So I have been a very very big slacker on writing in my blog, but I really have not had the time. I do have to tell you about this very special place called Vietnam... a place I was able to visit this past week. Our company provides a company paid trip per year and I was fortunate enough to have started at my place of employment early enough to enjoy this benefit. This past week, I went to Ho Chi Minh with my 27 of my colleagues and had a blast! Let's just start with how warm it was in Ho Chi Minh compared to Shanghai... about 80 degrees everyday. The sun was shining, no clouds in the sky, and just absolutely perfect. Shanghai right now is dreary, foggy, cold, rainy, etc...I was just excited to see some sun! We arrived around midnight and I was excited to get my butt to some of the bars. However, everything in the city shuts down at MIDNIGHT! Coming from NYC and from Shanghai, this is something I am so not used to! I was disappointed to find that even the small eating mom and pop places were closed. I was craving for a large bowl of pho!! I reluctantly went to bed but the minute my head hit the pillow I was out. I guess I was more tired than I thought.
The next morning, bright and early, we woke up and went to visit a bunch of the toursity places... President's Palace, some other square that I don't remember the name of (bad memory these days!), and then the best part was when we went to the Mekong River! We had a fantastic time walking around Thai Son Island where we had to take a boat to get to. I was scared that I would be eaten by mosquitoes but I was actually fine. We were also given a nice 15 minute paddle boat ride and then fed fresh coconut drinks. There were no bugs, no crazy critters, and no humidity. Now that's the type of vacation that I'm talking about! We were able to taste some very delicious and exotic fruits, buy some freshly made coconut candies, and then best part of this trip was when I was able to purchase a bottle of liquor that contained a real snake and scorpion, a Vietnamese delicacy. Our guide told me that I might not be able to bring it in to Shanghai, but he OBVIOUSLY doesn't know me! I get to sneak in all kinds of good ol' stuff. Plus, it's not like the snake is alive anymore and I won't be drinking it. I just collect a bottle of something liquor from every country I visit so I can start putting together a nice display of my accomplishments from my travels. Good idea, eh? Right now, I think I am up to about 40ish bottles... and still counting. I will attempt to put a photo of this bottle up here...
That night, I was able to take my colleagues to a night of pho! Most people here have never had it, but they were willing to try. I told them that pho is the best thing created by the Vietnamese and we had to try it. Our guide told us that the best pho place is located in this city, appropriately named Pho 2000. This pho joint has been around for 2000 years! As you can see in one of these photos that I have attached, even President Clinton has eaten there. I swear, this pho was damn good. One of my colleagues had FOUR bowls! I think I could have had four bowls myself...I wanted to bring some back with me but I think that I really would have been stopped at customs. After pho, I had to check out the nightlife. The night markets are just fab. Vietnam is known for its coffee so I of course went hunting for the best coffee I could buy (I don't even drink coffee, but I am hoping to bring some back to the States). I ended up of course buying some knock off Lonely Planet guides (I live off of these) for about $5USD and they are fantastic...better than the ones in China! I would have bought more if I didn't have to lug these around with me all night. We then went to this street where all the "white folks" hang out. I was amazed at the sheer number of people on the streets tat night! We had no idea why people were shouting and raising hell on the streets and finally we asked someone and they said that Vietnam beat Cambodia in soccer that night! How funny! The streets were packed with motorcycles and scooters speeding up and down the streets, waiving the Vietnam flag. We found cool bar called Allezboo to sit outside and have a few Saigon beers. It was just an amazing night to be out and about. However, another group of our colleagues who did not join us in the beginning met up with us at the bar and told us that she had just been robbed! Vietnam is known for robbing and pick pocketing, but we never thought that it would REALLY happen. Well, it did. She wasn't too smart though either. We were told by our tour guide to not bring purses and to stuff money in our pockets. Well, she decided to stuff ALL of her money in one pocket and had to pull out the wad of cash at one time. When she went to pull it out, someone came by and snatched it. Oh well, we all win some and lose some right? It still is a very safe place to be (but of course, nothing compares to how safe Shanghai is)...
Ho Chi Minh is just gorgeous....French architecture mixed in with the newer Vietnam. We went to the old post office which was built about 100 years ago by the French (see photo above) and I purchased some old stamps for my dad (he collects) and also attempted to mail some postcards out, but realized that I don't have anyone's address... I just bought a few to collect. Since the weather was soooo nice out, I was able to sit and people watch a bit. Tons and tons of people were getting married on that Sunday. Jealous as I was, I sat and took lots of photos of these happy couples.
So the next day, we drove about 2.5 hours to a beach town. I reallllly wanted to get a tan but of course the darn Chinese were so against the idea of sunning ourselves to crisp. They all looked at me like I am on crack because I wanted to sunbathe. I hate being ghostly white, but the Chinese love that! I seriously was the only beach whale on the beach that day...I didn't mind... I really was not in the mood to be laying around in my bathing suit in front of my colleagues! HA! OK, I have to tell this scary story really fast...I was with one of my colleagues and I decided to bury him in the sand. Guess he doesn't know how annoying and gross it is to be buried in sand, but he agreed. I was busy piling on sand but reached down in the sand too quickly and realized that I had cut myself on something. Instantly, I start freaking out and thinking "oh my god...did I just cut myself on a piece of broken glass or worse on some used needle!?!?!?" I asked my other colleague to see what is down there and after searching, he too cut himself! We both looked at each other like we were about to faint, but finally, we realized that it was just a seashell. Ok, so that was my scary story...haha.
Anyhow, not too much more to tell about this trip. I can of course go on and on, but I'm sure you guys are already bored to death. I had a great time and I'm looking forward to my next vacation. Leaving for Thailand in less than two weeks!!! Soooooo excited. Until then...xoxo
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