Jan 4-6, 2013 - Saigon, Vietnam
Saigon was kinda a quick trip. We had already spent 15 days in Vietnam and where ready to hit Cambodia.
I arrived via night bus (I actually got some sleep on this one!) around 7am and met up with Alene. Around 8:30am we headed out to Boston Sports Bar to WATCH THE AGGIES PLAY OU in the cottonbowl. I was SOoooooo excited when she told me she had found a place to watch the game. Aside from one other guy cheering for OU we were the only folks in the bar interested in the game but they played it on every television in the bar! Whoop! We ordered breakfast and coffee and watched the Aggies kick some Oklahoma butt! I was super glad we got to watch the game!
The highlights in case you missed it!
After the game we wondered around town and Alene showed me the best parts of Saigon. She had already been in town for a few days and had already done a lot of sightseeing so I got my very own personalized from Alene.
That night we were invited to dinner with the family of one of Alene's former co-workers. The family was soooooo welcoming. They picked us up from our hotel and took back to their home. For dinner we had traditional meal of banh xeo, which is a vietnamese rice flour pancake stuffed with bean sprouts, shrimp, and pork. You break off pieces of this pancake/omelet thing, wrap it in lettuce and then dip it in a sweet chili sauce! YUM!! The dinner was also served with a couple different kinds of spring rolls.
After dinner Alene and I got to try our hand at making the banh xeo. Alene did well....I massacred my pancake. It'll taste the same right? We got a tour of the house, took some photos and then the two girls took us on a little tour around Saigon before dropping us off at our hotel.
Oh and that's the dress I had made in Hoi An. Cute eh?!?!?!
The next day I went on a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels. These are the tunnels used by the Viet Kong during the Vietnam War. It was kind of a weird tour being American. There was very propaganda-ish and a lot of we used this to kill the Americans and that to kill the enemy. It was however and experience. We had the opportunity to try out and original sized tunnel entrance. My hips almost didnt fit!
We also got to walk through 60 meters of actual tunnel that had been made larger for the average tourist to fit through. The original diameter was approximately .5m the tourist size tunnel is twice that diameter.
I fit in the tiny whole!
I didnt stay in there long though!
Eeekk, come on hips you can fit!
Jungle trap.
Captured American tank.
Going through the tourist size tunnel.
It was a still a small little hole.
After the tour I met back up with Alene (she had already been on this tour) and we wondered around town some more seeing the sites.
What I have learned:
There are still unexploded land mines and bombs in parts of Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia and several people die every year.
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