Vietnam 1

Vietnam can be summed up by two things: dong jokes and, “Hoooooooly buckets!”

I wasn’t sure what I expected to see in Vietnam, similar to some other countries. You have a picture of these countries in your head, but you never know how accurate (or inaccurate) they really are until you get there. I have learned first hand just how uneducated I am when it comes to the world and different cultures. I don’t know what language is spoken where, what religion is followed where, what country is located where, and I’m not ashamed to say that because I know you as my fellow American citizen probably don’t know either.

I awoke at 5:45 AM to witness the sunrise along the Saigon River. We traveled along the river for several hours to get to Ho Chi Minh Port. It was pretty cool, we are used to the wide open ocean, and the river was definitely different. There were boats collecting clay from the river bottom all around us and all sorts of other construction areas, as well as some homes and random river villages. The sunrise was amazing. It peeked out over the jungle as the morning fog still crouched low among the foliage. It was the first time I’ve ever seen anything like that. I have had so many first times on this voyage. My camera fogged up instantly from the intense humidity, even at dawn. Vietnam would be the country I sweat in the most, hands down.

We were greeted in the port by Vietnamese women dressed in traditional “ao dai” clothing and rice hats with a sign that said “Welcome Semester at Sea.” We were also greeted by the many parents waving frantically to their kids on the ship, as Vietnam was the port where the planned parent trip took place. I hoped loosely for an hour or so that my mom would surprise me and I would look off the ship and there she would be in a bright pink shirt, white shorts, sandals, red lipstick and blonde hair blazing. But she wasn’t, which was okay, but I miss my family. ☹

I explored Ho Chi Minh city with Kendra, Win and a couple of other people this day. The big thing to do in Vietnam is to get clothes custom made for you for really cheap, and almost all of us partook. I decided to get professional clothes made, as they are one thing my wardrobe really needs more of. I chose a simple black pants suit and two high-waisted skirts in gray and black, all work appropriate. I picked out the fabrics myself and then they took my measurements. To get all these clothes custom made for me in two days… $120. Pretty sweet huh? In the end, the skirts came out really nice, but the pants suit… not so much. Maybe I can get it tailored at home?

After that we went to the main market. We stopped at Pho 24 to get some food. Pho
(pronounced fuh) is a traditional Vietnamese dish… kind of look soup with meat and noodles. I liked Vietnamese food alright, but it had a lot of sea food in it, and I got sick of eating it three times a day by the end. I did really like the fried rice and spring rolls, though. They had a lot of fried food, which is always delicious.

After the pho, we headed into the depths of the market. It really really reminded me of the market I went to in Guanajuato, MX. It was inside, huge, tons of different items. I bought a lot of stuff. I buy a shirt and a hat and a magnet in every country, but I bought three shirts in this country because they were just so good. I bought one shirt that says “Same same, but different,” a common phrase around these parts. A ton of people have that shirt. I also bought a bro tank that is red with a yellow star on it; the Vietnamese flag. And when I went to Nha Trang I bought my signature cheesy tourist shirt that says Nha Trang in bright colors with a beach setting. I can’t wait to show you guys all of my amazing shirts. I never buy them for more than five bucks, they are way too cheaply made for that, but they have made up a huge part of my wardrobe now.

We did a little more shopping in the pirated video district. This was the best place ever. I bought Pokemon Pinball for my gameboy advanced for three dollars! I’m so excited to play it when I get home haha. My favorite purchase of all, however, were the FULL SERIES of television shows I bought. I bought House, Seinfeld, Arrested Development, and Sex and the City… for THIRTY TWO DOLLARS!!! SCOOOOORE! And they all work! I’m really disappointed now I didn’t buy Family Guy. Why, Jillian, why?? But basically I’m all set for the month of April when I am on the ship endlessly and bored out of my mind.

Next we headed to the War Remnants Museum. This was a very sombering museum and I learned many things I never knew before. I have heard so much about the Vietnam War in my life, and I know so many people that lived during it and even fought in it, and I still know almost nothing about it. Before coming to Vietnam, I watched a documentary all about McNamara’s life and basically his regrets and renunciations of the Vietnam War, and it completely intrigued me, especially a story he told about him sitting down at a table with a former Vietnamese war official years after the war. The two practically came to a fistfight at this huge gala. McNamara held his position that the US was trying to stop the spread of communism, but the Vietnamese official kept saying, “Don’t you understand, Vietnam has been fighting invaders for centuries. We were fighting for our independence, and we weren’t going to let you or anybody else take it from us!” The museum definitely spoke to that tone. There were horrific pictures and horrific stories and horrific quotes of mostly Vietnamese people but many Americans as well. I knew nothing about Agent Orange before stepping foot in Vietnam. It takes one teaspoon of Agent Orange to destroy a city of 8 million, but we used it as an environmental war strategy, in the process completely mutilating a society. Many people’s faces were burned off. I actually saw several survivors of Agent Orange with my own eyes. The chemical also caused severe mutations to thousands and thousands of children born to parents in the affected areas, many of which are cared for in orphanages all over Vietnam even today.

The museum really made me think about war, about our country, and mainly about the fact that I have lived through the Iraq War and 9/11, but never have I REALLY known what it is like to live in war time. And how blessed I am to be able to say that. That, in turn, made me think of the wars I may see in my lifetime, and of the certain wars my children will see in their lifetimes. Over three million Vietnamese people died in what they call the American War, while 59,000 of our own men died. How tragic… and for seemingly nothing.

We headed back to the boat to put our stuff down and get ready to go out to dinner and a night on the town. A really cool service SAS provided in Vietnam was a free shuttle going to and from the main part of town every half hour, every single day we were in port. I wish they had that everywhere! They probably just wanted to look good for the parents…

That night I went out to dinner with Kendra, Taylor, Lia, Rosalee, Chazz, Nate and Bradee. Dinner was good but again on the expensive side. Next we headed to a jazz club, Jazz N Art, where the main AV guy Bob, who is an AMAZING musician, was playing for the night. We all got some drinks and chilled out and watched them play smooooooth jazz. Next we headed to a bar called Apocalypse Now, which had some very inappropriate names for drinks like “Agent Orange” and “B-52.” Offensive? But we had a total blast here. There were a lot of SAS kids as well as locals and we danced for hours, great music, great people. Got home and in bed by 1 in preparation for my 3:45 AM wakeup call.

Woke up on time for once, hopped on the bus to the airport. Flight to Nha Trang, about 50 minutes. Bus ride from airport to hotel, about an hour, I slept this entire ride however and don’t remember a single part of it, which was really weird on the bus ride back to the airport and it was as if I had missed out on a whole hour of my life. Arrived in Nha Trang… and it is beautiful. Another gorgeous beach paradise. Basically everywhere I go it’s another day, another one of the best days of my life. Our hotel was nice, called Qua Haung, which is not even pronounced the way it sounds, which my roommate and I found out when we tried to get a taxi home and they had no idea what we were saying, and only found the hotel when we showed the hotel card. My roommate’s name was Kit, very cute brunette girl, and we got along famously.

This SAS trip was one of my favorites yet because of the huge amount of flexibility they gave us, and because there were only about 20 of us on the trip. Our tour guide gave us two hours to sleep in the hotel before we met up at 10 AM to begin sightseeing, which was very generous of him indeed. Once we were all a little better rested, we got back on the bus to explore this beautiful beach town. The first thing you notice when looking out at the ocean, other than the intense humidity, is the island across the way with a gondola ride leading to it. The island is very large and has the word “VINPEARL,” or the Pearl of Vietnam, on it in Hollywood-esque letters.

First we stopped by a Buddhist temple. A pristinely white 30-foot-tall Buddha can be seen towering above the pagoda. We went inside the temple where several different representations were on display, and saw a couple of people lighting incense and worshipping. The architecture was amazing, dragons everywhere, bright colors, lotus flowers. We climbed the stairs and stopped by a large stone reclining Buddha, not quite as grand as the one in Bangkok, but still very beautiful.

The children in Vietnam were my favorite. They were so playful and fun and cute all the time. They always seemed to be playing games and frolicking, and I just wanted to join them, and sometimes I did. I watched these little boys fighting in a fountain and another boy carefully taking on and off his shoes and a little girl using a large stick to tell the children what to do. There was also a very special little baby on our trip, Ellie, whose dad is the Vicarious Voyage coordinator and whose mommy is his wife. She is such a sweet little baby, with curly dirty blond hair, and the BIGGEST smile with four cute little front teeth. This baby was unbelievably good, she is only one and a half and I only heard her cry twice the entire time we were in Nha Trang.

We made it to the white Buddha and entered the room at its base, which had bronze moldings sticking out from the walls in 3D telling the stories of Buddha’s life. I forgot to take my shoes off and a little boy quickly reminded me.

Next we went to lunch at a restaurant atop a hill, giving us an amazing view of the bay. All of the restaurants SAS hooks it up with are spectacular, great food and great views and great atmospheres. And on this trip we were often the only ones in the whole place. We were the only ones here and we were served plate after plate of magnificent food. Whole crabs, huge prawns, real calamari, traditionally cooked fish in a clay pot that was DELICIOUS, rice, beef, and pineapple for dessert. Most meals served food quite similar to this, and rather in the same fashion too.

After we had eaten our fill, we stopped at one of the oldest buildings in Nha Trang that has some significance that I cannot recall at this time, but we were able to look around at the old photographs and artistic paintings and drawings of Nha Trang, as well as signed pictures of famous people who had been there, then we made our way down to a gorgeous little rocky beach area. A few young men were fishing while some other women had set up little souvenir shops under tarps tied to the few trees. The boys went right for rock climbing and I joined them a little bit, then just sat and enjoyed the view of the crystal teal water.

Next stop, a Hindu temple that looked like something straight out of Costa Rica or Guatemala, or at least how I would imagine an antique building looking there. I just wish I could post pictures so much. Think something you might have seen in Indiana Jones movies when they are exploring buildings in the jungle. There were about five separate buildings, each with a different god, and each with a representation of the lingam and yoni, images of male and female fertility, respectively. The insides of the rooms were small and stained black from incense smoke. The smell was pungent but nice, and the smoke made the room hazy.

Final stop, the local marketplace. They sold some fun stuff, but nothing much different from anything we have already seen. The fruit here was crazy and exotic and I took a lot of pictures of it, particularly dragonfruit which tastes kind of bleh, but the outside reminds me of a flamenco dancer and on the inside the fruit is white with a ton of little black seeds. Very pretty.