Hey everyone!
I hope you all liked the pictures I posted from Vietnam earlier. Here is a quick summary of what I did during my 6 incredible days there with a few more pictures. :)
Day 1:
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh at 8 a.m. but didn't actually dock until noon because we spent four hours going up the Saigon river through the city. It was incredible. I didn't spend the entire time outside watching, but it was definitely a great way to come into a port. Vietnam is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!
Our main plan was to head to a tailor shop, Tuyet Orchid Silk, that was recommended by a student that did SAS last year. We wanted to get dresses and suits made, but heard that a lot of other people were going to go as well so that was our first stop! Taking a taxi there was harder than you would think. There are only a few legitimate taxi companies in Vietnam that don't have rigged meters and won't try to scam you. Luckily, we found one of the good ones!
We were the first ones there and got to work right away picking the styles and fabrics we wanted. That was the hardest part. There was so much to choose from! After we picked what we wanted, they made sure the styles would work with those fabrics and took our measurements. They spoke perfect English, which really helped with communicating. They told us it was going to take about four days to make them, so it is good that we went on the first day. I haven't taken pictures of me wearing the dresses yet, but I plan on doing that soon and will upload them when I do! Here is a picture of part of the inside of the shop!
For the rest of the first day, we spent some time doing some shopping, checking out the Tet celebrations (new years) on the streets, and finding some amazing food. For dinner, we went to a traditional Vietnamese restaurant, Maxim's Nam An. It was so good! They even had live music entertainment inside. We didn't stay out too late because we had to get up pretty early the next day and leave for our homestays! Almost everyone in our group was going on one and we were very excited.
Crossing the street in Vietnam is so scary. The main form of transportation is motorbikes instead of other vehicles like cars. Since we were there during the new years celebrations, the streets were busier than usual. Sometimes you couldn't even see the road because of how many motorbikes there were. They don't really have traffic laws. Traffic just doesn't stop. They do have red and green lights, but a lot of times people just go through the red lights. In addition, the worst part is that no one stops at crosswalks. No one. It's pointless to even have them. When you want to cross the street, you just have to go for it. You walk out into the middle of traffic and pray you don't get run over. The most important thing is to walk at a steady pace. If you do that, 99 percent of the time they will go around you. But if you stop and start because you're afraid of getting hit, then you're going to get hit. It was so scary, but luckily no one I traveled with was ever hit.
Day 2:
I woke up bright and early to meet my group for the three-day homestay on the Mekong River! I didn't know too many people on the trip, but Kaitlynn went too so it was fun to meet a lot of new people and spend time with her as well. Our group was about 36 people, including our trip leader (a professor on the voyage) and his family.
We started the day with a two and a half hour bus ride to the Mekong Delta. Along the way, our tour guide presented some facts and information about Vietnam. Here are a few of them:
- About 91 million people live in Vietnam. Of those, 86 percent are Vietnamese. There are 54 other ethnic minorities in Vietnam including Hmong, Muong, Thai, Cambodian, Chinese, etc.
- Vietnam is the #1 country for exporting rice worldwide. 8.2 million tons of rice are exported a year. A majority of this rice comes from the Mekong Delta area.
- The Cao Dai religion is one of the most well known in Vietnam. Is consists of several different religions put together including Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. There are around 3 million Cao Dai followers in Vietnam. We passed several Cao Dai pagodas on the way to the Mekong Delta.
- The average income is around 300 USD a month. A wealthy person makes between 500-900 USD. This is a major reason why there are so many motorbikes. Most families cannot afford cars.
- On average, 50 people die a day in Vietnam due to traffic accidents.
After arriving at the Mekong Delta, we got in a boat that took us on a 30 minute ride down the river to a place where we learned how to make rice, rice candied patties, rice paper and coconut candies. They also had snake rice wine for us to try. Yes, snake. There were literally snakes in the big jar of wine and they wanted us to try it. They served it in tiny little cups that didn't even give you a mouthful, but it didn't look to appetizing. For some reason I went for it. It was literally the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted in my life. But hey, at least I can say I did it!
After having tea and doing a some browsing, we got back on the boat and headed to a little island where we had lunch. This is where a couple of the pictures from my previous post came from. We had elephant ear fish along with spring rolls, shrimp, soup and fruit. It was one of my favorite meals from the whole trip. After that, we explored the island a little and then the boa came out. I have no idea why in the world I raised my hand when we were asked who wanted to hold it. No idea! Luckily, another girl wanted to do it with me so I wasn't holding it by myself. It is probably one of the scariest things I have ever done, but I'm glad I was brave enough to do it! I won't upload any more pictures of that just to save data, but you can see them either on Facebook or on my previous post.
We then split up and got into canoes to go through a smaller part of the river before arriving at our homestay. It wasn't actually what you would think of as a typical "homestay." We weren't staying in houses in different families, but all of us stayed in two different buildings where the rooms were all lined up. The whole place was owned by a couple of different families and is a popular tourist attraction. I was a little disappointed about that, but it was still an amazing experience. I'm hoping the other homestays I've signed up for will actually allow me to stay with a family. I was in a room with two other girls and we each had our own bed. I've never slept in a mosquito net before, so that was actually pretty fun!
After getting settled into our rooms, we met up with the families and learned how to make some of the traditional food that they have during the Tet celebrations! I feel pretty lucky that I had the chance to experience that. We helped prepare a couple of different types of spring rolls, soup, french fries (surprisingly), fruit, and a sticky rice banana dessert. It was fun to get to eat the food for dinner that we had helped prepare. Following dinner, we were treated to traditional Vietnamese music performance! There is a lot I could say about that, but here are some pictures. :)
Day 3
We left our homestay after enjoying a great breakfast and some quality time with the family and our tour guides. From there, we headed in the direction of the hotel we would be staying at but stopped at a local, non-tourist market along the way. It was great to get to see, but I wouldn't ever need to go back to one of those markets again. The majority of it was a meat market. I don't even want to start talking about the unsanitary conditions we saw in there because you probably wouldn't ever want to eat meat again. I honestly didn't want to eat meat the rest of the time we were in Vietnam. I was pretty glad when we got on the bus to head to our hotel!
We arrived at our hotel around 10:30 a.m., but couldn't check in until 12:30. We had an hour to walk around before meeting back at the hotel for lunch at 11:30. There wasn't a whole lot to do around our hotel, but I spent most of the hour looking at some of the incredible Tet decorations that filled the streets and enjoying some relaxation time at a park. After lunch and checking in to the hotel, we headed off for a quick stop at an ancient house and then an hour ride to a stork garden. None of us were quite sure what to expect when we arrived there. We definitely were not expecting that we would have the opportunity to walk through a Vietnamese village before on the way to the garden. This was not a village that tourists normally walk through. It was incredible getting to see what their daily life is truly like, and not just want the tourism industry wants you to see. I think it was a surprise to some of them that we were there, but they were so friendly and waved to us as we walked by their homes. It's hard to explain exactly what it was like. The homes were all lined up on a little street along a river. There were little food shops, restaurants, hair salons, and other places in there randomly between some of the homes. A lot of the homes were also along a rice patty field, and we passed at a time where there were a lot of men out working. That was really great to see. It was absolutely nothing like a town or street that you would be used to seeing in America. Here are a couple of pictures! I have a ton and wish I could upload more.
We walked up a really long and narrow staircase to get to the stork garden. It wasn't really an actual garden, just a place where there are a lot of storks up high in the trees. It was pretty breathtaking to be up there. After walking back through the village we got on the bus back to our hotel where we had an hour and half to shower and change before heading to dinner. A small group of us decided to go and grab some ice cream during that time, which was a great decision! It was so good! I had coconut and rum raisin ice cream in an actual coconut.
We had on a dinner boat. Apparently previous tour guides had told SAS not to book this particular boat because people hadn't enjoyed it in the past. I'm not sure why they still decided to book it for this trip, but we all went in with an open mind anyway. Right away, I realized why there had been some complaints. There was karaoke entertainment the entire time and the music was really loud. We couldn't even hear each other talk except during the few minutes they took breaks to change singers. A couple of people actually ended up getting off of the boat because of how load it was. The food was also interesting. None of us were really sure what some of the things even were or if it was edible. There was snake, frog legs, squid, and octopus on the menu, but we couldn't tell what was what. Most of us just stuck with the rice and the bread. There were a few adventurous people, but I decided not to be one of those that time. We were all pretty glad to get off that boat and head back to the hotel for the night.
Day 4:
I woke up pretty early so that I could take advantage of some of the free wifi in the hotel before breakfast to call my mom. It was great to get to talk to her! It always is. :) After meeting up with the group for breakfast, we got on the bus and took a ride to a boat station. From there, we got on a couple of boats and went to the floating market. There is an area of the Mekong Delta that where people sell goods and produce off of their boats. If you're interested in something they're buying, you take your boat up to theirs and make your purchase. It was awesome to watch!
After the floating market, we headed back to our hotel to pack up, check out, and head to lunch. Luckily, this place had food we were very comfortable with eating! Chicken, spring rolls, soup, pho, rice, and fruit. We started the 6 hour bus ride back to the ship after we finished lunch. It wouldn't normally have taken that long, but it was nearing the end of the Tet celebration and a lot of people were traveling back to their homes. Traffic was even worse, if that is possible! We got back to the ship around 7:00 p.m. I took some time to write in my journal and then headed to bed so I could get up and meet people to go pick up our suits and dresses in the morning!
Day 5:
The 5th day we reserved for picking up our dresses and suits, doing some shopping, and visiting the War Memorial Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. We were told to come and try on our dresses at 10 a.m., but they weren't quite ready yet and wanted us to come back at 1. We spent those three hours doing some shopping at the local tourist market and finding a great place to get some traditional Vietnamese food. Vietnam is a pretty cheap place to buy things! One of my friends got a really nice North Face coat for $35. I was tempted to get one as well, but there were plenty of other things I wanted to pick up for gifts and souvenirs. I am really happy with what I was able to find! When we went to the tailor shop at 1, our things were still not ready. We started to get a little worried at this point, but they told us everything would be 100% ready by 3. We decided to go ahead and go to the Vietnam War Memorial Museum and try to make it back around 3.
I thought the atomic bomb memorial in Hiroshima was rough, but this was actually quite a bit worse. I honestly didn't know as much as I probably should have about the Vietnam War before going into the museum, but I left knowing more than I wish I did. For me, the most difficult part was walking through the large section they had that talked about the affects of Agent Orange that was dropped all over Vietnam during the war. The birth defects that occurred in children whose parents came in contact with Agent Orange were absolutely horrifying. I didn't take any pictures while I was in there because I didn't feel like it was very appropriate. It was definitely a very eye opening experience.
We made it back to the tailor shop a few minutes after 3 and our things were finally ready! We were pretty nervous to try them on, but everything fit absolutely perfectly!!!!!! We were SO excited! And still are! We now have custom made, one-of-a-kind dresses and suits from Vietnam. I think that's pretty awesome. :) I don't have pictures of them yet but as soon as I do I will put them up.
Before heading back the ship, we made a stop at a DVD store that was highly recommended. DVDs in Vietnam are so cheap! I bought 7 different movies. Some of them aren't even out on DVD in America yet and they were only 50 cents each! I should have bought a lot more now that I think about it. I'm probably never going to find movies for that good of a price ever again! When I got back to the ship, I watched one of the newly purchased movies with a friend before heading to bed.
Day 6:
I went on a SAS trip to the Diau Giac Orphanage on our last day in Vietnam. It was one of the first trips I signed up for when they opened open and I was really looking forward to it. It was an absolutely incredible experience. There were about 120 children at the orphanage, but it's not what you would think of as a typical orphanage. None of the children are actually up for adoption. Most of them have parents, but they can't afford to take care of them so they stay at the orphanage. Unfortunately, due to many different kinds of circumstances, their parents are hardly ever able to visit them. I didn't know any of this before arriving there.
I was a little worried about being able to interact with the children since we don't speak their language, but that ended up not being a problem at all! I brought along several sheets of stickers, which ended up being the best thing I could have possibly done. They loved it! As you saw in the pictures I posted before, my face, neck, and shirt were all completely covered in stickers within 10 minutes of me taking the stickers out. It was so much fun! They also have quite a fascination with cameras. I was glad I brought along my smaller one. The children probably took about 300 of the 400 pictures I have from that visit. It was pretty entertaining to go through and look at them afterwards. They even took a few videos that I had no idea they were taking. I'm going to love having those. :)
We were at the orphanage for about 3 hours and most of the time was spent playing with the children. There were two girls that kind of latched onto me at the beginning, so I spent most of my time with them. They were the two in the picture from my previous post. Other than having fun with the stickers, they taught me how to play some clapping and other games, braided my hair, and showed me around the orphanage a little bit. I had such an incredible time and definitely did not want to leave when it was time to go.
I decided to stay on the ship when we got back around 12:30. On-ship time was 6 p.m., but I wanted to get caught up on my journal and school work and have a relaxing afternoon. We had our first ship BBQ up on the top deck that evening. It was amazing. We don't get food like that too often so everyone definitely took advantage!
We arrive in Singapore early tomorrow morning! I cannot believe I have already been gone for over a month. Time is flying by so fast! I'm sorry this blog hasn't been as detailed as it probably should be, but I'm trying hard to keep up and get the most important parts in. :) I didn't realize how hard it would be to stay caught up with everything. After we hit India we'll start having more time on the ship in-between ports, so hopefully things will start to slow down at least a little bit after that!
Thank you again for following my blog! I've heard that a lot of you are really enjoying it, so I hope that is true. I'm definitely having a lot of fun updating it and getting emails from all of you, so keep it up! I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks again!
Emily
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I hope you all liked the pictures I posted from Vietnam earlier. Here is a quick summary of what I did during my 6 incredible days there with a few more pictures. :)
Day 1:
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh at 8 a.m. but didn't actually dock until noon because we spent four hours going up the Saigon river through the city. It was incredible. I didn't spend the entire time outside watching, but it was definitely a great way to come into a port. Vietnam is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen!
Our main plan was to head to a tailor shop, Tuyet Orchid Silk, that was recommended by a student that did SAS last year. We wanted to get dresses and suits made, but heard that a lot of other people were going to go as well so that was our first stop! Taking a taxi there was harder than you would think. There are only a few legitimate taxi companies in Vietnam that don't have rigged meters and won't try to scam you. Luckily, we found one of the good ones!
We were the first ones there and got to work right away picking the styles and fabrics we wanted. That was the hardest part. There was so much to choose from! After we picked what we wanted, they made sure the styles would work with those fabrics and took our measurements. They spoke perfect English, which really helped with communicating. They told us it was going to take about four days to make them, so it is good that we went on the first day. I haven't taken pictures of me wearing the dresses yet, but I plan on doing that soon and will upload them when I do! Here is a picture of part of the inside of the shop!
For the rest of the first day, we spent some time doing some shopping, checking out the Tet celebrations (new years) on the streets, and finding some amazing food. For dinner, we went to a traditional Vietnamese restaurant, Maxim's Nam An. It was so good! They even had live music entertainment inside. We didn't stay out too late because we had to get up pretty early the next day and leave for our homestays! Almost everyone in our group was going on one and we were very excited.
Crossing the street in Vietnam is so scary. The main form of transportation is motorbikes instead of other vehicles like cars. Since we were there during the new years celebrations, the streets were busier than usual. Sometimes you couldn't even see the road because of how many motorbikes there were. They don't really have traffic laws. Traffic just doesn't stop. They do have red and green lights, but a lot of times people just go through the red lights. In addition, the worst part is that no one stops at crosswalks. No one. It's pointless to even have them. When you want to cross the street, you just have to go for it. You walk out into the middle of traffic and pray you don't get run over. The most important thing is to walk at a steady pace. If you do that, 99 percent of the time they will go around you. But if you stop and start because you're afraid of getting hit, then you're going to get hit. It was so scary, but luckily no one I traveled with was ever hit.
Day 2:
I woke up bright and early to meet my group for the three-day homestay on the Mekong River! I didn't know too many people on the trip, but Kaitlynn went too so it was fun to meet a lot of new people and spend time with her as well. Our group was about 36 people, including our trip leader (a professor on the voyage) and his family.
We started the day with a two and a half hour bus ride to the Mekong Delta. Along the way, our tour guide presented some facts and information about Vietnam. Here are a few of them:
- About 91 million people live in Vietnam. Of those, 86 percent are Vietnamese. There are 54 other ethnic minorities in Vietnam including Hmong, Muong, Thai, Cambodian, Chinese, etc.
- Vietnam is the #1 country for exporting rice worldwide. 8.2 million tons of rice are exported a year. A majority of this rice comes from the Mekong Delta area.
- The Cao Dai religion is one of the most well known in Vietnam. Is consists of several different religions put together including Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism. There are around 3 million Cao Dai followers in Vietnam. We passed several Cao Dai pagodas on the way to the Mekong Delta.
- The average income is around 300 USD a month. A wealthy person makes between 500-900 USD. This is a major reason why there are so many motorbikes. Most families cannot afford cars.
- On average, 50 people die a day in Vietnam due to traffic accidents.
After arriving at the Mekong Delta, we got in a boat that took us on a 30 minute ride down the river to a place where we learned how to make rice, rice candied patties, rice paper and coconut candies. They also had snake rice wine for us to try. Yes, snake. There were literally snakes in the big jar of wine and they wanted us to try it. They served it in tiny little cups that didn't even give you a mouthful, but it didn't look to appetizing. For some reason I went for it. It was literally the most disgusting thing I have ever tasted in my life. But hey, at least I can say I did it!
After having tea and doing a some browsing, we got back on the boat and headed to a little island where we had lunch. This is where a couple of the pictures from my previous post came from. We had elephant ear fish along with spring rolls, shrimp, soup and fruit. It was one of my favorite meals from the whole trip. After that, we explored the island a little and then the boa came out. I have no idea why in the world I raised my hand when we were asked who wanted to hold it. No idea! Luckily, another girl wanted to do it with me so I wasn't holding it by myself. It is probably one of the scariest things I have ever done, but I'm glad I was brave enough to do it! I won't upload any more pictures of that just to save data, but you can see them either on Facebook or on my previous post.
We then split up and got into canoes to go through a smaller part of the river before arriving at our homestay. It wasn't actually what you would think of as a typical "homestay." We weren't staying in houses in different families, but all of us stayed in two different buildings where the rooms were all lined up. The whole place was owned by a couple of different families and is a popular tourist attraction. I was a little disappointed about that, but it was still an amazing experience. I'm hoping the other homestays I've signed up for will actually allow me to stay with a family. I was in a room with two other girls and we each had our own bed. I've never slept in a mosquito net before, so that was actually pretty fun!
After getting settled into our rooms, we met up with the families and learned how to make some of the traditional food that they have during the Tet celebrations! I feel pretty lucky that I had the chance to experience that. We helped prepare a couple of different types of spring rolls, soup, french fries (surprisingly), fruit, and a sticky rice banana dessert. It was fun to get to eat the food for dinner that we had helped prepare. Following dinner, we were treated to traditional Vietnamese music performance! There is a lot I could say about that, but here are some pictures. :)
Day 3
We left our homestay after enjoying a great breakfast and some quality time with the family and our tour guides. From there, we headed in the direction of the hotel we would be staying at but stopped at a local, non-tourist market along the way. It was great to get to see, but I wouldn't ever need to go back to one of those markets again. The majority of it was a meat market. I don't even want to start talking about the unsanitary conditions we saw in there because you probably wouldn't ever want to eat meat again. I honestly didn't want to eat meat the rest of the time we were in Vietnam. I was pretty glad when we got on the bus to head to our hotel!
We arrived at our hotel around 10:30 a.m., but couldn't check in until 12:30. We had an hour to walk around before meeting back at the hotel for lunch at 11:30. There wasn't a whole lot to do around our hotel, but I spent most of the hour looking at some of the incredible Tet decorations that filled the streets and enjoying some relaxation time at a park. After lunch and checking in to the hotel, we headed off for a quick stop at an ancient house and then an hour ride to a stork garden. None of us were quite sure what to expect when we arrived there. We definitely were not expecting that we would have the opportunity to walk through a Vietnamese village before on the way to the garden. This was not a village that tourists normally walk through. It was incredible getting to see what their daily life is truly like, and not just want the tourism industry wants you to see. I think it was a surprise to some of them that we were there, but they were so friendly and waved to us as we walked by their homes. It's hard to explain exactly what it was like. The homes were all lined up on a little street along a river. There were little food shops, restaurants, hair salons, and other places in there randomly between some of the homes. A lot of the homes were also along a rice patty field, and we passed at a time where there were a lot of men out working. That was really great to see. It was absolutely nothing like a town or street that you would be used to seeing in America. Here are a couple of pictures! I have a ton and wish I could upload more.
We walked up a really long and narrow staircase to get to the stork garden. It wasn't really an actual garden, just a place where there are a lot of storks up high in the trees. It was pretty breathtaking to be up there. After walking back through the village we got on the bus back to our hotel where we had an hour and half to shower and change before heading to dinner. A small group of us decided to go and grab some ice cream during that time, which was a great decision! It was so good! I had coconut and rum raisin ice cream in an actual coconut.
We had on a dinner boat. Apparently previous tour guides had told SAS not to book this particular boat because people hadn't enjoyed it in the past. I'm not sure why they still decided to book it for this trip, but we all went in with an open mind anyway. Right away, I realized why there had been some complaints. There was karaoke entertainment the entire time and the music was really loud. We couldn't even hear each other talk except during the few minutes they took breaks to change singers. A couple of people actually ended up getting off of the boat because of how load it was. The food was also interesting. None of us were really sure what some of the things even were or if it was edible. There was snake, frog legs, squid, and octopus on the menu, but we couldn't tell what was what. Most of us just stuck with the rice and the bread. There were a few adventurous people, but I decided not to be one of those that time. We were all pretty glad to get off that boat and head back to the hotel for the night.
Day 4:
I woke up pretty early so that I could take advantage of some of the free wifi in the hotel before breakfast to call my mom. It was great to get to talk to her! It always is. :) After meeting up with the group for breakfast, we got on the bus and took a ride to a boat station. From there, we got on a couple of boats and went to the floating market. There is an area of the Mekong Delta that where people sell goods and produce off of their boats. If you're interested in something they're buying, you take your boat up to theirs and make your purchase. It was awesome to watch!
After the floating market, we headed back to our hotel to pack up, check out, and head to lunch. Luckily, this place had food we were very comfortable with eating! Chicken, spring rolls, soup, pho, rice, and fruit. We started the 6 hour bus ride back to the ship after we finished lunch. It wouldn't normally have taken that long, but it was nearing the end of the Tet celebration and a lot of people were traveling back to their homes. Traffic was even worse, if that is possible! We got back to the ship around 7:00 p.m. I took some time to write in my journal and then headed to bed so I could get up and meet people to go pick up our suits and dresses in the morning!
Day 5:
The 5th day we reserved for picking up our dresses and suits, doing some shopping, and visiting the War Memorial Museum in Ho Chi Minh City. We were told to come and try on our dresses at 10 a.m., but they weren't quite ready yet and wanted us to come back at 1. We spent those three hours doing some shopping at the local tourist market and finding a great place to get some traditional Vietnamese food. Vietnam is a pretty cheap place to buy things! One of my friends got a really nice North Face coat for $35. I was tempted to get one as well, but there were plenty of other things I wanted to pick up for gifts and souvenirs. I am really happy with what I was able to find! When we went to the tailor shop at 1, our things were still not ready. We started to get a little worried at this point, but they told us everything would be 100% ready by 3. We decided to go ahead and go to the Vietnam War Memorial Museum and try to make it back around 3.
I thought the atomic bomb memorial in Hiroshima was rough, but this was actually quite a bit worse. I honestly didn't know as much as I probably should have about the Vietnam War before going into the museum, but I left knowing more than I wish I did. For me, the most difficult part was walking through the large section they had that talked about the affects of Agent Orange that was dropped all over Vietnam during the war. The birth defects that occurred in children whose parents came in contact with Agent Orange were absolutely horrifying. I didn't take any pictures while I was in there because I didn't feel like it was very appropriate. It was definitely a very eye opening experience.
We made it back to the tailor shop a few minutes after 3 and our things were finally ready! We were pretty nervous to try them on, but everything fit absolutely perfectly!!!!!! We were SO excited! And still are! We now have custom made, one-of-a-kind dresses and suits from Vietnam. I think that's pretty awesome. :) I don't have pictures of them yet but as soon as I do I will put them up.
Before heading back the ship, we made a stop at a DVD store that was highly recommended. DVDs in Vietnam are so cheap! I bought 7 different movies. Some of them aren't even out on DVD in America yet and they were only 50 cents each! I should have bought a lot more now that I think about it. I'm probably never going to find movies for that good of a price ever again! When I got back to the ship, I watched one of the newly purchased movies with a friend before heading to bed.
Day 6:
I went on a SAS trip to the Diau Giac Orphanage on our last day in Vietnam. It was one of the first trips I signed up for when they opened open and I was really looking forward to it. It was an absolutely incredible experience. There were about 120 children at the orphanage, but it's not what you would think of as a typical orphanage. None of the children are actually up for adoption. Most of them have parents, but they can't afford to take care of them so they stay at the orphanage. Unfortunately, due to many different kinds of circumstances, their parents are hardly ever able to visit them. I didn't know any of this before arriving there.
I was a little worried about being able to interact with the children since we don't speak their language, but that ended up not being a problem at all! I brought along several sheets of stickers, which ended up being the best thing I could have possibly done. They loved it! As you saw in the pictures I posted before, my face, neck, and shirt were all completely covered in stickers within 10 minutes of me taking the stickers out. It was so much fun! They also have quite a fascination with cameras. I was glad I brought along my smaller one. The children probably took about 300 of the 400 pictures I have from that visit. It was pretty entertaining to go through and look at them afterwards. They even took a few videos that I had no idea they were taking. I'm going to love having those. :)
We were at the orphanage for about 3 hours and most of the time was spent playing with the children. There were two girls that kind of latched onto me at the beginning, so I spent most of my time with them. They were the two in the picture from my previous post. Other than having fun with the stickers, they taught me how to play some clapping and other games, braided my hair, and showed me around the orphanage a little bit. I had such an incredible time and definitely did not want to leave when it was time to go.
I decided to stay on the ship when we got back around 12:30. On-ship time was 6 p.m., but I wanted to get caught up on my journal and school work and have a relaxing afternoon. We had our first ship BBQ up on the top deck that evening. It was amazing. We don't get food like that too often so everyone definitely took advantage!
We arrive in Singapore early tomorrow morning! I cannot believe I have already been gone for over a month. Time is flying by so fast! I'm sorry this blog hasn't been as detailed as it probably should be, but I'm trying hard to keep up and get the most important parts in. :) I didn't realize how hard it would be to stay caught up with everything. After we hit India we'll start having more time on the ship in-between ports, so hopefully things will start to slow down at least a little bit after that!
Thank you again for following my blog! I've heard that a lot of you are really enjoying it, so I hope that is true. I'm definitely having a lot of fun updating it and getting emails from all of you, so keep it up! I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks again!
Emily
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