Lauren and I have looked forward to seeing the sunrise at we enter each port and so far, we have yet to see the sun actually rise from the horizon. There have been too many clouds until later on in the morning. This was the first port that we got closer to our goal of seeing the sunrise from the horizon.
Sunrise
as we approach Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
It was really early.
We hurried down to Alexa and Sawyer's room to see what time we were going to meet tonight. They had a field lab so they wouldn't be spending the first day in Vietnam with Lauren and I.
Often as we travel from port-to-port there is an "interport" student on board the ship. For example from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City we had Vietnamese "interport" students on the ship. They are able to interact with the students/faculty/staff/life long learners to inform us about what we might expect in Vietnam and answer questions. They are also on board to experience life as passenger on the ship in case they may want to sail in the future. Lauren and I went and learned about the best things to do and places to eat in Vietnam from the "interport" students.
We were told that we would be unable to get off the ship once we arrived until close to noon. Part of the immigration/customs process to get off the ship was that we would all need our landing cards to be able to get back on the ship. Typically over the loud intercom they call the students up to the faculty lounge by their sea and then follow by Unreasonables, Life Long Learners, and families.
After we received our landing cards it was time for lunch. I think they read my mind at lunch today. For dessert they had ice cream sundae's. I won't mention how many ice cream sundaes I had just know they were great. We could decorate them with chocolate syrup and sprinkles!
Feeling very full, I went back to my room to shower and pack. After lubing up on sunscreen, bug spray, and preparing myself to sweat all day I was ready to head out.
Semester at Sea was required to provide a shuttle for all of the passengers from the ship to the city (MAYBE a 10 minute bus ride) so that taxi's and motorbikes wouldn't crowd the ship. Lauren and I hopped on one of the first shuttle buses to begin our day of exploring Ho Chi Minh City.
We were pretty tickled because it was a breeze, compared to other ports, to get off the ship and hop on the shuttle bus. The bus driver was eating a granola bar or a bag of chips while he was waiting for passengers to board the bus. We were among the last passengers the bus could hold so Lauren and I end up seated right behind the driver. As we are driving into downtown Ho Chi Minh City I see the bus driver roll down the window. I wasn't quite sure why the heck he was doing that since it was already ridiculously hot outside. Apparently he was just tossing his trash from his snack out the window. I looked at Lauren to see if she saw what I just saw. She definitely did. The guy that was sitting across the aisle from us said "well that's one way to do it."
The shuttle bus dropped us off at the Rex Hotel. I'm pretty dang sure that is one of the nicest hotels in the area.
A beautiful day as Lauren and I begin our adventure exploring Vietnam. This was taken right outside the hotel the shuttle drops us off at as we walk down a street decorated with flowers for the Tet celebration.
The first thing I saw, besides all of the flowers and fancy stores, was a "Tourist Information" building. I told Lauren that we needed to make our way there. If for nothing else, to find a map. We had a hotel, somewhere in Ho Chi Minh City for a few nights. We were on a mission to find our hotel as we wondered through the city.
The shuttle bus dropped us off at a street with an amazing flower display. Multiple displays. The street was blocked off for at least six blocks. You are just going to have to look at the pictures. I don't think my words, much less my pictures, will do it justice.
An example of the flower displays that were set up for the Vietnamese New Year celebration.
Lauren and I walked the entire street full of flowers. We looked at our map, identified where our hotel was, and started to walk in that direction. Our hotel was only about 15-20 minute walk away from where the shuttle bus had dropped us off at.
Technically, we didn't have a reservation like how we are used to making reservations. We hadn't given the hotel any of our information. All they knew was one of our names. So if we didn't like the hotel or if it looked like a bad idea to stay there we could bail. When Lauren and I found the hotel we walked in to cool off and do a quick inspection on the lobby. We are definitely judging a book by the cover! We asked the receptionist for a map and to show s where the ship was in relation to the hotel. We also had decided to visit the famous Ben Thanh market that we were told was a must-see. Before we left we had made sure that we had a reservation for the next three nights like we had planned. It was a nice hotel, especially for the price we were paying.
The Ben Thanh market was closed because of Tet. There were "shops" along the main street next to the market set up. I put shops in quotes because they weren't really shops. There were just Vietnamese people with their wares (t-shirts, sunglasses, wallets, etc.) basically just sitting on a table selling them. They were lucky if they were on a table or on a hanger. Some of the people were just sitting on the ground selling their products. I wasn't on planning on getting anything now at least. I was just seeing if something looked appealing and then I was planning on deciding if I wanted it. I knew we would be back multiple other times later in the week, especially since the market was only a five minute walk from our hotel.
Here is an introduction into what the streets look like if pretty much no one is on them in Ho Chi Minh City. Just wait until I explain walking on the sidewalks and crossing the streets in Vietnam.
It was almost 4pm and we were planning on meeting some friends at 6pm back on the ship to go see a water puppet show. We weren't quite sure what to do for the next 2 hours so we wandered through a park that was in the direction of the ship. You would never believe it but there were "workout machines" in the park. You would have thought that we stumbled upon a playground. Lauren and I "played" or "worked out" on the machines. I think this is a really cool addition to the park. They can have these in their park because they rarely get weather that is colder than 50 degrees Fahrenheit.
The "workout" equipment in the park. I saw a different variation of these in China, too.
Lauren and I were parched. We grabbed a Coke at the Family Mart and then decided we should make our way back to the ship since we weren't a 100% sure where we needed to go.
Using our handy map we started heading in the direction towards the ship. It was not as easy as you might think to know which way to go. We had no bearings to say which direction was N, S, E or W. We weren't headed towards the ocean or the bay because the MV Explorer was parked on a river. So once we got to the river we knew that it was either right or left. I had thought that the ship was to our right. So we headed that direction and things weren't looking familiar. We asked a man who spoke English but clearly wasn't from Vietnam or the United States. He told us that we should have went left. We walked for quite a while that direction along the river until we were able to see the ship.
I think it is interesting how, as travelers in a foreign place, we put so much trust into the locals. In every country we have needed to put faith in the locals for suggestions on directions, food, attractions, and transportation. I can't even count on my hands how many times we asked someone in Japan for directions or help getting with one thing or another. All I can say is that next time I see someone who is in the States that needs help, I am certainly going to try to help them.
We made it back to the ship at 6:01pm. Let's just say we were both quite impressed. Our friends hadn't made it back yet, so Lauren and I decided that we were going to have dinner on the ship. After dinner, they still weren't back on the ship so Lauren and I decided to be productive and work on our blogs. After a while we made our way up to the seventh deck to socialize for a little before heading to bed.
You guys seem like pro tourists now a days!
ReplyDelete