An unexpected pilgrimage to Vung Tau

I could never expect to have something like this in Vietnam. Actually, the day we spent in Vung Tau, the nearest civilized town on the seashore, proved to be absolutely unusual. On that day our friends from Saigon (in fact they are Stanislav’s connections: his student Anh, her Mom - Ms. Lok, the director of an academic research institution, and her Dad - Mr. Tuan, an Vietnam Petro senior officer) invited us to have a look around Vung Tau. We were delighted and decided to set off at 9am.We were driven around the town and had 2 stops, both of which proved to be like a piligrimage. The first sight was a huge statue of the Jesus Christ on the top of a hill, overlooking the bay. It was erected after Vietnam – French war having resulted in Vietnamese decolonization. The statue looks really grand with the Christ welcoming all sailors approaching the bay. I haven’t been to Brazil, where there is a similar figure, but what I saw here, in Vietnam, looks exceptionally beautiful. There is a museum inside the statue and some good pictures on the Biblical themes. However, one needs to climb several hundred steps to reach the bottom of the monument.
The second wonder was the Virgin Mother’s statue on the top of another hill, some 5min drive from the Christ’s monument. This statue was erected much later than the Christ, in early 90s. The most unusual thing about it is the string of statues, each of which shows the scenes from the last day of Jesus Christ’s life before his crucifixion. You can see the monuments and the town of Vung Tau as well as our company on some photos.
By the way, the money for these holy monuments came from the rich Vietnamese (Christians, Catholics) living all over the world – the USA, Germany, Canada etc. I left the place deeply impressed and very grateful to the rich Vietnamese who remember about their roots and to our friends who shower us this beauty.