even that ”respite” was ruined by a group of boys outside riding a van and focusing their attention on me by blowing kisses in my direction. I was in a bad mood by then so I did a very mature thing and stuck our my tongue then pulled the curtains together to block my view. Ang sungit.
We got home by 5pm and chilled the rest of the day. We didn’t have our weekend beach getaway, but I am sure a few months from now we will try again, albeit wishing for better weather, smoother traffic, and no weird boys blowing kisses in the wind.
Cap Saint Jacques we’ll be back!
but there are some things you have to do (or days you have to work), even if you don't see the whole or half point of doing so. It doesn't dampen my excitement in the least. In fact I think being stuck here while I am on complete holiday mode just makes the anticipation take on a whole new level. Time, time feels likes it's on slow mo - I've been looking at my clock and it's been stuck at 4:28 pm for the longest time! I managed a calm enough morning but right after lunch time, it just hit me big time. I'm going on a holiday! A holiday I badly, badly need, so much so I've been hearing Maddonna singing in my ear the past month (and it wasn't "Papa Don't Preach").
