post-weekend beach getaway

It's Monday in the afternoon and I'm playing hooky from the hospital. Not on purpose - I feel pretty crappy with a mixture of allergies + lariam (anti-malarial medicine I'm on) side effects  like dizziness, nausea, and a little trouble sleeping. I wish I could've taken chloroquine instead - I took that when I went to Honduras a few years ago (Hey C, remember??) and had no problems with the medicine. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes in Vietnam are chloroquine-resistant so I'm stuck with trippy-dreams Lariam. Today's itinerary wasn't too full so it wasn't a big deal that I missed out. 

So over the weekend, my parents' friends invited us for a beach trip to Vung Tau.  These friends are apparently owners of a large furniture manufacturing company here in Vietnam and the amount of their success was pretty evident, based on the fact that they own three beach houses in Vung Tau as well as a shrimp farm. Random, you say? I think so too. During our three-hour car ride to Vung Tau, after passing through pretty rural and poor parts of the countryside, we made a pit stop at this said-shrimp farm.  It was pretty fascinating - they had these floating, empty soda bottles that marked where the nets were in the water.  To lift the nets, they would take a long stick that grabbed the bottles and revealed the little critters.  We got a bucket full of fresh shrimp to take back to the beach house. Below are some pictures of the shrimp farm (Bubba-Gump shrimp, anyone?):

I forgot to take a picture of the beach house we stayed on but I did take a picture of the pinkest house I've ever seen...And it's also huge, which gives you a pretty good idea of the nice houses around this area.

I was looking forward to getting a chance to sunbathe and tan - however, women dressed pretty modestly when on the beach. I'm talking fully clothed, with shorts and a t-shirt.  So I didn't think it was appropriate for me to wear the only bathing suit I had which was a two-piece.  I stuck with a tank top and shorts but still managed to get a little color, even though it was overcast that day. 

On Sunday, everyone woke us up at 5:00 AM because they said that best time to go to the beach without it being too hot is b/t 4 AM and 6 AM (sun rises around 4:30 AM here). My parents were good sports and went but you can guess what I did (answer: slept until 10 AM). For breakfast, we went to a local restaurant (more of a shack, really) for one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes (and C's): banh xeo.  This was the only item on their menu, along with some iced vietnamese coffees - mmm, so good. If I had the energy, I would probably make another blog account, dedicated to the food experiences I've had here. Included below is how they made these delicious rice shrimp cakes of goodness.

Afterwards, we went for a drive and explored the area, which was definitely a tourist attraction due to the fancy spas and hotels and endless numbers of cafes and restaurants.

 Throughout the weekend, we mostly hung around the beach and the house, relaxing, eating a ton, and watching the World Cup games.  On our way home, we stopped at a temple that also served as an orphanage. It was a really such serene and beautiful place. 

One of the head monks (is that the correct term?) invited us to sit with her for fruit and tea. I thought she just was going to ask us where were from and things of that nature. But she proceeded to go around the table to each person and tell us things that we should know about ourselves.  I'm not sure if she was supposed to serve as a fortune-teller or perhaps a better word, an oracle.  Either way, it was pretty entertaining to hear what she had to say - to be honest, I didn't believe much of what she said. She seemed to be a people reader and just described vague descriptions that could almost fit anyone (sort of like horoscopes). She told me that I was very hard-working and that I would be very successful and rich - but she could said that based on the fact that I told her that I attend medical school in the US. 


Actually, the most entertaining person who contributed to this conversation was my mom (of course).  For those that haven't met her or know of her, she definitely has no problems speaking her mind and letting other people know what she's thinking; for lack of a better description, she's a 5'2" ball-buster and knows it.  The monk lady first told my mom that if my dad decided to get a second wife, she would have to be okay with that.  My mom just politely smiled and rolled her eyes at me when the monk wasn't looking. But as the monk went around and told each lady at the table to forgive their husbands if they have affairs, my mother straight out said "Nope, you're wrong." The monk lady continued on with her explanation but my mom was obviously not having any of it. My dad and I were enjoying the banter. Of course, only my mother would argue with a monk.