Lobster season (day 7)

You are about to hear about probably my favorite day her. Brace yourselves. 

Yesterday was beach day... WAHOOO

We started the morning going on a hydrofoil which is like a baguette shaped ship with airplane like seating. Unfortunately, it was indoors, but there were certain areas we could go stand up in that were outside to take pictures and enjoy the wind. The ride there wasn't too bad. It was fun watching the scenery change from city to almost like marshland and the florida everglades and then open up into the bay. We also had a huge block of seats all together so people would just throw themselves down in any open seat and strike up conversation. 

We finally arrive and to most people's enjoyment, there was a KFC which the group stopped at and a few people got popcorn chicken. I had a piece of someone else's, but I couldn't bring myself to pay for American fast food. But it did taste mighty delicious. 

We hopped onto buses and were carted off to the base of a mountainside. Looking up we saw a statue of Mary and Jesus straight ahead. Off to the left you could see more statues portraying Jesus in the various stations. To the right and much farther over, was a Buddha facing the opposite direction. At the base was a rather large Catholic Church unlike one I had ever seen before. It was gorgeous and some kind of service was clearly going on. A huge part of Vung Tau (where we went) was seeing all these different religions blend together in one small area. We climbed up lots of steps were we were able to enjoy these statues up close, we didn't; however, go near the buddha. 

Next up was going to the nearby Buddhist Pagoda. It was beautiful. However, it was also kind of exactly what you expected from a pagoda, which isn't necessarily strange considering almost every Catholic Church looks exactly the same yet somehow every Braschayko family vacation we manage to visit every single one in a 100 mile radius (cough cough mom and dad). It was a cool cultural experience. I was however a little bugged by the behavior of some people during these two visits.  I do understand different religions are fascinating, but while at the Catholic Church many people were loud and uninterested in learning about the customs. They just treated it as if it were a common building and did as they pleased. While at the pagoda; however, everyone wanted to go in and try out the customs and the such. I do understand Catholicism is something most people already know about, I just was taken aback and slightly upset over the matter.

Nonetheless it was a marvelous day. Next up was the large statue of Jesus similar to that in Brazil. I sweat as much as I used to at daily doubles on this short hike up the mountain. It definitely is harder to breath and extremely hot and humid. The whole hike was beautiful though so it didn't seem long at all. The occasional shade was the highlight of the hike though. I had wished it had been more of an off terrain hike. The path was lined with these beautiful, intricate stone steps, which my legs are now feeling a bit today. Once at the top there was the most beautiful view of the city and the coast line. I even stood there and said, "The views, ahhh the views." You're welcome dad. They had these benches the whole way up. They seemed like they were benches people could purchase and have engraved. There were lots from all over Vietnam, but the majority seemed like they were from PA, which was so strange to me. Someone else found two Oregon's and took pictures for me. I found a Spokane which was the closest to home I saw. It was fun for everyone to go looking at them hoping to see one from nearby their home. 

After the hike was lunch. The cauliflower was absolutely amazing. That and a bowl of rice and a bottle of water was about all I could stomach. It was just too hot to eat and everyone was ready to get to the beach and swim. 

After a long wait, and by long I mean like 5 minutes, we were finally at the beach. There were all kinds of beach side bars and vendors, but everyone went straight to the beach and straight into the water. My first mistake- not reapplying sunscreen.... whoops... The water was some of the warmest I had ever swum in. Luckily though, the farther out you went the cooler it got. We also had to go out so far to even be at waist leveled water. A few of us swam all the way out to the buoy too which felt so great. I stayed in the water almost the entire time. I did; however, get out for a short amount of time with Carly to go hunting for a smoothie. We didn't find a smoothie, but we ended up at a Russian bar where we ordered juice, thinking it was just gonna be from a bottle. But boy were we wrong. The bartender pulls out a full pineapple for mine and a full baby watermelon for hers. He then pulls out a juicer and proceeds to juice both the pineapple and the watermelon. It cost less than two dollars for this large and delicious glass of freshly squeezed pineapple juice. He then cut up the remainder of the watermelon and the pineapple and served it to us. It was the most perfect treat ever. After that I had a piece of bread and it was straight back to the water until it was time to leave. 

The hydrofoil on the way back was much more painful. It was so hot and crowded and muddy, and not to mention longer. It felt great to get back and shower though. 

A small group of us decided to wander last night until we found a restaurant. Well we wandered until we found this beautiful looking restaurant kind of in the middle of nowhere. It was by far the best meal I have had here. The waiter spoke wonderful english and laughed at us when we ordered. They had steak and french fries with french bread for 3 dollars. That was impossible to pass up, so four out of five of us ordered that. Then we all ordered another entree and dessert. I got the steak, vegetable stirfry and salad rolls finished with almond ice cream. The entire meal cost me 250,000 dong which is the equivalent of $12.50. 

Now, it is Monday morning. I'm sitting at breakfast enjoying myself and the food. Today is market day and I can't be more excited!!!! 

As the Braschayko family gathering in Minnesota comes closer and closer I'm getting more and more bummed I can't be there! Congrats Steven on graduating, and I hope everyone has a blast!!!!!

All my love.