7 Days

Today was our beach day to Vung Tau. It was the prettiest island I've ever been to but I can't upload any pictures of it because I took them all on my camera. We took a hydrofoil down the Saigon River and into the South China Sea, aka the East Sea, aka the Pacific Ocean. It was another insanely hot day and the sweating was ridiculous. Really brings the group closer because everyone's all suffering together. We went to a temple, which had very intricate designs and was beautiful. ( I forgot to blog about this, but we also went to one on the Cu Chi day, they were both intricate and beautiful.) The Vietnamese students came with us to this trip, but since paleness is revered here, they all cover up every inch of their bodies. It blows my mind that they don't get heat stroke more often. So, we went to the temple and then went on a sort of hike where we climbed up a whole lot of stirs until we reached a Jesus. By the way, this beach reminded me of pictures I've seen of Rio de Janeiro. Only this was on a smaller scale. But yeah that's the mental picture you should have.

So then we went to the beach and swam and relaxed. Usually at the Jersey Shore around this time, it's still a little too cold to stay in the water for 3 hours. Here, it's hard to stay out of the water for more than 15 minutes. Oh and the Vietnamese stayed under an umbrella for most of the time, and then finally came in the water fully clothed. A very interesting cultural difference. It was a relaxing day, and at the end we took the hydrofoil back up the river. After this I went back to the hotel and showered, followed by a quality bonding outing at a Japanese restaurant. The group dynamics somehow work out pretty seamlessly, and we're having a lot of fun together.

The Jesus statue we saw

The beach we were on, with the Jesus statue in sight on the hill.