Our ride was one of these boats that habitually ply the Saigon-Vung Dao route... They were not super comfortable but just about bearable for a trip that was pushing on two hours...
This is the pier that greets visitors who arrive in Vung Dao via the river...
Vung Dao is a seaside town where, first, French colonialists, and now stressed-out city-dwellers go to recharge for a spell.
This is our hotel, which faced the beach. It was nothing like the Hyatt's which I have, for better or worse, grown used to. But it is adequate and quite satisfactory by Vietnamese, and in particular, Vung Dao's standards. I heard it is also cheap. Apologies for not being able to remember the price for my Mum had pre-booked this in anticipation of my arrival.
We were on the 3rd floor and this is our view from there, which was quite ok by me.
And these were the many roadsides stalls which littered the road abutting the stretch of beach where our hotel was situated...
After a short rest, we went out for diner at a seafood restaurant. These were the main dishes we had.
Fried squid with vegetables...
Fried pork ribs....
And fish soup.
The food was just about passable, nothing you could not get in Singapore, which was why my Mum was fuming. You see, Vung Dao is a holiday town which caters to a lot of tourists and that is why it is littered with seafood restaurants. My Mum had asked the taxi driver to recommend us a good one, only to regret the decision for, according to her, the price that was charged was a rip-off, not much higher than what one would be charged in Singapore. She is still not sure if we were charged differently from what the locals were, despite the menu showing the prices. So, if the old lady be believed, eat at ordinary food places (stalls by the roadside even), don't go to 'specialist' seafood restaurants and certainly don't ask the taxi drivers to recommend a place.
The small business of dinner finished with, we headed for a spot of hound-dog racing, which seems the islanders' evening pastime.
Unlike the Singapore Turf Club where racing is mostly about making money and where there is a rigidly enforced age restriction, hound racing in Vung Dao is a social event where families, young and old, come to have some fun, show the kids the dogs and perhaps have a little flutter.
Especially for the kids, there are photos to be taken with a 'dog' star...
This is my friend, who is not a kid, but doubtless young at heart, posing with the friendly canine.
In addition, for those who are not intent on studying the odds in between races, there is an enclosure where the public can interact with hound puppies. Well, they were puppies when I saw them in January with Jac. They look so big now. I wonder how long before they too will be racing.
Ah yes.... Racing.... Those of you who have read Jac's entry on this will be familiar with these pictures, but all the same, here are pictures of the dogs being led out, paraded and then racing, where they chase a mechanical quarry. I suspect that most of them know that they are simply racing to be the 'top dog' though, and that most of them want to win, quarry or no quarry.
All those of you who know me know I just love intelligent guessing. Well, the bookmaking facilities are adequate and not far off from those at some of the Pools or Turf Club outlets in Singapore. For the record, I lost 60,000 Dong... Around S$4.
After racing, we went back and strolled down the beach. It was a much more pleasant walk than in the day as the air was cool, with a reasonably strong breeze blowing. Pity we could not see anything... Except...
Fervent wishes in the shifting sands....
And yet more seaside foodstalls, from which my voracious friend purchased yet more shellfish to partake in the comfort of the hotel.
And that was about it for the night in Vung Dao. Though we had to leave early the next day, we managed to take a shot of what the beach looked like in the day...
As well as some of the more prominent landmarks, including this statue of Jesus which stands atop a hill overlooking the harbour, no doubt one of the remaining vestiges of French influence from an earlier era.
We also managed to get more shots of the waters around the quay from which we departed back to Ho Chi Minh City...
And that was it for Vung Dao, really...
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