Vung Tau 3 - The last day

We had a pretty quiet day on Sunday.  Originally we had planned to go up the other mountain and look at the giant Jesus statue, but getting up early always sounds easier than it actually is...

Instead, we stay in bed until it was too late for the hotel breakfast, checked out, and went wandering off to the beach.

We got some smarts, though.  First we stopped and bought sunscreen.  Just by a stroke of good fortune, we entered the beach by walking through this little resort.  They had a nice swimming pool, but our togs will still back at the hotel.  Instead, we sat under the shade of four umbrellas in their cafe courtyard, sipping Vietnamese iced coffee.

From our privileged perspectives we watched workers picking rubbish up from the beach.  You can see the rubbish bag under the umbrella shade in this photo:

All beaches we have seen in Vietnam so far suffer from litter, washing up - as well as just being carelessly dropped on the sand.  I hope that as the tourism market increases in Vietnam a local awareness of the rubbish problem will begin to develop.  Because it is really the only thing that is marring this beautiful beach, and many others like it.

We stepped our feet in the water and it was deliciously warm.  Obviously the resort we entered at must be one of the most expensive spots on the beach front, because it wasn't crowded at all.  But the rest of the beach was stuffed with people.  Lots of delightful scenes like little kids burying their dads in the sand, and packs of boys dunking each other fully clothed under the surf.

We walked past this place on the beach-front too - obviously encroaching sand is a slight problem for this nicely shaded cafe!

Our hydrofoil back to the big smoke was at 2pm. Quite early because we didn't book tickets in time!  So we didn't spend all that long on the beach.  We hurried back to the hotel to collect our bag and for one last dip in the pool for Martin.  It was close to the middle of the day, so I didn't swim - still afraid of the sun!

Here's a picture of one of the guards in the garden at the Rex:

We are definitely keen to go back to Vung Tau some time soon - it's such an easy trip from Saigon.  If you have been, I would really appreciate any restaurant recommendations for our next trip!