Leaving on a jet plane...

Well folks, we are waiting to board our first flight of our very long journey home...

We will be departing SGN (Ho Chi Minh City airport) for Seoul, South Korea (Incheon) in a short while and will be stateside very soon.

While we are sad to be leaving VN ( what an amazing place!), we are excited to be coming back to the best place on Earth... HOME!!

Lost in Translation

As we wrap up our trip, here is a humorous look at some things that didn't quite translate into our language or culture.

1.  This is a Pencil pouch.  Not exactly an acceptable back-to-school theme.



2.  Apparently, our city has given its name to a line of handbags.  Except for a missing "n".  But, I think 1/3 of US citizens would probably make the same mistake.

3.  Sometimes you gotta go, where everybody knows your name...

4.  According to the menu description (in English) this was supposed to be a banana ice cream pop on a stick.  It was banana, but no stick, just wrapped in cellophane, which made eating a challenge.  

5.  The most popular video game at the arcade we stopped by was "Rambo".  Sly Stallone was also prominently displayed at the wax museum.

6.  The # 2 chain of coffee shops in the South / South Central

 

Last Day in Ho Chi Minh City

Today was our last day in Ho Chi Minh City and we tried to squeeze in as many activities as we could (according to my Fitbit, we walked a little over 7 miles)!

The day started with a trip to An Dong Market.  This was a 5-story indoor market selling all manner of clothing, shoes, and souvenirs.  It is complete sensory overload as merchandise is piled on top of itself in tiny stalls (maybe 5 ft by 5 ft).  The aisles are barely wide enough for a person to walk and that's before we add the vendors sitting on stools eating breakfast.  Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures there.

After some hard bargaining, we had lunch at the café next door.  This was connected to the An Dong Plaza, which was somewhere between the market and a more traditional mall.  After lunch, we explored the An Dong Plaza some more - though at this point everything for sale looked the same.

Next, we took a trip to the Reunification palace.  This was the home of South Vietnamese government from the mid-1960s until the end of the war in 1975.  The building is a great example of 1960s architecture, though, I'm not sure why air conditioning wasn't included.  Its also been left as it was at the end of the war; including the maps and communication equipment in the basement bunker.

One of the two tanks that actually broke through the palace gates, effectively ending the war.

The central fountain.

The main reception room.  This is still used occasionally for state events.

The presidential bedroom in the living quarters.

The theater room.  The red upholstered chairs are very 1970s.

The bar in the game room in the shape of a half barrel.

The typing area in the bunker.  

Situation map from the president's bunker

 Posing with a jeep that belonged to the military commander.

The entire tour took us up and down about 10 flights of stairs, so we had a well-deserved ice cream break in an outdoor café on the grounds of the palace.

After our snack, we walked to the Saigon center mall, which was much more upscale than our earlier shopping.

Amigo's Steak House

After we returned to Ho Chi Minh City, we decided to try a steakhouse for dinner. It was a delicious ending to a busy day.

 French Onion soup

 Shrimp with cream sauce

 T-bone from Australia

 Salmon 

Chocolate, Crocodiles, Snake Wine- All in a Day in the Mekong Delta River Valley

Today we were picked up at our hotel for our final tour of our Vietnam trip. For today's adventure, we booked a private tour of the Mekong Delta complete with several interesting stops and things to see.

The first stop was a local chocolate factory. We were shown how the beans grow, when they are ready to be harvested (they turn yellow!), and the process of turning the cocoa beans into the chocolate we enjoy. We got to taste the fruit of the cocoa bean in addition to some amazing hot chocolate made at the factory we were visiting.

                                                                                                                       
 Cocoa Beans growing on the trees.

Ripe beans ready for harvesting

                                                                                                                       
 Beans are fermented for 6 days

Next, beans are dried

Later the beans are cut into pieces

Other ingredients are added and chocolate is ready for molds

                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                            Chocolate is wrapped by hand

Ready for sale! 

Of course, we had a chance to taste several of the flavors available for sale. What a fun way to start off our Mekong Tour!

Next stop, we rode a boat down the Mekong River and stopped at Unicorn Island. We were greeted with traditional music and tropical fruits to sample. 

We were then taken to learn about the making of coconut candy. We saw how the coconuts were opened, the meat harvested, cooked and malt added, cut and wrapped by hand.

We were taught that every part of the coconut is used and nothing goes to waste!! The shells of the coconut are used to keep the fires going that cooks the candy!. We also had the chance to try some coconut 'wine', banana wine, and SNAKE wine. All of the 'wines' were about 30 proof and were so strong!! Our tour guide taught us how to do 'cheers' in VN...  count to 3 in Vietnamese and then say YO!! So, it is Mot (rhymes with boat), Hai (rhymes with sky), Ba.. YO! and then drink!! So much fun!!

The tour continued with a peaceful ride on a tributary of the Mekong River in a traditional row boat.

                                                                                                                 Us with our guide, Hana

We also rode a tok-tok… 

We took this unique vehicle to lunch.

As we know by now, it wouldn't be a tour without more food than we eat on Thanksgiving--- a traditional 7 course Vietnamese meal!!! This lunch had spring rolls fried AND fresh, sticky rice, fish, chicken, soup, watermelon for dessert, and rice. The food was quite tasty and the elephant ear fish was really something to see. All of the western tourists were quite freaked out by the fish!!

In other news, we learned how tasty the Tamarind sauce was on the spring rolls. Yummy!

After lunch, we explored the grounds where there were all kinds of beautiful fruit and flower trees. They also had some animals- porcupines, tons of frogs, and crocodiles. Iyla fed the crocodiles using a bamboo pole with a fish. We watched as the croc snapped on the fish and ate it whole. Interesting....

We got back on our boat and were greeted by coconuts with straws- full of coconut juice!! Yummy!!

 Mot, Hai, Ba.. YO!

The last stop was a very old Buddhist temple- Vinh Trang pagoda. It is the largest in the Tien Giang Province. On the outside, it was an interesting mix of European architecture and traditional Asian architecture. Roman columns with Asian motifs. Truly a beautiful combination of the two styles. 

We also viewed the various Buddhas on the property- we loved the Happy Buddha and the Nirvana or sleeping Buddha.

The inside of the temple was an interesting mixture as well. This time, it was a combination of the old and the new. Neon Buddha was a sight to behold.

After our last stop, we relaxed during our 90 minute drive back to Ho Chi Minh City.