I was pretty excited to come to Vietnam because of its interesting place in US history. I guess my expectations were that it would be a country still heavily affected by the war three decades later. However, I found that Vietnam has virtually forgotten about the war and has moved on. Unlike Americans, the Vietnamese just look at the war (known as The American War) as another conflict in a long and turbulent history.
Our interport lecturer for Vietnam was the owner of a software company and holds a Phd from the Sloan School of Management at MIT where he was a Fulbright scholar. Needless to say, the guy was really smart and I, being a business student, was very interested in his story. Even though Vietnam is a socialist country, it is moving towards privatization and the economy is benefitting greatly from this. The economy is the second fastest growing economy in the region.
Anyway, as usual, here is a look at how I spent my time in Vietnam.
Day 1: Slava and I had a very clear mission for our first day in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon): Find suits for as cheap as possible. We headed to the largest market in the city and finally found a price and tailor that we liked. We got measured and placed our orders and our price was $190 for four suits. Take that Men's Warehouse! We continued the day shopping around the market. Vietnam is a hotspot for a good list of really cheap things: North Face, Puma, Polo, LaCoste, Diesel, and DVDs.
We came back to the ship late in the afternoon and then met up with Ali, Kelly and Stacey to go out to dinner and to the night market. We had an awesome dinner at a place called Blue Ginger. It was a pretty upscale restaurant, yet no one paid more than $10 for their meal. We headed to the night market, which was outside. After a little while we all headed back to the ship because several of us (including myself) had trips that were leaving at the wee hours of dawn.
Day 2: My trip was to Hanoi and Halong Bay, which are both in the northern part of Vietnam. After the usual combination of planes and busses, we reached Hanoi (the capital of Vietnam) and visited a complex that doubled as a temple and school of literature. The complex had a very rich history. After, we headed to what is known to American Soldiers as the "Hanoi Hilton". This is a prison where many American soldiers were kept after having their aircraft shot down or being captured during the war. The most famous prisoner here was Senator John McCain, whose flight suit is still on display in the prison-turned museum.
After lunch, we boarded busses for the 3 hour trip to Halong Bay. The ride was very scenic, as we passed through rural villages and miles upon miles of rice patties. Our hotel overlooked the bay and was close to a night market that we checked out before dinner. I got some pretty cool goodies here, including a silk robe embroidered with dragons, and yes, it is as ridiculous as it sounds.
Day 3: We woke up early to head to the bay for our boat ride. Arriving at the pier, I saw the most chaotic non-land scene ever. Basically there were 100s of boats jockeying for position along the dock, rubbing and crashing against each other. Boarding the boats, we had to walk through a couple other boats and hop decks to reach our vessel. The boat departed and for a relaxing day on the bay. Halong Bay is a natural wonder where thousands of islands rock formations jut out of the water. One even houses an enormous cave that we were able to go into. A few people went swimming in the bay, diving off the top deck of the boat. After swimming, the crew cooked us a Vietnamese seafood feast which was to die for.
After a relaxing day on the bay, we took the bus back to Hanoi for the night. Before turning in for the night, we took in a water puppet show which is an cultural tradition in Vietnam. Hidden puppeteers tell stories and legend through moving puppets across a pool of water. They are very talented and it was also great to see traditional music performed live alongside the puppet show.
Day 4: This day was jam packed with touristy things. We visited the war museum, where I felt like that Vietnamese was holding some stolen American items, namely some fighter jets, helicopters, and remnants of a B-52 bomber. It was pretty interesting how the Vietnamese worded their heroics in the war and our tour guide pointed out that the museum was full of propaganda about the war used to make the Vietnamese armies sound a lot better than they actually were.
From the museum we headed to a complex which housed many official buildings, including the president's house, Ho Chi Minh's house on stilts, and the mausoleum that houses Ho Chi Minh's embalmed body. It was my first time seeing an embalmed body and I have to say, he looked pretty good for his age. After some free time in the old quarter of Hanoi, we headed back to the airport for the flight back to Saigon. I took a Boeing 777 for the first time, and let me tell you this a beast of an aircraft. The coolest part? The TVs on board show the view of take off and landing, as there is a camera attached the underbody of the plane.
Day 5: Our last day in Vietnam was once again dedicated to some shopping and picking up our suits. I headed out early with Slava, Kelly, and Ali. After finding out my suits wouldn't be ready until the end of the day, we headed to the market and I proceeded to purchase way too many Polo shirts (I just cant say no to $3 shirts). After a couple hours walking around the market, we headed to lunch at a local hotspot. I had some fantastic lo mein. After lunch, Kelly and I headed back to the market to pick up some more goodies, but not before an ATM decided to "detain" my card. Surprisingly, the bank was able to give me my card back after showing them the only form of ID I had on me, my ship ID, which is nothing more than a hotel key. I found this pretty comical. I eventually picked my suits around 5, which I look damn good in if I do say so myself.
Back onboard the ship, the night consisted of some Grade A shannigans which consisted of an unnamed party cross dressing (no, it wasn't me). Let's just say I have some great blackmail pictures to take back to Babson.
I had a great time in Vietnam, as I do in every port and im very excited to head to Hong Kong and Beijing in just a few days.
No promises for pictures anytime soon as school is real busy these next couple days.
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