Day Bay

Another early day today that began with caphe sua da.  Then we took a taxi from the hotel over to the Saigon River and hopped on a hydrofoil to take us to the South China Sea for a hike followed by a day at the beach.  

When we arrived, we were surrounded by sea and mountains and on these mountains were statues of figures from all different kinds of religions.  There were a few different buddhas, Mary (I think), and definitely Jesus.  Our hike was a 1000 step trek to the large Jesus statue that was located about halfway up the mountain.  The walk was beautiful and as we got higher the surrounding view got better and better.  After reaching the statue and walking around for a while we headed back down for lunch.

The food at lunch was good and the restaurant had a beautiful view.  We ate the usual kinds of food:  beef, chicken, and shrimp then headed for the beach.

I wasn't quite sure what to expect because people kept saying the beach was "alright" and apparently not nearly as beautiful as the other beaches of Vietnam, but it was amazing.  Blue waters and white sand beaches surrounded by mountains...I can't think of anything much more scenic than that.  The water was also warmer than most of the showers I get which was a definite change up from the icy Pacific waters I've grown used to.  This in combination with the fact that it was the usual 100 degrees outside led us all to swimming literally the entire time we were there.  

We headed back to the city (again on the hydrofoil), regrouped back at the hotel, and headed out for dinner.  We didn't have a set plan, but we ended up eating some of the best sushi I've ever had.

I didn't take this picture, but this is Vung Tau.