Good Morning Vietnam

Where do I begin… pretty much I was a millionaire in Vietnam. HAHA. The exchange rate was amazing. For 1 US Dollar it equated to roughly 19000 Dong (and yes many innuendos were made in this country). Alright to give you a little more background on Vietnam, I first must tell you about the traffic laws there… well for starters they have them but they really do not enforce them. They have signals but many of them do not follow them, and crossing the street is quite the adventure as well because they really do not have crossing signals to let people know when to cross. So… basically you just walk across and hope you do not get hit. Luckily most of the Vietnamese drivers are on motorcycles (mopeds) and they are very good at maneuvering around the people, just as long as they do not stop, hesitate, or do something unnatural while crossing the street, you will be fine. A little shout out to Chandler and Brian, I did what you said about how to cross the street. lol
Ok, so back to the story at hand. First thing that happened when I stepped out into the Vietnamese air was uncontrollable sweet. It was about 800 F, with about 90% humidity…. Yuck to say in the least (also wearing an undershirt did not help as well). The group that I hung out with that day was Jose, Melinda, Sara, Tolin, and Thomas. Pretty rad group if I might add. Our first stop was the bank to exchange US Dollars into Dong. From there we made our way to a tailor shop to look at suits (now these were no ordinary suit here, these suits were going to handcrafted to fit you and you only, which is pretty sick if you ask me). Sadly though I did not get one and I do not regret it one bit. From there we met a man named Ding (true story), and we asked him where we could get some good Pho. So he proceeded to take us to Pho24 and it was bomb.com. After the delicious Pho we headed to “the market” and sweated some more. Walked up and down aisles knockoff products and other random trinkets (anything you could think of it was probably going to be there). After we had our fun in the market Ding picked us up and took us around the city (full day service was 5 US Dollars, pretty sweet deal). First stop was independence hall, from there I got on the back of a motorbike and made my way over to Handicap Handcrafts which is a place for people disabled do to the Vietnam war are able to work and what they make is truly amazing (they use egg shells and oyster shells). We then made our way the Vietnam War Museum. This place was depressing to walk into because it showed the horrific side to the war from their perspective. We then hit up the night market for a little bit, and then made our way to another delicious Pho dinner. Soooooo good :D
Today was the day I set out on my adventure to the Mekong Delta. Had to get up early to meet with my group whom I going to be spending the next three days with. Luckily I knew a few people there (Arturo and Stephanie). It was but a small group on this trip which was nice. We then proceeded on our way to our first stop, which was Cai Be. We traveled by boat along the Mekong Delta to get there, which was pretty sweet to say in the least. We made a few stops along the way; they included: a dumpling rice paper shop and where they make the fish oil is made. We also made our way to a little factory where they make coconut taffy treats and rice crispy’s (and no, not the one sold in America). We then made our way to a Bonsai tree market. Then made our way to where we were going to be spending the night. This place was legit! We were going to be sleeping on a house that is on stilts on the Mekong Delta!! How awesome is that?!?!? Once we got there, first order of business was to unpack and put our swimsuits on, cause we were going swimming… in the MEKONG DELTA! AAAAHHHHH. Felt so good. Epic pictures and videos of this awesome experience; that night was a night of dinner and a show. It was delicious. After the dinner and show we passed out early from the long day and heat exhaustion.
“What a Beautiful Morning” was playing in my head when I woke up this on the Mekong Delta. After a breakfast that consisted of bread, jelly, and omelets, we headed on our way to the craziest market you will see in your life. They had everything from fruit to livestock (and yes I said livestock), which consisted of duck, chicken, pig, snake, fish, frogs, crab, squid, octopus and many others. Everything was fresh, ready to be sold and then eaten. True story… this lady ordered this fish (kinda looked like a little shark) weighed it and then proceeded to take a piece of wood and whack it in the head a few time and then cut the fins off and then finished cutting it up. Soooooo crazy; not going to lie. Lol. We then made our way to a few Pagodas in Soc Trang, where we got to see where the monks worship. From there we returned to our hotel in Can Tho. Unpacked our stuff and head to dinner; we had some delicious food at Sao Hom. From there a group of us left dinner to go and explore Con Tho ourselves, this group consisted of Matt, Mike, Arturo, McKenna, Betsy, JD, Carson, and Sara. We made our way this coffee/karaoke bar and chilled there for a little bit. Afterwards we made our way back to the hotel and called it a night early, because tomorrow we are making our way the floating market.
Waking up in the morning was a little rough because I was super exhausted from the previous days. So basically I slept through all the alarms, but luckily my roommate made sure I got up in time to get some breakfast and whatnot. We then proceeded to make our way to the Mekong Delta in Cai Rang floating market. This place was crazy! Boats upon boat upon boats of fruit sellers and vendors, we met up with one boat and had some bomb pineapple, the way they cut it and presented it made it taste even better. We said goodbye to the floating market and made our way to a house that makes the instant noodle (aka Pho). After that we left and made our way back to the hotel to check out and grab some lunch. After lunch we made our way back to the ship. Our tour guide said it was going to take about 4-5 hours to get back… oh joy. Luckily someone had a music player, so we got to jam out to some good music while we were waiting to get onto the ferry (that in its self took a good hour or so). After we got off the ferry is was smooth sailing from there, it just was going to take a while. We finally made it back to the ship in like 4 hours, so not too shabby. I then proceeded to head to my room and unpack and see what others were up to for the night. Met up with some friends and got some Pho, then proceeded to hit the town and to see where the night will take us.
The last day in Vietnam was going to be a nice and relaxing one. First thing I did was have lunch with Rebecca, Natalie, Austin, and Tyler. After that we made our way to the city. Exchanged some US Dollar for some Dong, we then had our first mission and that was to get DVDs. Austin, Natalie, Rebecca, and I made our way to a DVD store and spent easily 2 hours there. Found so many but I had to resist because I still had to buy what I set out to get in the first place which were: postcard, magnet and a Zippo. After we purchased our DVDs, Austin and Natalie split ways and headed back to the ship. So Rebecca and I headed to the market to get a few nick-knacks. I picked up some silk pants (so sick! And so comfy and light), we puddle around the market for a little bit longer and then we made our way to a pastry shop (they are famous for their pastries and they were correct. Haha. We then made our way back to where the shuttle was and on our way back I picked up a few Ray Bands and my souvenirs I have been meaning to get. Took a shower and crashed early because it was a long and hot day with a lot of walking.
Overall Vietnam was hot and humid… but amazing at the same time. I got to see a lot of cool things and got to experience many more with my friends. We now are on our way to India, it going to be a nice long stretch this time, we have sailed for a few days and have a few days left. The weather has been amazing thus far, sunny and warm. I am excited to see what India has to offer. It is just like last time start from the last picture and goes up from there because that is the order of my adventures. More updates to come :D