Vietnam part uno -- the south

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September 24th 2008

Published: October 12th 2008

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amyw

Vietnamese women harvesting rice

the green of the rice patties is incredible -- so vibrant

Traveling through Vietnam with a group = awesome! I am so excited to be on a group tour! It was been great for many reasons, including 1) human interaction 2) everything is taken care of (tours, hotel, transportation) 3) I am seeing supercool things/places that I would not see if traveling on my own 4) my group is lots of fun & keeps me laughing!
We started in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon -- pronounced with a 'sh' like 'shigon'), toured the Mekong Delta & headed up to Dalat which almost looks like a miniature Switzerland with mountains, evergreen-type trees & even a cable car! In the Mekong Delta we took a boat cruise then got on a smaller boat & headed down smaller streams towards a little village. It was very Indiana Jones-ish. Unfortunately I was humming the Indiana Jones theme song for the rest of the day -- it's really catchy. On our visit to that village we had some tea & listened to some singing (which my roommie later called 'crap!' -- I cracked up because it was kind of true). Later that day I got to hold a python -- ahh! It was scary,

Me & a python -- ahhh!

it liked me so much it even licked my cheek! i let out a little yelp/loud screech

humbling & exciting experience to hold such a magnificent creature. It also licked me on the cheek as I was walking away -- ahhh!
I am learning a lot about history here & am very interested to read more about it when I get home. This trip combined with the reading of Katharine Graham's autobiography 'Personal History' has really peaked my interest in learning more about U.S. History (never mind the fact that I am a history teacher...). It is a fascinating book by the way and although a little on the long side (she did lead a long, exciting life), I can see why it won the Pulitzer. Thanks again for the book Lynne! I'm now onto another book from Lynne -- A Civil Action -- excellent already!
Vietnam is such a vibrant country. The rice paddies are a gorgeous green. The markets are an exciting assault on the senses (lots of unidentifiable--to me--animal parts & fruits) and the streets of HCMC are buzzing with about 4 million mopeds. Seeing so many mopeds move in an almost dance-like flow reminded me of The Bee Movie where all the bees in the hive are buzzing about, flowing around each

big reclining buddha!

awesome! Although my group wasn't too excited about visiting this one, I like the reclining buddhas so I madea special request.

other in an apparently chaotic but utterly organized formation.
After Dalat we headed to Nha Trang -- a beach town where we took a basket boat ride on a nearby island. I also got a $3 pedicure that looked great for an hour -- you get what you pay for. Oh and in Nha Trang a bunch of us from our group got cheap massages. One guy from our group got a little more than just a massage which was pretty funny! When swapping international massage stories another friend on the tour told me about an interesting (?!?!?!) massage she got in Vietnam which would have had me running for the door but she braved it out & now has a funny story to tell!
Let me tell you about the group! Did I mention they're awesome? Talk about asking the universe for what you want & getting it...There are 8 other people (Ozzies & Brits--I'm the only American) who are nice, fun & hysterically funny. My stomach hurts from all the laughing. I totally lucked out on getting to travel with such a great group of people -- thanks Travel Indochina!
Next we head more north up the coast