Saturday, December 15, 2012

Vietnam Journal 12.15.10

Today's excursion too us to Back Beach where we wandered along Thuy Van Street which parallels the beach.  I'm pretty certain that we passed or were near the site of the First Cavalry R&R center that I visited several times in 1971.  The long expanse of beach punctuated by the prominent peak at the southernmost point of the Vung Tau peninsula looked very familiar.  These days, however, the beach is line with beach clubs of all sorts from the very fancy Imperial Hotel which boasts its own pedestrian overpass across Thuy Van Street to the much scruffier Surf Bar which consists of thatched buildings set in a grove of evergreens with very fine foliage.  We stopped for a soda at the latter and found the shade and breeze a refreshing relief from the heat.

We turned off Thuy Van Street to Le Hong Phong, a broad four-lane road with a planted median.  It led to a large traffic circle which is the site of a monument--a tall, rectangular spire topped by a star.  The area around the circle included many upscale buildings, including a fancy pagoda-style structure that displayed the national flag very prominently.  Farther down Le Hong Phong we found the post office and mailed a post card.  The clerks were all female and wore ao dai's , the traditional Vietnamese female grament.  The woman who served me cancelled my stamp with a hammer-like rubber stamp.

Our route took us through the "Home Depot" section of town where building supplies are widely available, often spilling out on to the sidewalks.  We also saw a lot of motorbike sales and repair, much of which also takes place on the sidewalk.  Everyone here seems very, very busy.

Later on, we stopped for a soda at a small storefront where we had to wake the proprietor who was asleep in a hammock.  Back at our hotel for dinner, I head a "fuck you" lizard.


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