There is no need to do without a thing when it comes to nightlife...

Many Bars and Karaoke dumps are spread out all over the town, even just across the road from the Rex Hotel there is a billiard place called “Red Parrot”. Many bars are situated around the Palace Hotel (not that far from the Rex, ask a taxi driver). The alk just flows (unbelievable, the girls nearly drank me under the table), the dolls dance and the place shuts at two in the morning. One then returns to the hotel. It is not that easy to get a “beauty of the night” into the hotel for the night with prostitution being illegal in Vietnam (ha ha ha). Either one stops in one of the run-down ST hotels and does without all the comfort. Or one books a whole room for ones “girlfriend”. Of course she sleeps there alone.

Girls from the hotel bar, pimp in a karaoke bar, ST hole, Palace Hotel, in a karaoke bar, beauty of the night, night-time bar quarter, dishes. 

Vung Taus beaches seem to be never ending. The town lies on a peninsular. The restaurant and beach business is clearly adapted to the native public. Masses of restaurants and rows and rows of deck chairs along the sandy beaches. I have never seen it very full there, what the hell do these people live from? It is even empty at the weekend…. Maybe visitors turn up in the evening for a meal, haven’t got a clue.

The view of the beaches sometimes takes some getting used to. On the one hand, the few beach shops, huts, and food stalls nearly remind of the poor situation in Cambodia. Knocked up simple wooden huts, self-made carts and the simplest of “beach furniture” dominate the scenery. On the other hand, it doesn’t seem to be very clean and tidy, but this could have something to do with the fact that not all that long ago the place was hit by a hurricane, which caused a great deal of damage. It always hits the poorest and simplest of people worst of all. 

Will be returning to Cambodia soon: The hotel reception booked my open ticket to Phnom Penh for the next day, which cost me five dollars. The hotel taxi (50) took me to Saigon airport. By the way, it is now possible to travel from Saigon to Phnom Penh by boat, it travels along the Mekong. There are two variations. One is with a speedboat which takes only a few hours, the other is with a comfortable boat, which takes two days, may in fact be a little romantic...