Vung Tau good-bye

I was to be picked up at 7:00 a.m. but I was on the terrace with wet hair ready to go at 6:30. I wanted to enjoy the last views of this place. Son arrived early as well so we sat and looked at the sea for a few minutes before loading my stuff into the car and heading for breakfast. We drove to the Rex Hotel for a buffet breakfast. I'm not good with buffets as I don't eat very much food. But when Son asked, "Buffet?" I nodded yes thinking that was what he wanted me to have. Not knowing if there were other options I just went with it. Now this sounds simple enough but this host was paying for everything for me - - every single thing. There is nothing that I paid for and nothing I wanted for. So when asked to make a split-second decision I just said yes to the buffet.

I loaded up on fruit, French bread, eggs over-easy (swimming in some sort of fat), and juice. He eyed my plate when I sat down with apparent disapproval because I didn't take very much. He told me to go get more after I had eaten a few pieces of fruit. I knew then that he was trying to get me to eat more so he got his money's worth out of the deal. I went in and got more food (yet still steering clear of the limp, pale bacon) as well as a tomato-based broth soup with vegetables and noddle. He taught me again how to eat the soup (chopsticks, soup spoon, scoop food to soup spoon, etc.) but once again I was a miserable failure at it and he laughed and gave up trying. He asked if I wanted more and I said no. He sneered that it's a 'buffet...buffet 1-2-3' and motioned with his hand beyond that as if to say '4-5-6' indicating one goes to a buffet many, many times. So I went back and piled more on my plate then returned only to move it around trying to hide food and make it look like I was eating.

We took more photos, chatted a little, stared off into the garden and pool while drinking tea on that terrace. It was hot and I sweated profusely - - eating spicy soup only accelerates the sweating process. We sat in silence for about 15 minutes then headed for a drive since there was about 45 minutes left before I had to leave. We went to the lighthouse on top of the small mountain and took photos all along the way of the scenery and each other - - and of course, that car. It was quite pretty. We then drove back to the ferry station where he nodded 'yes' as though "yes, it's time to go." He loaded me on to the ferry, talked to the captains and introduced me to the one I didn't know, then packed my stuff under my seat for me and handed me my ticket, shook my hand and said good-bye. I gave him a quick hug and off he went. I was seated in the first class section of the ferry so I had an excellent view in front and beside me. It was very comfortable and I didn't want to go up on top like I had on the way down.

Arriving in Saigon I received an SMS from Debi asking me for coffee/lunch at Jaspa's at 10:00. Perfect timing! It was Monday and I still had a few more days to enjoy this paradise. It made leaving Vung Tau okay knowing I still had a few more days in Saigon.