April 10 - Hello, HCM City!
While the Seaside Resort had no beach, it did have a nice pool, operating from 9 am or so. I was up with the sun, around six, and decided to go in for a nice swim. I was kicked out an hour later, but I got a good "bargain", some nice exercise. The breakfast was in a soulless room - how can any architect with some common sense design a room to a building alongside the coast, with none of the windows having a direct view of the coast? Must have been a genius. Breakfast was also quite forgettable.
The seaside before the Seaside Resort (not much of a pleasure...)
I had one more goal in this town - to find a laundry, as all my stuff was dirty. I found a lady in another part of town, who promised me to be done within two hours and she kept up to her promise. Not wanting to ride the remaining 100 km or so to HCM City, I found a hydrofoil that would leave at noon. I gathered my clean clothes, packed everything together and was on the boat at noon, with a perfect on-time departure. There was a lot of signs about safety, with the slogan of Greenlines being "Your safety is our priority". Hmmm...a couple of days later, I would find an English-language newspaper, which reported that a boat had sunk on the very same service, a couple of days before my departure (though with no-one being hurt).
Departing Vung Tau
The ride in a fast boat was my second one in Vietnam (the first one from Cat Ba to Hai Phong) and here they also let me stay outside - I was enjoying the views of the coast and of the other ships - everything from the smallest tuck boat to the huge ocean liners.
We entered the delta of the Mekong river, it was a very broad river flanked by rich vegetation.
Already in fresh water - lots of green
About two hours later, the markings of our civilization started appearing, as we were nearing HCM City. Vietnam, as said earlier, is experiencing a strong economic growth and there is a lot of construction, I saw a new bridge spanning the river being built.
Future bridge over the Mekong
We reached the port without any incidents and I was in midst of HCM City. My priority, yet again, was to find a bike shop - I wanted to ensure my bike would get boxed for the flight and also to fix the issues with the shifter. It was even easier than in Hanoi - soon, I was at a shop, but they spoke no English at all. Google showed there was a second shop not far and here I got lucky - everyone spoke good English. I explained the problems I had been experiencing and we agreed that everything would be fixed in time for my flight, scheduled for two days later.
With the top priority taken care of, I could tend to experiencing and discovering the city. I found an entire place an apartment, close to the center, for quite a good price via Airbnb. Then I went for a walk, without a particular destination and found a very pleasant café on a side street under large old oak trees, I sat there for a couple of hours, enjoying some cooled drinks in the heat. Yes, it was rather hot in the city.
Not only hot, the traffic was quite a mess, I remember seeing not less than two motorbikes falling with their bikes - but nothing really happened, the guy got up, was helped by the other motorbiker (who had been probably at fault) and rode on.
At an intersection, the cop looking quite helpless
The lady from the bike shop agreed to take me for dinner on the main tourist street, Bui Vien, full of restaurants and pubs - and many international visitors. We had quite a yummy dinner.
Lots of food at Bui Vien Street
It was quite an experience, but after being in bond with nature for so long, it was quite difficult to get used to, so was happy to leave the rowdy crowds behind. I slept very well in my hotel room.