Took a day trip yesterday to the nearby seaside town of Vung Tau using the hydrofoil ferry from Saigon. In the fore ground is the ferry I took and at the back is the massive cruise ship Europa at her Saigon stopover. The ferry may not look like much but even with half of the 1.5hr journey being on coastal ocean it was smoother and more comfortable than the longboats I’ve taken in Sarawak before!
As a native of peninsular Malaysia where most of our rivers are more like monsoon drains (longkoang) I find it amazing that a river 50km upstream from the ocean can be deep and wide enough to accommodate such a humongous cruise ship and other ocean liners. Here is the 7storey+ high backside of the Europa up close!:-
Vung Tau is a hilly little peninsular that jets out southward into the south china sea. Originally a sleepy hollow of a fishing village and seaside retreat of the French french colinists, it has of late become more of a “oil town” with many offshore oil rigs and also being the nearest beach to Saigon, it has become a most popular weekend beach getaway more so due to the convenience of it being nearby than anything else. A birds eye view of Vung Tau town :-
The “front beach” of Vung Tau which faces west and is where the ferry docks:-
The east facing “back beach” of Vung Tau which is a 7km stretch covered with deckchairs and umbrellas for rent to cater to the multitudes that throng it every weekend:-
The first landmark i visited was a remnant of the colonial Era, Villa Blanche (white house) is a former French governors holiday home turned museum. The front of the villa:
The courtyard of the villa, note the cannons facing seaward!!
The most noticeable thing about Vung Tau with its hilly geography is the many little temples with kwan yin statues that dot the hillslopes facing seaward. Obviously this must be in line with the prayers for safety for the many fishermen who still go out daily in this town. Some of the local fishing boats:-
The windswept hills are covered with uniquely contorted frangipanis and many are practically leafless due to strong winds that relentlessly blow from almost every angle in this very exposed little peninsular. I definitely would not want to be here during the height of the typhoon season, that’s for sure.
Here’s one of the many kwan yin statues that abound in this area, at the first temple I visited.
Next was the Reclining Buddha temple. At 12m long the serene gaze of the Buddha is also seaward which seems to be the standard feature of all statues/altars of temples (and churches) here.
The unique roof of the Reclining Buddha temple.
Reclining Buddha Temple upper courtyard with its “dragon boat”.
Here’s the local church of Vung Tau which I passed by, in traditional Vietnamese architecture, with its Saint Statues facing seaward.
The biggest statue in the area which i visited next was on the southernmost hill of the peninsular, surprisingly it was a statue of Jesus Christ, which at 100ft tall looked very much like that Christ of the Andes statue in South America.
Along the way up there is a replica of Michelangelo’s pieta one of my favourite sculptures.
To realize how tall the statue is, look at how minute the girl on top of the staircase at left is in comparison!!
Check out JC’s drama king pose, “come on vogue, JC” !
The hillside leading up to the Jesus Christ statue was also line with the contorted/leafless frangipanis typical of this area.
Next stop at a hill northwest of town, was another very Catholic 60ft tall statue of the Madonna and Child.
Barely 500m down the road from Mother Mary and Infant Jesus was another Kwan Yin Statue on the same hillslope, at 40ft this was the biggest on I saw in the area.
Seems like, the Catholics and Buddhists in this area try to outdo each other praying for the safety of the local fishermen. Well while the 2 Catholic statues may be the biggest in the area, the Buddhist have many many more… so lets just call it a draw.
On to One more temple… this time the sprawling hilltop temple complex of the Sitting Buddha in the older side of town.
Interesting obelisks in the Sitting Buddha Temple, no idea what it represents though.
An ornate shrine in the Sitting Buddha Temple.
Altar/Meditation area in the shrine.
There was also a reclining Buddha statue in the Sitting Buddha temple.
Once again those contorted/windswept frangipanis were everywhere in the Sitting Buddha temple grounds.
Also in gthe Sitting Buddha temple grounds, this leafless tree gives the statues here depicting an events from Buddha’s life extra dramatic effect.
Finally here’s the two beaches of Vung Tau up closer.
Front Beach with its coconut lined seawall walk and kites forsale.
Back Beach with its commercial trappings, the hill in the background is the one with the Jesus Christ Statue.
In stark contrast this is how quiet it is on a normal day ie with no crowd, red carpet, flashy dragon dance dragons or colorful flags as in the earlier pic.
Yes i said "dragon dance" dragons... these gold dragons in the pics below flanking the temple steps were only a temporary decor to mark this auspicious day. 
If you look closely at the above pic u will notice that the turquoise dragons as seen in the pic below which are the normal "guards" cum temple step railings were given a day off, covered up and the more flashy dragon dance dragons were positioned on top of them!
Here's the view from the top of the temple stairs of the holiday festivities with the national history museum in the background.
By comparison the same view on a much quieter normal day
The most interesting part of the festivities were these amazingly ornate and captivatingly brilliant temple offerings made of fresh flowers, fruits and vegetable which lined either side of the approach to the temple.
Some were a combination of the four mythical creatures in Vietnamese folklore : phoenix, unicorn ("chillin"), dragon and turtle.
Other offerings featured the mythical creatures individually, notice the crative use of chilli for the phoenix "feathers", garlic for the unicorn/dragon teeth and pineapple leaves for the dragon beard in the pics below:-
Besides the 4 mythical creatures there were offerings replicating tigers, a bird and fish as well.
Lastly here are some pics of the resplendently majestic interior of the temple where many of the holiday crowd came to pay their respects.
