Monday: Day 8

Today was market day! We started out the day with Vietnamese culture and language class, where we learned all the basics that we would need to bargain with the shopkeepers in the market (the numbers, "how much is this", and "too expensive" being the most important). Then, it was off to the market for some shopping. The market we went to, Ben Thanh Market, is one of the oldest markets in the city. Apparently, its a more touristy place than some of the other markets in town, but we all loved it! I think most of us were pretty overwhelmed when we first got there. The entire market is inside this huge warehouse building taking up a whole city block, and the whole place is packed full of individual stalls. We entered the market and were immediately accosted by vendors on all sides. We finally made it to the middle of the market, where we set our meeting place for later in the day and then split up to go shopping. There were stalls for everything. A whole section of the market was dedicated to selling food, with a bunch of stalls selling fresh fish, meat, and vegetables, and even more stalls where you could sit and eat a meal. There were stalls selling shirts, ties, silk, coffee, small souvenirs, literally anything we could have wanted. For me, this meant one thing: Christmas gifts. I guess its never too early to start Christmas shopping, right? I picked up a bunch of things for my family (and more than a few things for myself, of course). I know they told us we would have to try hard to spend a lot of money in Vietnam, but believe me I was trying. I had to find an ATM and pull out more money halfway through the day. At one point, some of us went to the food section where some of the vendors had prepared food for us, but I was too busy shopping to eat. I've bargained at markets before, and I've never been that good at it, but I think I did a pretty good job. At one point, I got a bargain price on a shirt after repeatedly insisting that I literally didn't have more money than what I was offering (I ended up pulling out my wallet and physically showing the shopkeeper my lack of cash). Suffice to say, it was a good morning. By the time we left, I was already planning a second shopping trip.
After the market, we went on another company visit to VinaCapital. The company was located in one of the fancy skyscrapers downtown. We sat down in a very nice conference room for a really cool presentation. We heard a couple different presentations, one about the actual company and one about VinaCapital Foundation. The company is an investment and asset management company. They invest in a bunch of small businesses in Vietnam, and help those companies grow and be successful. VinaCapital is the NGO arm of the company. The main company covers all the overhead costs, which is cool because it means any donations to VinaCapital Foundation go directly to their projects. They do a lot of work in medical health and education in Vietnam, mainly working to provide medical services to poor, rural communities that would not have access to the services otherwise, as well as providing education for women in these communities. Women in many rural communities in Vietnam do not have many opportunities to get educated, and VinaCapital Foundation is working to change that. It was really cool to hear from a company in Vietnam that is actively working to help people's lives, especially in these rural villages.
That night, most of us went out with our Vietnamese friends for dinner. They took us to a restaurant for Banh Xeo. The dish is basically a giant folded-over pancake, made of eggs and vegetables and stufed full of meat and seafood, and it was probably the best thing I ate all trip. They probably brought out a couple dozen of these things, and we ate all of them, dipping them in a sweet sauce. Incidentally, they first brought out the sauce right after our friends had finished talking to us about tea, so of course Sam immediately assumed that the sauce was tea and poured himself a cup. We all had a good laugh at his expense.
After dinner, we went out to a Karaoke place. We were expecting something like a Karaoke bar, but this place had legit rooms that they rented out to groups, so we were the only ones who had to suffer through our mediocre singing. We all had a good time there.
Before bed, we spent some time going over our plan for the next morning.  The next day, Tuesday, was the day of our company visit, and we all wanted to be ready. Then, it was off to bed.

Sunday: Day 7

Today was our beach day and, more depressingly, the official halfway point of our trip. It's hard to imagine we've already spent a week here. I know it's cliche, but it seems like forever.

We got up nice and early (7am) to head to the beach. The bus ride was a couple hours, but there was a lot to see outside. We drove through more rural area to get to the coast, and it was really cool to see a side of the country that we hadn't had a chance to see in the city. I had woken up late and hadn't had a chance to eat breakfast, so I was pretty hungry, and it seemed like every building we passed had a stand out front selling steamed buns. We must have passed +30 stands selling these buns, and I couldn't stop at a single one. It was terrible.

Once we got to the coast, we didn't go to the beach right away. On the biggest hill over the town we were visiting, there's a big statue of Jesus, similar to the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio but a whole lot smaller. The bus dropped us off at the base of this hill, and we got to hike up. We've been walking around all week, but after the long bus ride (where many of us napped), I don't think any of us were fully prepared for the stairs. There must have been at least a couple hundred stairs up to the top, all crowded with other tourists (mostly Vietnamese) stopping at the various statues and monuments that lined the way to the top. I passed a few food stands and rest stops on the way, but I was determined to get to the top and so didn't get a chance to stop for food. I managed to be the first to make it up, and the climb was definitely worth it. The view from the top was great, but the real prize was the statue. It wasn't very big, but you could go inside and climb up to the arms of Jesus. The wait took forever, but finally we made it to the viewpoint on Jesus's arms. That view was infinitely better than the view from the hill. You could see almost 360 degrees around the hill, to the town below and the water farther out. The sea air was blowing in, and the view was breathtaking. I think I could have stayed there for hours if the rest of the line hadn't been pushing for a turn.

We hung out on top of the hill for a while. A big group of Vietnamese students and staff had come with us, and the adults insisted that we take a bunch of pictures. Everywhere they go, we always have to take pictures. I'm used to it, since my parents both do the exact same thing, but I think its starting to wear down some people's patience. I understand their logic, though; it'll be nice to have the record of everywhere we go.

On the way down from the hill, I remembered that we had passed a banh mi stand on the way up. Banh mi are Vietnamese sandwiches made with French baguettes and Vietnamese filling, and its one of the dishes that I was most excited about having in Vietnam but that I hadn't had a chance to try yet. At this point, it was hours after the breakfast that I had skipped, and I was absolutely starving. I ran on ahead of the group and bought one before we got back on the bus. It was amazing. Probably one of the best things I've eaten so far, and that's really saying something.

The beach we went to was behind a hotel that I guess we had paid to let us visit for the day. They had a pool and a whole bunch of beach chairs that we could put our stuff on. It was a hot day and the ocean water was pretty warm, but it still felt good after our morning hike. The water was kind of dirty, with some trash floating around, but we still had a good time messing around. I was only out for around an hour and I still managed to get sunburnt.

The hotel provided lunch for us, and it was one of the best we've had yet. They had a whole bunch of good seafood. Fresh cockles, fried squid rings, fried chicken wings, teriyaki fish, giant prawn, and seafood hot pot. I also had some sort of anise soda that I thought would be weird but that actually tasted pretty good.

After lunch, we all headed back to the beach. We hung out on the chairs under the umbrellas for a while. I continued my streak of sleeping on every beach I ever go to and proceeded to take an hour-long nap. Pretty soon after I woke up, we had to leave. I collected some sand on the beach before we left, though.

On our way home, we made a pit stop at this roadside market. I think we stopped mainly so people could go to the bathroom, but I resolved to explore the market and, once I realized there were food stands, try all the food. First, a stand with a lady churning out dozens of tiny pancakes. They tasted just like pancakes at home, but they were still good. Next, a guy with a big display container of the same steamed buns I had craved all morning. They were filled with some type of savory meat, which went really well with the slightly-sweet bun and tasted amazing. After that, I tried some type of sweet-tasting milk drink, another version of a banh mi (this one with different filling from my first), and rice paper and cashew candies. It was all really good, and super cheap. While I ate, I wandered around the market and looked at all the other stands selling fruits and vegetables, meats and sausages, and other raw ingredients. A few people even tried to sell me some when they saw my interest. Back on the bus, everyone passed around a whole bunch of different candies and treats they had bought at the market. It was definitely a worthwhile stop.

Back at the hotel, a bunch of people decided that they were craving American food and went off looking for some fancy burger place they found online. The few of us who stayed back and who had enough energy to go out went looking for more Vietnamese food. We walked a mile or two down the street from our hotel. The direction we walked took us out of the touristy area (which our hotel borders) and put us firmly into the local part of the city. We stopped seeing tourists, started seeing more locals, and the whole area took on a more foreign and exotic feel. Luckily, one of our Vietnamese friends was with us, and she took us to one of the many small restaurants that specialize in one dish. This one made a noodle soup dish called bun bo Hue. It was similar to pho, but with different noodles and broth. It was absolutely incredible, almost better than the pho we had earlier in the week. It was just spicy enough, and I liked the different noodles. Unfortunately, between our lazy afternoon on the beach and the food we ate at the roadside market, I was too full to each much. It was a shame, though, because that soup was amazing.

Today was the last of our two "fun days". I'm finishing every day exhausted, but somehow I don't mind. Everything we experience here is so incredible, it just leaves me wanting more. I can't wait to see what our second week here is like.

Saturday: Day 6

Saturday was probably one of the most interesting days of the trip so far. We drove a couple hours northwest to the city limits to Cu Chi District, where we visited the famous Cu Chi tunnels. The tunnels site is basically an old battlefield. During the war, US troops were stationed all around the city, including in Cu Chi District, and the Viet Cong resistance established the tunnel network as a means to hide their forces and launch surprise attacks on the Americans and their allies while avoiding detection. Cu Chi District is way out on the outskirts of the city, so we had to bus through a pretty rural area to get to them. The day was one of the hottest yet, and we were out in the jungle, so the heat was a big problem. It did nothing to lessen the impact of the tunnels, though. The site was incredible. We were first led on a dirt path through the jungle, past a few pavilion housing display cases of old guns and artillery, to another pavilion for a short presentation. This pavilion had a TV, a map of the District, and an old diorama of a portion of the tunnels, complete with flashing lights to represent explosions. Before their representative came, Dr. Berman and Pete gave us a presentation on the history and significance of the tunnels. After that, their person came over and played us a video. Dr. Berman had warned us about the video beforehand, but it was still a pretty jarring experience. The video was made in the 1960's while the war was still going on, and was clearly made as a propaganda film against the Americans. It was black and white, bad quality, and full of narrative exalting Viet Cong heroes for the number of Americans they had killed and condemning American soldiers for the atrocities they had committed. It definitely offered a different perspective of the war, to say the least. I think a lot of us were pretty uncomfortable after seeing it.

In any case, once the video ended, the real tour of the site began. We were paired with a cheerful tour guide who took us around and explained all the exhibits to us. The first was an old well, and it was our first chance to go into the tunnels. Clearly, these tunnels weren't made to accommodate most of us. Even with the expansions and restorations they must have done to make the site fit for tourists, a lot of us barely made it through the tunnels. Whenever we went down, I had to practically crawl on hands and knees to make it through, and I'm not even the tallest one on the trip. They're also very narrow, and anyone who is at all claustrophobic definitely shouldn't attempt to go through. After the first site, our guide showed us a couple examples of the methods used to hide the countless entrances, peepholes, and sniper bunkers that the Viet Cong had hidden all throughout the jungle. He opened a tiny opening in the ground and, after waving goodbye, lowered himself in and closed the opening. There is absolutely no way that anyone who didn't know where it was could have found the entrance. We practically lost it, and we had just watching him lower himself into it! A few minutes later, he popped out of another hole a few feet away (that, again, no one had noticed). He then led us past a few different examples of traps that were set in the jungle to catch and injure careless patrolling soldiers. We got to go through a few more tunnels, these ones with displays showing Viet Cong soldiers cooking, working, and caring for wounded (along with more than a few real-life bats).

I think I was beginning to understand how awful it must have been fighting in the jungle. Between the hidden entrances, gun posts that look like rocks, and punji stick traps in the ground, I would have been terrified to walk anywhere in the jungle. We had a moment where, at Dr. Berman's suggestion, we just walked through the jungle in silence. Listening to the forest, hearing all the natural sounds and seeing how empty everything looked, I caught a sense of what it must have felt like being a soldier walking through those same trees.

The whole area is also covered in old bomb craters. They're all overgrown now, but you can still see the big cavities carved into the earth throughout the jungle. The whole site is built up to be a big tourist attraction, with the built-up paths and colorful exhibits of weapons and traps (most with painted background images of dying Americans). They have gift shops selling candies, replica Viet Cong uniforms, and lighters made out of bullets, and even a shooting range within earshot in case anyone wants to try their hand at firing weapons in the jungle. It's almost easy to forget that the site is a battlefield, where soldiers fought and probably died just a few decades ago. It was surreal, and definitely an experience I'll remember for a while.

After our tour, we bused a short ways away for lunch. Our lunch spot was at a restaurant built onto a big wooden platform floating on the banks of a river. It was really cool (literally; the river air felt a whole lot better than in the humid, airless jungle). We had little spring rolls, grilled giant prawn, crunchy rice cakes with vegetables, chicken, and crispy baguette rolls. After eating, we hung out for a while and enjoyed the cool river breeze. The water was covered in these floating water plants, and if you stared at just the plants as they floated by, it gave the impression that the raft was floating down the river.

After lunch, we went back to a temple that we had seen before we got on the bus at the tunnels. It turned out to be a big memorial to all the people, soldiers and civilians, who had died in the District during the war. It was a massive complex, with beautiful gardens and fountains surrounding the central temple. The outer walls were covered in murals that depicted the oppression of the Vietnamese under the French, soldiers fighting during the war, and the eventual happiness at the war's end. We had to take our shoes off to enter the main temple. Inside the temple, there was a huge statue of Ho Chi Minh. All around the sides, the walls were covered with writing. They listed the names of every single person who had died in the District. I don't remember the exact number of names, but it covered the back and both side walls, with very little space to add more. Some of the Vietnamese students who had accompanies us lit incense at the alter in the temple. Reading the names was another indefinable experience. We really got a feel for the full cost of the war on the people in the area. We made one more stop, at the cemetery where all those people are interred. This was a weird experience, because a lot of the graves aren't yet finished. It was weird seeing rows and rows of graves juxtaposed with crews of workers hauling wheelbarrows and mixing cement for even more rows of graves. The site was empty except for us and the workers, so we had free reign to walk around and look at the graves. It added to the feelings I had already gotten while looking at the names back at the temple.

After a long bus ride home, we got to relax for a few hours at the hotel. Most of us were pretty beat from the morning. A couple of us guys went out for dinner before the tailor came to measure us for suits in the evening. We went to a restaurant a few blocks from the hotel, where I got banh xeo, which are these little omelet-like pancakes with vegetable and seafood filling inside (and they were really good!)

My favorite moment of the day, and probably one of my favorite moments of the whole trip, was on the bus ride back from the tunnels. We were driving through a rural area, passing by farmers huts and rice fields, and it started to rain. Looking out the bus windows over the rice fields in a rain storm that came out of nowhere, it felt like a scene pulled out of any Vietnam War film. It's hard to imaging such terrible things happening in such a beautiful country.

Jade Emperor Temple