Phu My is a container port on the Saigon River between Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) and the resort city of Vung Tau at the mouth of the river. The river flows into the South China Sea and is very close to the delta of the Mekong River. Rather, than a trip to Saigon, Sandra and I decided to take a shorter ship’s tour to Vung Tau. Vung Tau was only 45 minutes by bus. Saigon would have been two hours by bus.
The drive to Vung Tau went through small towns and villages along a two-lane road. Small shops and smaller homes lined the road. The local area also has several places that do large scale stone sculptures in what looked like marble or white limestone. Our first stop was to the Whale Temple. I am not sure of the full significance of this shrine.
Our second stop was the Nirvana Buddhist Temple which was just off the road and a short walk up the hill. The next stop was the Statue of Jesus Christ which is set high on a hill overlooking the South China Sea. It is much like Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil except not as impressive.
The next stop was to “The White Mansion” a grand palace set high on a hill overlooking the South China Sea. This was originally built as the summer home for the King of Vietnam. It has a lot of cool breezes coming off the ocean. The home was later used as a summer home for various heads of state for South Vietnam.
Our final two stops were for shopping. First a typical city market with a couple of hundred stalls selling everything. A couple of stall were selling bolts of cloth, everything including tropical wool suitable for a man’s suit. We were in this market at about 1:00 P.M.. Vietnam follows the Spanish practice of siestas. All the women manning the stalls were taking the afternoon siesta nap. It was a great opportunity to do a lot of looking without constant attention.
On the way back to the ship, we stopped at an upscale shopping mall, complete with four floors of shops and a small convenience food store. I also found a clothing store that had a semiformal black shirt in my size. Well, almost my size. Will need to take a couple of pounds off to make it look better.
The rest of the tour was our trip back to the ship. A lot of the route was through a highly industrial area of Vietnam. I am sure you would not recognize the area from 45 years ago. The country has made great strides and I’m sure the standard of living has improved. Our dock was at a container port pier, with large cranes and trolleys to move the large shipping containers, however there were no shipping containers. The company was out of business, but we could still tie up at the pier. It made for a very safe stop.
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| Statue of Jesus Christ overlooking the South China Sea |
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| Reclining Buddha at Nirvana Buddhists Temple |
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| At the Nirvana Buddhists Temple |
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| At the Nirvana Buddhists Temple |
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| The White Mansion |
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| A room at the White Mansion |
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| Painting at the Whale Temple |
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| Part of the Whale Temple |
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