Last night was a blast, as we went again to the Rex, which had another live band. We just relaxed and drank a little beer at the same table as last time. I found a rice hat in a garden, so I already have a pretty sweet souvenir. Anthony and I took a moped taxi back to the hotel = awesome. Today we got up and went to a local high school in Ho Chi Minh City. The school was absolutely beautiful, with a central courtyard and all types of trees and sculptures. The principals told us about the school in a conference room, and then we got to interact with the eleventh grade Vietnamese students, who were all very happy to see us. I believe that the assistant principal said these were all very gifted students from around the city, who hoped to go abroad for college, particularly in the U.S. The most amazing part was that they all had to take about 13 classes, with a huge emphasis on English. They spoke great English.
We had a large chunk of free time after the school visit, so we just started walking through the city. We got some food at one of their fast food restaurants. It was like 2 bucks tops. We continued walking around, just looking at different shops and stands. Jim, Steve, Kevin, and I then stopped at an open-faced, take out restaurant. Kevin and I got a meal of chicken and rice for a whopping 20,000 dong (about $1). It then started to downpour, so we attempted to find our way back. This was not so easy. We even saw Dr. Berman at some random shop. When we got back, I changed, and we left for to go to another hotel for a meeting at 1:40. At the hotel, we met with a British lawyer from Duane Morris. This man seemed to know everything about Vietnamese economics, policy, and politics. So that was pretty interesting to see more how the country really works. Solid day so far.
Oh yeah, they were selling Cobra wine at the hotel in these glass bottles. These are bottles with literally a dead cobra chilling in the bottle (some even had scorpions). Apparently they are okay to drink, which is insane.
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