Today we went to our last classes at UEF. The language class was again really fun, and we had our test (where we just read a short paragraph and answered one question). I will miss Tuyen, our teacher, because she was very enthusiastic and happy. Then we had a farewell lunch at UEF, which was the best lunch that we had there. After that we had freetime, so we went to Saigon Square again, where I bought the first 5 seasons of Curb Your Enthusiasm and the first 12 seasons of South Park (best deal ever). I got all these movies and shows (including the ones from Thursday) for $30.
Bruce Willis Collection - 24 movies (doesn't include Armageddon or last Die Hard)
Apocalypse Now
Role Models
Curb Your Enthusiasm - Seasons 1-5
The Office - Seasons 1-4
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Southpark - Seasons 1-12
Then we walked through the Ben Thanh Market and up to the docks of the Saigon River, which had a ton of barges and cargo ships. For our last meal, we had a farewell dinner at the Indochine Restaurant with Tuyen (our language instructor), all the guys that drove us to the site visits (Huy included), and more people from UEF (including the daughter of chairman). The food was once again really good. It was a great way to end the trip.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday
Today we woke up and went to the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange instead of our normal visit to UEF. It was interesting to see their stock exchange, especially because it's in a communist country. However, it did not seem to be that different from ones in the United States.
After that we went to the War Remnants Museum, which was only a few blocks down away from our hotel. Initially, it was called the American War Crimes Museum, then the War Crimes Museum. For this reason, it had a bias against the Americans during that time period. On the outside of the museum, there was real American war equipment, such as tanks, mortars, and planes. Inside it looked like a normal museum, except it was really just pictures of violence of Americans towards the Vietnamese, particularly Vietnamese women and children. An entire exhibit was devoted to how Agent Orange destroyed their environment and caused many genetic effects and diseases. On this they did have a point. However, other facts were not completely historically accurate.
After the museum, it was lunchtime, and we had a lot of time to roam the city. So a bunch of us and Krysta headed over to Pho 24, which sold one of Vietnam's most famous specialties, Pho (Noodles and Beef). I would highly recommend it to anyone that has the chance to have it. After that we went on down to the Ben Thanh Market, where we shopped inside. Immediately, I saw a stand of really cool stuff that I could get for my family. Mostly all of the stuff was made from bamboo. I purchased a bamboo plate, wine holder, bamboo figure, and rice bowl. Then I saw a place that sold really cheap movies. There I bought the Bruce Willis Collection (24 movies), Seasons 1-4 of the Office, Apocalypse Now, Role Models, and Curious Case of Benjamin Button. From there I took a motorbike taxi back to the hotel to meet Jim, Anthony, Nick, and a bunch of UEF students waiting with motorbikes. They drove us to Saigon Square to shop once more. I didn't buy anything, but it was neat to see the clothing stores in Vietnam. From there we went to a tea and juice place, where we just hung out with the Vietnamese students for a while. After that, when Z (his really name is Phan, but Z is a sick name) was driving me back to the hotel, we stopped at an intersection. When we stopped, a motorbike carrying a large amount of scrap metal ran right into my back. Luckily I got out alive with only a few scratches. Feeling invincible, I asked Z if I could have a go with the motorbike, and I drove back to the hotel in the famous traffic of Saigon. It was one of the more fun parts of the trip. A little while after that, we headed to this awesome restaurant called 3 T. There we were served a couple platters of raw food, and we got to cook that food over the grills in the center of the table. It was kind of challenging, but the food was really good and very interesting. The beef was delicious, yet the goat nipple and the frog legs were pretty gross. The whole meal was paid for by two of the investors of UEF. Then they took us to Acoustic, which is this place for live bands. There we witnessed some real talent of Vietnamese musicians.
After that we went to the War Remnants Museum, which was only a few blocks down away from our hotel. Initially, it was called the American War Crimes Museum, then the War Crimes Museum. For this reason, it had a bias against the Americans during that time period. On the outside of the museum, there was real American war equipment, such as tanks, mortars, and planes. Inside it looked like a normal museum, except it was really just pictures of violence of Americans towards the Vietnamese, particularly Vietnamese women and children. An entire exhibit was devoted to how Agent Orange destroyed their environment and caused many genetic effects and diseases. On this they did have a point. However, other facts were not completely historically accurate.
After the museum, it was lunchtime, and we had a lot of time to roam the city. So a bunch of us and Krysta headed over to Pho 24, which sold one of Vietnam's most famous specialties, Pho (Noodles and Beef). I would highly recommend it to anyone that has the chance to have it. After that we went on down to the Ben Thanh Market, where we shopped inside. Immediately, I saw a stand of really cool stuff that I could get for my family. Mostly all of the stuff was made from bamboo. I purchased a bamboo plate, wine holder, bamboo figure, and rice bowl. Then I saw a place that sold really cheap movies. There I bought the Bruce Willis Collection (24 movies), Seasons 1-4 of the Office, Apocalypse Now, Role Models, and Curious Case of Benjamin Button. From there I took a motorbike taxi back to the hotel to meet Jim, Anthony, Nick, and a bunch of UEF students waiting with motorbikes. They drove us to Saigon Square to shop once more. I didn't buy anything, but it was neat to see the clothing stores in Vietnam. From there we went to a tea and juice place, where we just hung out with the Vietnamese students for a while. After that, when Z (his really name is Phan, but Z is a sick name) was driving me back to the hotel, we stopped at an intersection. When we stopped, a motorbike carrying a large amount of scrap metal ran right into my back. Luckily I got out alive with only a few scratches. Feeling invincible, I asked Z if I could have a go with the motorbike, and I drove back to the hotel in the famous traffic of Saigon. It was one of the more fun parts of the trip. A little while after that, we headed to this awesome restaurant called 3 T. There we were served a couple platters of raw food, and we got to cook that food over the grills in the center of the table. It was kind of challenging, but the food was really good and very interesting. The beef was delicious, yet the goat nipple and the frog legs were pretty gross. The whole meal was paid for by two of the investors of UEF. Then they took us to Acoustic, which is this place for live bands. There we witnessed some real talent of Vietnamese musicians.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Wednesday
Today I was severely exhausted during both of our classes. After classes were over, we had a 2-hour party/meeting with the university’s English Club. At first I was dead tired, but we played some games like the limbo that woke me up. Then I had a 15-minute power nap. This nap was imperative in order to get me awake for the soccer game against the UEF soccer team. We played at this sweet soccer arena in the city. It started out rough in the first half, with us losing 3-0 against them. But then we obtained a secret weapon – Cho Dao (Mrs. Dao). She’s from the Vietnamese Women’s National Soccer Team. Considering she played in the Olympics, she was so good. Then things turned around, and we scored 3 goals to tie it. Then we took the lead, 4-3… and then 5-4. But then they tied it, but it was a ton of fun, and I’m glad we didn’t get schooled by them, considering football is their national sport. Plus Vietnam won last year’s Asian soccer cup. It was one of the highlights of the trip. For dinner Mike, Kevin, Lauren, Nick, and I went to this local Vietnamese restaurant, which was crowded with locals and tourists. They had a huge menu, with tons of cheap, good foods. I got garlic chicken wings, sweet & sour spare ribs, and Beef Pho. They were all really good; plus it was cheap. That night Mike and I just crashed at like 9:40, because it was the most tired I have been in weeks. The next day we learned that every single person had done the same thing.
Tuesday
Today we went to our Business class and language class. Then we went to our site visit at the US Principal Service, where we had a meeting with the Principal Commercial Officer. The organization helped get American businesses started in Vietnam. Then Krysta took us out to the Hollywood Film Café, which is owned by a Chinese American, who just moved to Vietnam 2 years ago. He was pretty cool, because he just graduated in 2006 from college, and he never spoke a word of Vietnamese until getting here. The restaurant was five stories, and where we ate, they had a movie playing on big screen. Then we went to bounce and lush.
Monday
Today we woke up and had our Vietnamese history class and our usual language class at the university. Then we went to this real estate company called CB Richard Ellis (CBRE), where we met with a woman named Patti. The meeting was very informal, and the conference room had a great view of the city. Unfortunately, I left my cell phone in the meeting room, so Anthony, Greg, Jim, and I went back to the building. However, when Patti gave me my phone, she told us about a late of restaurants, including the Black Cat, this awesome burger place. It was nice to have some familiar food for a change. That night we went to the Rex with Dr. Berman and Kyrsta and had a fun time. Then we went to Apocalypse Now.
Monday, May 11, 2009
Sunday
Sunday we started off the day by meeting a local restaurant owner, who told us the words for the ingredients for our cooking class. He split us into three groups of about 4 and went to the local market, with only 20,000 dong allocated to each group (about $1). Our group had to buy tofu, pork, and shrimp, and we had to bargain with the vendors in Vietnamese to get everything we needed, because they spoke almost no English. Bargaining is a big part of Vietnamese trading, and we learned that a vendor starts with a price that is too high, and it is the customer’s job to bargain down the price. The market was such a good experience, because it had every type of meat, fish, and produce imaginable. There were so many different/odd smells that I have never smelled before. At the restaurant we cooked spring rolls, fried rice, catfish, shrimp/banana rolls, and soup. The food was all very interesting, and most of it tasted really good.
Then we headed to this water park in the city for the most rewarding part of the trip, which is hard to believe because we were at a water park. However, the business that Hui works for talked with an N.G.O. (non-government organization). This N.G.O. had about 25 Vietnamese orphans between the ages of 6 and 16 come and hang out with us at the water park for the day. We broke off into smaller groups, and we each took some kids to the waterslides. The water park was actually one of the best water parks, because it had a zip line over a pool that launched you in the pool, one of those toilet bowl/water slides (which aren’t even legal in the US), and a bunch of tube and body slides. The kids were sooo happy and excited to go down the slides with us. They were really hyper and enthusiastic, so it made for a great time. Eventually I found these four boys that were probably about 12 or 13, who followed me around to the various water slides. They were awesome to hang out with, because it brought back memories, and I felt like a 12 year old again. It was pretty sad having to say goodbye though, because a lot of them had nothing at all and spent nights on the street. For dinner we went to this Café which took forever, but whatever I guess. We then got ice cream and went back to the hotel. This weekend was freakin awesome though, for it was my 19th birthday, we went to the Mekong Delta, a dance club, and a water park with a bunch of kids, and for what I’m about to tell you: When I got back to the hotel I crashed a Vietnamese Wedding on the floor above me. No lie. I heard loud music, so I just loitered right outside the ballroom, and some dude just calls me in and gives me another dinner. After that table left, I was called to another table and then another two tables. Then I got a picture with the bride and groom! Hehar! Then I went down to our usual hangout, Steve and Anthony’s room.
Saturday
Saturday morning we got up at about 6 and headed to the Mekong Delta, which is where the Mekong River flows into the south of Viet Nam and down through Cambodia. It was about a 2 and a half hour bus ride, where Hui (check spelling) was our guide (Hui has been our guide throughout our trip, driving us to the sites and stuff. He is the man). We were able to see the Vietnamese countryside for the first time. It was really cool to see farms and stuff. Plus we stopped at a couple awesome places like a cemetery for those that died in the war against the French colonists and in the Vietnam/American War. Then we stopped at a temple that was a place of worship for Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, and Confucianism. The architecture was really something else, because it just had the very traditional Asian design, with the curved roofs and bright colors. Then when we got to the Mekong Delta, we hopped on a boat with just a driver and us and then started our journey along the river. We then stopped at a tiny village on the river, where Hui took us. We walked along a path in this tiny, hidden village, where we saw a bunch of tiny children and dogs. It was incredible, because it was the first time I have been to a habited place that was so detached from society. It was just so interesting to experience the small villages on our boat ride that lead us far into the Mekong Delta. We stopped at another small village that made these coconut candies from scratch. Right as Hui was showing us how these children made the candy, a monsoon came with some of the strongest winds I think I’ve experienced. It tore off the roof of the hut/pavilion and threw dust in all our eyes. The funny thing was the local kids didn’t really duck away. After that we hopped on the boat to go to another village, which was where we were served a late lunch at this outdoor restaurant. For the lunch we had to use chopsticks to pull the meat off of these fish. It also had these shrimp, soup, and these pork rolls. The best part was I had a dog chilling at my feet the entire time. They had just a ton of dogs and chickens throughout the delta. When we got back from the visit, we hung out in the usual spot, Steve and Anthony’s room. Mike and Lauren were gone for a while, and when they got back they said they were walking around Ho Chi Minh City looking for a birthday cake for me. They got me some delicious ice cream so I was pretty happy. Then we went out with Khoa and Chi for my birthday. So it was the best day really to have my birthday, because it was such an awesome experience.
Happy Mother’s Day Mom!
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