Vietnam:
Day 1:
According to the Captain, we would be pulling in the Saigon River around 4am and would be traveling up it for 2 hours before we reached Ho Chi Minh City. Will and I woke up at 4am disappointed that it was still pitch black out and that we would not be able to see anything until sunrise. When the sun rose around 6, the Saigon River came to life. Fishing boats dodged the awkwardly large MV Explorer as it snaked up the river. Barges filled with dirt and sand passed us on both sides. The shore of the river is lush with tropical trees and plants, very similar to the Amazon River we were traveling up earlier this year.
We hopped off the ship in the morning, greeted on land by Will's mom who flew to Vietnam a day prior. The first place we checked out in Ho Chi Minh City was Ben Thahn market, which is a large warehouse like market filled with hundreds of small shops selling anything from custom tailored suits, to meats, to fake Rolexes and DVD's. It was a pretty cool scene and different from many markets we had been to thus far. After Ben Thahn, we walked the streets looking for a tailor to get some custom fitted suits. The streets of Ho Chi Minh City are packed with motorcyclists, much more than India. The safest way to avoid getting hit by the motorcyclists when crossing the streets is to basically close your eyes and walk across the street as slowly as possible. All of the traffic morphs around you just like in India. The other great thing about all these motorcyclists is that they act as taxi's too. All you have to do to get a ride anywhere in the city is hold out an American Dollar and they immediately pull over so you can hop on and go anywhere in the city. It is quite a wild ride on the back of some of these motorcycles, and they don't mind if even two or three people hop on the back.
We finally found a good suit tailor, and got all sized up for some snazzy suits. It is very confusing to try to explain to the tailor what you want when she barely understands or speaks any English. After the tailor, I had to go back to the ship for a quick fieldtrip to learn about the Vietnamese economy. The fieldtrip was short and it was really interesting to hear about the recent rapid growth of Vietnam's economy, and also some of the challenges it faces today with high inflation and interest rates. After the fieldtrip, I went to a fitting of my suit before they sewed it all up.
I was meeting my parents in a few hours in Hoi An so I had to throw together a backpack for the next few days, hop on the back of a motorcycle, and head over the airport. A quick hour-long flight landed me in Da Nang, a coastal town north of Ho Chi Minh. At the airport, I headed to Hoi An to meet up with my parents at the beach at our hotel. Tired from traveling, I grabbed dinner with my parents then went to bed for a good nights sleep.
Day 2:
My parents and I woke up at 7, grabbed breakfast at the hotel, then headed to the central area of Hoi An to walk around. Hoi An is very quiet compared to Ho Chi Minh. There are colorful lanterns hung all around and small shops that line the streets. We toured through a few different historical and religious sights, and watched a traditional style music concert. In one of these historical sights we learned about the different types of animal years and how each year is assigned a new animal. I was born in the year of the horse, and the current year of 2012 was the year of the dragon. According to our guide, many people waited to have kids in the year of the dragon as it promises a life of prosperity.
Since I had only ordered a suit in Ho Chi Minh, I decided to get a few tailored shirts and ties made in Hoi An, so we stopped by a tailor to get measured and pick out some shirt fabrics. We grabbed a traditional Hoi An meal on the river as we watched the different boats pass by. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel to relax for a bit and check to see if there was any surf. Unfortunately, the winds were too high, so the surf was pretty bad and I decided to just relax instead of paddle out.
We drove back into town for dinner, stopping briefly at the tailor for a second fitting of our custom shirts and suits. As the sun sets, the city becomes very lit up with the colorful lanterns strung across buildings, in trees, and everywhere else possible. The restaurant we had dinner at overlooked the river again, but it is much different at night. People light candles in floating lanterns and let them float down the river as they can make one wish per lantern. It is pretty cool to see these floating lanterns drift down the river. The city seemed much more alive at night than it did in the day, and so we walked around the streets for a bit following dinner.
Day 3:
We had a morning flight to Hanoi, so we had breakfast at our hotel then made our way to the airport. On the way, we stopped by a place called China Beach in Da Nang, which is known for its good surf. The surf happened to be pretty big when we went to see it, so I was sad that we had to go to the airport and had no time to surf. I guess it just gives me a good excuse to come back to Vietnam.
Landing in Hanoi, I began to compare it to Ho Chi Minh City. It felt very different, but I could not describe how. The city is crowded just like in Ho Chi Minh, and the traffic is crazy too, but it felt more spread out than Ho Chi Minh. From the airport, we went straight to the museum of ethnology to learn about the different ethnic minorities throughout Vietnam. After the museum, we walked through a Confucius temple in downtown Hanoi. The temple grounds were well groomed and it was interesting to hear about one of the biggest religions in Vietnam.
We were pretty hungry after the museum and temple touring, so we went to our hotel in Hanoi to get lunch. Following lunch, my mom and I walked around the streets to check out the shops in Hanoi. My mom slowly became more comfortable crossing streets in Vietnam, as it is a pretty unnerving experience. There was one intersection that epitomized the craziness of driving in Vietnam. There were 5 or 6 main roads that intersected together at one point, with ZERO stoplights. People weaved within one another and somehow magically seemed to cross the intersection.
My parents and I went to a great restaurant for dinner and had the local meals of lemongrass chicken skewers, pineapple fried rice, and a few other dishes. After dinner, we went to a café on a second story that overlooks the crazy intersection that I mentioned before. We had some ice cream as we watched over the wild mass of traffic below, just waiting to see an accident.
Day 4:
Today was my last day with my parents, because I had to get back to the ship in Ho Chi Minh City to head to Hong Kong. I said goodbye to my parents at the airport, and hopped on my flight to Ho Chi Minh City.
Back in Ho Chi Minh City, I had to get back to my tailor for a third fitting of my suit. My suit was looking pretty good by then, so they just made a few measurements and adjustments and told me to swing by later and pick it up. I hopped on a motorcycle taxi back to the ship where I unloaded my bags from the past few days, showered up, then headed back out to the marketplace. I had my eyes set on these knock off Dre Beats headphones so I spent much a good amount of time wandering the electronic marketplace bargaining the price down on a set of headphones. After a couple hours of wandering, I picked up my suit and went back to the ship to meet up with some friends.
Back on the ship with my friends, we all shared stories of our very different experiences in Vietnam. Everyone seemed to have had a great time so far. Sick of all the Vietnamese "Pho" (traditional noodle dish), we had an extremely spicy dinner at a Thai restaurant. It was a good changeup from noodles. After dinner, we motorcycle taxi'd to different places in the city exploring the nightlife.
Day 5:
Our last day in Vietnam! Since today was the last day in Vietnam, I woke up early to see some must see places in Ho Chi Minh. Most of my friends were still sleeping, so I hopped on a moto taxi and headed to the Vietnam War museum. It was wild to feel the anti American sentiment throughout the displays and photographs of the war. We were truly viewed as an evil force by the Vietnamese.
I met up with Cody and Adri for breakfast, and we were also joined by Cody's family friend who ex patrioted to Vietnam about 18 years ago. He told us all about his experience in Vietnam, and told us about a few places we should see in our last few hours in the city. One of which was China Town. After breakfast, we taxi'd over to China Town, even though we would really be in China in 2 days.
China Town had even more hustle and bustle than the rest of Ho Chi Minh City. We walked around China town for about 2 hours, barely even scratching the surface. We could only take so much of the sweaty heat, motorcycle dodging, and naggy vendors, so we headed back to downtown Ho Chi Minh to grab lunch and buy some last minute rice hats and groceries.
We happened to run into Will and his Mom at lunch on the roof of a hotel, so they told us about their experience Scuba Diving in Vietnam for the past few days. After lunch, the 5 of us went to Will's Mom's hotel, to relax before we got back on the ship. The lounge at the hotel had an awesome view that looked over the MV Explorer on the Saigon River. We stayed here until dinner, sharing funny stories from the voyage. Then, at 5 o'clock, we said goodbye to Will's mom, and headed back to the ship.
I read your post. Here I share such nice information about vietnam places. As well as I like all images of vietnam. Its too good post.
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I went to the Halong Bay at the first day on Vietnam. This area consist more than 3000 islands where tourist comes to enjoy swimming and natural beauty. This place is also declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
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