We soon realized that crossing the street is a mission. Since the roads are filled with motorbikes, no stop lights and no cross walks, you kind of just have to make a pathway for yourself. Usually the motorbikes will stop or just swerve around you. The locals definitely got a good laugh out of us, since we would make a dramatic scene anytime we crossed the road. We ended up finding a nice Hostel for 6 dollars a night and breakfast, AC, cable and Internet included. You really can't get any better than that. At night, since there was a monsoon outside, we decided to get Vietnamese massages. They were good, but a little rough. With all four of us side by side, it was more of a laugh than it was relaxing.
The next day we decided to head to the Chu Chu Tunnels. The museum was the tunnels and trenches the Vietnamese soldiers had lived in during the war. Ironically, the tour guides wit made it more of funny tour than sad one. In the afternoon, we headed to the Bintang market. Here, we had some of the best fruit smoothies I have ever tasted! The market was full of great stuff, anything from purses to clothes to food. After all the chaos of the market, we decided to eat. We came to the conclusion that the best restaurants were the ones that had a combination of every ethnic food possible. The restaurants would be called “Mexican-Italian-American-Thai-Indonesian-Vietnamese food Restaurant”. The menues were the size of a biology textbook and very overwhelming. But no matter what you ordered, it would be great! By the end of our stay we decided to change Vietnam to VietNOM, since the majority of our trip involved eating and migrating from restaurant to restaurant.
The next day we decided to book a package tour to the Mekong Delta. Not really knowing what the tour entailed, we had no expectations. Our tour guide was named Romeo and he was quite the character. Everytime he would make any sort of joke, it was followed by "Thank You". The tour was a random series of activities. It included taking a boat to an island...watching bees make honey...visiting a coconut candy factory... a horse ride to a restaurant...watching an authentic Vietnamese performance...riding bikes in a random village...and Robyn driving the tour boat back. At night, we decided to try the authentic Vietnamese snake wine. It literally is dead snakes and scorpians that have been preserved mixed with alcohol. It says that it cures the sweat of limbs. Being the brave souls we were, we tried it. It was probably the worst form of alcohol I have ever consumed. It tasted exactly like fish oil mixed with a really bad whiskey. Why did we ever think it was a good idea to drink alcohol with dead reptiles in it?
On the last day we decided to go to the Vietnamese War Museum. The museum was extremely well done. Each floor displayed photographed pictures with descriptions underneath them. It was very informative and interesting since we are not taught anything about Vietnam war back at home. The photography was unbelievable. It certainly put a damper on the day, but was worth visiting. For the rest of the day, we ventured to the French part of the city. Vietnam has French influence from when France ruled Vietnam as a colony until their defeat in the First Indochina War and the proclamation of Vietnam's independence in 1954. We saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, the biggest Catholic church in the city. We ended our trip with a fresh baguette from the local bakery. Also to note, the bread and sandwiches in Vietnam are to die for. So fresh and delicious. Overall a very chaotic, educational, random and eventful weekend.
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