With its huge Hollywood-like sign gleaming up in the mountain of the island across the way, I felt this strange compulsion to head over to Vinpearl Land and see what it was all about. I had seen a billboard coming in from the airport advertising happy families, huge roller coasters, video games - a slice of amusement park heaven. And since it was just a quick cable car trip across the bay to get there, why not check it out?

Strike One – the cable car. Completed just 3 months ago, the cable car line to Vinpearl is the longest in the world, stretching 10,000 feet over the ocean. The fact that it was so new made Joy extremely nervous . Check out the video of her mini panic attack. It’s 15 minutes of hanging precariously over the water way too high up to possibly survive a fall. My princess insisted on a private high speed jet boat for the return trip.

Strike Two – the place is empty. And I don’t mean empty in the “wow, there’s sure not very many people here” kind of way. I mean other than the hordes of staff it took to run the place we were the only humans there. Granted it was 174 degrees outside, but you’d think somebody would show up to check it all out.

Strike Three – There is supposed to be a very nice Sofitel on the island. We thought as long as we're there we would go take a look at it since we really like that brand.  When we asked the best way to get over to it we were told there was a twenty dollar per person "admission" charge to see it.  In Vietnam you can eat steak for a year for that kind of money. Why on earth there is any charge - let alone an absolutely exorbitant one - to walk into a hotel I have no idea, but that was the final nail in Vinpearl's coffin.