Vung Tau - Ba Ria - Dong Nai

Another fraud trip, another part of Vietnam. The Dong Nai province is the one that borders HCMC to the east, and runs all the way out to the coast, including Ba Ria and Vung Tau. The Dong Nai province is very industrial in the west where it borders HCMC. Many factories have sprung up near the deep water accesses of the Dong Nai river. The rest of Dong Nai is, well, somewhat depressing. Known as the Catholic Belt, this is where many of the Catholics who fled the north in 1954 eventually settled. Then, in 1975, the once refugees became refugees in their own country once again. Driving east towards the coast one cannot miss all the church spires.

Another feature that one cannot miss are the numerous monuments to the guerilla fighters of the war. It is not uncommon to see a tiny mud hut village with a 100 foot tall statue of a Viet Cong guerilla holding an AK-47 aloft on a hill nearby. This area was not full of patriotic sentiment towards the North before and during the war. One can draw his own conclusions as to why these large, impressive monuments are where they are.

My trip was quite interesting in terms of the contrasts. I was again exposed to the crushing rural poverty present in some places in Vietnam. In one instance, we had a surreal trek out into the bush looking for a house of a visa applicant. As the pavement gave way to dirt roads and the dirt road became muddier and more narrow, we stopped for directions at a small soda pop - and - hammock kiosk. Our driver hopped out to ask directions. As he came back to the truck, he was shaking his head. "What did they say?" I asked. "I don't know... they all speak Cantonese," was the reply. Strange. When we did get some reliable directions to the house, we learned that the last kilometer of the trip would be on foot by way of a trail through the bush and the cashew trees. The house was a literal stereotype. Cane-slat walls, dirt floor, grass and terracotta roof. Livestock in the dirt yard. A shallow well pumped by an old gas motor.

I walked about 2-3 kilometers on this trail to find the hut I was looking for.

Just miles away in Vung Tau, I witnesses the relative opulence of a town that has thrived on South China Sea oil. Vung Tau actually seems more modern and even a little cleaner than Saigon. A couple homes I visited were quite palatial.

Food in this area leans more heavily towards seafood than it does in Saigon, understandably. I love the whole hot pot concept here when it comes to seafood. As with most other Vietnamese cuisine, it tends to be very light, with very little frying. More interesting than the landscapes, I took pictures of food on this trip. Oh, and dirt roads too.

Stopped at a little roadside pho cafe. I cannot resist pho, and the seedier-looking the cafe, the better.

Yeah, that's a motorcycle full of future McNuggets.

Buried in that big bowl 'o soup is a big ol' catfish in about four pieces.

Fish balls (no, they don't have those... they're fish meat rolled into balls with spices) wrapped in some sliced zucchini-like vegetable and simmered in herbs and sauce.