Weekend in Vung Tau

A new week is here which means MONDAY again...

My Vietnamese lessons were supposed to begin today but it’s postponed coz my other two classmates are away for business… Mixed feelings as I really want to begin formal learning but then again, it always feels good when class is cancelled (some things never change)! :)

On an academic note, some Japanese guy broke a record for reciting Pi to 83,431 places. Pi in the sky? No, it’s true! Hard to believe eh… and here I am having trouble trying to recall what I had for lunch yesterday.

Fun in the sun

The past Saturday was great fun. I went to Vung Tau, a beach town and resort two hours southeast of Ho Chi Minh City. Woke up early at 7am and drove there with Linh. Vung Tau turned out to be a pleasant surprise. I was expecting a crowded beach with streets full of motorbikes, especially for a weekend. Instead, the streets were wide and clear of traffic, and the beach was full of unoccupied deckchairs.

The weather was erratic with sporadic showers in the afternoon and evening, but luckily the morning spent at the beach was filled with sunshine. The water is not terribly clear and the sand is not powdery white – but on the whole, the experience was fresh. I’ve been stuck in the office for the past ten months or so and I’m beginning to pale. At the beach, I managed to waddle in the cool seawater, drank ice-cold beer under the sun, and developed a nice shade of tan (actually my skin is pink and hurting now but I believe the color will change into something sexy soon…haha).

The afternoon was spent driving along the beach and circling around the town. Actually, the town is so small that we drove along the beach and circled around the town at least four times. We also did two hikes – one hike up a hill to see a huge statue of the Virgin Mary and another hike up a mountain to see an equally huge statue of Jesus. I realized that I’m not as fit as I used to be when I started to pant a few minutes into the climb. Sigh...time to hit the gym again?

Off to the races

Undoubtedly, the highlight of the trip was the greyhound racing that took place that night. We spent three hours deliberating and analyzing the track records of 80 greyhounds (10 races with 8 dogs each). There is so much to understand when selecting a potential winner – the breed of dog, its age and experience, prior performances and placing, its weight, its hyperactivity on the day – and if you win, a pure sense of pleasure overcomes you. On aggregate, I lost money (I only won two of ten races) but the entire night was sheer excitement.

Due to some technical setback, I’m unable to upload any photos now, but fret not – I will put your mental visuals into proper perspective soon. I guess I'll also have more narratives then too. Look out for them!