Alissa in Vietnam

Hey Everyone,

Well I have finally arrived in Vietnam. For the first day in port, I woke up at 6:45 in order to see us pull in. In order to get to Ho Chi Minh City we had to go through a river for about an hour and a half. The river was very pretty and we got to see a lot of greenery and the rural part of Vietnam. It was strange going in through this river because it was kind of small and there were a lot of other boats in it as well, including larger cargo ships. Once we finally arrived at the port, we were greeted with a “Semester at Sea Welcome to Vietnam” sign held by some Vietnamese women in their traditional clothing. There were also several parents standing on the dock because this is where the parent trip met up with us. It is very strange seeing all the parents around. After the ship had pulled in and was cleared with customs, I was off for a city orientation. The first stop on the orientation was a Chinese temple. From reading my other blog entries you can tell I have been to many of them. This one was very similar and there were incense burning everywhere. The Chinese are obviously into burning incense because it has been very strong in every temple I have been in. After the temple, we stopped at a factory that makes and sells beautiful works of art. Some of them were even made out of eggshells. It was very cool, but very overpriced. After the factory, we went and ate lunch at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant. I chose to be vegetarian so that I wouldn’t have to eat fish again. I think this is how I am going to order in the rest of the countries. At lunch, it was very interesting because we were given a tiny plate and a tiny bowl and that was all that we could use to eat off of. Also, there were no serving utensils in any of the dishes that were brought to the table. Luckily, we came up with a system so that we wouldn’t put a used utensil into any of the dishes. Once we were satisfied and no longer hungry, we continued our city orientation to the history museum. At the museum, we learned all about Vietnam and then we watched a water puppet show. I find it amazing that there are so many different types of puppet shows around the world. I even filmed a little bit of the show if anyone would like to see it when I get back. After the museum, we then went to the Presidential Palace, which is where the President used to live when Vietnam was split into two, the north and the south. One story that the tour guide told us was that the main staircase of the building had been bombed during the Vietnam war. It was strange to stand right next to the staircase and imagine that about 30 or so years ago a bomb had landed in that spot. In the palace, we were also able to go underground where the president would hide out and work from during the war. Once we had finished touring the palace, we went to the Notre Dame Cathedral to take pictures and then took the bus a little further to see City Hall. At City Hall there was a demonstration going on so we had to be very careful when taking pictures, because we could not take any of the demonstration. After viewing City Hall, the guide showed us where some tailors were and then we got back on the bus to go back to the ship. When I got back to the ship, I grabbed a quick dinner and then went back out to a tailor to get fitted for a suit. After getting fitted, Alex, Chris, Jay, a new guy Mark, and I went to the night market to walk around. I didn’t buy anything this night because I wanted to wait until I had more money. Anyways after an hour or two of walking around, we took a taxi back to the ship, then relaxed and went to sleep.

The next day I got to sleep in, which was the only day I could during my whole stay in Vietnam. I awoke at 11:00, and then got ready for the day. Sheryl and I wanted to just shop the entire day so we took the shuttle bus from the ship to the Ben Thanh Market, which is full of pretty much everything. The market was absolutely packed and you never truly had any idea where you were in the market. After walking around for a little while, we had bought some stuff that was heavy so we decided to head back to the bus to go to the ship instead of carrying it around all day. We then went back to the ship to relax for a little bit before having dinner and then going back out to the market that night. We had met up with Jay, a girl named Erin, and then we went to walk around the night market for a little while. I bought some more stuff and then went back to the ship. On the ship, we relaxed and watched “Crash” until we went to sleep.

The next morning started out very early because Sheryl and I had a service visit to a school for the blind, which met at 7:30am. For this school visit, we first met with the principal who showed us around the school, into many of the classrooms. When we entered the younger kids’ classrooms, they would always stand up to greet us. It was very cute. Once we had finished looking around the school, the principal told us a little more about it, and then we were able to have free time to play with all the little kids (ranging in age from 4 to 7). It was very fascinating to try to communicate with these kids. Not only could they not see us for our gestures, but they spoke a completely different language and couldn’t understand a word we said. Even with all these communication barriers, it was still a lot of fun. There was one little boy that I played with a lot. At first, I was helping him go down the slide, which he enjoyed doing very much. He would slide down, and then turn around to climb back up. I was amazed at how much he could do without seeing. A little bit later, I found the little boy again and I decided to try and play with a ball with him. We had brought a few soft footballs, so that is what I used. I would hand him the ball and then he would throw it. Most of the time though he threw it backwards instead of forwards; I have no idea why. It was great, every time I would hand him the ball he would have a smile on his face. After playing for about an hour, the children went to lunch, where we went to watch and help a little, and then we left to go back to the ship. Overall, it was a great experience, and I absolutely loved playing with all the little kids!

Once we got back on the ship, we relaxed for a little bit, had some lunch and then went back out to go to the market again. Once the shuttle dropped us off, we first went to the post office and then went to a grocery store to buy some snacks. After leaving this, we walked to the market. In walking to the market, a little incident happened to me. I am completely fine, but I think you all should here the story. Well to start off I need to tell you about the driving in Vietnam. Almost everyone uses motorbikes and there are almost always many around, which makes it difficult to cross the street. To top this of there are very few stop lights and crosswalks. Well at our pre-port, before arriving in Vietnam we were told that in order to cross the street we just needed to go and move at a steady pace so that the motorbikes would go around us. On this particular day, I got unlucky and when I tried to cross there were a lot more bikes coming then I thought. After getting a little more than halfway across the street I realized a bunch were coming at me and that one guy was trapped and wouldn’t be able to avoid me. Because of this I got hit, but I am totally fine. I am just a little bruised, have some road burns on my elbows, and my whole body is a little achy. Luckily from previously being a gymnast I am pretty good at falling and didn’t hit my head. Also another interesting thing happened. As some of you know I have had a cist in my wrist for quite some time and lately it has just been popping out and looking disgusting. After I fell though I think my cist got broken up a little and now it doesn’t stand out as much. Another weird thing about the fall initially was that my back was the only thing that didn’t hurt. I was so happy that I no longer have screws in my back because that could have made it worse. Well anyways don’t worry about me, but in order to tell you about the crazy driving and about what’s going on with me, I thought this story had to be included. Well after this incident we continued on to the market for a few hours and afterward went to a hotel where we were able to access free internet. Once I finally got back to the ship, I showered to get all the dirt off me and then went to get some ice to put on the bruises. That night I just relaxed on the ship and Sheryl, Jay, and I watched “Little Miss Sunshine”, which is an absolutely hysterical movie. It was a nice way to spend that night.

The next morning was another early day because I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple, which was a few hours away from Ho Chi Minh City. Our first stop of the day was the Cao Dai temple. C aodaism is a mix of several religions and ideas such as Buddhism, Confucianism, Hinduism, Taoism, Christianity, and Islam. The temple was beautiful and the art was very intricate and ornate. There seemed to be several followers of this religion, but supposedly, out of the total population Caodaism is not very popular. We watched a service for about 15 minutes and then we were able to walk around the temple to take pictures before returning to the bus. After about an hour more of driving, we arrived at the War Memorial Cemetery where about 10,000 Vietnamese soldiers are buried from the Vietnam War. This cemetery looked a lot different from our veteran cemeteries because instead of just tiny headstones there were almost little tombs that sort of looked like the outline of the caskets. It was very interesting. The next and final stop on our trip was the Cu Chi Tunnels, which is where the Vietnamese soldiers would hide, live, and fight during the Vietnam War. At this site, we watched a video on the war and then walked around where the tunnels were. We were able to see secret entries, which were very tiny. The holes right now are 30% larger than they were during the war. Supposedly, all of the soldiers weighed 100 pounds or less. I can’t even imagine them being that small. At the tunnels, we were also able to see many ways in which the Vietnamese trapped and killed the Americans. After walking for a little while through this area, we arrived at a little gift shop and right next to it there was a shooting range where visitors could come and shoot AK47s. The noise from the guns was so loud and all I wanted to do was keep walking and get away from it. Unfortunately, we stuck around there for ten minutes before entering a small part of the tunnel. The tunnel that we entered was probably about 10 meters long, but it felt like we were down there forever. The tunnels were very small and there was very little light. All you had to do was try and follow the person in front of you. Sheryl and I decided to stay towards the back so that if need be we could go backwards. This probably would not have been possible because it was so small and there were 2 people behind us. On top of being very claustrophobic, we had one of the video guys on our trip who thought it would be fun to video us in the tunnel. He crouched at the end of the tunnel and had people give messages about the tunnel before exiting. I did not appreciate this and all I wanted to do was get out of the tunnel. After what seemed like forever, I was out and in the fresh open air. Once we had crawled through the tunnel, it was time for us to return to the bus for our two-hour trip back to the ship. On arriving at the ship, it was another easy night where we all watched a movie. This time it was “Pursuit of Happyness”, which I have been wanting to see since it came out.

For the next day, my final day in Vietnam I went on another day trip, which was to the Mekong Delta. Our first stop on this trip was to a marketplace where they sold clothes, crafts, as well as food. We walked around here for about a half an hour. The food they had was very interesting. There were some fish in tanks still swimming and jumping that people could buy to eat. There was also raw meat just lying out. It was so gross and it made me so happy that I had ordered vegetarian for the day. Once we walked around here, we got back on the bus and headed to our next stop, a pagoda. On this trip, I learned the difference between a pagoda and a temple. A pagoda is for only worshipping Buddha, whereas the temple is for worshipping several gods. After walking around the pagoda for a little while and taking pictures, we continued our trip to the Mekong Delta. On arrival at the delta, we boarded boats that took across the river. Our first stop on the river was to a little restaurant place where we were served some snacks and drinks. After doing this, we got back on the boats to go to another part of the island. At this part, we were served some more drinks and snacks. Here I had some pineapple and mango that were very delicious. At this little restaurant, we were also welcomed with some music from a local group. It was very entertaining and relaxing. We then walked out back to the boats, but this time we got onto a row boat that could only fit four of us. Luckily, two locals were on the boat as well and they rowed us through the jungle. The next stop on the river for us was at a coconut candy-making place. We were served the warm candies and they were delicious. Since they were so good I bought some to have on the ship. After eating all these great snacks, we got back on the boat to go to the restaurant for lunch. The food here was so good and I loved that it was vegetarian. The non-vegetarians were being served a deep-fried whole fish along with other food. The fish was so disgusting because it was completely whole and looked like it could still have been alive. That would definitely not have be a good meal for me. After enjoying lunch, we took a boat back to the buses and then were on our way back to the ship. Overall, the Mekong Delta was so beautiful and relaxing. It was a great way to spend my last day in Vietnam.

When we got back to the ship, our tour bus took some of us back to the marketplace for some last minute shopping. Alex, Chris, Jay, Casey, and I went back to the tailor to pick up the stuff that had been made for us. I tried on my suit and it fit very nicely. Everyone else’s clothes fit great as well. It was amazing to me that they could get our measurements one day and then you go and pick it up without a final fitting or anything. After picking up our clothes and walking around the market for a few minutes, we caught a cab back to the ship and tried to hurry on for dinner. We made it for dinner and now my time in Vietnam is over. We don’t actually leave until Saturday morning, since we have to go back out through the river, but I am excited to try to catch up on a little sleep and relax on the ship for a few days. Well once again, I have rambled on forever, but I hope these stories are entertaining you and you are getting a feel for what I have been up to around the world.

I love and miss you all! Only 1 month left.
Alissa