Good Morning Vietnam!

Greetings all! I am getting ready to go to bed and wake up in China, but first I thought I would update you all on my time in Vietnam and Cambodia.
Our journey in Vietnam started last week when we were able to disembark from the Explorer, waiting outside of the ship was a large banner held by woman dressed in traditional Vietnamese clothing and wearing the rice patty hats, that we quickly all came to wear while travelling around the country. It was a perfect welcome into the country. When we entered into the city of Vietnam, many of us were on a mission to get dresses made. It seems to be a Semester at Sea tradition that when the boat lands in Vietnam all the students make an effort to get dresses or suits made for the Ambassadors Ball that is held on the boat at the end of the semester. We headed to a tailor called My Song located right by the huge market in the center of the city. I decided to have a blazer and long dress made. We got to pick the fabric and style of the pieces, and our measurements were taken so that they would fit us just right. It was such a fun experience; however the language barrier made us all a bit hesitant that our designs would turn out the way we envisioned. After designing our pieces we walked around the city a bit to get acquainted with Vietnam and then we headed back to the boat. That night we jumped on the shuttle bus that the ship provided to the main downtown area of Vietnam and were dropped off at the Rex Hotel, where we went to the rooftop restaurant and bar. There we got to listen to music and enjoy some fresh Vietnam air. After a night on the town we headed back to the boat to get some sleep in before our journey to Cambodia.
The next morning (HALLOWEEN!), I woke up early to finish packing for Cambodia. Our flight to Cambodia was nice and short and before we knew it we were standing in line receiving a new visa on our passports. It was the first time since the trip that I had taken the time to look at my passport and there are plenty of new decorations in it! Lately I have felt like the trip is speeding by but seeing stamps from Brazil and Namibia made me feel like those port experiences were forever ago. After receiving our new visas we were granted permission to enter Cambodia. The first stop on our journey was to the Temples of Angkor Wat. There are temples all around Cambodia but we first stopped at the main temple and were given about 3 hours to roam around the temple. At first we were a little overwhelmed with this large chunk of time but the time exploring the temple grounds was amazing. The temples are gorgeous but they are also crumbling right before our eyes. I got the chance to stop at a alter area where a woman was handing out red string bracelets, I sat before her and as she tied the bracelet on my wrist she blew on my hand and stroked my hand, all the while chanting a Buddhist chant. I had no idea what she was saying but it was a powerful moment of spirituality for me, I felt connected to the temple at the point. At the temples there are monks dressed in orange robes roaming the grounds. I got the opportunity to talk to one monk who wanted to practice his English. He told us he was studying but was on holiday so he came to the temples. It was hard to understand him but it was also great to see his enthusiasm when talking to us. After roaming the temples we were able to shop around at some of the local stands and found some wonderful artwork. That evening we arrived to another luxurious hotel, showered quickly, and headed to a traditional Vietnamese dinner complete with Vietnamese dancers. The food was delicious, my favorite was noodles that were cooked with vegetables in a stir fry and then poured into a bowl with soup. The flavors were amazing! That night I decided to make the most of my time in Cambodia and head out on the town to celebrate Halloween. We went to a bar called Angkor What? Not to be confused with Angkor Wat....when I went to ask the front desk at the hotel how to get to the bar Angkor What?, he told me "You cannot go to Angkor Wat at night, it is closed at night." I told him we wanted to go dance and that we were told Angkor What was the place to go but he just kept saying, "You do not dance at Angkor Wat" and laughing. After a few minutes we realized he thought I was asking how to get to Angkor Wat, as in the temples! We both laughed and he told me I go to Angkor What? to dance, not Angkor Wat. We rode motos to the bar which are rickshaws driven by a motorcycle. Then on the way back we rode on motorcycles, which are my new favorite form of transportation. We got to ride 2 people plus the driver on the motorcycle so it was not too terrifying.
The next morning after just a few hours of sleep, I managed to wake up with half of the group that decided to go see the Angkor Wat temples at sunrise. It was gorgeous. We got to sit across a pond that was in front of the temples, so not only could we see the temples and the sunrise but we also saw the reflection in the pond. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. After the sun rose we decided to venture to the back of the temples where we found a tree house randomly, we climbed the tree house and were able to see an aerial view of all the trees and temples. The rest of the day was spent seeing all different kinds of temples. Although we saw a lot they all stood out in their own way. One temple featured hundreds of Buddha statues along the walkway. At one temple I practiced some of my yoga skills because I thought there could be no better place to do yoga then at a temple in Cambodia! At another temple we got to interact with too small children who were sitting on a blanket under a tree while their mother was selling the most delicious pineapple. We gave the girl a lollipop and she shared it with her little brother. As the bus drove away she kept waving to us and her smile made my day. We got the opportunity to talk to more monks. They always wanted to take a picture with us and I showed them my IPOD and they loved it. During all these temple visits, we were bombarded as we were in India by children selling all sorts of souvenirs. After a while it can get annoying having to say no over and over again. I finally decided to bring stickers with me and gave them to the children or I would just talk to them. I was particularly curious to why they were not in school but when I asked they would say they sell in the morning and go to school in the afternoon. At one point when I was passing out number stickers, I would ask the kids their age and give them that number sticker. Soon older people came over and instead of bombarding us and trying to sell to us we all just hung out and laughed. I gave them stickers too and they were very amused. We let them listen to my IPOD as well and it was so adorable to see the awe in the little children's eyes when music would come out of the headphones. After visiting that temple, we went to one last temple to complete our day of temple tours. This temple is known as a linga form meaning it is very tall, so we climbed some steep stone steps up to the top and just sat down looking at the amazing view for a little bit. I took some time to do some yoga at the top which was the ultimate spot for relaxation and the best place ever to do some yoga meditation. After we returned to our hotel and had some free time. We decided to indulge in a little in room massage; I had reflexology on my feet which was amazing. The lady stretched me in all this different positions and my feet felt like brand new afterwards. That night we decided to have a casual dinner in the hotel through room service since much of the food was making our stomachs hurt; even if it was delicious. We headed out that night to Angkor What again; looking for the most efficient form of transportation, we decided to settle with the motorcycle; which is by far my new favorite form of transportation. It was crazy when we were at the bar we met a girl who had done Semester at Sea a few years ago making us all feel like we live in a small world. After a while we headed back to the hotel via motorcycles (obviously).
The next day was our last day in Cambodia and we were all anxious to see what else Angkor Wat had to offer. We woke up bright and early and loaded on the buses to head out to the Floating Village. We jumped on these small river boats and headed out on the river where it was basically a whole community living on small boats on this river. Our tour guide told us that the kids take themselves to school via boats and we saw all these families just living on the boat. There was a restaurant and a basketball court on the river; and tons of little kids were playing in the water or in little boats. We found it so amusing to think of growing up and taking a boat or swim to go get a cup of sugar or to play with your friend. We stopped at the floating market in the area and these little kids were putting on a show for us to get us to donate money. The kids would jump in the ocean and grab a water snake and then come up crying, begging for a dollar. Some people would give them a dollar but the kids would still cry asking for more. We have seen lots of people begging for money but this was a new form of asking for money. Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel for some free time. A few of us jumped on a rickshaw and headed to a market to pick up some last minute goodies. Then we headed back to the hotel for an amazing lunch and then packed up for the airport. On the way to the airport we stopped at one last temple. Although we were all a little "templed out," this temple still proved to be interesting in its own right. It was the temple where the movie Laura Croft was filmed and it had tons of trees growing out from the large stone temple. On our way out of this temple, I had one of my most powerful experiences in Cambodia and on this trip. We stopped to a group of people from SAS huddled around one of our trip tour guides. The tour guide started off by telling us how he had attempted to be a Buddhist monk but how it was too hard for him. He said that he would only eat two meals a day and that he wanted to do it for his family but that it became too difficult. Then he told us the story of how his parents were affected by a certain sect of the Cambodian government. He said when he was just 7 years old his parents left for what they were told would be a dinner party but they never returned home. His parents were educated so they were a target for this force that basically took over much of Cambodia. He continued telling us that afterwards it was very difficult for him to survive; he had to eat the bark from trees and constantly be scared of being killed. It was a sad story to hear and heartbreaking. To hear of this time in Cambodia that was not too long ago for the first time in my life was shocking. I felt denied part of the history of this country and am going to take my education from that one tour guide and expand it when I get back to the states. I am determined to understand more about the country's history. Sadly, the tour guides troubles did not stop there, he was working as a tour guide because his wife had been hit by a motorcycle which caused great injuries. Our group collected a donation to him and his family and he wept when we gave it to him. It was the least we could do for a man who had been through a tremendous amount of pain and heartache. We finally arrived to the airport to head back to Vietnam after a while. Our plane was late at night and we all desperately wanted to get back to the boat before the whole plane returned so a few groups tried to take cabs back to the boat to beat the buses but it proved to be unsuccessful as our cab driver got so lost in the city! We were the last ones to return to the boat; I guess that what happens when you try to beat the system. After returning to the boat; I decided to enjoy some Deck 7 pizza and a movie with some friends and then headed to bed because I was beyond exhausted.
The next day we woke up bright and early to head to the amazing market in Ho Chi Min. Naturally we took motorcycles there which was a bit more terrifying then the ones in Cambodia. Luckily we wore helmets this time but the drivers would weave in and out of traffic, drive right next to the huge busses, and race each other to our destination. Our first stop was to pick up our clothes we had made for us. My jacket was just what I had hoped for and I can’t wait to wear it in the cold Kansas weather. I tried my dress on and it was not exactly what I had expected so I asked them to cut it a bit lower because it had a very high neck. All the ladies laughed at me saying that I wanted it "more sexy." When we picked the dresses up we got to see where they were made. All week I felt a little anxiety about who exactly was spending hours making these dresses. But when we walked up to the area it was actually a bunch of older women laughing and watching a soap opera as they sewed the dresses and jackets. In the end I could not have been happier with how my dress turned out and I cannot wait to wear my custom made jacket. The rest of the day we spent in the market buying everything from china to DVDs to paintings to chopsticks. It was so much fun just being in the market and talking to all the vendors. One girl asked us how old we were and we said 20, she was 20 as well and amazed at how tall we were. She asked us how many meals we ate a day and we said, "breakfast snack lunch snack dinner dessert." We were all giggling and said she only ate 3 meals a day. She asked for one of my many bracelets and I gave her one because she was my Vietnamese friend of the day! One lady also brought us in her tiny china shop and gave us seats, put our bags to the side, gave us a pointer stick so we could point to what we wanted on the high shelves, gave us trays to put our possible purchases on, and even pulled out a fan to keep us cool. Moments like these when a foreigner like me can connect with a local on a basic human level is one of my favorite moments of my whole voyage because they feel the most sincere. After a while we indulged in some refreshing watermelon juice and picked up some groceries before eventually heading back to the boat.
In the days following my journeys in Vietnam, I kept learning more and more about the specific history behind Vietnam and the United States. A few evenings after we departed from Vietnam, Semester at Sea offered a panel discussion lead by men and women who had fought, taught, or lived during the Vietnam War era. In some of my classes we discussed the ongoing affect the US has had on Vietnam. After learning about everything that went on my sympathy for Vietnam grew, but more importantly my respect for the country grew. After everything that the US did, the people of Vietnam could not have been more friendly and respectful to me as a tourist. I am looking forward to getting home and discussing the role of the Vietnam War in my family’s lives. So although this is much belated, my stories from the wonderful Vietnam are now concluded. Good Night Vietnam!
PEACE and love,
Maggie