My son Alec arrived in HCMC late Wednesday night and we've been having a blast ever since. Thursday featured head and shoulder massages for Alec and I from two giggling girls, duck for lunch, a long walk to Lido and a short walk to Ghita for coffees, and Phuong's fabulous cooking -- beef, sprouts, onions, garlic and stuff I don't know.
We got up early Friday and, after a stop at ABC Bakery for cheese danish, our driver took us to Vung Tau. Phuong hooked us up with a room next to the beach. She's so cool and awesome. Anyway, we immediately went swimming in the salty and ridiculously warm South China Sea and enjoyed the heck out of it. Phuong surprised Alec and I with how long she stayed in the water and bounced around. Alec enjoyed himself despite jet lag, and the White Monkey attempted to heal his battered body with the salty sea water. Friday was great because the crowds hadn't arrived yet for the holiday weekend. For lunch, we went to a seafood place where you selected the fresh crabs and shrimp you wanted the restaurant to cook. Not too shabby. We returned to the beach for more swimming. For dinner, we took a taxi into the heart of Vung Tau and ate at a Bien Hoa-like outdoor restaurant where we had octopus and some unknown tasty fish along with the greatest fish spring rolls I've ever eaten. Good coffee and lousy pastries followed dinner.
I was shocked at how clean and nice Vung Tau was ... at least the parts we went to. One of the foreign teachers recently quit my school in Bien Hoa to work in Vung Tao, and now I see why.
We got up early Saturday, had lousy, cold coffee and lots of bacon at our breakfast buffet, and then Phuong and I returned to the sea for more bouncing around. Alec relaxed on the beach. The scene was quite different Saturday because hordes of Vietnamese vacationers were on the beach, in the water, and at the buffet. They were pretty cool, but there were lots and lots and lots of them. And 90 percent of them swim in long pants and long-sleeved shirts. The sun is the enemy to these people. Makes sense, I guess.
We checked out and went to a fish/oyster/crab farm on the outskirts of Vung Tau and took a boat to lunch ... all arranged by my incredible wife Phuong. We had a superb lunch of milk octopus, regular octopus, shrimp with sweet and sour sauce, cooked oysters and raw oysters. The raw oysters were unbelievable. Really. I had about a dozen with a wonderful hot sauce. We stopped in Long Thanh to pick up some milk and yogurt on our way home. A happy day, indeed. Alec seemed to enjoy himself, even after I insisted on a long walk in the brutal heat when we got home. No one had dinner. We just slept. As it should be. A mighty thank you to Phuong for doing all the legwork on our little trip. She's the best. I'm the second-best because I still haven't had a cigarette since my motorbike accident five weeks ago.
Also, I feel compelled to mention that one of the passengers on the boat that took us to lunch said I looked like a Hollywood actor. But he didn't say which one. (Maybe it was Ernest Borgnine.) I told Phuong she can now call me Mr Hollygood.
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