Vietnam
Trip Start
Jan 13, 2006
1
10
11
Trip End
Apr 28, 2006
Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Saturday, April 1, 2006
The first day I went on a trip to speak with a former war photographer and then a visit to the war museum. The war photographer was really interesting and it was weird hearing about the Vietnamese war from a Vietnamese perspective even though he fought with the Americans. After that we went to the War Museum which was one of the saddest things I've seen. They vividly portrayed all aspects of the war including the affect on women and children that weren't even fighting and on generations now. It was weird to see all the anti-American propaganda that they had in Vietnam during the war. Overall it was a really intense museum.
I went to the Mekong Delta independently and that trip was a lot of fun. Our tour guide took us down to the delta where we had a chance to get fresh honey from a bees hive and hold a snake. While in the Delta I tried Banana wine and Snake wine. Neither of them were actual wines but more like pure alcohol. They were both disgusting but I figured, when would I ever again have the chance to say I tried snake wine. After tasting the wine the guide took us to watch a music performance and try some of the local tropical fruits. After the musical performance we had lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant. When we left the restaurant we went to a coconut candy factory and had a chance to watch how they make traditional Vietnamese coconut candy. After the candy factory we headed back to Saigon.
I visited the Cu Chi Tunnels which are a part of the tunnel system the Vietcong used against us during the war. The tunnels were really intricate and the Vietcong mastered building them so that there was proper ventilation and many ways out without having to worry about the US soldiers capturing them. We had a chance to actually go through the part of the tunnel system. The tunnels had been enlarged from their original size so that people could fit trough them easier but you still had to crouch down the entire time and at some points even crawl through the tunnels. I couldn't imagine how the Vietcong lived in these underground tunnels for years.
While in Saigon I also did a service visit to a school for the handicapped. We had the chance to interact with the students in the classes and then go outside and play with them. I had a class of four kids who were death so it made interacting with them challenging. Their teacher taught me some of the sign language they used to help me out. We sat in the class and colored and did word searches before going outside and playing on the playground. All the kids from the school were outside with us and they were all so excited to have us there. They loved when they got their picture taken and enjoyed taking pictures on my camera even more. After playing with the kids we ate lunch with the teachers, where we had a huge Vietnamese feast of food. We weren't even able to eat half of the food they gave to us because it was so much.
Overall Vietnam was amazing. I definitely want to come back here again. Next up is Hong Kong. In Hong Kong I'm going to travel to Beijing and go see the Great Wall and then meet up with the ship in Qingdao. After Qingdao we'll go to Japan and that'll be our last port.
