A Taste of Vietnam (SAIGON)

HO CHI MINH CITY. Or should I say Saigon? I prefer Saigon, as did most of the Southern Vietnamese..especially that guy who sold me that yogurt stick ice cream on the street. Oh, and our crazy intense tour guide of course.

Probably one of the coolest, tastiest, and most unique trips I have ever been on in my life. I didn't know what to expect. So first I guess I'll start with the Pho (first things first, right?): It was real, authentic, not loaded up with MSG like at home, leaving you thirsty hours later. Overall, the ethnic variety of the food was surprising. I ate 2 really delicious Indian meals (love that curry!) and a really nice Thai meal (another green curry!) From Mediterranean to Japanese to Malaysian, the city literally had it all. Now if only I was able to muster up the courage to try the local street food (sitting on the small baby stools and tables of course). Or at least the dinosaur egg, crocodile, or snake that they offered during the tour lunch..

The Vietnamese culture was overwhelmingly strong. It was a feeling that is hard to describe..it seemed to be in the air, the smells, the sights, the people, the noises, everything. Experiencing a different Asian culture (a YELLOW one) was unforgettable. Next on my list is the Japanese. Then Koreans. Then I think I will have them all covered...

We left on Friday morning. The group of 6 was divided into 3: Me, David and Andrew (Team Tiger) and Amanda, Roel and Tommy (Team Jetstar). Unfortunately, I have no team pride, due to Tiger's delays and...utter unreliable-ness.
David failed to apply for a Vietnam visa, and realized this when he got to the airport and wasn't let on the airplane, thus leading to his decision to pay 200 sing to change his flight to a later time, apply for a visa online and rush it, then wait for it to process, then come over separately on Friday night.

This left Andrew and I waiting for our flight for a few extra hours, and making me regret getting up so early and paying extra for that taxi. But what are you going to do? Like so many other times on exchange..you just have to breathe and let it go...

After reviewing some key Vietnamese phrases that Andrew had written down, we boarded and flew to Vietnam. The process of getting your Visa and paying and filling out the form was..very unorganized to say the least. But honestly, I wasn't surprised. I was a bit scared of the really intense Chinese-Canadian girl who was yelling at the office worker lady to get her visa. Rude, so rude.

Anyways, we finally got past immigration and were in SAIGON! I couldn't believe how nice and clean the airport was too. Andrew and I bargained with a cab driver over the price. He anted $15 US to take us to the hotel. We laughed. Andrew said $6. He laughed. After some intense bargaining, and walking away..the man settle for $10 US. We later found out that that was a complete rip off, but again...live and learn right?

Driving through the city was awesome! All the motorcycles, and people wearing those face masks...The city was more developed than I thought it would be, yet still old in some parts. We finally got to our hotel ("CHERRY HOTEL. C-H-E-R-R-Y") and found Amanda, Roel, and Tommy waiting in me and Amanda's room watching cartoons. The guesthouse we stayed at was pretty nice! Definitely not bad for about 15 bucks a night. The only negative was that smell...(hahaha)

The 4 boys stayed at the Mai hotel literally around the corner. For the rest of our first day there we just walked around exploring the city, and the boys scoped out places to get their suits. The streets were very dirty. Really made me grateful for the no littering laws of Singapore. Although maybe there is a happy medium...where you can't litter...but you don't get caned and fined if you do....

However, I must say that the very first thing Andrew and I did when we got there was GO EAT PHO from PHO 2000 down the street because we were absolutely STARVING. And, typical me, I ordered a pineapple smoothie. I am not exaggerating when I say that I eat pineapple every day here. Southeast asian tropical pineapple is heavenly. But the pho was not as tasty as at home...but it definitely tasted more authentic. And Bill Clinton ate there in the year 2000. Which, now that I think about it, is probably why they gave it that number? Hmm..

Amanda and I wandered off a bit from the boys, checking out the city. And pissed off an old woman trying to sell us t-shirts. I bargained her down to $1 US per t shirt. But Amanda and I thought it was too early to start buying things!

We found the boys in the tailoring store that we would return to about 13 times that trip. They picked out the fabric for their suits. And Andrew was very impressive with the pictures and notes he had taken for the EXACT look he wanted for his suit. They got them for $150 per suit. I tried on a beautiful green jeweled dress that was about $50 US. And Amanda tried on a classy black one. But neither of us could afford it, being that we would have blown ALL of our money on these dresses. And we had more important things to buy with it. Like coconut candy for example.

We ate dinner that night at this huge food court place. Again, any type of asian food you could imagine. I settled for Indian, of course, while the boys ate about 3 dishes each of food. And Andrew is pretty much a human garbage disposal. It is shocking how much that boy can eat. I bought some chocolates at the vietnamese grocery store..and Amanda and I had some ice cream cones from some fast food place that would literally be the offspring of McDonalds and Burger King if they decided to have a child.

We went to the Ben Thanh market, but didn't stay too long. It was great just walking around the city. Jaywalking in Vietnam is intense. All the motorcycles and cars honk ALL THE TIME and dodge you as you go across the street. I felt like some rebellious child, with all of these opportunities to break what would be a criminal offense in Singapore, like jaywalking.. littering.. spitting... eating on public transit.. we were like teenagers who go to college and get their first taste of freedom and go nuts.

Amanda and I, exhausted, got ready for bed and watched tv! It was all pretty much in Vietnamese though, except for one Australian music channel station that played the same 5 music videos over and over and over. We stayed up talking extremely late, talking about literally everything and everyone. It was hilarious. We finally fell asleep and got about 4 hours before the alarm went off at 5am (which we thought was 6am) and we found ourselves getting up and getting ready to go running. Yes, running in Vietnam while on vacation at 5am. Probably not the best idea we have ever had, but whatever. We sneaked down the stairs, where the people who worked there were sleeping on the couches. We tried to wake them up by subtly talking louder, but it didn't work. Finally the guy got up and unchained the front door. We set foot out to run on the dark streets of Vietnam. It was a bit sketchy..to say the least..But we ended up finding some little park thing and ran around it 15 times. Yes, 15 times. And it was pretty funny when Amanda steppe don some crazy fast squirrel that ran across the sidewalk.

We got back, alive, and took showers (in the bathroom that flooded) then ate some of the delicious breakfast downstairs. We ate about 15 of those little baby sandwiches that they serve in little triangles. What is it about those triangles that make them so much better then when they are cut in squares? I'm convinced that when kids don't eat, parents should just cut the food into triangles and they will eat it..

We met with the boys and took the tour bus over to the station, where we boarded our main bus which was ironically not as nice. We met our tour guide, Mr Lovely, who told us that his face is "lovely" which is where he got his name. He is obviously humble too! Our first stop was as the Vietnamese Handicapped Handcrafters place, where we saw the assembly line and makings of various Vietnamese arts, like boxes..paintings..everything. It was incredible. And it was very sad watching how hard and poor those workers were. I was tempted to buy some painting or something, but it was way overpriced.

Next we headed over to the Mekong River to get aboard our boats! It was a long trek out there on that bus. But I really do not mind long bus rides. They can actually be pretty fun! We arrived at the delta and the water was very brownish and murky. We got on our boats and cruised a bit to change to another smaller boat, and take it down into the jungle parts of Vietnam. It was surrounded on either side by huge green trees, a very beautiful scene! It was very relaxing. And seeing the boys playing and jumping in the water was pretty cute. We arrived at this hidden place in the jungle, where we watched the Vietnamese women there making coconut candy. Now, I will be the first to tell you that I hate coconut. But, I tried it anyways, and this candy was absolutely delectable! So delectable that I bought 3 packs of it (2 chocolate coconuts and 1 peanut coconuts) - I finished nearly 1 of the packages before the trip was even over. It tasted somewhat like saltwater taffy, minus the salt water flavor. Sooooo good.

Then Mr Lovely showed us a real honey bee nest thing, followed by us having a tea party and drinking real honey tea, which was SO sweet I couldn't drink more than 1 sip (and I LOVE sweets). Then a young boy brought out a huge snake for people to hold (and give him tips for) and I was the FIRST one to do it! The snake was cool at first, then it started to kind of hiss at me and I got freaked out so I gave it back..

We took the long leisurely boat to eat lunch, at this school place. Actually I do not know where we were but there were lots of school kids around eating and playing with crocodiles and stuff. They served us a plate of white rice, some meat, and vegetables. But they had a menu consisting of dinosaur eggs...crocodile...eel...frog..all kinds of things that I could never even think of trying! The boys weren't brave enough to try any thing either. Which really disappointed me.

I went and saw some crocodiles afterwards..then bought a whole pineapple for the lady to cut up for me for less than a dollar. It was the sweetest pineapple ever! We ate the pineapple and discussed relationships and how to guess how long a couple has been together just by looking at them on our way to go take a more personalized, really Asian boat ride somewhere else along the Mekong to see the traditional song and music of some Vietnamese people. It was here that we got to eat some tropical fruits (although I wolfed down only the pineapple) and they sang some Vietnamese music and played some instruments I have never even seen before. I bought a bag that I later regretted, so the next lady bought it off of me in exchange for the one I wanted from her! And it was here that Mr Lovely came up to me and TOLD me that I was half asian and half Western, although he didn't know what asian..and that I was a half-breed. Pretty funny guy, right?

We took the boat back to the main area to go to the bathroom, and while I was in the bathroom (gotta love those southeast asian squatters) I came out and everyone was gone. Everyone. I was so scared. I went out into the parking lot..searching for the bus..couldn't see any tourist. All I wanted to see was a white person, some person looking lost too..anyone. Just when I was considering how I would get back, I saw Mr Lovely running towards me...I ran towards him too, so thankful to see his Lovely Face! I now understand why they say his face is so lovely! I apologized because the bus was waiting for me...and asked him "What can you expect from half-breeds?" which made him laugh pretty hard.

By the time we got back from the long bus ride, we were STARVING. Amanda and I had eaten nearly 70 of those coconut candies, and we dying for real food. We decided to eat at this little Indian restaurant, that was probably some of the tastiest Indian food I have ever eaten. Nevermind that at EVERY meal my food is ALWAYS the last to be served, although it is always the easiest to make...but it was well worth the wait.

Next we went back from District 7 to District 1 to get the boys suits. They were SO excited. But only to be let down when they heard that they werent ready yet. Amanda and I went back to our rooms to rest a bit before possibly going out later, but she ended up studying for her Chinese quiz while I passed out. Later, I took a shower and fell asleep at about 9pm. The boys came at 11 pm to get us, but I was dead asleep. And Amanda told me the next day that I was sleep talking to her. I really am my mother's daughter...

The next morning, the alarm went off again at 5am. This time, it was way more difficult to get up and run. I literally stood up and just stood there. A zombie. Dead to the world. Amanda was like "Let's just sleep 1 more hour and do it at 6" so I threw my running clothes down and passed back out in bed. 1 min later I was like "No Amanda, let's just go now!" so we got up and did our loops again, this time, however, make it clear that we went 16 times around!

We got back and again enjoyed tons of triangles and pineapple and such..and then we got picked up to go to our half day tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels, which I would say was my favorite part of the trip!
On the way, we stopped again at a different handicrafter place, this time with even more workers and paintings. Then we got to the Cu Chi Tunnels, where we first watched a video underground in a big dirt room, informing us of the background, from the Vietnamese point of view, of the Vietnam War and what these tunnels were used for. It was very interesting hearing such a different perspective on the war. Our tour guide was also a soldier in the war for the South (non-communist) side for Vietnam.

After watching the video we began our walking tour through the tunnels. We were shown a bunch of trap devices that the soldiers used that were strategically placed throughout the jungles. In school, we would always learn about guerrilla warfare, but actually going and seeing it and experiencing it was insane. We even got to try to go down in a tunnel (Where they would then place the opening over their head and hide underground). I was small enough to go in, but it was quite hard trying to get back out!

My favorite part was obviously when we got to actually go down IN the tunnels, just like how the soldiers did. It took them 5 hours to walk/squat through them for 3 miles. They were SO small, dark, claustrophobic, humid, and a bit creepy. At some points I couldn't see where I was going, just squatting along sweating through the tunnel that you could barely move in. I stayed in the whole time with some random guy on the tour who followed me! I felt much safer with him behind me.

Afterwards, we got to eat tapioca and tea, which is what the soldiers ate EVERY day while they were out. Even their kitchens were underground, and the tour guide told us that they would cook only very early in the morning or very late at night. They were very very sneaky, these Vietcongs..

After the tour ended, we were all very very dirty and sweaty. But no matter! We went back and decided to eat at this great Pho place that had all kinds of great food. I got some fresh spring rolls and pho which had the freshest vegetables and flavor I could imagine! The lady even gave us free dessert, 1 being a chocolate cake, and the other being some vegetable croissant thing...it was actually pretty good!

Amanda and I reluctantly tried this yogurt stick dessert thing on the street for 5000 dong. We bought it off some guys who were selling it off a motorcycle. It was the best tasting dessert I have had in a loooong time.

We decided to spend our last half day in HCMC doing as much as we could. We went to the Vietnam War Museum, which was mainly pictures and big tanks, but I really learned so much. We also tried to go to the Reunification Palace, which was closed by the time we got there. We then walked down to the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was near a huge park and a huge building that we still don't know what it was. A post office? A train station? Who knows? But I sent my family a postcard there, and in the park happened to come across a big group of Vietnamese teens sitting down singing happy birthday with a cake for a friend. I proceeded to take a picture of them, trying to be subtle, but they saw and started posing. Also, the girl near the stature trying to sell us stuff really insulted Roel, which was hilarious, asking him why he was bald? I won't tell you his response. lol. We ate dinner at a great Thai restaurant, where I ate the best green curry of my life. David was literally SWEATING BULLETS from his Wild Spring Curry...Amanda and I got cheap ice creams from the Circle K afterwards because we always crave something sweet after eating Asian food. We went back to get their suits - where the women again tried to get me to buy the beautiful green and gold dress and the black one for Amanda - and then returned to the hotel. I was exhausted, but still went with the boys to the night market. It wasn't very cheap, and they weren't willing to bargain very much. I sat with the boys while they ate their 6th meal that day at 11pm - enjoying their last Vietnamese meal of real pho and beer (And the spring rolls Andrew never got - he had the WORST luck with food on this trip!)

The next morning we flew back to Singapore. I thought Tiger was going to screw me over again and have such a delayed flight that I would miss my 130 class. Despite our delay, I got back just in time and was able to cab back to NTU and go straight to class with my suitcase. I borrowed a pen and paper from my friend and took notes for 2 hours, then while walking home with my luggage, it started to POUR. Perfect timing of course. So I somehow made my way back in the rain, lugged the suitcase up to the 6th floor, and came back soaked. Oh well. It was all worth it.

Overall, I was awed by the people and culture of Vietnam. How a country, so fresh from war, could still be full of optimistic people.
It was a great learning experience, truly opening my eyes to the different perspectives of war and hardships. I absolutely loved Vietnam, and am now dying to go back to Hanoi with mom this summer. You can never have enough Pho.