Vietnam

When I last left off, I was just getting settled in after my long journey overseas. After having crossed many time zones, my time orientation is more than a little off! And thus waking up bright and early the next morning was no shock to the system.

We started off 8:00 at the bus stop. Here we boarded the bus and traveled onwards for about 1.5 hours to observe the Saturday service at the temple. 

Although I am not a religious person, I was pretty impressed with the entire service. Me and the 800+ other on lookers that you can see hanging out in the last picture (look 3/4 of the way up the wall, that balcony is packed the entire circumference of the second level of the building). I guess this is a fairly popular tourist activity.

After the temple, we were off to my favorite Vietnam activity… PHO!

I am not sure what I am going to do when I get back to Virginia, Pho is my favorite winter meal, and the broth at home is not even on the same playing field as the broth in the pho here!

And because The Boss enjoys taking embarrassing pictures of me…

After lunch we were back on the bus for another hour and a half. I have to say getting around via tourist bus was Slooooow. We were off to see the Cu Chi Tunnels. This was a set of underground tunnels used during war times to fend off the enemies.

The tunnels were kinda crazy. We got an up close look at how the Vietnamese fighters got around quickly and unseen. Most eye opening was the display of all of the “traps” used against invaders. The guide tried to play the traps off as having also been used for “hunting”, but by the unmistaken feeling of haste toward Americans, I think they were hunting the U.S. of A.

After leaving the display of doom, I wanted to take matters into my own hands… Look out!

Then I thought I should see what all of the fuss was about and gave the tunnels a whirl.

Fairly impressive, yet not what I would want for a daily commute!

After a long day we headed back to the hotel, or at least that is what the Boss says. I really have no recollection of anything after getting back on the bus. I was a sleep deprived, walking zombie by this time!

The next day (our last day) was short. We spent some time poking around the market, and getting some pictures of the local area.

and of course… I had to sample the local sweet shop to check out their bakery perspective!

Thanks for stopping by, and keep an eye out for the next post as I head to Cooking Classes in Bangkok, Thailand!!