After the excitement of last night, it was a good thing that I wasn't planning on sleeping anyway! We were instructed to be in the lobby with all of our luggage by 3:45 AM, so we could leave at 4 AM. It was very early, but our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:00 AM and it was an international flight. Most of us also decided not to sleep that night so that we could sleep on our many plane rides. Actually, not everyone left at the same time, but 7 of us were on the same flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hong Kong, and 5 of us flew from Hong Kong to San Francisco together. Though our seats were not together, it was really nice to be able to travel together, especially for the 12 hour flight across the Pacific. I guess I was more tired than I thought, because I fell asleep before the flight even took off for two of my flights, and during my last flight to Baltimore (which I was alone for), I think I only woke up when the flight attendants brought food and drinks. The best part of the travelling was finally being able to eat American food. Though we were only gone for 2 weeks, the Vietnamese food didn't always sit well with all of us. We basically ran to the Subway in the San Francisco airport, and I swear it tasted even better than ususal! I was sad to say goodbye to everyone as we went to our separate flights, but I was glad to see my parents and brother in Baltimore. My flight even got in early, so we got to start driving home to York before midnight and I was so happy to sleep in my bed rather than an airplane seat!
Now that I've been back in the States for several days and have readjusted to life here and the time zone (and caught up on my blogging!), I miss being in Vietnam. It was a great trip and definitely an adventure. I really learned a lot and am excited to explore more cultures, and maybe even return to Vietnam, in the future!
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Day 12 - the last full day :(
Because it was the last full day in Vietnam, and our last breakfast, I decided that I should eat pho, a Vietnamese noodle specialty, before I left. Though Americans probably wouldn't think to eat this noodle, beef broth, meat, and vegetable soup-like dish for breakfast, it is popular in Vietnam. Once we arrived at UEF, we heard our last Vietnamese history/culture lecture, and then it was time for our language quiz. I was surprised by how much I had learned in just a few language lectures (though pronounciation is another story). Luckily, I had a UEF friend nearby to help me out. After this, we all had to say a few lines of Vietnamese in front of the class. Before lunch, we said goodbye to several of our UEF friends and took more pictures, like this one which is a picture of Phuong and me:
We filled out evaluations of the trip, and then went to the canteen at the university for our last lunch. It was the usual lunch, but I took a picture of one of the plates of fruit that we ate because I've never seen it before, but it tasted pretty good!:
After lunch, we had a free afternoon to do whatever we wanted. The girls headed back to the market to buy a few more things (like a tea set!) and then we went back to the hotel. We went to a cool frozen yogurt shop with some UEF kids before going back to the Victory to do some more packing. I was nervous that my stuff wouldn't all fit back in my suitcase and bags, but it somehow did. Still not sure if my bag will be overweight though...
We filled out evaluations of the trip, and then went to the canteen at the university for our last lunch. It was the usual lunch, but I took a picture of one of the plates of fruit that we ate because I've never seen it before, but it tasted pretty good!:After lunch, we had a free afternoon to do whatever we wanted. The girls headed back to the market to buy a few more things (like a tea set!) and then we went back to the hotel. We went to a cool frozen yogurt shop with some UEF kids before going back to the Victory to do some more packing. I was nervous that my stuff wouldn't all fit back in my suitcase and bags, but it somehow did. Still not sure if my bag will be overweight though...For our farewell dinner, we went to one of the Tourist Villages. I guess it was sort of like a resort area, and we ate outdoors. We had many dishes which we shared, and then the meal ended with pho (two in one day!) which was also good.
Several of the UEF students wanted to have a final "party with dancing and singing", which turned out to be karaoke. The dinner went later than we though and we had to pay our room fees (laundry, drinks & snacks, etc.), so 4 of the guys went to meet them and the rest of us left when we were done dealing with the rooms. Right as we were leaving, Phuong arrived to say goodbye and give us a few gifts. We also said goodbye to Tin one last time. We walked instead of taking a taxi because it seemed close, though it took longer than expected. Finally, we were half a block from the destination when the unexpected happened. Ashley, Julie, and Rayna were walking toward the front of the group and as they passed, two young guys on a motorbike were sitting in the dark off to the side of the sidewalk so we couldn't see them. But once they passed by, the guys started the bike and turned on the headlights. Andrew, Sarah, and I were at the end of the group, and the bike was driving right towards us, so we had to jump out of the way as they came towards us. As I jumped to the right, away from the motorbike headed right towards me, the passenger on the bike snatched the purse strap right off of my shoulder, and they sped off. They drove onto the road and were gone too quickly for us to do anything about it, and we definitely couldn't have chased them down. I lost my purse, digital camera, wallet, and some of the gifts that Phuong had given me. Sarah, Andrew, and I immediately walked back to the hotel so I could call my parents and ask them to cancel my debit and credit cards, which they did before they were used. The rest of the group went to meet everyone at the karaoke bar. Of course, all of this occurred literally 4 hours before we left for the airport to go home. At least my passport was not in the purse! I was both sad and mad, but at least no one was hurt. I have since replaced my driver's license (which was in my wallet) and the cards, and I found the same purse online. As for the camera, it's long gone, but fortunately Mike had taken my memory card just a few hours earlier to upload my pictures on Justin's external hard drive for everyone to copy on their laptops. So, I lost the camera, but still have all but about 30 pictures. There was really no point in filing a police report, especially since we were leaving in 4 hours at that point, so I just continued packing. We hung out in Rayna and Julie's room, sharing all of the pictures. With everyone's together on the hard drive, I think we have something like 2,000 pictures! Though the robbery was scary and put a damper on the evening, I still enjoyed hanging out with everything one last time.
Day 11
A smaller group of us decided to return to Tous Les Jours, the French bakery, for another delicious breakfast. We ended going back into the Victory Hotel restaurant to use our breakfast coupons afterwards anyway because everyone needed to hydrate before our soccer match. We, the Pitt students, were scheduled to play a game of football with the UEF students. I had checked the weather before and the forecast was for 99 degrees, but it was supposed to feel like 106 degrees. Obviously, lots of water was a neccessity. We arrived at UEF for a kind of farewell program before the football game. One of our UEF friends Tony sang for everyone, we played a few games, were given small gifts, and took lots of pictures and gave lots of hugs to all of the UEF friends that were present. It was weird to say goodbye to a lot of the students there because we still had another full day, but we were only going to see a few on Friday. Everyone was sad to be leaving and saying goodbye, but we had one more thing to do with our UEF friends: the football match. We arrived at the Phu Tho Stadium and I was surprised to see a smaller turf field. We stretched and attempted to warm-up. I started out the game cheering from the bench. I had expected the Vietnamese students to kill us, since we had heard that last year's Pitt squad had lost by several goals. However, the guys who started the game ended up scoring a few and I was impressed. Eventually I had to go in the game...and I'm pretty sure the last time I played organized soccer, aside from gym class, was 4th or 5th grade. Needless to say, I was not very good. But, it was still fun and we all survived the heat. Here is a picture from the start of the match: 
I couldn't wait to shower after the game, and luckily we had at least an hour to shower and eat before our next activity. We ate lunch at the hotel, the usual food: rice, shrimp, fruit, and other miscellaneous dishes. I also ate some ice cream. It looked just like the soft serve we're used to in America, but it tasted quite different, sort of like coconut, and almost had a different consistency. The next activity was a visit to the War Remnants Museum, which was a short walk from the Victory. Professor Berman gave us some background to the museum before we left: it was formerly called the "War Crimes Museum", and is filled with images and other things from the Vietnam War (or the American War, as it's called in Vietnam). Everything is from the Vietnamese perspective, so obviously the United States is the enemy. The images that stuck out the most to me were those of the affects of Agent Orange and napalm, used by American forces. It was very odd to walk through a m
useum that showed the horrible impact of the war on Vietnam and the Vietnamese people, with the US receiving the blame. Also, there were US Military weapons and planes that were left behind when the US forces withdrew, and they have since become a part of the museum. See the following pictures as an example: 
I couldn't wait to shower after the game, and luckily we had at least an hour to shower and eat before our next activity. We ate lunch at the hotel, the usual food: rice, shrimp, fruit, and other miscellaneous dishes. I also ate some ice cream. It looked just like the soft serve we're used to in America, but it tasted quite different, sort of like coconut, and almost had a different consistency. The next activity was a visit to the War Remnants Museum, which was a short walk from the Victory. Professor Berman gave us some background to the museum before we left: it was formerly called the "War Crimes Museum", and is filled with images and other things from the Vietnam War (or the American War, as it's called in Vietnam). Everything is from the Vietnamese perspective, so obviously the United States is the enemy. The images that stuck out the most to me were those of the affects of Agent Orange and napalm, used by American forces. It was very odd to walk through a m
useum that showed the horrible impact of the war on Vietnam and the Vietnamese people, with the US receiving the blame. Also, there were US Military weapons and planes that were left behind when the US forces withdrew, and they have since become a part of the museum. See the following pictures as an example: 
After this experience at the museum, where a group of UEF students met us and brought coconut and fruit drinks with them which was very nice, our group was separated and we went to the market in two different groups. I bought several DVD's (only about $0.60 USD, and actually good quality) and TV show seasons, as well as some souvenir chopsticks. We were there for a while, but not too long because the market is always extremely hot in some parts. We grabbed a taxi back to the Victory Hotel. The ride was much longer than usual because we were traveling around 4:45, which is a busy time for traffic, even more than usual. The group I was with didn't have the address for a dinner with a bunch of the Vietnamese students, so we went to another restaurant that we walked to. It was another very nice restaurant, but was still relatively inexpensive for what it was by American standards. That night, one of the UEF faculty members, Tin, who had spent most of the trip with us, wanted to take us all out to the "American Discotheque". We actually ended up going to another similar place, but it was fun to spend more time with Tin and Tony, another UEF friend.
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Day 10
After our French pastry breakfast Tuesday morning, we had another Vietnamese breakfast at the Victory Hotel on Wednesday. The same lecturer spoke to us about more Vietnamese culture and history. One thing that he emphasized is the ying and yang element of Vietnamese, and many other Asian cultures. This was something I had known of before, but had not learned in as much detail. This was followed by another language class at UEF. We were all slightly nervous at the end because the teacher announced a language quiz for Friday, and Vietnamese was not getting any easier for me! We ate lunch at the UEF canteen again, and dressed in business casual attire for our final site visit. Mark Oakley, who is British, but lives and works in HCMC, spoke on behalf of the law firm Duane Morris Viet Nam LLC. Specifically, he discussed why Vietnam has become a hotspot for new businesses and international companies looking to globalize. It was interesting that he would not discuss anything concerning politics with us, noting that in a communist country like Vietnam, one cannot freely make politically-opinionated comments.
On another note, I have mentioned HCMC's traffic a few times. Here are a few pictures:
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Day 9
Instead of the normal rice, bread, eggs, and other Vietnamese dishes for breakfast at the hotel, a few of us decided to walk to a French bakery called Tous Les Jours. As I may have mentioned before, Vietnam is unique in Asia in that coffee and bread and pastries are popular, due to the influence of the French during its colonization. The picture posted is of the inside of t
he shop, where you walk around and choose whichever type of pastries that you want. They were delicious, and also cheap! We went to the Viet Capital Securities Company, which provides investment and asset management services. The site visit ended early, so we went to the Tax Center to do some more shopping for souvenirs. I got a couple t-shirts which were only about $2 per shirt. In the afternoon we had another site visit, this time to Ascenx Technologies. Ascenx is comissioned by other companies to provide engineering services for various products. The chairman, Tung Bach, also spoke to us about his personal story in regards to the Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon and coming to America. His story was very interesting and he talked about life in Vietnam right after the war ended. His uncle found an opportunity to flee and was able to bring two other people with him to America. He chose to bring his nephew, and he is now one of many Vietnamese immigrants returning to Vietnam to start and/or join companies that have been established since Vietnam's drastic economic changes. Afterwards, he and his business partner invited us to have coffee downstairs. It was really nice of them to have coffee with us and ask even more questions. While I am a business major, not an engineer, I still found this visit and talking with Mr. Bach really interesting. He even recommended another American-esque restaurant for us, which we tried out that night and again later in the week, and were very happy to have burgers and fries.
he shop, where you walk around and choose whichever type of pastries that you want. They were delicious, and also cheap! We went to the Viet Capital Securities Company, which provides investment and asset management services. The site visit ended early, so we went to the Tax Center to do some more shopping for souvenirs. I got a couple t-shirts which were only about $2 per shirt. In the afternoon we had another site visit, this time to Ascenx Technologies. Ascenx is comissioned by other companies to provide engineering services for various products. The chairman, Tung Bach, also spoke to us about his personal story in regards to the Vietnam War and the Fall of Saigon and coming to America. His story was very interesting and he talked about life in Vietnam right after the war ended. His uncle found an opportunity to flee and was able to bring two other people with him to America. He chose to bring his nephew, and he is now one of many Vietnamese immigrants returning to Vietnam to start and/or join companies that have been established since Vietnam's drastic economic changes. Afterwards, he and his business partner invited us to have coffee downstairs. It was really nice of them to have coffee with us and ask even more questions. While I am a business major, not an engineer, I still found this visit and talking with Mr. Bach really interesting. He even recommended another American-esque restaurant for us, which we tried out that night and again later in the week, and were very happy to have burgers and fries.
Day 8
After a weekend of day trips, we went back to UEF on Monday morning for a Vietnamese history lesson, followed by another language lesson. Though we have had multiple lessons so far, the language is still very difficult. We ate lunch at the school before traveling to the University of Agriculture and Forestry. We went here to here from lecturers about the goals of the university, as well as to learn more about a subject we had read about before departing. This is the issue of catfish trade wars between Vietnam and the United States. In the afternoon, some members of our group wanted to go shopping and others went to play basketball with some of the UEF students, but pretty much all of us were craving American food. So, a few of us found a Pizza Hut. The food tasted pretty much the same as an American Pizza Hut, but the restaurant was different. It was nicer than many I've been to, and they also served many other items, like calamari and more pasta dishes than usual. We hung out at the hotel that night, and got to meet some Uruguayan students/tourists also staying at the Victory Hotel which was interesting to say the least. Below are a few pictures of the catfish farm/lab at the University of Agriculture and Forestry:
Monday, May 24, 2010
Weekend: Days 6 & 7
We left HCMC for almost all of the day on both Saturday and Sunday. We drove for a bit until we reached the Mekong Delta, which is quite different from the city, but not what I expected. For some reason I was expecting the area to be more like a swamp. It was as hot as Saigon, in the 100's, but not as wet as I was thinking. There were small streams 
and bodies of water around and many were polluted, though not as obviously as the rivers closer to the city. We went to a cacao been farm/drying facility, which was relevant to the talks we heard the day before. The cacao beans were more colorful than I expected, and we sampled some of the non-dried beans inside the pod, which had a bitter taste. I was surprised to learn that this was the only facility of its kind in Vietnam so far, though I'm assuming many more will soon follow. The picture posted above is of several members of our group observing the cacao beans and tasting some of them. You can't tell from the picture, but it was also extremely hot. We ate at a really cool place for lunch, with the table areas jutting out onto the small lake/water area below. After lunch we rested in hammocks. Because of the heat and a little dehydration, Rayna and I felt sick after lunch, but I recovered after drinking like 7 waterbottles. I made sure to drink more water everyday for the rest of the trip! Back at the chocolate lab, our group tasted a liquid form of the cocoa beans. I can't really call it chocolate because it was sour and bitter, not sweet yet. We then explored the jungle-like area of the Delta, which got interesting when we were posing for pictures while there were red ants crawling around, but again I liked seeing a different, rural side of Vietnam. The farmers then gave us fresh fruit when we were finished with our exploring. We didn't know what some of the fruits were because they don't have an English translation, which I thought was interesting. Other foods that we tried over the weekend included sugar cane juice from a stand on the side of the road and some sort of flat coconut snack thing that was similar to the texture of a fruit roll-up. Afterwards we drove back and savored the air conditioning in the bus and the hotel. I planned on catching up on blogging (clearly, I'm very behind! haha), but was so tired that I immediately fell asleep! This turned out for the best because we had another busy day planned for the next day.
Sunday morning, we took a hydrofoil down the Saigon River for about an hour. Our destination was the Vung Tau Province, so again we left HCMC. The scenery around the river was beautiful and I took a lot of pictures. We took a break to hydrate and eat some of the chocolate produced by the place we visited the day before, a
nd prepared for our next stop. This was a giant statue of Jesus on the top of a small mountain near Vung Tau. There were stairs leading all the way up and we had to take many breaks because of the heat. It was worth it in the end, though, to see the impressive statue close up and to see the view of the town/city and beach/water below. All of the other pictures in this post are of the Christ statue, or the view from the top. After we made it back down to the bus, which was considerably easier than the climb up, we drank lots of water, enjoyed another Vietnamese lunch, and headed to the beach at Vung Tau. The beach was very fun and it was nice to relax. I was struck by the large amount of trash in the water. There were quite a few plastic bags, etc. floating around, but apparently this was the clean part of the year. I was told that during the rainy season the rain draws too much pollution down the mountains and hills for people to swim in the water. The rivers closer to the city are very obviously polluted, however, and we saw several people swimming in there. Water pollution, as well as air pollution, definitely seems to be a problem for Vietnam, especially in 
HCMC.
We took the hydrofoil back to HCMC, but it was a longer trip this time. I think that some sort of coconut/plant material was stuck around the motor, but we eventually made it back! After, we all ate a late dinner at a cool restaurant where everyone ordered skewers of meat and vegetables and we barbecued them right on the table.
and bodies of water around and many were polluted, though not as obviously as the rivers closer to the city. We went to a cacao been farm/drying facility, which was relevant to the talks we heard the day before. The cacao beans were more colorful than I expected, and we sampled some of the non-dried beans inside the pod, which had a bitter taste. I was surprised to learn that this was the only facility of its kind in Vietnam so far, though I'm assuming many more will soon follow. The picture posted above is of several members of our group observing the cacao beans and tasting some of them. You can't tell from the picture, but it was also extremely hot. We ate at a really cool place for lunch, with the table areas jutting out onto the small lake/water area below. After lunch we rested in hammocks. Because of the heat and a little dehydration, Rayna and I felt sick after lunch, but I recovered after drinking like 7 waterbottles. I made sure to drink more water everyday for the rest of the trip! Back at the chocolate lab, our group tasted a liquid form of the cocoa beans. I can't really call it chocolate because it was sour and bitter, not sweet yet. We then explored the jungle-like area of the Delta, which got interesting when we were posing for pictures while there were red ants crawling around, but again I liked seeing a different, rural side of Vietnam. The farmers then gave us fresh fruit when we were finished with our exploring. We didn't know what some of the fruits were because they don't have an English translation, which I thought was interesting. Other foods that we tried over the weekend included sugar cane juice from a stand on the side of the road and some sort of flat coconut snack thing that was similar to the texture of a fruit roll-up. Afterwards we drove back and savored the air conditioning in the bus and the hotel. I planned on catching up on blogging (clearly, I'm very behind! haha), but was so tired that I immediately fell asleep! This turned out for the best because we had another busy day planned for the next day.Sunday morning, we took a hydrofoil down the Saigon River for about an hour. Our destination was the Vung Tau Province, so again we left HCMC. The scenery around the river was beautiful and I took a lot of pictures. We took a break to hydrate and eat some of the chocolate produced by the place we visited the day before, a
nd prepared for our next stop. This was a giant statue of Jesus on the top of a small mountain near Vung Tau. There were stairs leading all the way up and we had to take many breaks because of the heat. It was worth it in the end, though, to see the impressive statue close up and to see the view of the town/city and beach/water below. All of the other pictures in this post are of the Christ statue, or the view from the top. After we made it back down to the bus, which was considerably easier than the climb up, we drank lots of water, enjoyed another Vietnamese lunch, and headed to the beach at Vung Tau. The beach was very fun and it was nice to relax. I was struck by the large amount of trash in the water. There were quite a few plastic bags, etc. floating around, but apparently this was the clean part of the year. I was told that during the rainy season the rain draws too much pollution down the mountains and hills for people to swim in the water. The rivers closer to the city are very obviously polluted, however, and we saw several people swimming in there. Water pollution, as well as air pollution, definitely seems to be a problem for Vietnam, especially in 
HCMC.We took the hydrofoil back to HCMC, but it was a longer trip this time. I think that some sort of coconut/plant material was stuck around the motor, but we eventually made it back! After, we all ate a late dinner at a cool restaurant where everyone ordered skewers of meat and vegetables and we barbecued them right on the table.
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