15 Feb 2020
We took the long drive out and back to Vung Tau with our guide HUNTER and our driver. HUNTER was very informative on the daily lives of the people not only in Vung Tau but about all the things we spotted on the way between Ho Chi Minh and Vung Tau. Once there we got to enjoy a nice relaxing swim a quiet beach for a few hours, complete with beach showers to wash the salt off and beers to relax with. Not quite the standard of our beaches in Australia, but that is an unfare comparison. Gentle waves, clean sand, clean water and peace and quiet.
We have been lucky on our trip that there are less tourists due to the Corona virus outbreak.
After the beach our guide joined us on the long hike of 800+ stairs up to the Christ statue. It might help if you are a little fitter than us to do this, but our guide was happy to go at our pace. You will definitely get a sweat up that’s for sure. Once up there you will get a nice view through the trees too the city below and out to the ocean. Not quite Christo in Rio but quite a sight nonetheless.
Upon finishing our gruelling climb lol, we went to a local seafood restaurant for a 5 dish feast. It’s fair to say that not only did we enjoy the food but a lot of others do also, as it was absolute packed with families and couples.Given tourists numbers are down I can only Imagine these to be locals.
After this we finished the tour with a visit to the whale temple including a short history lesson, plus a cruise through town to see a few more local sights.
The driver was more than willing to stop along the way to allow us to take some photographs of the town and things we found interesting.
The whole journey was very pleasant in our icy cold air conditioned vehicle. I would highly recommend this for a nice relaxing day away from the hussle and bussle of Ho Chi Minh.
If your lucky enough to have hunter as your guide all the better.
Our only issue is the long drive to and from but these things can not be helped.