Phu My, Vietnam

Friday, March 11, 2011     92 degrees                                     6:00 AM – 6:00 PM



Cyclo on street

In 1804 King Gia Long planned to use the name Nam Viet for Vietnam but the Qing dynasty  of China disagreed and changed it to Viet Nam.  From 1839 to 1945, Emperor Minh Mang renamed Viet Nam to Dai Nam, meaning “Great South”.  Viet is the name of the largest ethnic group in Vietnam (the Kinh) and Nam means “the South”, affirming Vietnam’s sovereignty from China.

Phu My is the deepest river port in Vietnam.  The port of Phu My (pronounced Foo Me) is the gateway to Ho Chi Minh City and the seaside resort of Vung Tau.  Vung Tau located in the south of Vietnam, situated at the tip of a small peninsula, is the only petroleum base of Vietnam where crude oil and gas exploitation activities dominate the city’s economy and contribute principal income to Vietnam’s budget and export volume.  To most tourists it is known for over 6 miles of fine sand seaside.

We went on a shore excursion to Vung Tau.  It was known as Cap St. Jacques during the days of the French occupation and has always been a popular beach resort for residents of Saignon.  We stopped at the White Villa, the former Royal Residence of Bach Dinh.  Beautiful views over the bay and frangipani scented gardens of the villa.  We next stopped at the Bay of Boats where numerous colourful wooden fishing boats are anchored.  We drove along the coast and took pictures of the 100-foot-tall statue of Jesus.  We next visited a hillside Buddhist temple where we were offered incense by our guide to offer up a prayer.  I always find it very peaceful in a Buddhist Temple with incense burning.  Our next stop was at a fisherman’s Whale Temple.  Inside the temple there was a skeleton of a whale in a glass case.  The fishermen pray to the whale for safety in case of a storm at sea.

White villa - former royal residence of Bach Dink



Bay of Boats from villa



Statues at foot of mountain with Jesus



Statue of Jesus 100 Ft. tall




Buddhist Temple




Monk in temple



Fisherman's temple



Whale skelton in temple



Sign outside temple



The Earth’s Atmosphere Information

The earth’s atmosphere is composed of distinct layers.  The troposphere extends upward from the earth to a height of about 8.1 kilometers at the poles, to about 11.3 kilometers in mid-latitudes, and to about 16.1 kilometers at the equator.  The air in the troposphere is in constant motion, with both horizontal and vertical air currents.  Throughout the troposphere, temperature decreases with altitude.  Above the troposphere is an atmospheric ozone layer, which is also the lower layer of the stratosphere.  Temperature changes little with altitude in the stratosphere, which extends upward to about 50 kilometers.  Above this layer is the mesosphere, which extends to about 80 kilometers above the earth.  The temperature sharply decreases at the base of the mesosphere before it begins to rise at the top of the mesosphere.  The next layer is the thermosphere, which extends upward from the mesosphere to about 640 kilometers; its temperature increases rapidly with altitude because of the absorption of shortwave radiation by ionization processes, although, because of the thinness of the air, little heat energy is available.  The final layer is the exosphere, which gradually gets thinner as it reaches into the vacuum of space at around 700 kilometers; the atmosphere is so attenuated at this altitude that the average distance air molecules travel without colliding is equal to the radius of the earth.