May 12

We went all over Ho Chi Minh today.  We started off at UEF where we had language class.  We went over some bargaining skills because right after we went to the Ben Tanh Market.  The market is huge and a very popular site for tourists staying in Ho Chi Minh.  Almost anything you could think of as a souvenir was at the market, but you had to be ready to bargain with the price or you would get ripped off.  I originally was by myself, where I was completely ripped off by the first vendor I saw.  I was sold a  t-shirt for 100,000 dong (about 5 USD), while you could easily get one for 50,000 dong (about 2.50 USD).  It was a good learning experience though because after that I realized that in order to get a somewhat fair deal, you had to cut the price of whatever you were buying at least in half.  So, for the rest of the day I was able to get better prices on the goods with the help of some of the Vietnamese students like Vy and Lan.  After the market, we went to a pagoda in Ho Chi Minh.  That was the first time I had ever been in a pagoda and I was blown away.  My favorite part was when we were in a room full of rocks that one man collected over a period of thirty years.  His philosophy was that he did not find the rocks, the rocks found him.  He had interpreted their meanings and they were all beautiful. It was just so hard to believe that one man could do so much with things that we believe are so simple.  Following the pagoda, we stopped at the memorial of a Buddhist monk who lit himself on fire in protest to the Vietnam War.  It was an awe inspiring sight because many people still visit his memorial to pay respect for what he did.  It shows how much of an impact his sacrifice made on the Vietnamese. 

For dinner we went to a seafood place in the back alley of a street.  That was the best food I had here and I did not know what I was eating half of the time (the only thing I recognized was clam).  Then to end the night we walked around Ho Chi Minh again.  We ended up at a river which was extremely peaceful.  We just watched the water on a dock for about 15 minutes and it was a great way to end the night.  I hope to go back there again before I leave.

Things I learned:

If one of the Vietnamese students tells you to eat something, it will be really good no matter how gross it looks.

The people in Ho Chi Minh are always willing to help you find where you are trying to go.