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.