It's 8:23am and we just ate breakfast. It was yummy! On our way to La Hai (my childhood place), we stopped by a famous place just outside of Tuy Hoa for some pork porridge and Vietnamese garden rolls (see pix). The porridge was the best I've eaten! Everything was organic, from the live stocks to veggie. I was told that they only feed the pigs veggies and fruits. The meat did taste a lot different. I went to town with this meal. I has like 5 bowl of porridge and at least 10 rolls :). Anyway, this meal is typical you would have it for dinner if you live in the US but not here :).
It's 10:45am and we are leaving La Hai. Once we got into La Hai, We came to my dad's niece place. The road to La Hai was bumpy and small. The dirt road is a one line road that was made for motorcycles but people, Cars, motorcycles and cows are all sharing the road. Certain part of the road we would have to yield for on coming traffic. When we got to my cousin's place, my dad, my cousin's husband, Huy And myself went to my grandfather's rest place (my dad's father). I don't really know him, he passed away before I was born. The cemetery was easy to get to, it was like maybe 20 yards from the street. We paid our respect and head over to my grandma's resting place (my dad's mom). It took us about 15 mins or so walking. The path that lead to the cemetery is a small trail, it was muddy and difficult to walk. At one point, the trail ends and my cousin cousin recognized the area and was looking panicly to try and look for the cemetery. He better because my dad would not have non of that :). Anyway, we finally found the grave, we paid our respect and went back to my cousin's place. As we were walking back my dad pointed out the house that I used to live before I went to Tuy Hoa. The house was right next to my cousin's place and right across the elementary school that I went for 1st grade. Speaking of school, schools of any level in Vietnam are not free like in the US. You have to pay and if you don't have money then your kids will not go to school.
We hung out for half an hr and left. About 30 mins drive came to a church called Mang Lang and an orphanage which belong to the church. We drove up to the church and you figure the church would be nice and clean like churches in the US, not the case here. The outside looks rundown but I guess it add character to the place. I was told the church was built 200 years ago by the French. We walked around the church but didn't go inside. After we saw the church, we went to the orphanage. This orphanage has normal and handicaps children. As a group we donated some money to the orphanage. It wasn't much but I guess anything helps. We did a little tour of the place and left to eat lunch but before we left they gave us some souvoneers (feather duster made from fabric by the children). The ladies made us some Vietnamese sandwiches. It was simple but delicious because I had two :). Let me take a moment and said how lucky I am to be traveling with my parents and their friends. They are a fun bunch, very funny, and they all take care of me. They know where to eat and places to go see. It's like travel with 10 parents without the nagging part :). Anyway so where was I...oh ok, so after we ate lunch at the church we went to a look out point near the beach called Da Dia the English translation is Rock Plate. I was told that there are only 2 places like this, the other place is in England (I think). This rocks that formed at this location is unique. It's like hexagon columns (see pix), very cool to look at. Oh and the view out to the ocean is incredible! We stayed there around an hr and to the temple in Tuy Hoa. Along the way, we stopped the road and had drank some fresh coconut. I just drank the juice, it was nice and sweet.
As we arrived at the gate of the temple, I looked up and saw this gigantic, white statue of a Buddha...wow, just incredible. We were there for about an hr or so and took a lot of picture. We made it to the top and the view out to Tuy Hoa was breath taking. We left the temple around 3pm and went to famous Tuy Hoa market. My grandmother ( my mom side) used to live around from it and of course it is totally different then when I remember it. We did a little tour and left. We went back to my uncle to chill and ate dinner there. Again, the food was awesome, it was a seafood night. There were 3 different fish dishes, an eel dishes, an octopus dish and some veggies....yum! Of course, I was the last one to finish :) (oink, I know).
I'm home now and about to take a shower and chill. It was a fun and enlightening day! Can't wait to do it again!
To be continue...
Nice pix.
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