Vietnam. OH my! The adventures I have been on in this country...

DaY 1

So it’s the end of the second day in quite possibly one of the liveliest cities I’ve seen thus far, Ho Chi Minh. As some of you already know, the last few days on the ship were not the greatest. I think it has hit the point in the voyage were people are starting to get annoyed with each other. There was a little drama in my group of friends which got me pretty down. Luckily though, the complication/miscommunication got resolved and things seem to be better and these last two days in Vietnam have been two of the most fun days I have had in a port yet. I’m not really quite sure why since nothing incredibly big and exciting happened. The day of arrival we pulled in to the river leading up to Ho Chi Minh city at around 6:45am. As always, I woke up, snapped a few pictures, and grabbed some breakfast. However, in this particular port we didn’t dock until 10 am so I went back to bed for a few much needed hours of sleep. “The voice” then came on over the intercom and woke me up to tell me that my group had to go and pick up my landing card so that I could disembark from the ship. I’m pretty sure he ruined a very good dream I was having. After getting cleared and going through that long and painful process, I was finally off of that damn ship. Anna, Mary Alice and I were on a mission. We had to go find a tailor to get our dresses made for the upcoming Ambassador’s Ball. This is the last big event on the ship that everyone gets dressed up for. We were able to find a tailor very quickly and luckily too, because the entire process took us about 4 hours! Mary Alice knew what she wanted pretty quickly, leaving Anna and I to page through several books of dress designs. Of course, I’m one of the most indecisive people I know, so it took me awhile. With the help of much reassurance and input I ordered two dresses. My fingers are crossed on the one I hope to wear at the ball… I’m not sure that my mother would approve ☺ Anna designed one of her own. We then moved on to another tailor to look at other designs. I found one in their magazine that I really, really liked. It was just a pretty simple black cocktail dress. While I was asking one of the women working about it, a huge cockroach was running all over the floor. Another SASer and all the women in the store were screaming and running around in their bare feet trying to avoid it. I think that Anna, Mary Alice and I were the only ones who found it amusing. After that bit of entertainment was over, one of them drew a picture of the dress. I picked out some fabric for it and asked how much it would cost and ouch, it was not the price I was hoping for. It was actually about 4 times the amount I had just paid for the other dresses. Hmmm…. what to do right? So I took the drawing she had made, left, went back over to the first tailor and had them make it for me for way less. I go back tomorrow for my second fitting. Hopefully they will turn out, or at least one of them lol. Getting fitted, picking out the design and the fabric was really a lot of fun. All three of us enjoyed it and had a blast besides. We then recuperated with the help of a little ice cream and then headed to the market where “real knock offs” are as one of my friends put it. It was crazy in there. Just like the rickshaw drivers in India, they just don’t understand “no”. I practiced my bargaining a bit, which I must admit, has improved. The exchange rate is 16,500 dong to $1. It makes converting pretty challenging but it also makes going to the bank fun because you take out 2 million dong at once. A lot of the stores want USD… which makes it easier for almost everyone but me because silly me didn’t bring US dollars. It’s really kind of weird though. We were at a restaurant later that night, and this Vietnamese couple paid with US money. It was just kind of a reality check in a way. Anyways, the market eventually started to shut down and we roamed the streets for a bit before we decided to go get manicures/pedicures (talk about a girly day)… but trust me, if you saw my hands and feet you would understand. I went with the manicure since I had ripped off the nail of my entire big toe in Malaysia. Way to go me. The manicure was nice, but what I enjoyed most of the experience was watching the women in the store… and some strange TV show they had on that I couldn’t stop watching even though I had NO idea what was going on in it. They would stop and watch it or talk on their cell phones…things that would never happen in the US. It was interesting. We then tried to get directions to a restaurant that was recommended to me by the doctor I work for. Let me tell you, that was also an experience. The poor girl was trying to explain it to us and she even tried drawing it out… but I’m not exactly sure what she thought we were trying to do because as soon as we told her we wanted to walk there, the directions changed completely. Makes no sense, but go figure. We thanked her and just started wandering again lol. Eventually we found it. Le Mekong was the name and it had delicious French cuisine. I was in heaven because I was finally able to order a stake and it was one of the most incredible tasting stakes of my life. I owe Dr. Bentz big time for the recommendation. We then did a little more shopping and I found a painting that I love but am still debating whether to buy it or not. The shops here never seem to close either which is very much opposite the trend in the other ports. The city is always bustling with activity and things to do. Mary Alice and I went to a Jazz club where we had a few drinks and listening to some live music. We met two boys from Michigan and Georgia who lived in Hong Kong, as strange as that sounds. We stayed till we got kicked out and then headed off to catch the shuttle bus back to the ship. Unfortunately however, we had no idea when it would come or if it stopped running after a certain time. It was 12 am and we ended up sitting there for an hour before we decided to catch a taxi to take us back home. After getting back, I attempted to call some people with little success. By the time I got a hold of my dad, I had only 4 minutes left on my phone card. It was a short lived conversation but it was almost all that I need since I hadn’t talked with either of my parents since I left. I was a little homesick that day since some of the student’s parents are in Vietnam for the SAS parent trip. Everyone whose parents who are still back at home are a little bit jealous, myself included. The 4 min phone call was enough and I went to sleep with a big smile on my face. I love you dad! ( and mom, answer your phone next time!! ☺)


This was as far as i got that night... i fell sleep. :) ill tell you more about day two and the rest soon!