Hydrofoils, Beaches, large mountains, and statues

So I think half of my posts have said something about “this was my favorite day yet,” or “that was the most fun thing we’ve done yet.”  Well, this one will be no different.  Today was by far my favorite days on the whole trip.  Seeing the countryside, going to the beach, and getting out of the city were amazing.  First we rode on a hydrofoil (my first ride on one) down the river to get out towards the ocean.  Along the way we saw lots of large container ships and we also passed under the Phu My Hung bridge. Just to clarify:  a hydrofoil is a boat with a fin attached to the front.  This fin uses the same principles as an airplane wing to lift the boat out of the water slightly enabling it to ride smoother, go faster, and use less gas.

                Once we arrived at the other dock we got onto another bus and went to see the statue of Mary holding Jesus.  The statue itself was pretty but also the land below it was very beautiful with all of the flowers and trees.

 Despite the statue's large size, it was actually pretty light.  I held it up for at least 10 minutes:

  Then we drove down the street to the pagoda (it was a Buddhist temple).  This was a very peaceful place.  The statues were really neat and all the decorations were very cool!  All of us rubbed Buddha’s belly and then rubbed our heads.  This is for good luck and it makes sense since we learned in our Vietnamese culture class that the top of the head is used for praying, so you rub Buddha’s belly and then your head for good luck.  Steve and Jay even released two birds while we were there (one purchases a bird, makes a wish, and releases the bird).   

After this we drove just a bit further down the road so that we could climb the mountain up to the Jesus statue.  There were SO many steps!  The exercise was definitely good for us, though, and the views at the top were fantastic.  The flowers and statues all along the way were very beautiful too.  After relaxing at the top and taking some great pictures we made our way back down the mountain.  I’m still not sure if going up or down was more difficult…

                After a wonderful lunch we then went to the beach!  The sand was so fine and the water was so warm.  Because there is no winter to cool it down it was like bathwater—it was fantastic!  We had lots of fun swimming in the water and playing Frisbee.  I found lots of seashells.  What surprised me was that one of the seashells had a hermit crab in it.  I actually ended up finding two hermit crabs on the beach.  Then Anh and Tinh showed us some fun games to play on the beach.   

Sadly we could not spend the entire day on the beach and we had to catch the next hydrofoil make to Ho Chi Minh City.  However, we ended the night right by going to Charmongue, a restaurant that Jake found in a travel book.  It was an Italian restaurant with excellent food.  Warning to those wishing to go here:  you must go to the corner of Hai Ba Trung and Dien Bien Phu.  Then pick one of the two alleyways that lead back to the restaurant.  This was extremely confusing, but worth it for the meal and the atmosphere.