It's a country, not a war.

We only had two days on the ship and then we docked in Saigon, Vietnam. Vietnam was pretty much the best place on earth which is surprising because it too is quite a dump. At night when we'd walk the streets there were cockroaches and huge rats and garbage everywhere. The city itself wasn't anything special but what made me enjoy it was the people. Everyone there was so friendly. They would ALL yell hello to us as we'd pass or offer a smile. No one here was really trying to rip you off either like we found in China (at the great wall some woman tried to get my friend James to pay $5USD for a bottle of water). It was just such a comfortable, fun environment that you couldn't help but love it.

The first day we arrived I didn't get up to see us dock which I should have! We docked early and I was exhausted. We got off the ship and immediately there were a couple stands where people were seling things, not surprisingly. After walking a little further there is a circle of men in purple shirts with motor bikes all trying to offer you a taxi! There was a big group of us and we werent sure where we were going so we decided to walk. (I wish we had taken those motorbikes earlier cuz those were fun!) We went to this place to get our dresses made. It was really expensive. I got one dress made there that I ended up being satisfied with. On the way to lunch I actually stopped at a smaller tailor and got a dress made for $30 which I ended up liking a lot better than the other one! But oh well, as was my justification for the rest of the money i spent, they need it more than I do really. That day we did a lot of shopping at the markets and I bought a ton of cool stuff. We also ate lunch at this small place and I tried my first coconut! It wasn't nearly as good as I expected. We also ate some kind of soup with unrecognizable objects in it.

We walked around a lot and just saw as much of the city as we could.

The middle three days I spent on the Mekong River Delta. Its this huge river that runs through Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and a few other places and the delta is in Southern Vietnam. It was about a 3 hours ride which was long but interesting. There were so many dogs here which we haven't seen in the last 3 ports. Everyone has them as pets but most of them look like a combination of two dogs that shouldn't breed. When we got to the delta we spent a lot of time on boats in the rivers. The Delta is one big river and all its tributaries. It was straight out of national geographic how these people live. They all have boats because that's the only way to get from island to island or across the "Street" which is all river. They have houses on stilts on the edge of the water. I wouldn't really call them houses. They are more like huts made of any type of scrap material they could find. They have makeshift fishing nets to catch dinner. They wash their laundry in the river and hang it up to dry. Their huts don't have doors on the front and they have minimal furniture. They are usually just one big room and when you drive by, people are just lying on the tile floors. Many people here don't wear shoes either. It is all so primitive. I really did not imagine that people live this way. But it was also very bizarre because there are internet café's even on the delta and there were a couple houses we walked by that had televisions.

The first night in the delta we stayed at this Inn on the water and we laid around in hammocks listening to traditional Vietnamese music. We ate fabulous food and slept under mosquito nets and showered in freezing cold showers. It was so humbling to see all of the things that these people didn't have and yet they were so happy. People here have such terrible living conditions but nobody starves. Vietnam has so many resources that their problems are not hunger which is a beautiful thing. They don't have much else but they are truly so happy. It is amazing to think how many things I have at home that I don't NEED.

While we were at the delta some of the other things we saw were how coconut candy is made, how they make bricks, we drank snake wine (snake bodies and a dead crow that is marinated in alcohol—terrible tasting), saw them making rice paper and went to an orphanage. We also woke up early and saw the floating markets. These big boats fill up on produce and then ride down and dock in the river. The little boats come and float up next to the big boats and buy their supplies. Some farmers send someone down for days until all their produce is sold. It was so neat to see because it was so different than us getting in our cars an going to the grocery store.

I had such an incredible time in Vietnam. I only got to share here some of the experiences I had. I wish I could tell you everything! Maybe when I get home, haha.