Chao! Good morning, Vietnam!

Remember how I said that going into Cape Town by ship was the best way to get there? Well I’m going to say the same fro Vietnam. Our port is Ho Chi Minh City, which is a little bit inland, so we traveled up the Saigon River to get to our port. It is SO cool! It’s so funny to watch us go down the river because our huge ship is passing tons of little rickety wooden boats with one or two people on them. We’re not creating wakes that are too big, but they’re still making the little boats rock and roll quite a bit. There’s little inlets along the river and we’ve seen quite a few houses tucked away in the inlets and just right along the main drag of the river. I believe we saw some rice paddies, but they could have been squares set up for another type of farming or something…??? Going to HCMC by boat is definitely the best way to do it!!!

When we pulled in, we were greeted by a bunch of parents and then some young Vietnamese women with a big sign welcoming SAS to their country. The women were wearing the triangular hats that people wear when they work in the rice paddies! Maybe I’ll just have to get one…I have to admit that all of us got a little spark of hope that our parents may have surprised us and actually came to Vietnam. It’s a crazy thought because it would have been at least an $8,500 surprise…but hey, it could happen? I thought that maybe dad got an extra big bonus this year and him and mom just decided to go for it. Guess that didn’t happen because I didn’t see them waiting alongside the ship!

We boarded a shuttle when we got off the ship. It was nice that SAS arranged for shuttles to run from the ship to the center of town every half hour during our stay in HCMC. The ride was only about 5 minutes or so, but it would have taken awhile to walk there. Plus, traffic is a bit overwhelming! Crossing the street is quite an adventure. We quickly learned that traffic doesn’t really let up, so you just have to start walking across the street at a steady pace. Motorcycles will move out of the way for you, but be sure to dodge/avoid cars and buses because they WILL NOT slow down and swerve out of your way! It’s incredible how many people ride motorcycles around – and even more incredible how much stuff they carry on them! The majority of women on motorcycles (and only some of the men) wear these cloth masks (kind of like the ones doctors wear) because of the pollution in the city. Interestingly, some of the women wear a big bandana wrapped around their faces, long gloves, and even long socks because they want to avoid pollution AND avoid the sunlight! When we went to a grocery store, we found that most of the skin products contain whitening agents. Asian people definitely avoid the sun, unlike us Americans who feel that being tan is part of being beautiful!

As we walked down the streets, we saw brand names EVERYWHERE! You name it, they had it. Brand names EVERYWHERE!!! Coach, Prada, Channel, LV, Dior, Polo, Lacoste, Puma, Nike, North Face…The most popular things that seem to be in all the stores are bags, luggage, backpacks, wallets, strappy metallic heels, and polos. We explored the Ben Thanh Market, which was quite an experience! I can’t say that I cared for the food section of the market. There were fresh veggies being sold right beside fish and meat stands. All of their meat is kept out at room temperature. We passed one stand that had bags of blood, brains, intestines, hearts, and some other organs all laid out on platters for people to purchase. Ugh! The market is a lot of fun, but very overwhelming! I realized that I can only handle it in small doses for a few reasons. 1) It’s HOT! It’s inside and there’s so much stuff and so many people all packed into small rows of crowded stands 2) People selling things will grab you and ask you to come look at what they have to sell…

I decided that I need to have 3 houses when I grow up. One will be decorated with African stuff, one with Asian, and one with contemporary/American things. I absolutely love all of the Asian dishes, tea sets, trinkets, and artwork! It’s hard not to buy EVERYTHING you see because it’s dirt cheap and just so cool! While we were in the market, I found myself a Vietnamese boyfriend. I was checking out bags at one of the stands and the guy working there came over to me and started asking me questions. He asked how old I was, and when I told him I was 19, he said I was too young! Turns out he’s 24. Then he asked me if I was single and if I wanted a boyfriend. I told him that he lived too far away and he said that it wasn’t a problem – he would come to my country! It was pretty entertaining and I ended up buying a bag from him and getting a picture with him as well.

Once we developed some pretty impressive pit stains and back sweat stains in the market, we headed out to look for a tailor so we could get dresses made. We ended up finding a shop selling silk and a tailor that was right next door. I bought silk for 2 dresses. One was black and a little bit of red and the other was bright blue with white swirls on it. The woman at the tailor spoke English pretty well, so it didn’t take too much time to show her our drawings and get our measurements taken. We agreed that we would come back on Friday to pick up the dresses. I felt a little nervous about it because I’ve never really had something tailor made, unless it was something mom made for me!

When we made our way back to the ship, we discovered two stands set up close to the gangway. One had all kinds of t-shirts, polos, and North Face backpacks and the other had a plethora of DVDs! The movies cost $1 each and seasons of TV shows cost $3/disc. Over the course of the 5 days in Vietnam, I purchased quite a few movies/seasons…When I say “quite a few,” I really do mean it! I bought Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Blood Diamond, Charlotte’s Web (new one w/ Dakota Fanning), Little Miss Sunshine, The Lake House, Dreamgirls, Devil Wears Prada, Mona Lisa Smile, Friends With Money, Because I Said So, Just My Luck, The Pursuit of Happiness, Stranger Than Fiction, Santa Clause 3, Brokeback Mountain, The Holiday, Little Manhattan, Material Girls, Happy Feet, Queen, You Me and Dupree, Step Up, Scrubs seasons 1-5, Lost season 3, Sex and the City seasons 1-7, Friends seasons 1-10. Whew! During the days following the first day, DVD shopping turned into a guilty pleasure and pretty much became an obsession. When you go to DVD stores, the people pull out little stools for you to sit on and then they start handing you piles of movies. After you finish one pile, they already have the next ready to go so you can look through some more! DVD shopping turned into a game because some of them don’t work. We would buy DVDs and then run back to the ship to try them in our laptops and see if they worked or not. There’s 4 of 5 of my movies that I couldn’t get to work on my laptop, but they worked on the DVD players in the stores so I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed that they’ll work in a real DVD player at home. If those couple don’t work it’s not a big deal because I still made out like a bandit!

In the evening, we went out to explore the night market and then grabbed some food. I’m convinced that HCMC is the city that never sleeps! It’s always bustling, no matter what time of day it is! Oh – I forgot to mention the little stands in the streets that sell books – knock-off books, that is! It’s absolutely hilarious that they copy every single page of a book and the exact cover and then turn around and sell them for at least 1/3 of the original price. We saw tons of Lonely Planet Travel books. Ellie bought a Vietnam one for $4 and I ended up buying a USA one for $6. It’s the 2006 edition and the book is about 3 inches thick and it costs $28.99 in the U.S.! I figured it’d be kind of cool to have because if I get a travel book for China or Japan, I may only end up using it just for this trip – who knows if I’ll ever make it back again!

Here’s a few more things I noticed during our first day:

- People still wear the ride paddy hats! It’s so cool!

- Poorer women make a living by carrying around a huge stick on their shoulder that has a large basket tied to either end…the baskets are full of baked goods or fruits that they’re selling

- Young Vietnamese men love us

- People stare at us because we stick out like sore thumbs!

- There are people in the streets that are severely handicapped from Agent Orange

- “Same same” is a phrase that all the shopkeepers use!

- Motorbikes are the most efficient way to get around

When I finally returned to the ship, I got an email from Dad saying that he discovered that I had credit card fraud in Malaysia. Ugh – not again! HERE’S SOME ADVICE FOR FUTURE SASERS: Bring about $1,500 or so in cash and avoid using credit cards at all costs. South Africa was completely safe, and I’m sure Japan will be as well, but all the other places are pretty risky. Also – change your password so your parents can log on and keep an eye on your account. That’ll save