I arrived at Ho Chi Minh City around 1.30 (thanks Jetstar...) and promptly woke everyone up in my room in my attempt to dig out my pajamas in my suitcase of plastic bags. Note to self -throw away all plastic bags tomorrow.
My alarm never went off so I was out the door by 10.00. I went to the Xa Loi Pagoda, but it was closed, so I went to the women's museum. That was also closed for lunch hour, so I took a walk to the war remnants museum. A man approached me as I was muttering obscenities under my breath (since that was closed as well) and offered to take me around the city to the different sites for the next hour. I was hesitant about riding on the back of a motorbike, but I figured I might as well so we negotiated a price and we were off. We went to the Notre Dame cathedral, Reunification Palace, City Hall, and the marketplace. I was able to haggle for a cute large bag to carry my things, and also got some candies for my coworkers and kids. When we got back to the war remnants museum, I went to pay the driver, who had been pretty kind the entire time. He then insisted we drove for two hours instead of one and insisted I pay him double. I checked the time and sure enough, it had only been an hour. After arguing for awhile, I got frustrated and walked away. Ain't nobody got time for that.
I had pork served to me instead of shrimp. The sweet waiter felt really bad and wrote me this note since she was too shy to speak English.
Shot from the back of the motorbike.
I found a vegetarian restaurant and popped in there for some food as I waited for the museum to open. I feel like I always easily find vegetarian restaurants here even though there aren't a ton, I love it.
The war remnants museum was very interesting and depressing. It was definitely very anti-America. There was a whole section where it was like: look at all the countries that thought America was being a butthead! It was also very sad seeing the exhibit of the effects of agent orange. Many second generation children are still being born with significant birth defects such as missing their eyes, legs, arms, mental retardation, dwarfism, and many more problems. It was disappointing to see and hear that my government wasn't really doing anything to clean the mess they created with agent orange.
After the war remnants museum, I quickly went back to the Women's museum. I only had 15 minutes to view it before it closed, but it was pretty enjoyable (and free). I was quite possibly their only visitor of the day.
Kids practicing for a dance at the Xa Loi Pagoda
I met some girls in my dorm room after my much needed nap and we went to the marketplace together for dinner. One of the girls had just finished teaching in Korea, so we had a good time talking about kdramas, California, and Korea.
We grabbed a cab ride back to our dorm with the worst cab driver ever. He told us 40,000 dong before we started and we told him to use the meter. It pissed him off I guess because then he decided to ignore our directions, driver slower than people walking, and got us lost. At one point he literally turned off the car. I was so fed up with him and angry that I wanted to get out of the cab, but the other girls said we should just stay in. The girl gave him 40,000 dong (1,000 short of the meter), which is about 20,000 more dong than I would have given. He got pissed that we didn't pay him the full amount. Whatever bro.
There are so many motorbikes in Vietnam. Also many communism posters.
All the parents on their motorbikes outside of the school -ready to pick their kids up!
The next day I did the Mekong Delta tour. The area was loaded with tourists, but I had fun regardless. We first went to a honey making farm on the island where we got to try some of their honey. We then went to a coconut candy making factory, where they showed us how to prepare coconut. The peanut candies were so tasty that I decided to get some for my coworkers! After a few boat rides in the small water passages and a horse carriage ride, we had lunch at this outdoors tourist restaurant. We were given an hour to eat and use a bike if we wanted to poke around. While most people decided to stay at the restaurant to relax, I decided to grab a bike and poke around. I crossed a bridge that was off the beaten path and rode down a beaten path. I passed by many houses of varying niceness along the way. Chickens and dogs sometimes lounged around the property. Many of the houses also had at least one elevated burial site on the property. I especially loved it because it was something where no tourists were. I finally felt like I was really starting to see Vietnam. It made me wish I had rented a bike for a day and biked through some small towns.
Touching some honeycomb swarmed by bees to try some honey.
Some kids saying hello!
Selfies with my Malaysian friends!
The coconut candy factory. They made such tasty candies!
My bike ride around the Mekong delta.
When I got back from the tour, I went to get a massage and my legs waxed. The Thai massage was great, but the waxing was horrible. It was painful, left blotches of my skin red days later, and didn't even get off half the hair. The lady spent about 2 hours in her attempt, then I'm pretty sure she gave up upon further inspection later. Everything was about $20 and I gave her a $5 tip, which she scoffed at and insisted more. She guilt tripped me into giving more, which frustrated me. Everyone I've talked to seems to like Vietnam, but wouldn't rush to come back Ho Chi Minh because people are exceedingly pushy here. Obviously, not all Vietnamese people are like this. There are many kind and helpful people as well. There are just many times where it seems like I was seen only as a walking wallet.
The view in the Mekong Delta.
A woman with a machete in the Mekong Delta ready to cut down some palm leaves.
For my last day in Saigon, my new hostel friend Amanda and I did the Cu Chi tunnels. Before the tunnels, they stopped at a government factory where citizens affected by agent orange worked on making beautiful pieces of art out of eggshell. These were the tunnels the Vietnamese used to navigate safely away from the American eye during the war. We saw some of the deadly metal traps they had set up throughout the jungle. We also shot an M30 and crawled through one of the tunnel passages. I got through about 2 yards of crawling when I decided I needed to get that I needed to make like a tree and get the hell outta there. It was a cool experience, but definitely felt a bit claustrophobic in there.
When the tour finished, Amanda and I went to lunch, then the marketplace for some last minute family souvenirs. With my last bit of money, I got some gifts and a really cool scarf. The guy tried to tell me it was $15, but I wasn't about that since I could buy the same thing at the SF shopping center for $5. After arguing a bit about the quality and the price of the same thing back in the states, he sold it to me for $5. I felt like I suddenly turned into a cut-throat bargainer.
One of the secret tunnel entrances.
Shooting an M30?
I kept running into these women on every tour and even in the market! We had to take a selfie together!
My last impressions of Vietnam was that I really enjoyed it. I wouldn't go to Ho Chi Minh City again -I much preferred the small town feel of Hoi An. I also heard many amazing things of Ha Noi from others, so I regretted not going there. I thought the food was really delicious and the land was beautiful. I would just want to avoid the pushiness of HCM next time.
