Vietnam

Day 1:

We came up a river to port in Vietnam so we didn’t port in Ho Chi Minh until noon or so but we were able to leave the ship quickly. I should explain it was TET, the Vietnamese New Year, which is celebrated for about 5 days and everyone goes home to be with their families, which really bogs down all the transportation and shuts down a majority of the businesses.  So we spent the day in Ho Chi Minh looking for a tailor to make suits and dresses for the Alumni Ball on the ship taking place April 23^rd.  Most everything was shut down and we were really struggling but we ended up going to the War Remembrance Museum.  It was incredibly powerful, sobering, and almost embarrassing to be there.  I feel fortunate to have seen it and I feel I can use my expanded perspective in the classroom and hopefully provide my students with a complete view of the war when I eventually teach. 

We finally found a tailor, had no idea what I wanted my dress to look like, so I pointed to a picture and picked out my fabric and crossed my fingers.  I’ll show you what it looks like after the ball but I really like how it turned out. 

Day 2:

I went to Ash Wednesday Service with Desmond Tutu preceding the services.  It was really incredible; I really enjoy his view on religion. 

Laura and I ventured into Ho Chi Minh to find the train station, succeeded, bought one-way tickets to Nha Trang, and spent the day wondering around Ho Chi Minh and got a $7 mani/pedi :D

Day 3:

We were up at 4am, left the ship at 5am, and were on a train headed to Nha Trang at 6:30am.  The train was actually really pretty; we were finally in the country! I felt very at home, saw cows and rice patties! We got into Nha Trang at 1pm and we went to get our return tickets and they told us all the tickets were sold out until the 17^th.  The ship was leaving from Ho Chi Minh on the 17^th, so clearly this was a problem.  After some pleading they told us we could get tickets for 6:30am the next day so we took those and we had 17 hours in Nha Trang! We decided not to sleep or get a hotel so we went straight to the beach and at 6pm ate, started the bar hoping, met people from New Zealand, Britain, USA, Norway, and Russia, and we ended at 5am swimming on the beach and then started walking back to the train station.  The train back was horrible.  It took 10 hours, it would stop on the tracks for up to an hour just because the trains were backed up.  We passed out when we finally made it back to the ship around 6pm.  I think in 48 hours we slept about 8 hours. 

Day 5:

We did to the Cu Chi tunnels, which I thought was overrated.  We took public transportation and it took around 5 hours to get there and back and I had a bat fly over my head in a tiny tunnel, which really freaked me out.  I wish we had made it to Mekong Delta.  It is my only regret!  We met an Australian and Lithuanian on the bus to the tunnels and we met up with them that night and went to the backpacker district and bar hopped.  We ended up running into the guys from Britain, New Zealand and the US from Nha Trang that night again.  Very small world!!

Day 6:

I got in around 5am and had to be up at 7am to go pick up the dresses we had made, needless to say I was pretty exhausted. 

I loved Vietnam.  It was the first time I’ve really felt like things were different.  It was also the first time I’ve really been able to get out and see the agriculture, which is so near and dear to my heart. 

And let me close saying I'm sorry for the poor grammar and writing style, I have reached a level of exhaustion that until now was incomprehensible to me.  That being said, I don't think I've ever had so much fun becoming so exhausted.