Off to Vung Tau

Son and Un picked me up at Diamond Plaza at noon and we took a limo to the ferry. On the way Son said, 'You hungry?' Emphatically I responded 'no' since I had just eaten. I had purposely gone to the restaurant across the street for pho and yoghurt to tide me over until we got to Vung Tau. Evidentally he didn't believe me because all of a sudden we pulled over and Un told me to go with him to get some bread. As we crossed the street I asked what we were doing and Un said we were getting some bread for his father. But what that really meant is that his father asked him to buy bread for me and told him to take me so I can select what I want. This kind of indirect communication is very difficult for me in the United States and even more difficult for me in this country where I don't speak the language. 'No' rarely means 'no' I guess.

I tucked the bread (sandwich) into my bag and thwarted Son's efforts to make me eat it about 3 times over the next hour or so. I never did eat it. The food was prolific so I never felt the need to resort to a Vietnamese deli sandwich.

Arriving at the ferry it was obvious that Son knew the captain as the guy would pinch his arm or comment about the iPod he was listening to and just generally act familiar with him. Is there anyone this man DOESN'T know? Then I was introduced to the captain and I heard the word 'VIP.' Shortly after I was told to get up and follow Son and Un up the vertical stairs to the captain's seat where he drives the boat. It was there we sat for the entire journey, about 1 hour 15 minutes. It was thrilling and refreshing to travel in the open air and sunlight on the Saigon River and finally to the South China Sea where there were outlines of mountains of Long Hai. I was able to look closely at the ships on the river as well as the small family fishing boats that people apparently live on. It was vibrant and exciting.

"Good memory?" Son asked on the ferry. I nodded emphatically - - a very good memory! That seemed to be the entire focus of the trip, that I have a good memory of Vietnam.

Son and Un were talking amongst themselves and Un turned to me and asked what the word in English is for where a river meets the sea. Hm. I couldn't remember and hemmed and hawed. Finally I had to admit that I didn't know. Son said, "Jane English no good!" We all had a laugh about that, including the gruff old captain and his young and adorable captain's assistant.

Vung Tau was really mountainous with a big mountain and a small mountain on it. They excitedly showed me landmarks like their home on the small mountain, their home in the city behind that pink building over there, the front beach, lighthouse, etc. Son grabbed my camera and began taking photos. We took a taxi to their home which was only about 1/4 mile from the ferry station where I looked at all the pictures on the wall, most of them from our trip to Tibet. Many of them have Terry, Eileen, Hoe and me in them and many are blown up to 'maximum' size, as Son says. They're HUGE photographs in frames that hang EVERYWHERE. The maids brought pommellos, yellow watermelon, tea and cold water for us and Un played the piano, including my favorite of his, 'Theme from Love Story.' We took photos of each other in front of the other photos and went to get gas. Now that was an interesting experience.

We drove up to what looked like a house or some other unobtrusive structure. There was a guy in front of us getting gas by way of a big funnel in his tank and a woman carrying large containers of a yellow fluid to his vehicle. I thought he had just run out of gas - - I had no idea there were no "gas stations" in Vung Tau. When the owner of the car walked over to check on the status of the tank-filling with a lit cigarette that's when I spoke up; Un interpretted but Son had already decided to say something and wound his window to yell at the guy. Amazing that this guy came anywhere near. It wouldn't have bothered me so much except for we were about 5 feet away from him. When we were finished getting our gas Son signed a book and off we went. He gets a bill monthly apparently.

"Now we have pho," Son announced so we went to Pho 24, the ubiquitous pho store. We had carrot juice and pho and once again I learned the proper way to eat it - - I always seem to do it wrong and Son always feels the need to push me until I do it right which I never do. It's hard! Spoon in right hand, chopsticks in left, scoop up noodles on to spoon, slide noodles in to mouth with chopsticks then pick up the "food water" (Son's English) with the spoon. Oh, and the arms need to be horizontal to the table, per Son. I was this close to just picking up the bowl and drinking right out of it (like I do at home with my cereal when no one is watching)!

So Son kept telling me that the hotel for me to stay in was free. I said 'thank you' and he said, "No one pay. Free for Son! Owner friend." Of course the owner is friend! Who isn't!? But he added, "Buy towel." I assumed for the beach since it was across the street from the beach. Un confirmed that it was not a beach towel rather a regular bath towel that I had to purchase since there were no towels available. In fact, Son said, "Nothing there for you." That meant no food, no towels, no sheets, nothing. Just a blanket on the mattress and A/C, that's it. "But best sea view!" I kept hearing. When I arrived it was true - - it was incredible and I couldn't believe it! The room was nothing but the view was specatcular and the place was clean and very comfortable so I didn't care. Aromatic flowering trees were outside my room and it was a delight to open the door and walk outside.

Turns out the place was a government officers hotel; all patrons are government officials/police. At least I would be safe, I figured.