Vung Tau

Back to work this week and ended the week in the (small) city of Vung Tau.  A colleague of mine located a stain glass maker who 10 years ago did some work in her house.  She found out that he now works part time in Vietnam and has his own factory.  He is Vietnamese and also lives in Canada.  Lois organized a trip to his shop.

We also learned of a great way to get to Vung Tau - a VIP luxury Limo that seats 8.

$7US  per person each way for a speedy 1 1/2 hour trip.  Josehep Truong showed us his factory and then took us for lunch at a great spot along the river.  The restaurant wound along the river and so the servers each had segue to dash around with trays of food.  I am sure they loved their job.

We also stopped at one of the local churches where he did all the windows.

Then it was off to see one of the many tunnels that were used during the war.  He liked to joke that they have expanded some of the tunnels to accommodate the 'large' tourists.  We did not go in this time as this one was closed for the day.

We eventually convinced him to take us to our hotel since he was eager to keep being a guide late into the night.  We stayed at a modest place and chose to spend our cash on a fine little French restaurant that we discovered last time we were here.  Next morning we were back at the French Bistro for breakfast and then off to the beach.  There is a very large beach in Vung Tau with lawn chairs and umbrellas to rent - this beach is not tree lined with palms.  There were some huge waves so we splashed around a bit until it was time to shower and take our limo back home.  A great get away from the heat and congestion of Ho Chi Minh.  As we drove home we read that it was -10 in Toronto and another pile up of cars outside Bowmanville due to icing.  Feeling pretty smug here.