Not Approved by LP

Left PhuQuoc island Friday as the good weather came to an end and torrential rain had taken over.  The boat crossing  back to the mainland no problem and then decided to take the overnight bus to here, VungTau.  Unfortunately an awful 11 hour journey.  Very hot, sticky, over crowded and uncomfortable and for the first 5 hours an appalling road.  Didn’t get off to a very promising start when within minutes of leaving, a motorcyclist drove straight in front of the bus causing the driver to do an emergency stop and send the passengers in the front into the windscreen.  For some reason the motorcyclist then stopped which enabled the passengers to all get off the bus, surround the motorcyclist and read him the Vietnamese version of the highway code.  Eventually after being suitably chastised he was allowed to go and we carried on.

So arrived VungTau next morning tired and hot.  Took a motorcycle taxi only for the driver to forget to give me a crash helmet which is now compulsory, except for children as they have plenty of those so aren’t important enough to care and and Sundays when other people just don’t seem to care.  So immediately had the police chasing after us  and took a lot of kowtowing by the driver to avoid a fine. – they do some quite smart designer crash helmets, add a few feathers and could be worn at Ascot ladies day.

Being a major tourist resort at least finding a room would be no problem. Wrong.  It was Saturday and everyone from Saigon would be arriving so all the hotels wanted silly money.  One even told me they were only asking the Vietnamese price.  Must be the first time I’ve ever been offered the Vietnamese price for anything but on this occassion I did object on the basis that they fit a bus load of people in a room and I am on my own.  Eventually did find a place with a reasonable price.  The only downside was after having a shower and a sleep the owner wanted to know what time I was leaving.  Staying 4 days had somehow become 4 hours so more hassle.

Other than that VungTau has been ok.  Friendly and relaxed and some good coffee shops to enjoy an iced coffee and watch the world go by.  Despite being a major beach resort the place will never get a blue flag or win any awards, surprisingly dirty and unkept but the Vietnamese seem to enjoy it.

Next will head into the central highlands assuming the road on the map is viable but didn’t plan on taking that route so have no idea whats there.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 4th, 2008 at 7:45 am and is filed under 1. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.