Vietnam
Hong Kong was absolutely amazing. I had so much fun just walking around, taking in all the sights. I only had two day trips planned and I just spent the rest of the time shopping, visiting museums, and taking in the local culture. I sent out postcards to everyone from port--this might be the last port I send from port because by the time they get to you I will be home already. Exactly one month from yesterday I will be porting in San Diego and on my flight home. We arrived March 26 in Saigon (the old name for Ho Chi Minh City). It didn’t take too long for the ship to clear customs and everything--we did have to go through a condensed version of face to face immigration where we just went into the faculty and staff lounge, were handed our passports and then handed them back at the end. It was kind of sad though because Vietnam was the port for the parent trip and it was sad to see everyone else’s parents outside my window and coming onto the ship knowing my parents wouldn’t be coming. I mean the trip was wicked expensive ($3900, not including airfare) and my parents couldn’t afford that. Also, at this point in the trip, if I saw my parents it would make me so homesick and it would be hard to function for the rest of the time here. I feel like I wouldn’t want to get back on the ship. It was nice though to spend most of the time there just with friends, walking around and exploring. I’ve been getting close to some people and I have to say, I’m glad I’m establishing long lasting bonds with a few people than none with a large group. I enjoy being a floater among groups. I’m actually excited--my guide from my safari misses our group of 10 from his jeep so much that once he and his fiancé get married, they’re going to start saving to come to the U.S. and see us! Sooo exciting! So anyway, back to the first day in the city. I basically just walked around and got myself oriented. Jill, Steph, Rebecca, and I found a dress store and had all of our dress orders put in (except Jill--she wasn’t sure if she wanted to get one done but she ended up getting it done another day). Since I had bought my fabric already, my dresses cost me $15 a piece--I had two done on the first day. The fabric is silk--one purple dress with straps, a square neck, empire waist and down past my knee. The other one is red silk, strapless, down to just above my knee. I had so much fabric left over that I had another dress made with the purple silk and a jacket thing made with the red to go over the dress. After the dress stuff and having Rebecca try and explain to a tailor who spoke no English what a halter top was, we went in search of the supposed North Face Factory. We never found it (not sure if there is one or it was the Russian Market we wound up at). We walked around, bought bags (I got mine for $10--none of them are real but good replicas) and then we all got a bunch of DVD’s for $1 a piece. I also bought the entire Sex and the City box set for $30--not too shabby. We made it back to the ship on the free shuttle and just hung out for awhile, regrouped, and showered. The day before was Rebecca’s birthday so I went out with her, Donna, and Ashley to dinner at a Japanese sushi restaurant--I had white rice. We initially wanted to go somewhere else but the restaurant ended up being closed. The restaurant was interesting--I’m not a big fish person and neither was Ashley so we both just got rice. The original thing she ordered had fish in it and although she’s not allergic to it, it makes her want to be sick so we had to pretend she was allergic so the waitress would take it back. I went to bed early on the ship.
The second day (March 27) I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels on an SAS trip. Never before have I been claustrophobic but I felt it going through the tunnels. You have to crouch down and then the tunnels open up to a larger room, such as the hospital or mess hall. It was interesting to listen to this movie we had to watch before exploring the tunnels--think of the worst American propaganda you have ever seen and multiply it by ten--this is how bad it was. We walked around with our guide and at certain points he would have us stop and he would show us hidden entranceways to the tunnels we had walked over without realizing what we had even done. It was interesting to see how small some of the openings were and such--they were sneaky for sure. In a sense I can see why the Americans lost the war--it was almost impossible to know that these tunnels even existed they were so well protected and covered. The U.S. even built a camp right over the tunnels and suffered extensive casualties before they realized their mistake. Once we got back to the ship, I went out with Jill and walked around and got more shopping done and went with her to get her dress made and have a fitting for mine--the first two I had made fit perfectly so I could take them home that day. It was also a hassle because I was trying to get Andrew’s suit made and I only had his basic measurements and the women (who spoke pretty good English) were trying to show me other men as examples to compare my brother to so it was difficult. I wound up just finding an internet café with Jill and being able to call him and my parents and have him do all his measurements I needed and then get back to the store the following day to give them his measurements. Between the four of us in my group that got their dresses and stuff made there--we gave them so much business, they catered to us. They had seats and everything waiting for us when we got there, cold water waiting for us, everything. It was literally just a hole in the wall but I am so happy we went there. I didn’t do much at night--just hung out and got some stuff done.
The third day (March 28) what else is new--I went shopping. Kaylee and I met up with some other SASers--Ryan and Quinn--and made our way into the market place. We were going to take the shuttle provided but it wasn’t leaving for like 30 minutes so we hopped on motorbikes and paid a $1 for a ride into the city. Yea yea I know---getting on a bike with a complete stranger and riding around a city with extensive traffic. Maybe not one of my better choices but fun nonetheless. A lot of people actually got some serious burns on their legs from the exhaust because they tried to get off the bikes on the wrong side. No worries mom--I didn’t burn myself or anything. I had nothing much in mind to buy in Vietnam--just my dresses and a suit for Andrew so I was just browsing. We eventually split from Ryan and Quinn and went to the market and I just bought some trinkets, nothing too exciting. A lot of people have been having problems with ATM’s working--they put their card in and stuff and enter their pins but never get their money or their receipts. It happened to both Kaylee and I and we had to get ahold of people at home to make sure the transactions didn’t go through. We got back to the ship and Ryan and Quinn were already drunk at like 5:00 lol. Good times. Another leisurely night on the ship.
The fourth day (March 29) Kaylee and I went shopping. I ended up having to buy a new suitcase to make sure I could get everything home in a month. I should be ok now though. All duffle bags, should be interesting. There’s this mall across the street from the Rex Hotel and it has 4 floors and we spent some time there and bought a few more DVD’s and Kaylee got a skirt made out of fabric. We both picked up some presents for people at home and just had a good time together. We’ve been getting close this trip and I’m glad. We found a little café in the mall and we just ate lunch there and chatted and rested our feet from walking all around the city. I’m not used to this whole just hopping in a taxi or shuttle bus and walking around big cities--it’s not something we could do in Pepperell or New London. Not only is there no public transportation, there’s nothing to do in either place. After lunch, we decided to go find a place to get massages done. We had heard about “happy endings” being offered to guys (I’ll leave this one to you guys to figure out) and we figured since we were girls we would be ok. Well, not entirely. We had two women and Kaylee and I were next to each other, completely naked and we would just laugh every time the women left the room. Our friendship definitely got close that day. They tried to walk on our back and stuff (we didn’t let them) and they were just too hard and forceful. A few times I had to ask them to be a little lighter on me because it was hurting me more than making me relax. They also both kept talking to each other the entire time so it was even harder to relax. I guess you can’t expect much from a $10 for 75 minutes. But what through us both for a loop was the fact that they were very touchy feely with out butts--just touching them a lot and calling them beautiful. Not something I would have expected. We went back to the ship and got ready and went to dinner and went out to the bars with this kid Chris (who helped direct a play for the Eight Wonders of the World, the dependant children on board). We originally were going to go to this bar called Backpackers where SASers and other tourists and backpackers and stuff hang out. Chris showed the map to the motorbike drivers and we wound up somewhere completely different and it turned out to be one of the better times I’ve had going out at night in port. We went to all local places and ran into absolutely nobody from the ship. As comforting as it sometimes is to run into familiar places, it’s equally as comforting not to run into anybody. We first found a karaoke bar where we were the only Americans in the place. The majority of the songs were in Vietnamese but they did play one American song for us. We decided to find another bar to go to until the Karaoke bar got a little more with it with more people inside. We wound up at a little hole in the all type restaurant, sitting outside on plastic chairs with an aluminum table drinking Tiger beer, which was like $0.60 or something for one. The waitress would just stand by us and wait for us to finish our beers and would promptly bring us another one that was cold. We stayed there awhile, just sitting back and enjoying the local culture. Then, we ventured to a restaurant to grab some food (and mind you, everywhere we’re been, maybe with the exception of the karaoke bar, nobody speaks any English). We all had a nice little buzz going on, which made crossing the already difficult streets even more difficult. We got halfway across and froze, traffic was just not letting up at all. We had been warned to “be predictable” and we would get across but there was no way we were getting all the way across on our own. An employee from the restaurant came out and helped us cross the rest of the way. We had some sort of stew thing with clover type leaves and some sort of mystery meat in it. The leaves were pretty good. Then we also had some sort of chicken, which had extremely hot sauce on it. It was so hot we thought our lips were going to fall off. A few more Tiger beers cooled everything off. We were going to go back to the karaoke bar but it was closed, so we just hopped on motorbikes and came back to the ship.
March 30 was our last day in port. I went in for my final dress fitting and picked up Andrew’s suit (it looks nice Andrew, no worries). Today was just about last minute shopping and getting things done before on ship time at 11. Rebecca, Kaylee and I also went to the War Remnants Museum. I have to admit, I never felt more ashamed to be an American than I did after looking at some of the gruesome pictures. We just did some cruel things to the Vietnamese (mind you, I’m not saying that cruel things weren’t done to the Americans by any means). There were pictures of people being pushed out of planes, an American soldier walking with the tattered remnants of a Vietnamese soldier that was killed by a bomb or something, and the effects of agent orange that was sprayed onto fields to clear them and how badly affected people on the ground were. Kids were born with birth defects and developed cancers because of agent orange. So many Vietnamese people were there and recognized us as Americans and automatically equated us with the atrocities that happened to their family members 30+ years ago. It was depressing and disheartening. It made me feel bad for these people to see what our troops put them through.
After getting our last minute shopping done, we came back to the ship and had dinner and I ran back out with Katie and Rebecca for one last trip to the mall. On ship time is usually 9 but it was changed to 11 because we didn’t leave until early Friday morning (Amanda’s birthday). There was shoving and pushing going on at the gangway as everyone was trying to get on board before on ship time to avoid getting dock time. 110 people ended up getting dock time, some who weren’t even drunk but because all hell broke loose, it was not easily determined who was drunk and pushing and who was just waiting patiently to get back on. The events of the night even warranted a letter from Dean Sapp saying how truly disappointed he was with the shipboard community because of the way people behaved. On the journey we are supposed to be acting as representatives of our country and it’s sad to see this is how people act, especially with immigration officials on board. It’s sad too because it is not an accurate representation of the United States as a whole or even our generation as a whole.
The second day (March 27) I went to the Cu Chi Tunnels on an SAS trip. Never before have I been claustrophobic but I felt it going through the tunnels. You have to crouch down and then the tunnels open up to a larger room, such as the hospital or mess hall. It was interesting to listen to this movie we had to watch before exploring the tunnels--think of the worst American propaganda you have ever seen and multiply it by ten--this is how bad it was. We walked around with our guide and at certain points he would have us stop and he would show us hidden entranceways to the tunnels we had walked over without realizing what we had even done. It was interesting to see how small some of the openings were and such--they were sneaky for sure. In a sense I can see why the Americans lost the war--it was almost impossible to know that these tunnels even existed they were so well protected and covered. The U.S. even built a camp right over the tunnels and suffered extensive casualties before they realized their mistake. Once we got back to the ship, I went out with Jill and walked around and got more shopping done and went with her to get her dress made and have a fitting for mine--the first two I had made fit perfectly so I could take them home that day. It was also a hassle because I was trying to get Andrew’s suit made and I only had his basic measurements and the women (who spoke pretty good English) were trying to show me other men as examples to compare my brother to so it was difficult. I wound up just finding an internet café with Jill and being able to call him and my parents and have him do all his measurements I needed and then get back to the store the following day to give them his measurements. Between the four of us in my group that got their dresses and stuff made there--we gave them so much business, they catered to us. They had seats and everything waiting for us when we got there, cold water waiting for us, everything. It was literally just a hole in the wall but I am so happy we went there. I didn’t do much at night--just hung out and got some stuff done.
The third day (March 28) what else is new--I went shopping. Kaylee and I met up with some other SASers--Ryan and Quinn--and made our way into the market place. We were going to take the shuttle provided but it wasn’t leaving for like 30 minutes so we hopped on motorbikes and paid a $1 for a ride into the city. Yea yea I know---getting on a bike with a complete stranger and riding around a city with extensive traffic. Maybe not one of my better choices but fun nonetheless. A lot of people actually got some serious burns on their legs from the exhaust because they tried to get off the bikes on the wrong side. No worries mom--I didn’t burn myself or anything. I had nothing much in mind to buy in Vietnam--just my dresses and a suit for Andrew so I was just browsing. We eventually split from Ryan and Quinn and went to the market and I just bought some trinkets, nothing too exciting. A lot of people have been having problems with ATM’s working--they put their card in and stuff and enter their pins but never get their money or their receipts. It happened to both Kaylee and I and we had to get ahold of people at home to make sure the transactions didn’t go through. We got back to the ship and Ryan and Quinn were already drunk at like 5:00 lol. Good times. Another leisurely night on the ship.
The fourth day (March 29) Kaylee and I went shopping. I ended up having to buy a new suitcase to make sure I could get everything home in a month. I should be ok now though. All duffle bags, should be interesting. There’s this mall across the street from the Rex Hotel and it has 4 floors and we spent some time there and bought a few more DVD’s and Kaylee got a skirt made out of fabric. We both picked up some presents for people at home and just had a good time together. We’ve been getting close this trip and I’m glad. We found a little café in the mall and we just ate lunch there and chatted and rested our feet from walking all around the city. I’m not used to this whole just hopping in a taxi or shuttle bus and walking around big cities--it’s not something we could do in Pepperell or New London. Not only is there no public transportation, there’s nothing to do in either place. After lunch, we decided to go find a place to get massages done. We had heard about “happy endings” being offered to guys (I’ll leave this one to you guys to figure out) and we figured since we were girls we would be ok. Well, not entirely. We had two women and Kaylee and I were next to each other, completely naked and we would just laugh every time the women left the room. Our friendship definitely got close that day. They tried to walk on our back and stuff (we didn’t let them) and they were just too hard and forceful. A few times I had to ask them to be a little lighter on me because it was hurting me more than making me relax. They also both kept talking to each other the entire time so it was even harder to relax. I guess you can’t expect much from a $10 for 75 minutes. But what through us both for a loop was the fact that they were very touchy feely with out butts--just touching them a lot and calling them beautiful. Not something I would have expected. We went back to the ship and got ready and went to dinner and went out to the bars with this kid Chris (who helped direct a play for the Eight Wonders of the World, the dependant children on board). We originally were going to go to this bar called Backpackers where SASers and other tourists and backpackers and stuff hang out. Chris showed the map to the motorbike drivers and we wound up somewhere completely different and it turned out to be one of the better times I’ve had going out at night in port. We went to all local places and ran into absolutely nobody from the ship. As comforting as it sometimes is to run into familiar places, it’s equally as comforting not to run into anybody. We first found a karaoke bar where we were the only Americans in the place. The majority of the songs were in Vietnamese but they did play one American song for us. We decided to find another bar to go to until the Karaoke bar got a little more with it with more people inside. We wound up at a little hole in the all type restaurant, sitting outside on plastic chairs with an aluminum table drinking Tiger beer, which was like $0.60 or something for one. The waitress would just stand by us and wait for us to finish our beers and would promptly bring us another one that was cold. We stayed there awhile, just sitting back and enjoying the local culture. Then, we ventured to a restaurant to grab some food (and mind you, everywhere we’re been, maybe with the exception of the karaoke bar, nobody speaks any English). We all had a nice little buzz going on, which made crossing the already difficult streets even more difficult. We got halfway across and froze, traffic was just not letting up at all. We had been warned to “be predictable” and we would get across but there was no way we were getting all the way across on our own. An employee from the restaurant came out and helped us cross the rest of the way. We had some sort of stew thing with clover type leaves and some sort of mystery meat in it. The leaves were pretty good. Then we also had some sort of chicken, which had extremely hot sauce on it. It was so hot we thought our lips were going to fall off. A few more Tiger beers cooled everything off. We were going to go back to the karaoke bar but it was closed, so we just hopped on motorbikes and came back to the ship.
March 30 was our last day in port. I went in for my final dress fitting and picked up Andrew’s suit (it looks nice Andrew, no worries). Today was just about last minute shopping and getting things done before on ship time at 11. Rebecca, Kaylee and I also went to the War Remnants Museum. I have to admit, I never felt more ashamed to be an American than I did after looking at some of the gruesome pictures. We just did some cruel things to the Vietnamese (mind you, I’m not saying that cruel things weren’t done to the Americans by any means). There were pictures of people being pushed out of planes, an American soldier walking with the tattered remnants of a Vietnamese soldier that was killed by a bomb or something, and the effects of agent orange that was sprayed onto fields to clear them and how badly affected people on the ground were. Kids were born with birth defects and developed cancers because of agent orange. So many Vietnamese people were there and recognized us as Americans and automatically equated us with the atrocities that happened to their family members 30+ years ago. It was depressing and disheartening. It made me feel bad for these people to see what our troops put them through.
After getting our last minute shopping done, we came back to the ship and had dinner and I ran back out with Katie and Rebecca for one last trip to the mall. On ship time is usually 9 but it was changed to 11 because we didn’t leave until early Friday morning (Amanda’s birthday). There was shoving and pushing going on at the gangway as everyone was trying to get on board before on ship time to avoid getting dock time. 110 people ended up getting dock time, some who weren’t even drunk but because all hell broke loose, it was not easily determined who was drunk and pushing and who was just waiting patiently to get back on. The events of the night even warranted a letter from Dean Sapp saying how truly disappointed he was with the shipboard community because of the way people behaved. On the journey we are supposed to be acting as representatives of our country and it’s sad to see this is how people act, especially with immigration officials on board. It’s sad too because it is not an accurate representation of the United States as a whole or even our generation as a whole.