The Indochina Adventure Part 1: Ho Chi Minh City

Several months ago, my roommate, Katie, and I were hard at work planning a trip to Europe with our friends Rob and Matt for shortly after the winter semester was to end at BYU.  We daydreamed about all the countries we would visit and the sites we would see there.  After a few weeks of only wishing and not really planning, we realized Europe was completely out of the question.  Neither of us had any money (my idea was to sell my car and use the money to pay for the trip...then I realized that I would return after the trip with no money, no car, no job, and no means of transportation to get to a job if I did happen to come across one).  Heartbroken, we signed up for classes for the spring term and prepared ourselves for another year in Provo.
BUT THEN...
Katie's family began planning a trip to Vietnam.  "Who in the world wants to go to Vietnam?" I thought to myself, but plan they did.  And just a few weeks later, Katie asked me if I would like to go with them!  She said her parents felt that three weeks would be a long time for her to spend alone with them, and since they had living arrangements made for two rooms everywhere they went, it wouldn't cost much more to invite a friend.  I was incredibly surprised and unbelievable excited!

In preparation, we looked up the weather of the area where we would be and found it to be not only extremely hot, but extremely humid.  We went shopping and bought some really cute clothes, as evidenced in the pictures you will see throughout this blog post.  For those of you who struggle with sarcasm, the previous statement was absolutely false and our clothes were the most hideous things you will probably ever lay eyes on. No judging.


 Our Asian adventure began on the evening of Sunday, May 6th.  We drove to the Salt Lake City airport to begin a long day and a half of travel. Here was our route:

Salt Lake City --> Los Angeles (1.5 hours)
Los Angeles --> Taipei, Taiwan (14 hours)
Taipei, Taiwan --> Ho Chi Minh City (3 hours)

Day 1

We made it to Ho Chi Minh (the capital of Vietnam) on Tuesday, May 8th at 11:30am.  We were all suffering from extreme jet lag but were very excited to have finally made it.  By some miracle, our luggage had all made it through to Ho Chi Minh, despite being moved from one airline to another.  We looked around for our guide but couldn't find a sign with Buhler (Katie's family's last name) anywhere. Here was the problem:

If you can't read that sign, it is in MY name.  For some strange reason, almost everywhere we went, the reservations were put in my name, so we had a nice little joke going throughout the trip about how I was paying for everything.  The picture above is of our first tour guide and me. Her name was Happy, and happy she was.

Vietnam was different than any other country I've ever visited.  By the way, my list is somewhat short and consists of: USA (of course), Mexico, Costa Rica, and Ecuador.  Asia is a completely different world.  Here are some of the things we saw on our first day: 

Motorcycles. TONS OF THEM. 

Gas is relatively expensive compared to the average wage in the country, so cars are rare and mostly used by tourists.

This man was even using his motorcycle to take a nap!

 

Our hotel was beautiful! Gorgeous chandeliers, woodwork, and painting. And a koi pond!

We visited the big market in Ho Chi Minh City later in the afternoon.  It was full of tons of things I wanted to buy mixed with tons of things that smelled worse than anything I have ever smelled in my entire life.  If you've ever heard of a jack fruit, you know what I'm talking about.  Let's just say the combination of lack of sleep, heat, humidity, and foul smells just about put me over the edge and it was a struggle to keep my gag reflex under control.

What I learned my first day in Ho Chi Minh: The only way to cross the street is to just WALK and DON'T LOOK at the motorcyclists coming towards you. That was literally the advice we were given by our guide, and it was LITERALLY the only way you would ever get across the street.  If you tried to wait for a gap in traffic to cross, it would never come, and if you looked at the motorcyclists while you were crossing, chances are you would keel over and die of a heart attack that very second.

Day 2

Saw some more motorcycles... this one had four people on it! And that was nothing compared to some of the others. The most I ever counted on a single motorcycle was 6 (SIX) people!

We visited the Cu Chi Tunnels, the largest tunnel system used by the Vietcong during the Vietnam War.  This was an entrance to one of the tunnels.  They were typically a half meter tall and a half meter wide, and they went on for hundreds of kilometers.

Here is a photo sequence of me getting into that tiny entry:

It's no wonder we had such a difficult time finding these people during the war! They are crafty!

We also got to shoot an M-16 and an AK-47.  I honestly couldn't tell you which picture is of which gun so don't ask, but if you are gun savvy, you may be able to figure it out:

P.S. This was the very first time I've shot any type of gun with actual bullets. I think the closest I had ever come before that was maybe my brother's old air soft gun, but I don't even think I ever ACTUALLY shot that. A gun is just not something that typically appeals to me.

For a snack we ate some baked palm root with a peanut/salt dip (it was actually pretty tasty!) and a not-so tasty tea that would probably qualify as the most foul tea I have ever tasted.

Then it was back to Ho Chi Minh for a city tour!

We started at the Reunification Palace:

 Then we visited the Notre Dame Cathedral... who knew there was one in Vietnam??!!

Last stop: the post office

That night, Happy (our tour guide) recommended we take a dinner cruise along the Saigon River.  They served traditional Vietnamese cuisine and had traditional music and dance for entertainment.  And now for the best part...

Katie had warned me that her family likes to make bets on their vacations.  She told me that one time, when her family was in Thailand, her dad had offered to buy her some souvenir that she really wanted if she would go up to this guy that she had never met and kiss him.  She said that these types of things are tradition, and if they offer it, you have to take them up on it.  Because I had never been on vacation with the Buhlers, Katie informed me that Reed would probably make some crazy bet like that for me. 

And lo and behold, my time had come.

"Get up there and dance in the aisle until the song ends. 50 bucks." That was all Reed said.  Since I had been told I HAD to do it when it was offered, I hopped up and began twirling around in the aisle, stomping and clapping along to the music.  Pretty embarrassing because no one else was dancing, and all the people at surrounding tables probably thought I was completely wasted, but I think it is safe to say that it was the easiest 50 dollars I have ever made.  Now I can officially tell people I dance for money...

To be continued