We’re in Vietnam! I think the border crossing was a great foreshadow for the week to come; it was relaxing and easy.
After the bus ride across the border, we rode right in to Ho Chi Minh City. There we had an evening to explore the city on our own. A lot of us tried some staple Vietnamese food: pho and Vietnamese coffee. Pho, pronounced fuh, is a noodle soup that is typically served with beef or chicken and Vietnamese coffee is a strong, thick coffee that I wouldn’t dare drink without condensed milk.
The next day was our scavenger hunt. In pairs of two we explored the city, completing list item after list item: we saw a Vietnam War museum, we shopped at a market, we tried a new food, and we learned a new word (just to name a few of the items). Later that evening, as one of the list items, we watched a water puppet show! I still have no idea how they moved those puppets over the water…nor do I know what they were saying. But when we got back to the hostile we had some serious business to discuss: FREE TRAVEL!
We started free travel with a splash by going to Dam Sen Waterpark in Ho Chi Minh before heading out to Mui Ne the next morning. After 5 hours on sleeper bus we were anything but sleepy in Mui Ne. I’ve been waiting so long to once again be reunited with the beach, and it felt so good…well, until I got sunburned.
Today was beaches and screen. Get it? Peaches and cream…beaches and screen. Another one of my ALWAYS hilarious, and NEVER cheesy, jokes. Most of us surfed, and by ‘surfed’ I mean sat on a board as the waves toppled around us. But we had fun trying! And sorry, Mom…I got a little sunburned. The Floridian in me should have known better and put on more sun screen, but in my defense it was so cloudy today that we were lucky to catch a ray of sunshine.
I think I’m missing something…
Oh, wait! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
We ate Italian food…For some reason, no one wanted to go with my play on Thanksgiving. Like mashed tomatoes instead of mashed potatoes (because that’s all I saw), baby corn casserole (which would have been a can of baby corn on a plate), and beef jerky (because turkey rhymes with jerky).
So dong. Get it? So long…so dong. Because dong is the Vietnamese currency.
Ok…bye.
Love,
Sonya
🙂