Day 38: Mekong Delta

Location: Mekong Delta/Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Date: February 16, 2013

Our grand adventure for our fifth day in Vietnam was to head to the Mekong Delta. We had to wake up super early in the morning to have breakfast and be in the lobby of our hotel ready to go. The program we had signed up for was through our hotel. The bus was picking us up (and other people on other stops throughout Ho Chi Minh) and taking us to the Mekong Delta. 

The view outside the bus window.
I believe those are tombstones at their cemetery in a rice field.

The good old Mekong Delta.

The tour guide gave us a little history on the area before we made our way to the water. We "sailed" down the Mekong Delta for a short while. 

Our tour guide talking about honey.

They fed us fruit, tea, and honey while this band played.

Yep, we all rode in that tiny boat. 

Live view from the boat of the Delta.

It really is that brown but otherwise quite pretty.

We all bought hats to save ourselves from the heat a little bit and try to fit in.

We road in that boat too to lunch.

Ew! That was not a very good meal. The fish was too much for me.

They ended off our tour by visiting some Buddhas.

Lauren is a millionaire! That is Dong millionaire.

When we returned from our tour we finished up any last minute shopping we thought we wanted to do. And if I remember right, Lauren and Alexa's dresses weren't finished by the time the alterations shop said they would be. So we had to quickly hoof it over there so they could make sure that there dresses would work which is when I took this picture of Lauren and million Dong.

Day 37: Just Go For It!

Location: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Date: February 15, 2013

Crossing the streets in Vietnam is something else. You have to find a YouTube video of it. Somehow I never got hit crossing the street (although, our cab driver one night hit someone). Here are two videos I found in a quick search. This one shows how crowded the busy streets are and this one is right outside the Ben Thanh market watching people cross the street. 

The big plans for this day were to adventure off to the Ben Thanh market, see a Water Puppet show (it was a cultural event we wanted to witness), and check on our dresses that we designed. 

When we were walking to check on our dresses we came across a festival in the streets. It was definitely a unique experience. I tried uploading videos to better share the experience with you and failed. I'll try again a little later to load them.

I think this was celebrating their New Year.

See the Pho 24 in the background?

Before I had left for this adventure around the world, there were many things that I didn't know about or had thought I knew about. There were things that blew my mind and things that I found crazy cool on this adventure. 

Before I had left, I thought that all of the Pho whatever number restaurants were an Americanized version of Vietnamese restaurants. I was mistaken. They are on every corner in Vietnam just like they are all over the place in the United States. I had to try it. After we tried on our dresses, we ate at Pho 24. 

Here is a not so great comparison of the dress made and the picture Mady sent me.

Here is a not so great comparison of the dress made and the picture Mady sent me.

We stopped at a restaurant on our way to the Water Puppet show later that evening. It was a random sort of restaurant that we found. It was tucked away from anywhere that we had really explored. We ordered our food and they brought it out. Raw. We were in charge of cooking it ourselves. 

You can sort of see the different style of restaurant in this picture. This is everyone minus Kyle.

Between the noobie chefs cooking their own food and the poor service we missed the Water Puppet show. When we were heading back from trying to make it to the Water Puppet show we came upon another cultural experience that we hadn't expected. 

Totally fits the cultural experience right?

She fits in so well! 

Soon after we took these pictures, they told us we weren't allowed to take the pictures and needed to pay. Whoopsies!

We grabbed Baskin Robbins and some wifi at a Burger King to end the night.

Day 36: Valentine's Day in Vietnam!

Location: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Date: February 14, 2013

On Valentine's Day it only seemed right that we treat ourselves. Alexa, Kyle, Lauren, Sawyer and I found a place to get a manicure, pedicure, and massage while in Vietnam. We wanted to compare getting our nails done in Vietnam to getting them done in the United States commonly by Vietnamese people. For one thing, it is far cheaper to treat yourself in Vietnam. Otherwise they both do a great job. 

Here are some pictures of the Ben Thanh market that we frequented every day in Vietnam. I'm not even sure that we visited every little stand. When I say hot, humid, hot, crowded, and hot. I mean it.

It really is bigger than it looks.

See what I mean when I say it was crowded.

I can just feel the sweat dripping down my face looking at these pictures. 

We all got dressed up and ate at a "fancy" hotel restaurant for dinner. 

After dinner, we adventured out for our night out in Vietnam. At some point during the day, I made contact back to the States with Mickey!