Vietnam, Vung Tau: through the eyes of a tourist.
Why Vung Tau? Most tourists prefer to travel around Vietnam, staying in different cities for only 3-4 days. But, if you are interested in learning exactly how the Vietnamese live, trying to understand their way of life, get acquainted with traditional cuisine, then Vung Tau is a great place for a tourist who loves to learn and observe. And it makes sense to stay a little longer. This is a small but dynamic, actively developing city, lives its own life and welcomes foreigners very kindly. Unlike other resorts in Vietnam, Vung Tau is not so popular among Russian tourists, but this is precisely what makes it interesting. It is quite safe here and there is no crime, which is often described in their reviews by those who have visited the major cities of Vietnam. A huge number of hotels, restaurants, cafes, shops for every taste and wealth with a small number of tourists.
A constant breeze from the sea helps to endure the heat quite easily. The climate is stable, without fluctuations, and there are no typhoons and bad weather usual for the north of Vietnam at this time of the year. The season is from November to April. The convenient proximity of the city to Ho Chi Minh City (120 km - 1.5 hours by sea on a "rocket" or 2.5 hours by car) makes the road from the airport less tiring. During the three weeks that we spent in Vung Tau, this city left a very good and pleasant impression of itself.
Flight: Emirates Airlines (Moscow - Dubai - Ho Chi Minh City): the high level of service of the airline both on board the aircraft and at the Dubai airport does not need comments. Short time between flights, perfect luggage delivery, exact arrival time.
Airport in Ho Chi Minh City: calm, with a convenient and understandable location of check-in areas, passport control, attentive attitude to luggage (when glass is found in the light, employees themselves paste the “glass” sign on luggage), with an interesting Duty Free. Additional airport taxes are not charged.
Visa: Stay up to 15 days visa-free. More than 15 days - you need to receive an invitation letter to apply for a visa at the airport in Vietnam.
Language: Vietnamese, for the most part, do not speak English. At first, this can create difficulties, but the Vietnamese are responsive and will be able to explain or show what you need. After a couple of days you get used to it and quite easily find mutual understanding with the help of gestures. Therefore, it is quite possible to go to Vietnam without special knowledge of the English language.
Course: 1$ - 21000 dongs. Exchange: at the airport upon arrival, at banks, at jewelry stores, at hotels.
When shopping, to compare prices, it is convenient to use the following calculation: amount in dong + amount in dong / 2 = amount in rubles. (Example: 100 days + 100 days / 2 = 150 rubles)
Hotel: "Romeliess Hotel" 3.31-33 Thuy Van, Vung Tau - comfortable, cozy, quiet hotel. Excellent value for money and quality. Good location: the beach is across the road, next to the streets, along which it is convenient and not far on foot to get to the city center, there is also always a taxi nearby. At the same time, there is no noisy nightlife around it, as there is around large hotels. Reception around the clock. Modern rooms with all necessary accessories: toiletries, tea, slippers, hair dryer. Air conditioning in every room. Daily cleaning and change of linen (tips are welcome, approximately $1). Refrigerator, drinking water, mini-bar (extra charge). TV with satellite channels (there is our first channel, look for it, tune it! ), free Wi-Fi, whoever does not have his own computer - there are computers with free Internet in the hotel lobby.
At the reception, a map of the city with the main streets is provided free of charge. Breakfast is varied and hearty: omelettes, soups, vegetables, fruits, juices, tea / coffee, as well as Vietnamese dishes. With a small occupancy of the hotel - breakfasts on the menu, but you can order as much as you want; with a large number of tourists (on weekends) - a buffet. Inexpensive transfer from and to the airport - can be ordered by phone from Russia (on the hotel website, easy to find via Google). There is no pool. But the proximity of the sea replaces its absence. However, due to architectural features, there are practically no hotels with swimming pools. You can carry water, fruits and food. An important advantage of this hotel is that the senior manager of the hotel speaks excellent Russian, meets tourists, is always in touch, helps with information about the city and with excursions, as well as with questions about staying in the country as a whole.
Such assistance becomes essential if you do not speak Vietnamese (they do not speak English in the city), especially in the first days of your stay in Vietnam.
Beach: A wide, sandy strip runs along the first line of hotels. The sand is fine and dense. The entrance is gentle, the waves are small, shallow enough. The water is clean, the bottom without hedgehogs and algae. Although, if the day before the wind was stronger than usual, then the water may be with a suspension of sand. One drawback: the embankment is being built and therefore the beach is not yet properly equipped. However, it does not spoil it and does not interfere with swimming. And with their pace of construction, everything will be ready in the near future. Sunbeds are exposed, paid. The ebb tide depends on the phase of the moon, but is short. The best time for swimming is in the morning: a great combination of warm water and still mild sun. During the day, the sun is active and it is very easy to burn out. Be sure to use sunscreen.
Meals: There are not just a lot of different kinds of cafes, restaurants and bars here, but a lot! Sauces give the main spice to local dishes, so try them with caution. The Vietnamese cook quite cleanly, so there will be no problems if basic personal hygiene measures are observed. An English-language menu in a cafe is usually present, but often the staff themselves are poorly versed in it, so do not hesitate to clarify and somehow show what exactly you want to order. There are pictures on the menu, but often one for three dishes: you also need to clarify. Salads, meat, poultry, fresh juices - everything is there. Soups - local, tasty, also variously prepared rice. Be sure to indicate that drinks without ice ("no ice" understand), as they try to add ice even to half a mug of beer. Lots of variety of seafood.
They are cooked mainly on the grill, each housewife has her own method and her own spices, and it is interesting to try. I recommend visiting the so-called fish market: these are street cafes (the hostess with a seafood counter, barbecue and tables) in a row, under a canopy. The prices are cheap, the products are all fresh, clean, they cook everything in any quantity, in front of you. There are vegetable side dishes, alcohol. It is located behind the Imperial Hotel and the Imperial Plaza shopping center (he is the only one there). Works from 18.00 to 04.00 in the morning. There are coffee houses in the city: delicious coffee and tea, ice cream and a large selection of fresh pastries and cakes. You can buy with you. There are many and different fruits: red and yellow watermelons, pineapples, bananas, sweet tangerines and many exotic ones that need to be clarified, as there are fruits intended for coloring products, such as rice.
For the exotic: Cafe Danh Rau Taxi address: 128/8 Mac Dinh Chi - F. 4 - TP. Vung Tau In this cafe you can taste snake meat and blood (customer chooses a snake), frogs, seafood.
Separately, I want to note the Russian bar "Veranda" at the surf center (address: Bai Sau, Thuy Van, KDL "Bien Dong" Cong 2, opposite the "Sammy Hotel", across the road), located 10-15 min. walk from Romeliess hotel. Firstly, if you want the usual dishes (borscht, dumplings, dumplings, okroshka, meatballs, kvass), then you can always order them here, as well as a good bar, hookah. It is especially worth trying the local live beer "Ha Vien": high-quality and tasty, it is only in this bar. Secondly, you can also contact the owner of the bar, Oleg, for information on the city, on trips and excursions, and for advice on the country as a whole. In the evening, our tourists come here with whom you can chat, learn something new, especially if you are visiting Vung Tau for the first time. Very cozy and friendly environment. Behind the bar is the swimming pool, with sun loungers, tables where you can spend the day.
Local population: Very friendly people, ready to help, despite the language barrier, loyal to foreigners and their appearance. We can say that here they don’t pay much attention to tourists until they themselves go to a cafe or a store. But even in this case, they are restrained, they do not insist on purchases, so visiting stores is calm and pleasant. Here everyone is doing their job and tourists are perceived simply as part of the city. The Vietnamese are quite open and after two or three days, watching how their everyday life goes, you begin to feel very comfortable in this city. The townspeople have not yet been spoiled by tourists, so sellers are willing to bargain and treat buyers honestly, who confuse zeros on banknotes in the early days. However, you should be more vigilant with taxi drivers: some take advantage of ignorance of the roads, inattention to money, and “forget” about the change.
In general, it is better not to be lazy and walk around the city on foot in the first days: you will see more, get to know the city better and understand how the streets are located. The main activity takes place in the morning and evening, and from noon to three in the afternoon, the residents have something like a siesta, as it is hot. You can rent a motorbike, but driving here requires some experience, as the traffic, in our opinion, is chaotic. However, when crossing the street, you should behave calmly and remember that you need to let the car through, and motorbikes will go around you, the main thing is to walk confidently and not twitch yourself. There is a so-called Russian village in the city: a closed city where our specialists live, working on oil platforms in the sea. Therefore, on the streets you can often meet our compatriots who are willing to help on some issues in the city, briefly tell where and what to eat.
Excursions: The organization of excursions here is somewhat different: you are not offered, but you tell the senior manager of the hotel where you would like to go. Therefore, think in advance what you would be interested in seeing in Vietnam. Trips are usually full day trips but inexpensive ($10-$40/person). It is worth visiting Binh Tau (70km from Vung Tau). There is a center where you can have a mud therapy session and pools with hot water from radon springs (up to +38C, very interesting, but comfortable sensations). Also here you will see natural hot springs (+80C), a small crocodile farm where you can feed the crocodiles. It is interesting to visit the oyster farm: this is a traditional fishing village located on the river with a floating restaurant where, in addition to oysters, you will be offered seafood and fish dishes. The prices are cheap. You can also take a full day trip to Ho Chi Minh City with an overview of the city and a visit to the night markets.
In the vicinity of Dalat, they visit a water park and a large zoo. Also interesting to visit are the Cu Chi tunnels, which were used by the Vietnamese in the fight against the French and fortified into a whole system during the war with the Americans: pipes with niches, bedrooms, honey. chambers, pantries on three levels (up to 8 m deep). In Vung Tau itself, take the cable car up the mountain: wonderful panoramic views of the city, a pagoda, open-air cages with animals, a swimming pool, a restaurant. Near the hotel, in the sea, there is a small island of Honba with a pagoda. You can get to it at low tide when a stone path appears from the water (usually early in the morning), but you need to get back along it before high tide. On the way to the cable car, there is the so-called White Villa with a large open area (a good place for photographing): the former residence of the governor general, now a museum of ancient Khmer statues.
On the mountain, not far from the hotel, stands a statue of Christ. Inside the statue there is a spiral staircase leading to the outstretched arms of Christ - panoramic platforms. Dress code: arms and legs are closed. The railings on the platforms are low, so those who are not friends with the height - be very careful. It is better to visit the statue on weekdays - fewer people. There are many pagodas and temples in the city that are open to the public (clothes are closed), you can take pictures.
Shopping: Shopping in Vietnam is varied and very cheap. The best time for it is in the evening, when it starts to get dark, there is no heat and all the shops are open. There are two main shopping streets in the city: Baku and the so-called "road of life". On any map of the city, they are shown as the widest and highlighted in color. From the hotel – 20 min. on foot or by taxi. Trips from the hotel to these streets - no more than 60 thousand. dongs. From the city center to any of its points - also no more than 60-70 thousand. dongs.
There is everything: clothes, shoes, various souvenirs, jewelry, pearls, crocodile skin, wood, travel bags, alcohol, etc. It is more difficult with clothes and shoes, since the sizes are mostly small. There are shoes of large sizes, but for a narrow foot. Below I will indicate a store where there is a large selection of large sizes with a Russian-speaking hostess. Often, local clothes and shoes, let's say, are obtained from factories where they are sewn for European brands. Therefore, this is not a fake, but the most real quality things at a price below their possible cost. At the same time, you can still bargain a little. Therefore, bring vacuum bags with you: they can come in handy. In addition, there are many tailors who can tailor clothes individually from your chosen fabrics in a short time and inexpensively. They get quality.
There is a Vung Tau market in the city (shown on the map), next to the bus station there is a large covered market with vegetables, fruits, seafood, clothes, fabrics, household goods, etc. But this market is more for the locals: the quality is mediocre. The only thing is that fruits/vegetables are cheaper and there is a large selection of fabrics. You can visit more to learn more. There are boutiques with quite European prices (appliances, watches, leather, jewelry, clothes, shoes, etc. ). One of these is the Imperial Plaza shopping center next to the hotel of the same name (15-20 minutes walk from the Romeliess Hotel right along the embankment).
So: Anna's store - address: Add. 30 LY TU TRONG, Vung Tau City (Gan cho cu F. 1) Tel. mob. 012-689-49862 This is the same store with any size. From clothes there is everything: from chic down jackets (down), warm sweaters, branded jeans, to light sweaters, T-shirts, shorts. The hostess speaks Russian. Her things are in big piles, so it would be more correct to tell her what you want: she picks up the perfect size and color. Price examples: down jackets Baon, Mango, etc.
- up to $ 100, jeans - $ 20-25 If you still don’t find something, you can order it.
Crocodile and Snake Skin Shop - DC: 162 Nguyen Van Troi – P. 4 – TP. Vung Tau
Bags, wallets, belts, covers, shoes in good quality, you can and should bargain.
Souvenirs - 1. Shop 200 meters from the Anna store, towards the embankment (on the right, on the stairs, a small center, on the left - a street store, but the owner is the same) - address: SIEU THIMY NGHE 02 TRUNG TRAC PHUONG 1 , T. P. VUNG TAU
2. Store Sea - DC: SO 2A Ly Tu Trong - F/1 - TP. Vung Tau
Recommendations: Going for a walk, be sure to take a hotel business card with the address to the reception, as local taxi drivers, due to the large number of hotels, are guided by their addresses, not names. That is why, above, I give the addresses of shops, cafes, etc. in bold type (they need to be printed separately and then shown to taxi drivers). At the airport, upon arrival, next to the exchange office, buy a local SIM card: it is inexpensive (100 thousand rubles).
dong - $ 5, without a passport), enough for a long time, international calls on it are much cheaper than on Russian and very convenient for various small calls around the city, as well as for contacting the hotel manager on some issues.
Separately, I want to note the opportunity to visit the center of traditional medicine of Dr. Min Phuc: massage with acupuncture, examination and homeopathic preparations (certified by ISO) A very interesting experience. We ourselves are wary of such things, especially in a foreign country, but our compatriots also visit this small clinic, many come to them specifically for treatment. The results after the third session were pleasantly surprised. Massage and acupuncture are carried out by doctors. They speak and understand Russian. The procedure itself is painless and acceptable in time (session is about an hour). Prices surprised even more: 100 thousand. dong (150 rubles for our money) per session. Course - preferably at least 10 sessions (every day).
They work on weekdays, in the morning from 7.30 to 11.00 and in the evening from 16.00 to 21.00 (examination is carried out in the evening, 250 thousand dong). Address: 128 Nguyen Tri Phuong - Phuong7 - TP. Vung Tau. By the way, there is a site where there are Russian-language annotations for homeopathic medicines (if the doctor prescribes them for you).
We will be glad if our story helps you to have a pleasant vacation in Vung Tau. If you need clarification on some issues, additional information on the review, write with pleasure we will answer.
