Vietnam

I saw more motorcycles in Ho Chi Minh than I've seen in my entire life!!

In a tunnel used in the Vietnam War

first night of the birthday celebrations in Ho Chi Minh city

the beautiful birthday cake Kristin & Amelia surprised me with!

Chao and all of us at my birthday dinner

the beach across the street from our hotel

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Kristin & I ready to start island-hopping!

an island in Nha Trang we stopped off at on my birthday, SO beautiful.

Vinpearl Land- a island off of Nha Trang with an amusement park, water park, and beach

we were literally the only people in the entire park all day!!

“The world begins to exist when the individual discovers it” - Carl Jung

Vietnam was definitely a favorite port of mine. It was a nice break from Thailand where I was in the city the entire time. The first day in Vietnam we hired a driver to take us to the Cu Chi Tunnels (an elaborate underground community used in the Vietnam War that was made up of 250km of tunnels and chambers below the city. The tunnels were incredible, and we learned lots of interesting things about the war from our guide. We were able to get inside and crawl through the tunnels –I couldn’t believe how tiny they were, and the one’s we saw were considered to be big! There were lots of American weapons and tanks still around that we got to see, it was pretty neat. The best part about the visit was I got to shoot an AK47 gun for ONE DOLLAR!! I think my ears are still ringing from the sound.

Later that day we walked around the city, which was gorgeous! It was SO clean and looked completely different from Thailand. That night is when my birthday celebration kicked off…and continued for the rest of the trip, haha; I think it was just our excuse to do fun things! All the girls went out to a nice restaurant for dinner and then went from one club to the next. It was a great time, a very fun city, and much more tasteful than Bangkok.

The next morning we had to be up early to go to the airport. We flew to a city called Nha Trang, Vietnams most famous beachside resort town, also known for holding the Miss Universe pageant last year. Nha Trang was absolutely breathtaking- the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen! We got a hotel across the street from the beach, and spent our first day soaking up the sun. We all got chairs on the beach and were asked by at least 5 people in the first 30 minutes if we wanted a massage, so of course I couldn’t resist so I got an hour massage on the beach for about 4 dollars, it was very relaxing. Once we left the beach we walked around the town; it was pretty small so everyone knew each other and it felt very homey. The streets were lined with restaurants and shops ranging from tailors to souvenir shops to food markets. Every corner had food stands where locals were preparing fresh foods, mmm!

That night we went out with some friends who met us there. There were three main bars that everyone went to all walking distance from each other so we basically just walked back and forth all night, with an occasional cyclo-driver to give us a lift! At midnight it was finally my birthday so it was only right to stay out a few more ours and ring in my new age haha.

The second day in Nha Trang, my birthday, we chartered a boat with 9 friends and went island hopping. It was by far my favorite thing we did. There was 17 islands in total and we went to about four or five, each one was so different! Our caption took us to two great snorkeling spots where I saw the most beautiful coral and fish. The water had such good visibility I didn’t even need to put my whole head underwater to be able to see everything. Kyle brought his underwater camera, so we were able to get tons of great pictures! We ended up at a resort island with what looked like a man-made beach, it was perfect! The water was completely clear and the sand was almost white! We pretty much spent the entire day hanging out there, which worked out nicely since we were the ONLY one’s at the beach! Such a good time!!

Later that night after everyone had showered and napped we went out to my birthday dinner where Kristin and Amelia surprised me and had the restaurant workers sing happy birthday to me, and then brought out a HUGE cake, and flowers! It was a nice surprise because I was feeling pretty homesick being away from my family for the first time on my birthday. They made my day really special. Our dinner was great, especially because out waitress was a crazy Vietnamese woman named Chao who stood at the end of our table the entire time singing us songs she knew in English; it was absolutely HILAROUS. I’m pretty sure she made up half of them, but her favorite was “one, two, three, four, five, siiiiix, seven.” “one, two, three.” “one, two, three.” “one, two, three, four, five, siiiiix, seven.” She was quite a character, but very happy and full of life, her songs never got old! We then again went to all the same three bars as the night before.

On our last day in Nha Trang, we took a cable car to an island called Vinpearl Land, pretty much the weirdest thing ever. I later found out that it was created by a Vietnamese billionaire who used it as a way to get rid of his money before he died. Vinpearl Land consists of beaches, an amusement park, and water park. Everything was included in the 5-dollar fee to take the cable car to the island. It was a beautiful place, and we had the entire island to ourselves, it was bizarre. The workers would literally turn on a ride just for the five of us. The water park and beach were a lot of fun, but we didn’t want to spend our entire day there so we went back to have lunch and a mini spa day. We went to a really nice spa called Suspa and had one-hour aromatherapy massages, 10 X better than the one I got in Thailand! Afterwards we made our way to this hole-in-the-wall salon where we went every night we were there to get our hair done. Since none of us had any converters for blow dryers and straighters; we were able to pay THREE USD to get our hair shampooed and styled, so we took FULL advantage!

We flew back to Ho Chi Minh City on the last day so we had another chance to see the city side of Vietnam before setting sail. We went out to lunch at a pho restaurant, Pho 24, since it’s one of the most popular Vietnamese foods, it was great! We then headed to the market which was similar to Thailand; lots of knock-off handbags, and souvenirs. All the boys went crazy getting suits made and buying fake nike’s, but I didn’t find much.

Vietnam didn’t go by as quickly as the other ports have. It literally felt like a spring break, it was very relaxing and fun. I get to China tomorrow night; this trip is going faster than ever!! It’s hard to believe I’m fitting class in! More than half way home now!