Good Morning Viet Nam!

We arrived in Viet Nam in the early morning just like every other port and were handed our passports with our new Vietnamese visas. I traveled the first day with Kelly, Myla, Valeria, and Mason the first day so we all got off the ship as soon as we could. To say I was excited is an understatement; I skipped off the ship and once I touched land I jumped up and down screaming “I'm back” over and over again. Thankfully, the port was empty and it was only SASers starring and judging me.

Since it was the first day, the ship had complimentary shuttles to the city center, where the Notre Dame cathedral and the post office are. Our first day consisted of wandering the city and shopping at the main market - Ben Thanh Market. The market itself reminded me of every other market in South East Asia, except it was inside. There were hundreds of vendors selling everything from clothing to shoes to purses to food. It smelled like a mix of seafood and sewage. There were people calling at us left and right as they yelled prices and grabbed our arms in an attempt to get us to look at their merchandise. I bought some pants, a scarf, and a custom dress which would be hand delivered to my friends while I visited Cambodia. After leaving the market we walked past the Imperial Palace as we set out in search of food. Eventually, after wandering the city for a bit, we found a Vietnamese Bistro. The place was right near the Post Office and was a quiet place with amazing service. The food was excellent and I had my first sip of Vietnamese beer as I ate my spring rolls.

After lunch, we took a shuttle back to the ship as we made our way to my friend’s Airbnb for the week. They were staying a 20-minute walk from the ship (in the other direction) at this gorgeous apartment complex called the Millennium. The apartment itself had a balcony, kitchen. and washing machine; it also came with access to an infinity pool, WIFI, and a gym. While everyone was getting settled in I walked to a little food market right downstairs as well as through the 7 Eleven attached to the complex. An Evian water bottle was .35 cents in USD. How crazy is that?

I went back to meet up with all my friends before we all headed out in search of something to eat for dinner. On our walk, we found a little hole in the wall Vietnamese place. This was the most eye-opening experience of the day. At the restaurant, only one waiter spoke even the slightest amount of English, and she was not assigned to our table. We figured out how to order our food pretty quickly, the only mishap was Myla ordering chicken legs which the waiter showed us through google images was actually fried chicken feet. Needless to say, she decided to order something else.

After 20 minutes everyone's food came except mine and Masons. Naturally, we attempted to ask where it was, to which the waitress replied saying something along the lines of we know. Masons came out quickly after that and I waited a bit longer for my mussels. As I waited for my food and everyone else began eating, Kelly became dizzy and lightheaded. After Myla scarfed down her food to be able to go back to the Airbnb with Kelly, she swayed a bit and then said she felt better. It was an experience but we were glad she was feeling a little better - even though she would go on to go to sleep early and be sick the next day.

Finally, my mussels came, except we realized they were not mussels but intact clams with cold melted cheese on them. This is when I truly realized the language disparity. Even though the menu said muscles in English above the item I ordered, there was still something lost in translation. Needless to say, this was not the hardest part of the dinner, but rather in our attempt to pay our own ways, we each put in cash for the food we ordered. As we were pulling out the money we each owed, the waitress came over to start counting it. Once she was done counting she tried telling us we needed more money - which we already knew - and proceeded to get frustrated as we carried on trying to figure out who still owed what as she held onto the money we already put towards the check. This is how we learned people in Vietnam do not split checks. She began yelling at us in Vietnamese and shaking the money at us. Eventually, the waiter who spoke English came over to figure out what was wrong. After we explained that we were splitting the check amongst ourselves, she told our waitress to calm down and that we were still paying. Eventually, we paid and left.

Once outside the Millennium complex, we split up so I could meet Deanna since she didn’t want to walk alone. Mason ended up coming with me and we made a quick walk to the boat and back before joining the others in the pool for a night swim. The pool was nice and there was only one other person in it. Afterward, we hung out and dried off in the Airbnb before Mason and I headed back to the ship for our field programs the next day.

For the next three days, I explored Cambodia (check out my next blog post for more on that AMAZING experience)! I returned late at night on our fourth day in port at HCM (Ho Chi Minh). The next morning I woke up at 0630 and walked along the Saigon river to meet up with my mother at her hotel. The walk was peaceful; I got to see everyone heading to work as markets and stores began to open. There were people sweeping the sidewalks as well. The vibe was totally different from what I experienced on the first day.

After meeting up with my mother we spent the day with a guide who led us through the Mekong Delta via car, boat, tuk-tuk, horse and carriage, and bikes. We took a quick boat ride along the Mekong Delta where I tried coconut milk out of a coconut from a locally maintained coconut farm. I took a tour and had fruit with a woman who owns a Palmelo fruit farm behind her home - if you haven’t tried Palmelo you should, it is like grapefruit but better.

After the tour, we went for massages which were absolutely amazing. For about 450,000 Dong (about 20 USD) we each got a 90-minute massage which included typical European massage, hot stone, and authentic Asian massage techniques. If you have never tried Asian technique massages you definitely should!

That evening for dinner we met up with my friends - Myla, Kelly, and Deanna - at Noir, a restaurant where you eat in the dark. The restaurant employs blind and deaf Vietnamese men and women to give them a job while also giving customers an experience unlike any other. We literally ate in the dark and could not see the people near us or the food. The experience was so interesting and I ate foods I would not normally eat. It is definitely something everyone should try because it opens your eyes to new perspectives - plus the food is amazing. They have 3 set menu and each one is 11 small plates - a menu from the East, from the West, and a Vegetarian menu option. After dinner, we saw a menu with pictures of what we had just eaten. The man showing us the slideshow used an iPad. He was from the Netherlands and had been living in Vietnam for a bit of time. We ended up sitting there for 45 minutes with him discussing the restaurant as well as what there is to do and try in Amsterdam when we disembark from SAS. Afterward, we parted ways as my friends went back to the ship.

The next day we took a day tour of the city. We went to the imperial palace - where the South Vietnamese led their government from - and the war remembrance museum which detailed important parts of the American-Vietnamese war. Both these buildings held so much history and information, it was all so exciting and I felt like I was constantly learning something new.

Our guide was super cool too, which only made the experience better. He fielded all my questions about everything from the Vietnamese education system to politics, to his family and life story. Eventually, after running all over the museums, we headed back to the hotel, left the guide, and relaxed by the pool until we had to walk back to the ship. I said see you later to both my mother and Vietnam as I will definitely be seeing both again in my future :)