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VietnamMarch 27, 2008 - March 31, 2008March 27, 2008
Good Morning Vietnam!! We have arrived in Vietnam today, bright and early, as promised. This morning, we entered the mouth of the Saigon River at 4 AM for our four hour sail through the river to make it to the port!! With rice fields, the sunrise and fishing boats all around us, we made it!!
Immigration arrived on the ship and finalized their VISA and passport inspections. Now comes the fun part for the RD's, giving out the landing cards to 800 residents. Within an hour, everyone received their landing cards and the ship was cleared for us to enter Ho Chi Minh City!!
Currency updates: Vietnam uses the Dong as their currency. $1 is about 15,000 Dong. So everything we are buying is in the thousands or tens of thousands.. it is crazy. Thank goodness they like American money and bills and we can just buy things for a dollar or two.. with our small bills!! That worked out so much better than figuring out the Dong. Many of the restaurants or taxi's like the dong, so we just need to make sure we have both currencies ready to go. The minimum amount to take out of the ATM is 2,000,000 Dong, which is about $125. Things seem to be pretty cheap out here. The students bought a bunch of North Face bags for about $10!! And plenty of other items to bring home.
Today, I did not get out to the city, I had a Semester at Sea trip for most of the afternoon. I led a trip of 25 students to visit their school for the deaf children and then to visit and see the mental disabled children at the orphanage to learn more about thier culture. Before we even got to the school, the first thing I noticed in the city was the traffic and the tons of people on the street. Ho Chi Minh City has 8.5 million people living here and they have 6.5 million motor cycles on the street... you do the math and picture this.
The roads are filled with thousands and thousands of families riding their motorbikes all around. With two people on them, with four people on them, with families, with tons of luggage, boxes, bags, etc. You name it, the people of Vietnam are riding their motor bikes balancing along. Now mind you, we are in a bus and they don't care, the traffic just goes and goes and goes... and you move around with it. It almost looks like you are going to hit someone.. and the truth is that there are hundreds of deaths and accidents a day in the city.
Well, after an exciting trip to the school, as we made it, the tour guide informed me that we needed to cross the street... oh NO!! They taught us how to cross the street at our meeting the other night and they said to basically walk out into the traffic and the motor bikes and traffic will evolve and move around you and not to move back or run... or yet even better, squish yourself besides many of the locals trying to get across and you will be fine. Well, here we go.. we walked out into the street and yep, the motor bikes moved around us to the front and back. The group and I continued to move forward and the traffic of bikes just split like the red sea, it was just amazing to see and witness this and to actually be apart of this.. .crossing the street in Vietnam... India was bad, but Vietnam is just interesting!!
So as we made it to the school, we were greeted by the principal and brought upstairs to the students. As the younger students saw us enter the school, their faces light up with excitement and joy.. it was so nice to see. We were greeted by the students with an opening dance routine that they performed very well. After the dance routine, all of the students sat down with us and began communicating with us by writing on paper and having their teachers interpret their signs to speak to us. They were so excited to have a conversation with us, to draw, to blow bubbles and have fun with them for a few hours. You have no idea how much these students enjoy the interactions with us foreigners to learn more and to see us in our element.
We left the school with a bunch of toys, school supplies and a donation to their paintings and cards they make.
Now we were off to the mental orphanage to visit the children there! When we arrived we were greeted by the VP and were given a tour and time to play with the children in their rooms. The children here were all dropped off at the orphanage home or abandoned early in their lives due to their handicap and mental retardation. It is a shame to see them in this state and dropped off by there parents, but the staff that is at the home takes really good care of them day and night, which is great to have for them!! Majority of the disabilities that these children were born with had to do with the chemicals in the water, social, etc from the war!! It is interesting to hear the people of Vietnam talk about the war and how they just want peace!!
Well, on the way back to the ship, we learned something else about some of the food that the locals eat. We saw some dogs on the street and the tour guide said, yeah, those of the great pets of the Vietnam people, as well as some good food. Well the students did not like that.. yes, they eat Dog meat here in Vietnam. The other sad part was, as we were driving by the market on the street, we saw a dog being butchered on the table, being sold to the locals. It was interesting to see and to handle, and we were now in another different country!!
Well, day one was pretty low key. Did not get into the city yet to shop or see the actual culture, but that will happen soon!!
Stay tuned for more updates about Vietnam!!March 28, 2008
Today was a great day in Vietnam!!Leigh Ellen and I, along with 35 other students, headed out this morning on an all day trip to the Mekong Delta trip.We left at 8 am and hit the road for our two hour ride in the city of Vietnam!The drive up to the delta was pretty long and interesting as there were thousands of motor bikes on the road.If you remember from the day before, Vietnam's primary mode of transportation is on the motor bike, and the traffic just doesn't really go that fast, it is just congested with thousands of bikes flying all over the road!Mid-way to the delta, we stopped for our potty break, but it more than that for me… after a quick #1, there were plenty of stores in the rest area and I went a bit crazy on buying some things.Even better, they take American MONEY and it is interesting to see how I am now using American money so fast and compared to using the other countries money.I got a nice tea set, a vase, pictures, fans, and some other things.It was fun and easy, and I still have not hit the real market to do my real shopping.
Back on the road and we continued to head down to the Delta.The bad news was there was a motor bike accident ahead of us.The tour guide said he didn't think they lived through the accident, as the roads are so congested here and so many people die a day in accidents.We got a chance to stop and see some Vietnam farmers collecting rice from their paddies.It was pretty interesting to see how they do this.I could not believe that I was seeing what I was seeing, the women working in the field, with their nice little Vietnam hats working… it looked like we were right in a movie set.
We finally reached the Mekong Delta boats and it was now time to board one of our boats over to the Mekong Delta.The Mekong Delta is the 10th largest river in the world, starting in Tibet and going through six countries.It was pretty cool to be traveling on the river watching the fisherman fish and how they live their lives on the river.There is actually life and a small town on the other side of the delta were other live in a peaceful place.
After we crossed the river, we headed over to a small restaurant for a fruit tasting experience.We had fresh mangos, jack fruit, pineapples, lychee's, and some other fruit we did not know the name to.All of the fresh fruit was delicious and to die for!!Look at my pictures to see each of the fruits we ate this afternoon.With the pineapple, we dipped it a plate of salt with chili in it, and it added a very intense, exotic, but delectable taste!!WOW…. My mouth and taste buds were dancing all over the place!!I have no had such fresh tasting fruit in a while!!
Once our tasting was over, we walked over to another boat where we were put into 4 person canoes being paddled by two Vietnamese people.I mean really, it looked something from a movie, you would not even believe that we were doing this.The pictures speak for themselves.During our canoe ride, the paddlers gave us the Vietnamese hats to put on, which are so fun to wear. They keep the sun off your head and when you talk you echo and hear yourself so clearly.. it was great.Yet again, see the pictures of me and the students in our hats!!
Once we paddled down the delta between large plants, trees and bugs, we made it some market area that appeared out of nowhere.At this point, it was time for a tea break.We had honey lemon tea, with sugar coconut shavings, sugar ginger and coconut peanuts.WOW… more taste buds going crazy and popping around.I even had to buy a bag of the peanuts to take with me… and guess what they cost… that is right $1… say it with me… ONE DOLLA!!!It is great how they love our American dollar bill…
While we were at tea time, the students had a chance to have a python wrapped around their necks and take pictures with them.I did not do it, but got some great pictures of the others having a blast with the snake.
Time to head on… and as we walked out of this market area, we found ourselves on the streets of this island town, which was so cute and homely!Waiting for us were these pony carriages!!!Yet again, you would never believe, see the pictures to valid my stories.Six of us sat on this carriage with a pony attached to it, pulling us down the streets on the island for about 10 minutes, with plenty of motor bikes passing us and honking at us!!The ponies made it to the end and so did we…only to find ourselves at another market area thing, but this time it was the Vietnamese people were making coconut taffy.I am not sure how they were doing this, but they were and this is the factory where this candy is made.I have some pictures of the woman working on the taffy in my section.We had a chance to taste it and it was really, really delicious candy!!
After our visit here, we jumped back into our boat for 2 minutes to run over to the other side of the island to have lunch.I knew I was in for a treat when the first thing that came to our table was the elephant fish.See the pictures to believe this one!!The fish was toasted or roasted on skew and still there with all of its bones looking at us.Then the waitress came over and started her job.She ripped open the fish, took out its spine and scales and the meet was ready to fall off.But that is not it… To eat the fish, we had to prepare even more.She then got a piece of rice paper, wet it up with some water…. Then took some lettuce and noodles and put that down on the rice paper.Once that was set up, she took a hunk of the fish and placed it on top of the lettuce and noodles and rolled up the rice paper into a taco forming.Now it was time to eat… after dipping the taco looking fish meal into this delicious sauce, I was in heaven, enjoying this great meal!!Then shrimp, pork, noodles, spring rolls and soup came out and we were eating like kings.The lunch meal that Semester at sea provided, yet again, was just amazing and so good.
After lunch, we headed back into our boat to get back to the main land only to find ourselves greeted with a full coconut with a straw in it.Yep, we were drinking fresh coconut milk right froma coconut on a boat, sailing across the Mekong Delta!!How cool… take a look at the pictures for that one too.
Well, it was time to get back in the bus and to head back to the ship!!Our great day sailing, riding, eating in the Mekong Delta was a blast.I really did feel like I was in Vietnam, got immersed in the culture, the area, and to see this part of the country.
I did learn today that the Vietnamese people are very friendly and hospitality!!I really do mean that.They are so small and cute and just have a happy joy about their lives.The tour guide said that many of the Vietnamese don't value education, money and other things in life.. they just wantto be happy and enjoy their lives and you can really see that in the places we were today.So many just having fun, enjoying their days and living it up!!We saw the richest parts of Saigon, and the poorest parts… but no matter what… people were just living to be happy and not worrying about what they had or didn't have.Day 2 compete and what a great day it was!!March 29, 2008Well, today started off early again.. up at 6:AM to get ready to lead 25 students to the Cu Chi Tunnels and to learn about the Vietnam war. This was going to be an interesting day trip, being an American and being toured and spoken to about the Vietnam war.
To my surprise, all of my 25 students were up early and ready to go, which is a first for me leading a trip that early. Our tour guide informed us it would take about 2 hours to get there, no big deal, as we are used to the bus trips after being on the voyage for over 2 months now. The funny part was he his first opening line, we should not hit any traffic this morning, being it is so early and a Saturday! Well, that was not very true!! As soon as we pulled out of the port and onto the major road, everyone's eyes light up... now we have been in Vietnam for three days already, so we have seen the traffic, but this morning traffic was just crazy and even more motor bikes.
The best way I could describe the thousands of motor bikes in front of the bus is like being on a crowded street, just like Carnival in Brazil, but just everyone on motor bikes. The only thing we saw out of the bus windows was a sea of Vietnamese on their bikes all bunched up together... how cool and crazy is this. What shocked me the most today was seeing how the families were traveling on their motor bikes. I saw one family of 4, no lie... the 3-4 year old baby was on the front, the mother driving, then the smaller baby in the middle squished by the father on the back... it was crazy to see... or the other people on the bike with the children reading and writing in the front squashed in by their mother driving. It makes sense now why they are so good at the driving of the motor bikes, they start off on them when they are so young, they get so used to them.
Well, enough about the traffic and motor bikes.. we finally made it for our first stop of our trip. We visited the Vietnam War Cemetery. At first, it was kind of weird to be visiting the tombs and graves of over 10,000 Vietnamese soldiers from the war. The most disturbing comment today that the students and I heard was from our tour guide when he pointed out a fighting scene on the wall... it was a bunch of Vietnam War soldiers shooting at a few American soldiers and his comment was. . look at the bad American soldiers, they must die. We knew we were in for a shocking day today with our trip.. .but you know what, I also think it is important for us to be here, to hear the Vietnam side of the war and to see how they handled it... so today was powerful on many occasions to really sit back and see two sides of a story and to say that you have been to both countries and experienced the same grief, feelings, thoughts and to reflect together as countries coming together finally.
After the grave site visit, we made it to the Cu Chi Tunnels. The tunnels of Củ Chi are an immense network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Cu Chi district of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country. The Củ Chi tunnels were the location of several military campaigns during the Vietnam War, and were the National Front for the Liberation of South Vietnam's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968. The tunnels were used by NLF guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The role of the tunnel systems should not be underestimated in its importance to the NLF in resisting American operations and protracting the war, eventually persuading the weary Americans into withdrawal.
During our tour we got to see how the Vietnam utilized the tunnels and even had a chance to crawl through the tunnels for a while. It was extreme to be in this tight hole in the ground and crawl from one location and end up about 100 feet away on the other side of the field. The invention of the tunnels were pretty good and it really helped their soldiers out. The other disturbing part of the trip today was to see the traps that they used to kill the American soldiers as they would find the openings to the tunnels. They showed us how the traps worked and to see how it would kill you instantly was so shocking.
At the visit today, they also had a gun firing range, were we could load up machine guns and others and shoot at some targets.... a bunch of the students got the shells and did some firing of the guns. What an interesting day.... the funny part was when the tour guide turned to me and whispered in my ear... are you American.. and I said yeah.. why... and he goes.. well the movie you are about to watch doesn't talk highly of Americans, and speaks about how we would kill them during the war. My response to him was... it doesn't matter... I think it is important for me and the students to hear the Vietnam side of the war and to understand their pain, their reasoning and other feelings so we could put some pieces together for ourselves... he was intrigued by my response. Even with the intensity of the trip, the tour guide and the experience, the trip to the Tunnels was pretty amazing. I can now say that I was in Vietnam, crawled through the Cu Chi Tunnels and went to visit the grave site of the Vietnam soldiers in their home country.
After making it back to the ship, exhausted and dirty... one of the other RD's wanted to go downtown to the market, which I have not been to yet... so I just went, what the hell!!
WOW, the down town area is so nice.. so many malls, so many shops, a nice market, tons of places to eat, nice hotels and tons of tailors and clothing stores. First order of business was to get the female RD's dress that she had made for herself fixed. After we got that under control, I was interested to see how much it would cost to get a suit tailored for me... and the woman was like $130 so I said.. okay.. lets get this going... so after about an hour of choosing the material, the color, the pockets, the pants design, the shirt color, getting measured, etc.. .I was ready to have a suit tailored to me made in Vietnam!!
I have to go back tomorrow for my first fitting and to see the suit for the first time made to fit ME!! This is going to be excited!!!
After some more running around and shopping.. I did not do too much, since I have to go back downtown tomorrow, we found a nice Thai restaurant to eat at. For $10 each, we had an appetizer, two sodas and our meal.. can you believe that price. In Dong' it was 350,000 Dong.. which was $20 all together... how great and the food was so good!!
When we walked out of the restaurant, we found a mall and grocery store, SCORE!! It is so much fun to go into the grocery stores in other countries. You learn about their culture more, how they shop, what they eat and get to see what their economy is like with the prices and comparing some of the things we have in America to our own prices. The stores are so much fun.
After some shopping, I headed back to the ship as I am on duty tonight for the ship and the students. What another great day in Vietnam... HOT, fun to see, educational, fulfilling and a lot of fun shopping and having a suit made!! What more could you ask for.Stay tuned for more tomorrow.March 30, 2008Today was not a big day… just had a chance to sleep in a bit and then we went back down town to continue some site seeing and more shopping.The shopping out here is pretty great… kind of cheap for some items… and other items are comparable to the states.At times you can bargin with the market sellers and other times they just don't want to.There are even some of the market sellers who will grab you and hold on to you until you make a purchase as they keep on lowering the prices.It is very interesting and yet annoying at times. The best of today was going for my fitting for my suit, which I just got measured for yesterday.When I got there, the lady was ready to show me the first set of the suit.The pants were ready to go and looked and fit great.The jacket was still in its forming stages, with one sleeve and a lot of drawings going on it.It still fit very well.The tailor did his final drawings and markings based on the fitting today and it should be ready for a pick up tomorrow afternoon!!We leave tomorrow, so I hope everything goes as planned and I can get it ready to go!!The only thing that happened so far was that she ran out of the fabric that I originally picked for my shirt.So after picking a new one this afternoon, she said she had enough of this one, she was going to have the shirt ready as well!!Very interesting to see a suit made perfectly shaped and tailored to you!! Like I said, nothing much today.Finally got back to the ship around 9:30 p.m. and just organizing myself and getting ready for my last trip tomorrow.Talk to you later.March 31, 2008For my last trip today, I was the trip leader for the Water Puppet Show!About 65 students and myself headed downtown to see the performance.The water puppet show is a traditional show of puppets dancing on water for the kings and their court.Water puppetry has been going on for over 800 years and is very know in Vietnam and is should not be missed.You can find some water puppet performances in 23 states, and if you do find one, you should go see it.So basically, the water puppet shows consist of a large pond and stage.The puppeteers worked behind the stage and bring out puppets on long sticks and it looks like they are floating/dancing on water.You never see the puppeteers and they do a great job on the choreography as well as all of the moves associated with the show.At the end of the performance, we got a chance to meet the puppeteers and show us how they worked the long fork sticks holding onto the puppets.It was surely interesting to see and great to be a part of a traditional experience in Vietnam.After the show, I headed back down town to pick up my suit!! Thankfully, everything went well and the suit and the shirt were ready to go.I tried it on one last time and everything seemed to fit well and it all looked great.I am happy that I spent the money on this great suit to have as a memory of Vietnam!!Well, it is going to be a busy week ahead of us.We are sailing to Hong Kong.We will be at sea on Tuesday and Wednesday ONLY.On Thursday, we get to Hong Kong.Then on Friday, majority of the students are off to Beijing on trips.I am flying from Hong Kong to Beijing for my trip and then willmeet the ship in Shanghi, China on April 7.This is the only time that Semester at Sea allows the students not to return to the ship in Hong Kong to sail to Shanghi.It will be different to be away for the 4 days on my trip and to meet the ship back in Shanghi when I return.I am very excited about my upcoming trip were I get to see the Great Wall and the entire China experience!!Stay tuned for more after the trip!!THANKS for reading my adventure updates and looking at my pictures.I found out recently that parents are reading my journal and I thank you for that as well, as I have received some emails and had some students tell me that their parents read my updates daily, as I am capturing every day of the voyage!! Well, I am off… have a great night… keep in touch!!I do miss talking to you all over the phone and on emails regularly!!We are at 40 days left on the voyage!!How exciting and scary at the same time.Later
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