Final Night in Vietnam

Our final night in Vietnam called for Banh Mi and Karaoke. There is a bittersweet feeling going through the group as we pack up for the the last time - the trip has been eye-opening, delicious, educational, hot, and one heck of a bonding experience with a great group of people. We will miss a ton of things, big and small, about this amazing country (e.g. spring rolls, coffee, banh mi, the buzz of motorbikes, the relief of an air-conditioned bus, an incredibly resilient and friendly culture), but home is beckoning.

All that is left is a trip to the Women's Museum tomorrow morning, followed by a buffet lunch and a trip to the airport. Enjoy our goofy karaoke pictures, and hopefully we will have some final student thoughts to post during our many hours of travel.

- Dan

Hanoi

      After a good rest following our first night in Hanoi, it was time to hit the streets. In the morning we met up with our pen-pals. On the bus ride over to their university, Hanoi University, we had time to connect with them and ask questions about their experiences here.

When we arrived at the university we connected with the rest of our pen-pals. They proceeded to show us their campus. The campus was rather different than expected. The buildings were old and most did not have air-conditioning. Son, the group leader accompanied us to the seventh and a half floor, which is a place for students to relax and have lunch. This area was covered in graffiti in not only Vietnamese but English and Chinese as well. They then showed us the lecture rooms which hold upwards of six hundred students. After that we regrouped at the bus, ready for our next location.

Next, we went to Son's mother's home. The bus parked up on the road and we walked through a day market to reach her home, tucked back in a side alley. There, we played games and ate homemade dishes. We also got to experience an average Vietnamese home. 

After our time at their house we went out to lunch. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant where we were served spring rolls and soups. The restaurant had almost all the same food as the previous ones. We then went to a coffee shop specializing in "egg coffee" which ended up tasted very similar to normal coffee bus with extra foam.

Later we went to the "Hanoi Hilton" a prison made by the French to hold Vietnamese political prisoners. At this prison they showcased the conditions in which they were held. Repeatedly they stated "the will of the revolutionaries never failed" regardless of the circumstances. The prison later became a holding area for Americans captured during the war. They very briefly talked about this as they are either not proud or just want to focus on their triumphs. 

That night we went to Qotto, a culinary school/restaurant. At this restaurant they had amazing food. One of the best meals of this trip by far.

On the third day in Hanoi we woke up very early, 6:00 am, to go see the preserved body of Ho Chi Mihn the father of Vietnam and the uncle of all. When we arrived there was a huge line, we waited for two hours to see his body. After our long wait they marched us up some stairs into a small room, in line, we had to walked around the edge of the room to the other door. In this room laid the preserved corpse Ho Chi Mihn. We were not allowed to take photos or even stop to admire the well preserved body. 

We then drove to the temple of literature. This very old temple had great sculptures, architectural designs along with gardens. Here we walked around marveling at their work. 

For lunch we went to another Vietnamese restaurant with okay food. At the end of the meal they gave us coffee jello, unlike with classic "fresh fruit" at every other restaurant. 

After that some of us went to an art museum. But many just went back to the hotel to rest, including me. 

Later today we will ride a cyclo through the old quarter. 

Tomorrow, being our final day, we will to the the women's museum then fly home.

Although the trip has been amazing, after 15 days the majority of us are ready to go home. Though this trip will remain in our memories forever. 

Best wishes, Mason Lewis 

My Lai & Hanoi

On the second Thursday of our trip we visited the village of My Lai where many innocent men, women, and children were massacred by US soldiers. At the village we heard from one of the few survivors from the massacre. He told his story and his struggles after the tragedy and after some brief questions we accompanied him to his house for lunch.

After lunch, we went back to the village and watched a movie that gave us a brief history about what occurred in My Lai. After the heart wrenching film we did a tour of the village. Next we had a lot of free time on our hands, so Nathan, Mason, Marcus, Brandon, and I just relaxed in my room listening ti music. Afterwards we had Banh Mi which is basically a sandwich which was amazing. We then went to the night market which was lit up from beginning to end with lanterns of all colors. We had about a hour of free time there but before we set off to shop we got to place lanterns in the river and make a wish. At the night market I bought some chopsticks for my family so they can learn how to use them too. 

The next day we visited China Beach Memorial which was where US soldiers went to relax. After we had a short but exhausting flight to Hanoi and we quickly met up with our pen pals. When we met up with our pen pals we went to the Peace Village and got to hang out with the children who were affected by Agent Orange. We sang songs and danced with them and the experience was incredibly fun. We then had a tour of the complex and finally we headed out back to the hotel and had dinner.

-Angello

Hoi An

Sorry for not posting pics! We've got plenty but internet is a little spotty!

From Edward:  

Tuesday:

We started out the day by biking to a farm. We learned about the vegetables there, and how farmers farm them. There were many herbs, and we got to smell each one. We even farmed a little, and watered plants the “old way.” We tasted the vegetables, and cooked lunch ourselves. It was a lot of fun. We made several dishes, and ate the food too. We made spring rolls, banana flower salad, and made garnishes for that bit of decoration, I’d say the banana salad was amazing – it had this sweet-ish taste that’s really hard to beat. The tea was nice too. It’s normal green tea, but it smells like marshmallows and tastes like it too, only it quenches your thirst and not makes it worse. I’d go as far as to say this was our best meal yet. After eating lunch, we went to the hotel to have free time. After spending several hours enjoying ourselves, we had dinner by the river. The food was amazing, and I really loved it. We ended the day with delicious food, and went back in.

Wednesday:

In the morning, we rode a water buffalo. For those of you who have rode a horse, it’s actually really different. First off, the horse and the buffalo have differently shaped backs. Also, the buffalo sways side to side as it moves whereas the horse moves up and down. Some of us rode the water buffalo into the – well, water. Most of us stayed on land though. Next off, we went fishing. Some of us were able to throw the net at the fish, although we didn’t catch any. We continued to fish for crabs. It’s like fishing with a fishing pole- you lure the crabs in with the bait, and when they grab it, you pull up and dump it into the bag. Everyone was really good at it. Most people caught around at least twenty crabs. We let them go after we were done. After that, we went to an ancient village. There was a lot of shop vendors, and a giant temple in the center. Our tour guide explained to us about the statues there, and how each one represented a different god/goddess/spirit. They all represented a different part of their culture. It was really fascinating. Afterwards, we went to the “marble mountain” which is exactly that – a mountain with marble inside. It was a fairly small mountain, located in the middle of a city, but it had another temple on it. We went inside of a cave that was created when a missile struck the mountain, and saw several more religious statues there. It was surprising to see how a missile crater was turned into a religious cave. We ended the day with eating dinner. The food was unique and tasty, as most Vietnamese food is. If there’s one thing I can say I loved the most on this trip, it’s the food. Well, other than shooting guns and making cool poses in front of old tanks. The food was delicious, although the interior of the house was really smoky. I had to go outside a couple times because my eyes couldn’t handle the smoke. All in all, it was an amazing day.

Mekong Delta Part 2

Driver Wallace

6/19/17

Yesterday was really fun. In the morning we all went to breakfast which I’m realizing is pretty much the same thing every morning which tends to be eggs, bread with strawberry jam, this weird tapioca fruit thing that I like the most, and another fruit that I have no idea what it is called. After breakfast we all immediately went to go pick our bikes for the day. The bikes are pretty old so you need to make sure to get there early to pick one where the seat doesn’t sink, especially for tall people. We then went for a bike ride and first stopped at a market for about ten minutes. Personally since I’m super scared of the water here I buy bottled water wherever I go, so I bought two small waters. After the market we rode our bikes to a spot where the boat would pick us up and bring us across the channel to a brick making facility. Inside the facility was really hot and smoky smelling. There were also a lot of sculptures that are known to be on Easter island inside the facility that were being made. Then after we looked at the brick facility we went on a longer ride that felt like forever for some reason and made it to a place to stop for tea. The tea stop was nice because we were able to cool down for awhile.

After that we all went and continued riding the bikes until we made it back to the homestay at around 12:00 pm to eat lunch. After lunch we were all given the option to either rest until 4:00 pm or go to a play in the village at 2. I knew immediately I didn’t want to spend 4 long hours doing nothing, plus I want to get the most out of this trip possible, so I decided to go. After 2 hours of resting it was time to go to the play. We took the boat over to the village and walked like 10 yards and we were at the play. Once we were inside the play was beginning to start. I honestly had no idea what was going on and Marcus and I quickly realized that the kids are living the dads dream. I never saw a little kid in the play smile. The play was still very fun to be at because everything was new.  I had never seen that type of theatre before. After the play we all got pictures with the family of actors, then we went back to boat which took us to the homestay.

Once we got to the homestay we were all told to go grab our water clothes. We were given these black button down long sleeve shirts and long black pants and we then went into the creek in the back yard that was filled with catfish. When you get in the water, you put your leg into nearly waist deep of mud. It felt so strange, but it was really fun to get dirty. To catch the catfish, you just feel around in the mud until you feel a scaly thing and you grab the fish with your hands. Supposedly I’m the catfish king since I caught 6 or 7 - I’m not quite sure. After that, we all hopped out of the mud and went to the river where the boats are and hopped in the water to wash off. The water was so nice. The only thing about the water is that none of us knew whether it was dirty or not. We then all hopped out of the water and went to our rooms to shower and had free time until 6:30 which was when dinner was.

At 6:30 we all went out to dinner and the first thing I saw was this big dried out fish on a stand in the middle of the table. It looked so gross. I made sure I sat upwind so I wouldn’t have to smell it. Then one of the workers from the homestay came out and cut the fish up and made little spring rolls with the fish. The fish was actually pretty good. We then got a delicious stew with beef that was tender and had a little bit of fat to it which made it really flavorful. Most beef we’ve had was really hard to eat because most of the cows in Vietnam are working cows. We also were able to eat the catfish we caught earlier in a stew that was made on the table.

After dinner we had about 20 minutes of free time until we had to go back out to watch a small little concert. The workers at the homestay are really good singers. You could tell that the singers were very excited to sing. The songs were all very good and we even got Mr. Hau to sing two songs to us. After the small concert, we all went to our rooms where we had free time for the rest of the night. I sort of just talked with Brandon and Marcus until I passed out.  

Can Tho & The Mekong Delta (part 1)

After we left the tunnels, it was time to head over to the Mekong Delta. But before we departed, we met up with our pen pals at Can Tho University. We ate lunch at what it seems to be a French-Vietnamese restaurant, and while some students chose Vietnamese cuisine, some decided to ease their home cravings with pizza. It was great that after lunch we had a chance to see the Can Tho monument of Ho Chi Minh, which is supposed to be a landmark of the area. The decorative red tiles of the monument complimented the gold statue of Ho Chi Minh, and the surroundings were neatly fashioned. After we ate lunch, we stopped by to the University. The school obviously isn’t as fancy as we are accustomed to, but it did look beautiful with its white buildings and huge campus. As we got out of the bus, our pen pals were welcoming us inside. Although it was a little awkward for both us and the pen pals, we were able to hit it off in the activities designated for us, like learning some Vietnamese phrases, decorating 'non la' (hats) and touring around the school. The pen pals were extremely kind and cool. It’s great that we also had iced coffee with them and exchange our gifts for them. It was sad that we had to leave afterwards, but we were able to add them on social media. 

After our bus ride to Mekong, we had to travel to our homestay by boat due to that our homestead was located on an island. The scenery of the river was awe inspiring, coming from a long bus ride to see the breezy scenery was definitely rewarding and as we reached our destination we were greeted by our kind hosts.

After a great breakfast in our homestead, we once again traveled by boat towards the market. As we were passing by the river, we saw a floating market in which locals were trading with farmers selling their crops. It’s astonishing that most of the local economy relies on farming, and its definitely humble. After we landed on shore, we stopped by to see the production of several Vietnamese candy and rice paper, all in which is made manually. The people producing were also kind enough to give out samples, and I have to say that the caramel coconut was personally my favorite. We then headed out to the market in which we had to compete in two teams in a scavenger hunt for products, and we had to bargain with the farmers that spoke zero English. It was quite amusing trying to communicate with the farmers, but it was possible to. The market itself was different. With our customs of buying food, it was interesting to see all the veggies and fruits fresh and even the fish were alive. It was certain that all of the products were not a day old. 


After the market, we met up with a captain of the Vietcong. Seeing Mr. Tim Tam was honorable, noting that most veterans don’t want to talk about their war experiences. As Mr. Tim was speaking, we felt his sorrow and his pride fighting in the war. We don’t really see why the people of Vietnam fought for the Vietcong, but Mr. Tim was a teacher and an American bomber killed 20 of his students in an elementary school and he felt that he had to prevent more chaos. He spoke about his connection with American veterans - who raised money to have him speak at NYU and their conference for peace, and have built two new schools for Mr. Tim in Vietnam - and his life after the war dedicated to promoting peace. After the conversation with Mr. Tim, we headed out around the local area with our bikes. It wasn’t a long trip around the river island, but it was more of a taste of what was to come tomorrow.  

- Brandon