Last Blog Entry - Vietnam

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This will be my last blog entry, officially back in the USA. I do have lots of trips planned for the summer but they aren’t quite as exciting. Weddings, Lake of the Ozarks, Iowa State Fair, etc...

My last few days in HCMC were great. I met some really fun people and also met up with my cousin’s cousin Jenna which was a lot of fun.

I went to both the Reunification Palace as well as the War Remnants Museum. The War Remnants Museum had a huge focus on the after effects of agent orange and was quite disturbing. Some of the pictures they show of American soldiers holding up dead bodies and the aquarium with dead babies didn’t seem to be needed at all. I am not sure if the babies were real or not but it was still pretty bad. I am reading a book right now on the war to gain a better understanding because I left that museum feeling more confused than educated.

After the palace a few of us went and had lunch at the market which was a bad idea. I am usually game for all market and street foods but I basically got pork fat and rice. It was cheap but disgusting. After, we headed over to a bar that has cheap big Tiger Beers and played some cards and hung out.
I also did a day trip to the Mekong Delta which was a bit lame and touristy but fun none the less. We went on a boat ride, to a honey farm and a coconut plantation. The honey and lime tea was delicious and I really enjoyed the coconut and peanut candy, it was almost like a caramel made of coconut milk. The tour area ran out of bikes so a group of us decided to walk into this village close by which was hilarious because they tried to order smoothies and ended up with quite a concoction of ice, fruits, nuts, sweetened condensed milk and more. That night once we finally arrived back to HCMC we got some great street food. There was a great group on the tour so we made the most of it.

My to do list before I left Vietnam was to go to the market to get some souvenirs (there is a massive market in HCMC), I also wanted to make sure and get as many of the little baguette sandwiches as possible and to hit up a salon for my last round of cheap waxing and nails.

Jenna also needed mani / pedi after her trip to Burma so that is exactly what we did. We met up for a drink and some great Indian food and got a wonderful mani / pedi for less than $4 total. This salon even had OPI and did a fabulous French manicure.

My last few days in HCMC were a lot of fun. I am thankful for my experience but also glad to be back in the USA!!

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Photos

Marks get set go
I believe that the figure is 8M people in HCMC and 5M moto's

Reunification Palace
where the viet cong crashed through the gate and bascially ended the war

New friends
Eating at the market

On the delta
Not sure if it was my pony tail or what but that hat didnt want to stay on my head at all

MMM
Nothing like ice, milk, avacado and other random fruit pretty but didnt look appetizing

Mariano eating the nastiest thing I have seen
It is an egg that they let grow longer than usual so you basically have a baby chicken in it and you eat it raw with salt and pepper. gag reflex in full force, he said it tasted like "chicken" ick