Vietnam

In our preparations for arrival in Vietnam there were a number of very
emotional presentations by some of the faculty, staff and life long
learners who were alive during the Vietnam War. I started then to
realize how little I had been told about the Vietnam War in school,
and how little I knew of it. Someone brought up how it was hard to
think about Vietnam as a country, with the war standing there. But I
didn't see it that way at all. Thanks to a high school friend from
Vietnam and stories from past SAS students about how wonderful Vietnam
was. I can honestly say that Vietnam has been a country to me all
along, rather than a war. Entering a country where so many people's
parents and grandparents had been, although in a completely different
context, made it a very interesting port to experience with the rest
of the shipboard community.

November 3, 2009:

The morning we arrived in Vietnam, we were again strongly encouraged
to wake up and see the ship come in. When I got to the 7th deck to
check out the surroundings, I definitely agreed with the
recommendation we had received. To get to our port in Ho Chi Minh City
we had to sail up the Saigon river. We sailed right beside small
fishing villages and hundreds of small fishing boats. The delta was so
lush and green and the whole trip up the delta was very pretty.

Once we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, I took the SAS shuttle into
downtown Ho Chi Minh City with two girlfriends, Annie and Lauren. We
were dropped off in front of a very nice hotel that was across the
street from a very pretty park. We decided to wander around for a
while with the eventual goal of finding a tailor's shop and going
shopping. Our first struggle was crossing the street. We had been
given a very interesting lesson on crossing the street the night
before. It equated to "close your eyes and walk at an even pace". So
what did I do upon entering the street, I ran. Luckily there weren't
even any cars coming, but I had to fight the same temptation each and
every nerve-wracking time I crossed a street in Ho Chi Minh City. We
wandered for a while in one direction before realizing we needed to
turn around.

Finally we got hungry and decided to stop at a Pho restaurant. Pho is
the special brothy noodle dish unique to Vietnam. The only vegetarian
things in the restaurant were rice and flan, so I had them both along
with a delicious strawberry, pineapple and guava smoothie. Next we
wandered across the street to Ben Thanh market. We wandered around in
the market for a long time, and hardly seemed to see any of the huge
indoor market. We kept seeing these tank tops that said "same same" on
them. Finally we stopped an asked one of the persistent shopkeepers
what the shirts meant. She pointed at each of me, Lauren and Annie
individually, "same, same, same," before turning over the tank and
reading, "… but different". We each bought one, in a different color,
along with a Tiger Beer tank top. After buying some fun jewelry and
complete seasons of Sex and the City and Gossip Girl (for $20
together), we decided to continue our search for a tailor.

That morning we had gone into a few shops, that each refused to do a
dress in such a short amount of time. I was starting to lose hope that
we would find a tailor shop that would be able to make the dresses we
had in mind from the magazine clippings we had brought with us. On our
way to look down another street we stopped at a produce shop, noticing
a particularly hairy fruit that one of the dean's aboard the ship had
recommended we try. We bought a few of them and the owner taught us
how to peel back the hairy, spiny skin and access the sweet grape-like
fruit. He even took a few pictures for us, although he, like many
other Vietnamese, refused to take a picture of three people. Our
interport student had accidentally misspoken and told us not to take
pictures of tree, which confused the entire audience. She soon caught
her mistake though and explained that when you take a picture of three
it is very bad luck for the person in the center, who is believed to
die very soon after the picture. As we continued on our way, we were
so lucky to find a tailor shop not two blocks from the market. After
explaining our dresses, getting measured and picking out fabrics, our
dream dresses were well underway! How exciting!

We were all feeling pretty exhausted and remembered the salon and
massage place that was next to the lunch restaurant and decided to
head there. Lauren and I decided on manicures, pedicures and massages,
while Annie got a facial instead of massage. My manicure and pedicure
were very nice and normal, but my massage was a little bit different.
First of all, the language barrier makes the already semi-
uncomfortable pre-massage conversation nearly impossible, so I simply
guessed the amount of clothes I was supposed to remove and got onto
the table. Things were going great, and I was feeling very relaxed.
All of the sudden the tempo of the massage changed significantly and
the small Vietnamese woman was pounding on me with what, without any
exaggeration, I believe was all of her might. Moments later, searching
for greater leverage or power, she climbed up onto the table with me,
at which point she decided to use my butt as a seat while she
continued to pound on my back. At this point I wanted so badly to
laugh, but held it together. The massage continued nicely, with
slightly less force. Later though, I was awoken from a semi-asleep
state by her once again standing on the table, this time she quickly
transitioned from standing on the table to standing on me. I had
walked on other people's backs before, but never had the action
reciprocated, so this was a very interesting experience. After the
massage was over I had my nails and toes polished and I waited for
Lauren and Annie to be done. There were other SASers in the salon who
I hadn't met before, so it was fun to sit and talk to them. Settling
the bill was the best part of the experience, since all of services
together cost $18. Once we were all ready together, we realized we
were late to meet our friend Aly and her parents who had flown to
Vietnam from Oregon.

After wandering for a while, who knew there is more than one Gloria
Jean's Coffee in Ho Chi Minh City, we found Aly and I met her parents
for the first time. Aly's parents had to go back to the tailor for a
second fitting on their suits; the four of us girls went to be seated
at the restaurant. The restaurant we planned on eating at was just
around the corner from the tailor shop where Aly's parents were
continuing their fittings. It happened to be the restaurant that the
U.S. Diplomat who had spoken on the ship that morning most
recommended. Once we got to Lemongrass, the hostess told us it was
full, but showed us to the other location of Lemongrass, on the 14th
floor of the Palace Hotel, which was beautiful and so nice. It was
really nice to have dinner with parents, even though it just made me
miss my parents. After dinner we went back to the boat to get ready
before going out for the night.

We met up with other friends from the boat who were all headed to the
same club, which was recommended by SASers from past semesters,
Apocalypse Now. It was that evening that I rode on my first
motorcycle. We continued to ride them for the remainder of our time in
Vietnam, and a ride nearly everywhere around the city was $1. We got
to Apocalypse, but there weren't many people there yet so we headed to
a Circle K we had spotted earlier for some drinks and then back to
Apocalypse Now. The night was so fun, and the Semester at Sea kids,
and crew, truly TOOK over the club.

November 4, 2009:

The next morning I decided to show up to the bus of a trip I hadn't
signed up for that was going to the Mekong Delta. On the trip we
visited "the lifeblood of Southeast Asia". The Mekong river runs from
Tibet through Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. On the trip we
took a long bus ride to the river. On the way to the river, we stopped
at a Cao Dai temple. Cao Dai is a unique religion that many Vietnamese
practice, which worship gods, goddesses and figures from history. The
temple had Jesus, Krishna, Buddha and John F. Kennedy painted
alongside others above the gigantic shrine. When we arrived at the
river, I purchased a grass straw pointed hat, which probably saved me
from a nasty sunburn. Then we took a boat ride on the river, which was
HUGE. We visited an island in the delta, and saw the village life. We
saw the villagers making coconut candy, and saw the jars of snake wine
with dead snakes coiled on top of one another, fermenting. I declined
the invitation to try the snake wine.

We continued to another part of the island by donkey cart. There we
were presented with a plate of tropical fruits including dragon fruit,
pineapple, guava, small citrus fruits and some that I couldn't
identify. In the small covered area where we were eating there were
huge boa constrictors that you could hold. I don't particularly like
snakes, but I've noticed that part of SAS is just having the
experiences in the moment. So I said I wanted to hold it. My friend
Charlie helped hoist the snake on my shoulders. I was shocked at how
heavy the snake was. I had Charlie take a few pictures, and then take
the snake off my shoulders. The snake had just started to swirl around
me, maybe thinking about constricting? Then we left to take a ride on
a small wooden boat, 4 people per boat, through the canals of the
village back to the river where we reboarded our large, and motored
boat to head to lunch. Lunch was very Vietnamese and not very
vegetarian. I had rice, and a granola bar from my bag. The rest of the
group enjoyed fresh rolls filled with pieces of fried fish, from the
whole fried fish that was on a stand in the center of our table. The
lunch was elaborate, but not so fun for me, my tablemates tried to
make it better, and were nice enough to move the fried fish from our
table. After lunch we had a look around. Near where we were eating, a
large water buffalo had completely submerged himself in a narrow canal
trying to keep cool in the 90 degree and very humid weather. Then we
re-boarded our boat to head back to the busses. The two-hour bus ride
back was a welcomed nap period.

That evening we took motorbikes to the Rex Hotel, to get a
recommendation about a dinner restaurant. They recommended Ngon, which
was just a few blocks away. Dinner was really nice, about 10 of us got
to sit at a great big table in the upstairs of the really nice
building, which had sort of a plantation feel with dark wood and white
walls, and lush tropical plants on all of the patios.

After dinner we headed to a club called Gossip on motorbikes. We went
inside, but it was mostly Vietnamese people and for the first time
since we had arrived in Vietnam I felt unwelcome. We didn't stay very
long, and headed back to the boat on motorbikes.

November 5, 2009:

The next morning two friends, Charlie and Annie, and I set off with
the goal of riding an elephant. Ever since South Africa when the first
SASers reported riding an elephant, through India, where even more
people got to ride elephants, I felt a strong need to follow suit. We
went to the Rex to ask where we could find these elephants. Then we
crossed the street to a travel agency to see if they could help us. We
were told a park where we could ride elephants, and were on our way.
We grabbed a cab, since we were told it was a 20 minute drive which is
a little long to be nervously perched on the back of a motorbike. Our
taxi driver was funny, and talked to us in near perfect English the
whole way.

We arrived at Dam Sen Park, which we soon realized was an amusement
park. We paid the nominal admission and started wandering in the
direction the map told us had elephants. The park was huge and was
built around a beautiful lake. On the way to see the elephants we
wandered through an aviary, which held some very large, bizarre-
looking, bald-headed birds along with some fairly large birds of prey
that were out in the open. There were also quite a few exhibits of
caged monkeys, snakes and exotic birds like parrots and quite a few
peacocks.

Finally we arrived at the elephant portion of the park. In a large pen
there were a dozen or so elephants, and one that was already outfitted
with a basket. The three of us climbed into the basket and the
elephant driver climbed on the neck of the animal, right behind his
ears. One of the other park employees took our cameras and snapped
lots of pictures of us on the elephants, which was really nice. After
we got off we fed our elephant friend some bamboo pieces and went
along our way. We decided to wander around the park a little bit more,
and soon we found a roller coaster, which we decided to take a ride on.
Next on our agenda was attending a futsal (soccer) game, part of the
Asian Indoor Games that Vietnam was currently hosting. But first, we
badly needed lunch. After taking a cab to the arena where the game
would be held two hours later, we saw a small outdoor restaurant, and
decided to give it a try. It took a few minutes to communicate with
the Vietnamese woman that the restaurant only served beverages, no
food. We crossed the busy street and wandered to another restaurant.
Up until now, most menus had either bilingual descriptions or
pictures, making ordering simpler. Additionally most Vietnamese in
District I (still called Saigon, where our boat was docked and we had
been for the past few days) spoke a good amount of English. We did not
experience the same luck here. After sitting down on child-sized
plastic chairs, which was particularly fun for Charlie whose <6' frame
dwarfed the chair, we realized that ordering was going to be
impossible. We wandered into a hotel, where we saw people eating, but
were told that the hotel didn't serve food. When I asked why those
people were eating, but we couldn't, the woman whispered that it was
the owner. She offered to find us a place to eat nearby, gave us
directions and an address and we were off again. After about 15 right
turns, and just as many stops to ask passersby where this place was we
arrived. The complex was huge, and seemed fitting for a corporate
retreat or fancy family gathering. We sat down and ordered. Although
my dish came with tofu, and she said it was vegetarian, I was far too
creeped out by the texture of some of the pieces. I ordered plain
rice, and had just that for lunch.

After lunch we proceeded back to the arena just in time for the futsal
game of Iran vs. Turkmenistan. The futsal court was indoors, and not a
turf field, but some sort of basketball-like court material. The game
was fun, but Iranians were badly beating the Turkmenistan team. During
the game Charlie walked over to the big Iran cheering section, made up
mostly of Iranian women with traditional head coverings. He came back
with a flag, and soon Annie and I wanted one too. Not long after we
went to ask for flags, the seemingly leader of the women came to talk
to a very official looking man who was sitting very near the front row
down below us. He turned and looked at us and nodded. Soon she came
back and presented us with pins. After the game was over, the other
women in the cheering section (who I presumed to be athletes from the
matching track suits and organized team cheers) came over and we must
have taken 50 pictures in various combinations with the team. It was
really cool to see how much they appreciated our presence and how
welcoming they were to us, despite language barriers and cultural
differences.

After the game we grabbed a cab back to the boat where we ate dinner.
It was a nice change, especially after the hassle of finding a
suitable lunch spot, to just head to the 6th deck dining hall, and
have food that I knew was vegetarian.

After dinner we grabbed motorbikes and headed to another event that
was part of the Asian Indoor Games: Dragon and Lion Dancing. I was
expecting the competition to be in terms of beauty, and the
presentation to be a slow march-like dance that I have seen in
parades. Instead teams of two to five individuals all sharing the same
costume would race through a variety of different obstacle courses. In
each race particular movements were necessary, which I learned from
the fact that each team used the same moves. The competition was very
competitive and intense. At one point during a flip move, one of the
members in the two-person competition fell and was rushed off on a
stretcher. The routines were really amazing, and my only
disappointment is the fact that cameras were banned, the few pictures
our group snapped were without flash, and didn't capture the moving
dragon dancers very well. It was such a unique experience, just the
type I know I will value for a long time to come.

After a while, we decided we had had enough of the dragons and lions
and headed back to the central area of District I, where we met up
with friends at… a Circle K. It was pretty funny that such an American
institution as a convenience store, showed up in Ho Chi Minh City.
Then we headed to a new bar that we hadn't been to yet called, Le Pub.
Le Pub was a little hard to find and even the concierge at the Rex
Hotel didn't know where it was. Luckily Casey was headed there and
sent me the address. It really was hard to find. It shared an address
with twenty or so other buildings down an alley on a busy street, but
the hunt was well worth it. The small bar had a nice outdoor patio,
fun English-speaking staff and a large collection of SASers. We stayed
there for a while, and Annie and I split a pitcher of some blue
cocktail. My tongue was blue for the remainder of the night. After we
left Le Pub we headed back to Apocalypse Now, where we danced and had
a great finish to our evening.

November 6, 2009:

The next morning, Casey and I headed out with one mission: to shop
'til we dropped. We returned to Ben Thanh market and picked up lots of
goodies: beaded sandals, "designer" bags, funny t-shirts, jewelry, and
North Face backpacks. After our morning of shopping, we had no choice
but to return all of our loot to the boat before continuing with our
day. Once back on the boat Casey and I met up with Brad and Tommy and
headed out for lunch. We returned to Ngon, the restaurant I had liked
a few days earlier. I had a vegetarian noodle dish and the most
interesting egg and noodle patties, called bok thein, that were
DELICIOUS.

After lunch we headed to the War Remnants Museum. Outside of the
museum was a wide array of U.S. Military vehicles. The inside of the
museum held the gruesome stories, pictures, and artifacts of what we
call the Vietnam War, and the Vietnamese call the American War. The
whole experience was very fascinating, but very sad. Then the four of
us went out for a little more shopping, and back to the boat for dinner.

That night we got dressed, and I put on a new dress I had bought
earlier that day. We went to Circle K to get some snacks and drinks
and then to the park in front of the Rex Hotel. Then we saw a woman
selling hats made from beer cans. Casey and I both bough Tiger beer
hats, but sent them home with Charlie, who wasn't going to stay out
that evening.
Our first stop of the evening was Sax 'n' Art Jazz Club, where many of
us observed music for our History of Jazz class. The club was small
though, and we really only stayed as long as was necessary to get
enough information to write our reports. It was cool to use Jazz, and
other subjects as a lens through which to view the similarities and
differences between our own country and those that we visited.

After the Jazz club we grabbed motorbikes to a club named Lush. The
club was very nice and modern on the inside, and the people were so
much more friendly than the night at Gossip. I met a young Vietnamese
man named Pete, who introduced himself and was very happy to have
someone to speak English too. Unfortunately we were getting ready to
leave, and I had to cut the conversation short. Although we didn't
stay long, we ran into a few of the crewmembers including one who was
particularly known for being inappropriate named Florin. He made some
pretty pathetic advances at me and a few of the other girls, which
further solidified our decision to leave Lush.

Next we headed back to Le Pub. When we arrived there were a few of Le
Pub's signature red headbands running around. They were simple strips
of red silky cloth, edged in yellow stitching, with white appliqué
letters. Soon Andrew, a USD student on SAS, presented me with a
headband that said "Happy Birthday", which was a really nice gesture.
It was then, on the night two days before my birthday that we started
celebrating my birthday. I got plenty of free jug drinks that night
and lots of birthday well wishes and hugs. Casey even ran off and
purchased a crown for our planned return to Le Pub the following
evening. One of our Le Pub bartending friends, Vuong, agreed to store
it behind the bar for us! After Le Pub we headed back to Apocalypse
where I met a friend from Germany, Nick. It was fun to get his
perspective on the crazy group of American students that were taking
the city by storm! A friend recommended another bar named Buffalo, so
I headed there with my friend Taylor for a drink. By this time it was
nearing 4:00AM, and the trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels I was taking the
next morning called for a 6:00AM wake up. To say that my night's sleep
was insufficient was a vast understatement.

November 7, 2009:

The next morning brought a dreadful wakeup. Not only had the
Vietnamese food caught up with me in the form of sharp stomach pains
that continued into the afternoon, but also the beginnings of a cold
coming on. After a pastry and some juice in the dining hall (special
meals were available for the trips that left before, or arrived back
after, regular meal times), I took a seat on the bus next to Casey.
The drive to the Cu Chi Tunnels was a welcome nap. Our guide was full
of good background knowledge and funny antidotes to fill the bus ride,
though I think we all just wanted to sleep.

The Cu Chi Tunnels are a large network of underground tunnels that are
part of the larger network of tunnels throughout the country. The
tunnels were important during the Vietnam (or American) War. Viet Cong
guerrillas and their families used the tunnels for combat but also for
communication, hospital, food and weapon storage and living quarters.
These operations saved many from death or extreme effects of Agent
Orange. The entrance to the tunnels, which I climbed down into to have
my picture taken, was just slightly larger than a sheet of paper. Many
of the boys could hardly lower themselves to their knees in the hole.
We also looked at a display of the types of booby traps and pits that
the Viet Cong used, all very gruesome, but no doubt effective. The
extremely difficult to detect tunnels were a source of frustration for
the US operations and were crucial to the eventual defeat of the US.
The Cu Chi section of the tunnels is 75 miles long. The visitor area
for tourists includes above ground representation of various aspects
of life in the tunnels. We also saw the outdoor museum, where you
could buy a round of assault weapon ammunition to shoot. Casey and I
chose to split a round of AK-47 bullets. The gun was incredibly
powerful and, despite our headphones, deafeningly loud. There were
adorable old Vietnamese men there to help us, though the weapons were
mounted so there wasn't much guidance to be given. After the shooting
range we went to have a sample meal, though the lunch and dinner
offerings give a better idea to what. Last we had a sampling of the
tunnels, though the portion we crawled through had been expanded in
width and height to accommodate the slightly larger body size of
foreign travelers. I was combating various body ailments and anxiety
about the small and dark space was not a welcomed treat, though I
didn't want to miss out on the opportunity.

We headed back to the boat and I laid down for a well-needed nap. At
the midpoint of the day, I wasn't sure that I could make it back to Le
Pub for Le 21st Birthday Celebration. Due to my uncertainty, some of
my friends didn't end up showing up later. That was one example of how
tricky international communication could be. I had no choice but to
venture out to pick up the dress I had made, and by then I was feeling
better. Casey, Brad and I met Lauren, Megan and Annie at the dress
shop, where I had to give some final directions for the last set of
alterations on my dress. From there we headed to Le Pub and begun Le
Celebration in full force. Many SAS people showed up and it was fun,
with my crown on, to be the birthday girl (even if it was a day
early). The staff at Le Pub was so much fun, and between them and the
friends who arrived throughout the day, I enjoyed a wide variety of
drinks to celebrate the occasion. It was a really special birthday,
and I'm so glad I got to celebrate with so many friends, both new and
old. My friend Lauren left for a few minutes but came back with the
most beautiful bouquet of flowers that she had placed in a Bacardi
drink jug. Our friends at the bar told me to take it with me, so I
accepted the gift. The whole afternoon was filled with fun times and
laughs and lots of pictures. Casey, Lauren and I headed across the
street for a pizza later in the afternoon, but soon after headed back
to the dress shop, and then to the boat.

Although we technically did not leave Vietnam until the next morning,
Lauren and I sat on the 7th deck that evening in our new formal
dresses with a few friends talking about all of our good times in
Vietnam. I was not expecting the few short days in the country to be
filled with as much historical education, good shopping or great
times, but it was surely a visit I will not forget. This is one of the
few countries, with the exception of Morocco, where I wish I had done
different things. I wouldn't have changed anything I did in Vietnam,
but I would have loved to go to Ha Noi, Nha Trang or Cambodia, as the
stories and pictures that resulted from other people's travels to
those places were truly amazing.

Stephanie@Sea