Vietnam

Jow!
Day 1: Vietnam has the best port by far (out of the ones I have been too). I woke up at 5am to watch us come into port as usual, but this time it was a bit different. When I walked out to the bow, we were making our way up the river! As we were floating up river, I saw people waking up and beginning their day on their small riverboats. It was amazing seeing the sunrise come over the riverbanks through the lush forests and dancing on the water. This was the first clear sunrise that I have gotten to see since the beginning of the voyage. All of the other ports have either had bad weather or have been cloudy on our arrival day. So getting to see it was wonderful! It was an interesting feeling weaving through a river with small bamboo boats on either side while we were in our HUGE ship! When we arrived at the port, the ship cleared FAST (YAY) and we got off the ship right away. The Vietnamese were kind enough to give us a free shuttle from the port to the center of Ho Chi Minh City. I did not have a trip scheduled until later in the day, so I went with two of my friends and went into the city to do some exploring. We went to the Big Bazaar, which was HUGE!! It had things stacked up way above our heads and all there was no space between venders, only a small area to walk through the venders. After the market, we went back to the ship to meet our group to visit the Hy Vong 8 School for the Deaf and Orphanage.

The school was amazing! All of the students (ages 4-18) were extremely excited and interested in seeing us. Immediately they began trying to communicate with us. I quickly noticed that there were similar signs (Vietnamese) to American Sign Language! They went up to a girl and were asking what her name was and she did not understand what they were asking. I went up to her and told her what they were asking and she spelled it out. Once the students figured out that there were a few of us that knew sign language, they bombarded us with signs. But remember how I said there are a few similar signs… well there are A LOT of different ones!!! But I absolutely LOVED seeing the similarities and differences!!! The students had prepared a small performance for us that included dancing from the girls and break dancing from the boys! You could tell that they had been practicing for a long time and they were all sooo cute! After their performances, we got a chance to hang out with them one on one and answer any questions that they had. They had made their own translation booklets and that was the main form of communication. The boy that I was with was very curious about numbers, in particular how they are spelled in English. I found this very interesting mainly because I was expecting questions about sports, clothing, or anything… not numbers. Some time had passed and it was time for us to leave. The students had such a wonderful time with us, as we did with them. After the school visit, we made our way to an orphanage that had mainly children affected by the Agent Orange disease, a genetic disorder that is caused by the Americans dumping chemicals into the forests to clear out the leaves so that they could see the Vietnamese soldiers during the Vietnam War. It mutated the DNA of the people, which then was passed on to their children. When we entered the facility, there were designated floors for the children. The bottom floor was for the children with Downs Syndrome and Autism and the second floor was for the children with Cerebral Palsy and the children with Agent Orange. I immediately felt a since of peace, almost as if I was exactly where I wanted/needed to be. A lot of girls on my trip began crying profusely and had to leave because they felt that it was too intense. The children were in beds (6 squares in 3 rows and 4 columns). I walked around and looked around the facility and the children, and then I came upon a little boy with Cerebral Palsy who looked as though he could be 4 years old, but was around 8 or 9. I rubbed his little hand and I got an immediate response and he slowly moved his head to look at me. The tour guide had mentioned that the children do not get a loving touch often, so you will get an immediate response from even the slightest contact. His small fingers opened slowly and grabbed my finger. With each move that he made it appeared very difficult for him, but he was determined to grab my finger and hold it as tightly as possible. I couldn’t help but smile at him and stare into his eyes. We were giving small gifts to play with the children, mine were fuzzy stickers, so I pulled one out and had him feel it then I stuck it to the side bar of his bed. He followed with his head to see where I was going to put it. About 10 minutes later I decided that I needed to pass out stickers to some other children. Not more than 2 minutes after leaving the boys side, he began to cry. I felt horrible, so I went back over to him and tried to comfort him. He stopped crying and then it was time for everyone to leave so I got back up and waved goodbye to him. As I was leaving the room he began to cry again, but this time I could not return to be with him. I felt really bad that we could not stay longer to play with the children, but I was so happy that I got a chance to see the facility and how they care for children with disabilities in Vietnam. I only took one photo at the orphanage… and that one photo says a thousand words for my visit there.

Day 2: Today I began my journey to the Mekong Delta with my SAS group. We took a bus from the ship to the delta, which was about a 2-hour bus ride. Along the way we passed rice farmers working out in the marshy rice fields. Within the fields were elevated tombs of the farmers family members that are buried far below the water levels to “help the rice grow and to watch over the fields.” We finally made it to the delta where a boat was awaiting our arrival. We hopped onto the small boat that was about as tall as me and made our way up the Mekong Delta. The river life was amazing to see, there were families living on small boats, houses on stilts with elaborate houses right next door, little children running along the riverbank waving at us. Our first stop was rice popcorn factory. It was a family owned and operated business where each member of the family had a specific job that they did every single day. We learned the process of making the rice popcorn, melting the coconut milk, and making the final product which looks a lot like a Rice Krispy Treat but it does not taste at all the same!!! They also made rice paper, which is used for making egg rolls and is also used to wrap any foods together to eat. After we learned how to make all the treats, we got to sit down and try them! Some were wonderful and some were not my cup of tea. Once we finished there, we made our way to a small village where we had a surprise bike ride waiting for us. When we got to the place where the bikes were I immediately thought to myself, “Maybe I could run while everyone bikes?!?!” I am not the best bicyclist, and luckily there was another girl who had a sort of phobia of bikes. We both ended up riding, and after about the first ½ mile, I began getting the hang of it! Then we went off roading… when I say off roading, I mean sharing a broken concrete walkway that we shared with MoPeds! At one point in time I had to bale off my bike because the MoPed almost ran over me! 45 minutes later we ended up at a persons house that they open up to the public and for backpackers to come and hang out. We also got a chance to see their family pet… A PYTHON!!! For any of you that know me well, I don’t do snakes! Everyone in my group held it and took photos with it while my friend Kiya and I were standing a good distance away. Once everyone had a chance to hold it, they turned to us and said, “You’re only in Vietnam once and why not conquer your fears here!” So we decided to hold it together… we kept the head far away from us and well… I am still scared S***TLESS of snakes!!! Maybe even more now! We had tea and tried exotic fruits and SNAKE WINE!!! Which I personally did not like AT ALL!!! The photo says it all! We then continued on our bike ride and I saw the beautiful countryside and all of the lush forests. After the bike ride we got back onto the boat and headed to the home where we stayed the night. This was not any ordinary home, it was a house on the river on stilts and we slept in cots with bug nets around us!!! There were hammocks to take naps on (the best nap of my life!), and a jungle for the backyard! It was an amazing experience!!! We helped to cook dinner, veggie rice paper rolls, “standing fish,” and a few other dishes. When we finished eating dinner a local traditional singing group came on the boat and sang to us and did a little theater acting as well.

Day 3: We woke up to the LOUD sound of motorboats driving by at 5:30am, so we got up and ate breakfast, which consisted of bread, jam, cheese, bananas, tea, and coffee. Then we said goodbye to our host family and went to a brick and pottery factory. It was interesting to see the process and to see how they reuse all of the materials. We saw where most of the Home Depot and LOWES pottery comes from (not for sure, but that is the running joke). After the tour, we got back on our little boat and were treated to fresh coconut milk straight out of the coconut! We got back to the dock where our bus was waiting and left that section of the delta. We had to take a ferry across the river in order to get to our hotel. We went ahead of our bus and took the ferry… it was INSANE!!! There were more MoPeds than I have ever seen in my entire life!!! I think I almost got ran over at least 10 times!!! We met our bus on the other side and went to our hotel. We had an hour for free time then we went to an Orphanage for homeless children on a surprise visit! The children were so excited to see us and the big ice breaker was letting them play with our cameras! A boy that I gave mine too was hilarious; he would take photos of everything from people to artwork. He actually took really good photos, but all of the kids thought that it was so funny that they could see the photos after taking them. We sang songs with them, taught them some English words, and ate LOTS of candy! It was time for us to go, so we said our goodbyes and went to visit some temples. We went to a Buddhist Temple where we got the opportunity to talk with a Monk. I learned a lot about Buddhism by simply seeing him and listening to the way he answered questions. When the Monk was finished talking with us, we headed back to the hotel, then ate dinner on a rooftop, and eventually went to bed.

Day 4: Yet again we had an early morning, but this time it was to go to the floating market. We got onto another small boat and went to see the market up close and personal. The venders sell mostly fruits and vegetables on their boats and the way to tell what they are selling is by looking at a pole that is hoisted up (it has the fruit or veggie attached). We went onto a boat that was selling pineapple, they cut some up for us and we had “pineapple lollipops!” They were DELIOUSOUS!!!! Then we went to what I like to call the “living market.” Basically everything they are selling is still alive; frogs, fish, crabs, snakes, etc. I also noticed that they use EVERY part of the animals; head, eyes, feet, neck, EVERYTHING!!! It was certainly an experience!!! It was almost time for us to head back to the ship, so we went to the bus and grabbed a bite to eat. The Vietnamese cuisine was sooo good!!! I loved their style of cooking!!!

Day 5: I had no trips on this day, so I walked around Ho Chi Minh City with some friends and bought some gifts for everyone!!! We had to be back on the ship before 9pm and it was raining, so it was a pretty uneventful day.

Overall Vietnam was AMAZING and I absolutely loved the Vietnamese hospitality and the people. The land is beautiful and I learned so much from my visit there!!!!