Long Hai is a seaside town about 35 minutes away from Vung Tau

The beaches are quite pristine, though the town itself offers little of interest.

From time to time, we take the motorbike out to Long Hai for a day trip.

Celebrating 15 years of... something.  Not sure what.

We got a bit lost.  It's not that there's many turns, but road signs are pretty much nonexistant.

If you get to the Christian graveyard, you are on the Wrong Road.

I think these things are crab traps.

Lunchtime.

Vietnam observes a siesta of sorts.  Traditionally, the work day is 5:30 to 12:00, and 2:30 to 5:30.  Lunchtime is for eating and sleeping.

We drove up into the hills a bit.

Southern Vietnam has regular cattle and these hump-shoulder types.  The south doesn't keep too many water buffalo, but there are TONS up north.

Traffic jam.

This was back when we still had the hideous blue motorbike called a "Sindy."

Broke down every week or two.  Luckily, repairs are fast and dirt cheap in Vietnam.  Usually under $5.00.

This rock looks like a Hershey's Kiss.

Puppies!

We're pretty sure these dogs were headed for the butcher shop.

Typhoon Durian.

In December 2006, a typhoon ripped through our town.  Lots of damage, about 70 people died.

At the end of our alley, a big tree came down on the local booze shack.

The road at Back Beach.

Many seaside cafes were swept away in the storm surge.

Two nights before the typhoon, we ate at the Seaview Restaurant.

You can see the Seaview billboard wrapped around a tree on the left.

The place was made up of windows.  Huge ones, twelve feet tall.

In the enlargement, you can see that only a few panes of glass were left intact.

Downtown by the big statue.

The French planted a great many trees here during the colonial days.  And plenty of those huge old trees came down.

This is one reason we were without water for ten days.

Main street, otherwise known as Tran Hung Dao.

You can even see the road sign sitting on the pavement.

Huge tree.

Amazing how many buildings it missed on its way down.

The tennis courts lost all their roofs.

Le Loi is one of the major roads.  Pretty much blocked off.

Luckily, northbound traffic just used the sidewalk.

Sarah's workplace.

The typhoon came through at night, so not much was under the roof when it came down.  However, one minivan got pretty well smooshed.