Phan Thiet

 

Phan Thiet, Day 1

I got tons of sleep last night, so I was ready to go at 7:30am.  We boarded a bus and left.  There are only 12 students and 2 adults on the tip, and one student never showed up, so there are only 13 of us.  Small trips are fun and are a lot easier.  On the bus we all got a whole row of seats to ourselves, 2 for our bags and 2 for ourselves to spread out on . . . a nice change from the cramped buses of past trips.  Also, the one girl who didn’t show up was supposed to be my roommate in the hotel, so I get my own room!  Excellent!  2 hours into the drive to Phan Thiet we stopped at a rest stop to refuel and use the restrooms.  Most of us bought iced coffee with milk, and we had our first taste of this strong, rich, super sweet delight.  Vietnamese coffee is amazing.  The coffee in India was almost as good, but loving sweet things, this coffee is at the top of the best coffee I have ever had.  As we drive father north the landscape completely changes.  Rows of rubber trees, palm trees, and other lush and vibrant green plants cover the countryside and the rolling hills.  The contrast between the rich green hills and the light blue skies is gorgeous.  Every once in a while you see a deforested area and can’t help to wonder how it got like that . . . is this recent damage, or a result of a defoliant from the war.  The drive was extremely relaxing.  Everyone was silent:  sleeping, reading, and listening to music.  Gives you time to think, to breath, to appreciate.  When we arrived at the hotel we immediately knew that we would have an awesome time.  The resort is actually small, with low buildings hidden amongst rich greenery and bright flowers.  They have an endless pool, the type that looks like it drops off into nowhere, and it is set up with lounges and a bar.  The water comes direction to a wall with steps . . . there is no real beach.  The water, however, is beautiful and warm.  We ate a 6 course meal with fish, squid, pork, rice, soup, and fruit.  After lunch we put our stuff in our rooms.  The rooms are nice . . . a nice bathroom, flat screen TV, free wireless internet, a lounge and sitting area, a patio area, and all for each room, which means I get it all to myself.  RELAXING!  We then left to take a boat tour.  Phan Thiet is a fishing industry village, so we took row boats, 2 people per boat, for about an hour on the river.  All the men in the fishing boats were fascinated with us, but we couldn’t understand what they were saying.  No one here speaks English.  After the boat tour we all got a cyclo tour.  We each got our own cycle, a bicycle with a seat on the front.  The tour guides took us around, showing us a few sites.  We went to a famous temple in town that is home to the largest whale skeleton in SE Asia.  The whale is considered holy in fishing towns such as this one.  After that we went to the market for a half hour (where I bought 8 more DVDs) before boarding our bus and coming back to the hotel to freshen up.  We left for dinner at 7pm and went about 10 minutes down the road to a restaurant.  We were served soup, pork, chicken, and then a pot of chicken, pork, fish, shrimp, and squid mixture on noodles, and then fruit for desert.  Yum.  While most people took the bus back to the hotel, Maggie, Erica (a girl who I had made friends with in Namibia) and I walked back to the hotel.  Some people got massages across the street for about $10 for an hour, but I decided just to relax in my room and watch the TV.  I think tomorrow I might get some spa treatments, we will see.

 

Phan Thiet, Day 2

I got a wake up call at 7am, when I normally get up, and had a nice relaxing breakfast by myself in the lobby.  We were given vouchers so that we didn’t have to pay.  The breakfast was buffet style, and like Thailand, had non breakfast foods such as noodle dishes as well.  I uncovered the secret to their great coffee.  Instead of using sugar and milk, they used condensed milk!  This makes it thicker and super sweat.  Yum.  After breakfast we were given the choice to either continue with the plan, a tour of some sand dunes, or to stay at the hotel.  Eric, Erica, Cayleen, and I stayed at the hotel, a choice that we made wisely.  Turns out the sand dunes weren’t great after all, and nothing compared to Namibia, and they fried to death in the heat of the sun while we swam in the pool.  I walked about 5 blocks to the nearest ATM around noon, to get out some spending money for the rest of my time in Vietnam and to have some money to buy drinks tonight.  On my way back I stopped and bought a mango for 10.000 dong, or about 65 cents.  Mango in the US is expensive, and is terrible and hard.  This was the best mango that I have had so far.  I had great mango in India, Thailand, and Mauritius, but the mango that I had from the street vendor was unbeatable.  The juice ran down my arms, a rarity with mango.  Yum.  I wish I could have that taste forever in my mouth.  I spent the rest of the day lounging around, and then I got a hair treatment at the Spa for only $6.  Some of us wandered over to a local bar for Happy Hour Mojitos, and then we went back to our hotel at 7pm for the BBQ dinner.  It was great, tons of food.  The brother of one of the guys on my trip, and his friends, decided to come to Phan Thiet for the night so after they arrived we all went out for drinks.  It was a great time.  When we came back to the hotel we decided to be European and about 15 of us went skinny dipping in the ocean.  We had seen some people do it during the day, so we knew that it wasn’t a taboo thing on this beach, and since it was dark we all felt comfortable with it.   It was liberating.  I went to sleep after that.

 

Phan Thiet, Day 3

We left the hotel at 9:30am and headed back to the ship.  The drive was super long because the traffic was pretty bad.  I think I will spend the night in the ship, I don’t feel like going out again tonight.