Vietnam - Let's Do it Country Style

Greeting from somewhere in the Bay of Bengal,

How are you all?!? I hope you guys are doing awesome! We are currently approaching midterms here on the ship so everyone is pretty focused on school right now. I have done a pretty good job of keeping on top of my work so I found some time to write
this blog again.

Shout-out Comments – Nat – Girl that is so cool! It’s crazy thinking about such simple things in these new ways huh?!?! I love it!! Oh I know!!!...We are going to have to make so many panera runs when I get home to catch up on everything! Can’t wait girl! Haha and yeah I have actually been wearing a bandana a lot lately, it helps with the sweat in these humid countries lol, and I really like it I just rarely get to wear one except in the summer. But it is summer for us right now in terms of weather. Hasn’t gotten below 80 in the past 2 weeks and it is only getting warmer from here on out! Be jealous lol. You’re the best! Can’t wait to chill!! Kayla – Congrats on VR girl!! Glad you girls could make it happen!! Really?...I thought you like losing? Maybe I’m getting you confused because I could have sworn that you hated to win haha. Ohhhhh I see. Well I am not going to bungee jump in Africa anymore because I am doing too much there. But that’s okay because I can find somewhere else to do it eventually. I forgot you were doing Kanakuk, that is going to be SO awesome!! Hey I can’t wait for summer either! I’m pumped to go back to camps again! It’s gunna be awesome!! Your summer is going to be AWESOME!! Can’t wait to hear how God is going to use you!! Haha I love how you just said “pencil me in.” I’m not going to be that busy you dork!! Love ya friend!!

The picture I chose for this blog is of me on my Mekong Delta Trip. Read below for more information on the delta itself. I chose this picture because I kinda got in trouble for taking it. We were walking along with our tour guide when she stopped in the middle of the bridge to tell us about the boats and life using the river below as a highway through the islands. Well, all I could think about was what a sweet pic it would be if I was up on the railing of the bridge with the trees and river in the background (and you have to admit it is a cool pic, right doc?). So B.B. and me waited for the tour guide to continue and casually hung back, I climbed up real quick while she took the pic of me. Well right when I climbed up I heard the tour guide yelp, apparently she had turned around and saw me. She didn’t really care because I mean Quinnie was tight, but Stacey, the SAS sponsor on the trip wasn’t exactly thrilled. She was like, what if you had fallen? What would your parents say? I was like “Well my dad would have been taking the picture and my mom would have been yelling at him not me.” Those of you who know my family know this to be true. It happened in Spain exactly like that actually, except that is was Court, Me, AND my dad. Stacey didn’t exactly believe me but she ended up not caring. This was my same tour leader from my China trip so she kinda expected me to be doing the crazy stuff. So that is the story behind this picture.

Okay so I told you guys about my first 2 days in Vietnam. Now let me tell you about the rest of my time! On day 3 I went on an SAS trip to a Cao Dai Temple and the Cu Chi tunnel system. The day started with a bus ride about 2 hours outside the city for our first stop at the biggest Cao Dai Temple in Vietnam. On the way we were given information on daily life in Vietnam, cultural customs, and tips for tourists by our tour guide, Quinnie. We also passed an old U.S. airbase from the Vietnam War, referred to as the American War by the Vietnamese. The airbase is now used as an airport and the new international terminal was finished just 3 years ago. I should also mention that this day trip included parents that had come on the parent portion of the SAS trip to Vietnam. For those of you that don’t know, every semester, SAS does a parent program where they pick a country and offer a special trip for parents to go on. They are there by themselves for a couple days and then they meet the ship and get to hang out with their kids for a couple days and do things with them. So that was cool getting to meet some of my friends’ parents. Candace’s mom was on our tunnel trip and it was cool getting to know her. Just added a different element to this specific trip.

At the Cao Dai temple we were given about 45 minutes to walk around the grounds and experience the culture that was so evident around us. The temple grounds consisted of a couple acres and there was a significant amount of people there on the specific day we were there. It was a weekend so our tour guide explained that since people didn’t have to work, it was common for the temple to be crowded on the weekends.
After touring the grounds, we got the rare privilege of witnessing a Cao Dai service. It was cool seeing how a different religion held a service and the customs associated with the gathering. The temple had a wrap-around balcony and that is the only area tourists were allowed to be. The floor was reserved for the members of what I would call a clergy and then the participants in the service. We got to see the lighting of the incense, the traditional chanting, and the procedures the participants went through. It was cool but I couldn’t help thinking what they must have thought about so many foreigners observing them from a vantage point for a 30 minute service, and it wasn’t just SAS kids, there was a significant number of European tour groups there as well.

After the service we took a short bus ride to lunch at a traditional Vietnamese restaurant. Our meal was in a second story open-air room in the only restaurant near the Cao Dai Temple that was big enough to accommodate tour groups. It was a nice family style coursed meal that was absolutely delicious! The food is just so good I can’t even describe it!! I was sitting with Andrew, Che Che, and one of the Chinese Professors from the ship. It was cool because Che Che is from Nigeria and then the professor lives in China so we had some really cool cultural discussions. We were asking him all these questions about China and he was very curious about our homes and family lives etc. Definitely a great experience!

Then for the highlight of the day, the Cu Chi tunnels!! This was what I was looking forward to the most in Vietnam and the first thing that I signed up for on the ship! Cu Chi was an area in Vietnam that contained the most significant portion of the Vietcong tunnel system. This area was never controlled by American forces due to the persistence and cunning of the local Vietnamese in the area. Our guide told us that 30 years ago after the war there were no trees left because of the B-52 bombing runs and you wouldn’t even know it today. It is dense, thick jungle that you can’t see into. They said it is getting back to what it was like before and during the war. It was eerie walking through the jungle and knowing that literally where I was walking people had died. We walked through varying stations above ground and they showed us a number of things preserved from the war. There is an American tank that has been left where it was destroyed, it was hit by a delayed mine and destroyed by Vietcong. We were allowed to get up close and see the burn marks and AK-47 holes in the weaker parts of the armor. I got the shakes pretty bad because I mean the Americans in the tank literally died right there. After the tank we were able to see the crater left by a B-52 bomb. Okay stinking huge crater, the grass has grown back and there are trees around it, but the crater is just the way it was 30 years ago. It’s crazy seeing the end result like that man. Crazy. After the crater we saw replications of homemade traps used by the Vietcong in the jungle to maim enemy soldiers and make their progress difficult. Basically like the stuff you saw in Rambo, literally. They sharpened bamboo and put them in pits and made swinging traps and stuff.

After the above ground stuff we go to explore the underground section…the tunnels themselves. So we got to crawl through these tunnels, and I mean literally crawl, for about 100 meters is what they told us. Okay I was so dirty! My friend Andrew and I were the tallest two on the tour and we were scrunched so small working our way through these holes. Some of the people in our group really freaked out about halfway through because it was close to pitch black and the most claustrophobic space I have personally ever been in. You wouldn’t have made it mom, your claustrophobia would have kicked in quick! So after we do it they were like “You thought those were pretty small huh? Well those are the tunnels we enlarged for tourists, here are the real ones.” I was like WHAT?!?! You call that enlarged?! So they showed us the real sized holes and they weren’t kidding, it was a tiny little entrance! We got to take turns trying to fit in, don’t worry I made it, but my legs were bent in like 4 different directions trying to cram down into this little bitty space in the ground. After our crawl through the tunnels we got to see a replica of what the underground kitchen looked like and then the air holes they used to ventilate the entire tunnel system. They did a really good job of disguising them above ground too, it was impressive.

Ok so then my guide turned around and was like “Hey, so who wants to shoot an AK-47.” I was like “Does a bear crap in the woods?!?! Yes I want to shoot an AK!!!” He was like ok well come over here and we have a shooting range set up. We walked through the jungle and sure enough they had a shooting range set up for people that wanted to pay to shoot guns used in the Vietnam War. They had AKs, Thompsons, an M-60 (freaking huge mounted gun), and then M-16s. The M-60 would have been sweet but I mean c’mon…how often do you get to shoot an AK in Nam?!?!?!!?! Ahhhhhhh I was pumped! It was like “Here Tyler, come shoot a gun for fun at some targets.” Uhhhh “Yes please!!” I wasn’t the only one either. About 8 people in our group paid to shoot the AK. I paid for my clip and walked down to the range. I was one of the last people to go and it was entertaining watching some of the kids shoot a gun for the first time. When it was my turn I walked up to the guy in charge and handed him my clip (they were very picky about safety measures which was cool because I would have done the same thing with a bunch of tourists.) The guns were mounted to a cinder block type barricade so we couldn’t fully pick them up but you could still aim them at the targets and get a little range of movement. Kind of a bummer but I can still totally understand why they do it that way. They guy turned off the safety and motioned for me to step forward and started to show me the proper way to hold the gun. I say started because he didn’t really get the chance to finish cause I just walked up, picked it up like any other rifle, and took aim. I got a feel for her with my first three shots then put the rest of the clip into the target on fully auto. Dude it was a rush! Oh and you would have been pround pops, I missed the target once. Hit it 9 out of 10 times at 100 yds. I stepped back and was like “Ahhhh that was awesome!!” Then I turned around and some of the SAS kids were staring at me. I was like “What?” They said they were just really surprised that I was so comfortable with a gun. It was weird because the Vietnamese dudes were pretty surprised too. My friend Natalie was taking pictures for me and she was cracking up after because the way she described it: the guy was absolutely shocked that I knew what I was doing. She said that he was like getting ready to help me when he saw me walk up and it was clear I knew what I was doing, then she said he just stepped back. It’s weird that something that I didn’t even think twice about, other people were shocked about. I still think it is so cool learning about differing points of view not only across the countries we visit, but also just between people from different states in the U.S. It’s okay “Cause I am who I am, that’s the man I’m gunna be!” I still can’t believe I shot an AK in Vietnam!! Crazy!!!!!

After experiencing the different aspects of the Cu Chi tunnel area we loaded up the buses for our ride back to Ho Chi Minh City. We got back to the ship pretty late and I was like, “Food time!” I ran into Bridget and Ali (B.B.) as they were getting back from a different trip and we decided to head out to eat together! We walked out of the port area and found 3 of the motorcycle guys I told you all about last time. We gave each of them 2 bucks and they took us right to the front door of the restaurant we wanted. Those “motorbikes” or “motos” as they were called were so fun! It was a great way to see the city, especially at night! Probably not very safe tho lol. Oh well, already did it mom, can’t get mad!! Haha love you! We ate at this Vietnamese restaurant that I forgot the name of, and enjoyed yet another good meal. (I bet you guys are getting sick of me saying that but I can’t help it lol…it’s that awesome!) I ate some sort of meal that I think was a type of Pho but with like every possible type of meat in it and a lot of veggies…that’s right, I’m still eating those veggies. I know you all don’t believe me because I hate things that are green, but what can I say, I’m broadening my horizons haha. Although you will still be happy to hear that I am constantly wearing Crimson and Cream and Texas Still Sucks! Guess somethings just don’t change no matter where you are in the world. After dinner we walked around the city for awhile before calling it a night and heading back to the ship to get ready for the next day.

Day 4 in Vietnam was my trip to the Mekong Delta! With the exception of The Great Wall, this was by far my favorite day on SAS so far!! It was incredible! Our day started with an 8 a.m. departure (pretty normal for SAS day trips). One thing that was cool was that I had the same tour guide as the day before…Quinnie!! So that was cool because we had talked on one of the bus rides the day before and so it was nice having a familiar tour guide. The first stop on our way out of Ho Chi Minh City was to a Buddhist Temple. It was pretty much like any other Buddhist temple so I won’t go into detail there but the one unique feature about this temple grounds was this huge Buddha statue next to the temple. The most entertaining part was the fact that for some reason the architects/sculptors decided to give him a GIANT butt. Like HUGE booty. I thought it was entertaining and we all had a nice laugh when we first drove up.

After touring the grounds for about 30 minutes we headed to the main attraction…The Mekong Delta. The delta is located at the mouth of the Mekong River and is composed of a number of small islands. To get to the islands we were loaded onto these little boats and crossed the river amid the massive amount of river traffic. The reason this was so stinking cool for me was the fact that it was like the country side of Vietnam. Don’t get me wrong there were still plenty of people but it was a simpler, more rural style of living and it was awesome! The people were so friendly, there were kids running around with dogs and chickens, and we got to see SO many cool aspects of their daily lives. As we were touring the islands (we went to 3 of them) I really couldn’t help but thinking about Nicaragua and Mexico and the striking similarities. I actually was mentioning it to Ali and one of the girls in our group overheard me and was like “Oh my gosh I was thinking the same thing!” She had been to Nicaragua about 2 years ago and she felt like she was back there too. Weird how two countries on literally opposite sides of the world can be so amazingly similar!

Our day consisted of fruit tasting, tea drinking (delicious by the way), witnessing the process of making Coconut Candy, sampling the candy, a horse drawn buggy ride, seeing water buffalo, holding a python, taking a smaller boat ride on the many estuaries, and an amazing lunch. Oh and of course my little picture taking incident that I mentioned earlier haha. Again I could write a paragraph or more about each one of these activities but there just isn’t time for that so I will just tell you some of small bits and pieces. I spent the majority of the time with Alyssa, B.B., Christina, and Jamy. Adam was on the trip but he was on a different bus so we weren’t ever together. The lunch was really, really cool personally because they took an entire Elephant-Ear Fish (about 2 really big Large Mouth Bass for a reference), fried it, then put it on a stake in the middle of our table. I was like “Hecks to the Yes” but some of the people at my table were not thrilled at all. One of the girls was a vegetarian and another didn’t eat fish. Fine with me because I got to eat their portions!!!! I ate so much fish it was awesome! Like a good ole fish fry in the jungle! The little boat ride was an experience because it was only 4 of us and we were literally being paddled down the river with giant trees cowering over the water. It was like a scene from a movie…SOOOO cool!! The snake was of course cool, and again really funny because some people did NOT like snakes and kept so far away. All the food was good except for this one type of fruit, but we tried like 8 different kinds so I mean not liking 1 is ok. We were all just amazed at the amount of things we got to do. We all thought we were just going to be walking around the islands; we had no clue all the little bonus activities we were going to be privileged enough to participate in. It was by far the 2nd Best Day I have had on this trip yet (#1 being the Great Wall, I mean that’s just going to be hard to beat lol). I was just mad I didn’t have my cowboy hat! But it’s all good, I still Rocked it Country Style!!

After experiencing life on the delta and seeing in my opinion the better half of Vietnamese life, we took our boat back across the river and loaded the buses for our return to Ho Chi Minh City. We got back to the ship and relaxed for a little bit before heading out for our last night in Vietnam. The group I was with for the night was Kevin, Bridget, B.B., Stephen, Aaron and myself. We all wanted to have PHO again because it was just so good. We went to a restaurant called Pho 24 which serves only different Pho dishes and it was incredible!! I had the Chicken Pho because I had only had beef up to that point and it was delicious! Great meal and again for less than $5, everything was SO cheap in Vietnam it was awesome! After dinner our group split up and it ended up being Steven, B.B., and me. We explored some of the night markets, met 2 Australians who were taking a break and doing some traveling (very very cool people that were fun to talk to for a little while), met an 8 year old Vietnamese girl who spoke perfect English and came up to us because she liked Steven’s shirt, took a Moto Ride throughout the city (almost got hit by a bus, but no worries it missed me by like 2 inches (not exaggerating) which is more than enough room), checked out some cheap DVD’s, and then ended the night by finding a cheap Gelato place. It was actually really good Gelato!! After gelato we walked back through the city and slowly made our way back to the ship.

My last day in Vietnam was relatively short. I slept in a little bit (not too much, I mean I was in Vietnam, can’t be wasting time!!) then headed to an internet café for a little bit to do some more research for some of our future ports. I walked to the internet café and then walked back so it encompassed the majority of my morning because I had to be back to the ship around noon to grab some lunch and then I had an FDP at 1 for my American Government class. For those of you that forgot, an FDP is a Faculty Directed Practicum that is just a trip led by a teacher that relates to class work. Kind of like a Field Trip for college students. Our trip was about Sustainable Development in Vietnam and consisted of a visit to a college in Ho Chi Minh City that specializes in Economic Development with a focus on Sustainability. We listened to a short lecture by the President of the School and one of their teachers before getting a chance to interact with some of the students and ask/answer questions for about an hour. The students were brilliant and we were privileged to get to spend time with them. It was cool cause they were our age and it was nice getting to interact with them. After receiving a short tour of the campus, we loaded back onto the shuttle and arrived at the ship just in time for on-ship time.

My time in Vietnam was much shorter than I would have liked. I definitely did NOT want to leave! I am sad just writing this because I want to go back so bad!! Yesterday we made a stop at an off-shore filling station off the coast of Singapore to refuel the ship because apparently we didn’t do that in Vietnam. The station we were at was at the mouth of the Strait of Mallacca which is what we are sailing through right now. If you have been watching CNN, apparently there has been recent pirate/terrorist activity in the area and there was an active threat on ships in the area. The ship staff tried to keep it quiet, but word eventually got out and we all knew about it. We had our own military gun boat escort all day and into the night as we refueled and began our journey up the straight toward India. So apparently we were in a little bit of a “hot-spot” yesterday but it’s all good now, nothing to worry about. (Bet my parents are loving reading this part haha) Oh well just one more thing to add to the list of situations I have been in and experienced.

The Sea Olympics are tomorrow and then I have a mid-term the next morning so the next 24 hours I will be extremely busy so your all’s prayers are felt and much appreciated!! I love you guys and I hope everything is going well!!

T