March 5, 2019 - Phu My, Vietnam - Tuesday, Day 58

March 5, 2019 - Phu My, Vietnam - Tuesday, Day 58

Phu My is the port for HoChi Min City (Saigon). We have been here twice before so we decided to skip excursions. I watched as the gangway was set in place by local longshoremen. The tide was out, but even so, the gangway was very steep.

The port is a working port. Shuttles are provided to take us to the port gate, if we are not on tour. After a leisurely breakfast we left the ship. The first order of business was to review the offerings of the local vendors who had set up on the pier. The things were nice but overpriced. We went to the shuttle and waited for departure. It was a short ride to the gate. All of us got off. We expected to be able to take a picture of the port entrance and then ride right back to the ship.

We had been told that taxis would be scarce here because the ride to the city took one half an hour. Then the cabs would have to drive back unless they were hired for transit plus a tour. Surprise! There were taxis and vans at the gate. The operators hustled the other passengers, who had ridden out with us, off in various directions. We had not planned for this, and I did not have the extra cash needed to join the flow.

The shuttle did not wait at the gate, but returned to the ship immediately. We walked toward the gate for our photo. After only a few steps a guard came rushing toward us and sent us across the street. We were not allowed any closer, so we zoomed in to get our gate picture. Now we walked down to a small eating establishment on the side of the road. Several men were eating there, and there were hammocks hanging in a side room. Perhaps they were for port workers to use.We will never know. They were pretty though. They reminded us of the hammocks on the river busses on the Amazon.

We walked back toward what we thought was the shuttle stop. We were directed by the same guard to a place across the street from the gate. We met a security officer there. He was eating lunch, but paused to get small chairs for Alice and me to sit on while we waited. After 20 minutes and know bus we managed to communicate well enough with him to get him to use hi radio to call the shuttle driver. That driver now knew we were waiting. That did not speed up the process. After a while the shuttle arrived, and we made our way back to Maasdam.

We spent the afternoon marveling at how busy this small port was. We did some work on photos before Mass and dinner. We were scheduled to depart at 8:00 and we did. This allowed us to cruise down the river and past Vung Tau, an attractive beach city on our way out to the sea.