This past weekend we had the privilege to visit Vietnam! If you had asked me a year ago “Hey, would you be interested in visiting Vietnam?” I would have said no. I have never really thought much about this country except of course for the war that my parents generation fought in the 70’s. Last month many of the January teams did a visa run to Vietnam and we took their advice and decided to explore this country for ourselves. So early Thursday morning we got on a bus here in Phnomh Penh and drove over into Vietnam. It was luxury accommodations for the World Racers. The bus had AC, Cambodian music videos playing and a toilet! It was priceless.
We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) in the early afternoon. Our teammates who are logistically blessed went and found us a guest house to stay in. Our team Lego traveled with Concrete and part of Team Less from the September team. Our logistics people are amazing! They found a guest house for us to stay in with AC (again a huge blessing), hot showers and real beds (with blankets and real towels)! It may sound silly but these little treats are a huge treat on the World Race.
Yes – I took a picture of the room b/c I haven’t been so excited about a place to sleep in a very long time!
Well, since we got there and there was still plenty of daylight Allison and I decided to take a cyclo tour of the city. So for 3 hours we toured the beautiful city of Ho Chi Minh. We saw the war museum, the lacquer museum, the palace the Notre Dame Cathedral, and many other places that we didn’t really understand because it was lost in translation but we nodded nonetheless.
Me and Allison on our cyclo adventure around the city. It was scary at times because they kept driving into oncoming traffic. Welcome to Southeast Asia!
Since there were 17 of us traveling and that is way too many to try to manuever around with at one time we decided to take the day Friday and do a little tour. Some friends did the tour of the tunnels that were used during the war but me, Allison, Elizabeth, Christy and Katie decided to take a tour of the Mekong Delta. So for the whopping price of $7 we took a full day tour of the delta. It was so much fun!
There was a bus ride out to the river and many boat rides through canals and such to get to the outer islands. Where we experienced Vietnamese honey and tea, fresh local fruit, the sights and sounds of the delta and the Vietnamese jungle, a stop at a coconut candy making factory and of course a tour guide who was priceless. He was single and so many times on the tour he told us he was looking for a “beautiful lady” to marry and we were serenaded many times with love songs in English and Vietnamese lullabies! It was a day full of laughter! I didn’t really know how much I needed a break until I got to Vietnam. We have almost hit our halfway point of the race and it was such a blessing and a treat to relax and enjoy and get away to Vietnam. The Lord takes care of us daily! Enjoy some pics from our wonderful trip and this beautiful country!
This is my boat driver on the delta boat tour.
This is the type of boat we took out onto the Delta.
(left) Some of the amazing fruit we get to eat here in Asia (front to right, pineapple, papaya, dragon fruit, long kong and bananas). The bowl in the middle is chili and sugar…hmmm hmmm good on the pineapple! (right) friends enjoying hot tea in the Vietnam jungle.
This is the coconut candy making factory. They shave raw coconut and then squeeze it in this weird contraption on the left. You can see the coconut cream and oil separated. The cook the coconut milk over a fire for 45 minutes and then spread it into candy. It is absolutely incredible!
Here is the man taking the cooked coconut and making it into candy.
My new friend June from Singapore that I met on the tour.
And to end our tour we returned to the dock and the walkway had flooded over.
Welcome to Southeast Asia!
