Vietnam part 1 of many

After Hong Kong we had 2 days at sea until we got to Vietnam… or should I say… Viet Nam.  In Vietnam they spell it 2 words and it means “living in the southeast of Asia”.  I learned that from my tour guide.  In our Global Studies classes those two days we learned about Vietnam.  We learned about the history, economy, and culture.  On the second day we learned about the Vietnam War.  We had a panel discussion and it was our security guard (he was drafted into the war), Dr. Isreal who protested the war, and another professor (Kolbe) who was in the air force in the war.  It was emotional… I guess you would say.  I don’t know… I guess when grown men cry it usually gets me.  Dr. Isreal… even though he was a protestor wasn’t one of those protestors that burned their draft card, or lit themselves on fire or spit on returning soldiers, he was a more civil one.  Prof. Kolbe was telling us about the one guy he fought with Michael Blassie and how he was the soldier in the tomb of the Unknown Soldier in D.C.   They did a test and found out it was him and then sent his remains home to his family. 
        ANYWAY… enough depressing stuff… now onto Vietnam!
Vietnam was the first place I felt like I was in a foreign country.  Sure, China and Japan had foreign characters and different food and we stuck out like a sore thumb there, but they reminded me so much of New York City and of home.  Vietnam was literally a jungle with a mini city plopped into it.  We got to Vietnam on Friday, February 26th and where we docked we had to go up the river to dock in Ho Chi Minh.  Going up the river was so cool!  There were trees on either side but the river was very dirty.  My first day in Saigon, I had a water puppet theater show to see for my human voice in performance class.  It was really neat.  A water puppet show is when like, there is a stage but its water, and there is a curtain and the puppeteers are behind the curtain in the water, which is up past their waist and they control the puppets from behind.  The theater was outside which was awesome and it was a very small area which made you feel like you were part of the show.  There were dragons with firecrackers in their mouths, ducks, swimming puppets, and dancing puppets.  It was a cool thing to see.  We were done there by like 12 and went back to the ship and grabbed some lunch before setting out and exploring the city.  That day it was me, Alison B, and Chi-chi.  We were wandering the city and decided we wanted to get massages and then go to the markets.  We were walking down this sketch alley where this hotel concierge told us to go for cheap massages and we found a place called Rose’s.  We ended up getting a 75-minute massage for 15 dollars.  And it was AMAZING.  The lady literally cracked every bone in my body and it felt so good.
After our massage it was after 4 and we wanted to get back to the ship by 5ish.  The nice thing is that we had a free shuttle the whole time we were there that went from our ship to the Rex Hotel and it left the ship every half hour.  We took the shuttle back and then just got ready for the night and then went out.  That’s pretty much my whole first day in Saigon.  I’ll write more tomorrow!  
Oh, tomorrow we actually dock in Singapore for a couple hours to refuel the ship but we don't get to get off which sucks.  and today while i was lifting this morning i saw like a school of jumping fish!  it was so cool!