Ho Chi Minh City

Singapore's National Day is August 9th so we had a long weekend and decided to spend it in Ho Chi Minh City which is less than a 2 hour flight.  We almost had to cancel last minute.  Jimmy had been in Shanghai all week for work and was supposed to get back Friday night.  His flight was delayed and didn't get home until 3 am.  He also ate something that had him so sick he didn't think he could go.  Our original flight was scheduled for 7am Saturday morning but we changed our flight to 2pm in hopes he would feel better.  Fortunately, after sleeping all morning, he was feeling much better.  We spent Saturday night just walking around the city and eating.  We saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, Independence Palace, Ho Chi Minh People's Committee building and the Opera House.  We went in early but had a few drinks at our rooftop pool bar.  The view up there was really nice and the drinks were much cheaper than Singapore!

                                   

We booked a tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels on Sunday which were tunnels used to hide and move around during the Vietnam War.  We took a speed boat up the Saigon River to get there which was really nice - we saw a bunch of small boats and people fishing on the river.

The Cu Chi tunnels were really interesting to see but I wasn't prepared for how Anti-American all of their war memorials were going to be.  We watched a video at the beginning of the tour that talked about the Vietnamese heroes that killed American soliders which was a bit of a jaw dropping moment for me.  Jimmy and I were the only Americans on our tour so another woman in our group even came up to me and asked if it was hard for me to hear everything they were saying because it was so Anti-American.  Although it was a bit of a downer to hear all of that, I still enjoyed squeezing into the tunnels - they had actually made the tunnel we walked through twice as big as it originally was so people could walk through it.  In the picture below when I got in the hole I put my arms down by my side when I was in but I had to raise my arms up above my head to get out because I was too wide to get out with my arms at my side!!  They had guns available for shooting so Jimmy was happy he got to take a few shots since he hasn't been able to do any shooting in Singapore.

After the Cu Chi Tunnels, we were taken to a Cricket farm.  We first had the crickets wrapped up in a spring roll but we got brave and also tried them by themselves.  They weren't bad but it was weird to have little bug legs left in your mouth!!

After the tour, we walked around Ho Chi Minh and stopped at Ben Thanh Market.  We also went to the top of the Bitexco Tower and had a few drinks and watched the sunset.  I was able to get Banh Mi from a street vendor - I was a little worried I might get sick from pate being on a cart all day but luckily I was fine!

On Monday morning, we stopped and had Pho for breakfast at a little shop near our hotel.  It was delicious and it was only $1.50 for a bowl!  In Singapore we pay about $15 and it isn't as good.

After breakfast, we went to Independence Palace and took a tour inside. It is now just for visitors since the capital has moved to Hanoi.

Next we took a tour of the War Remnants Museum.  I told Jimmy it should have been renamed the America is Evil Museum.  The majority of the museum was pictures and articles about Americans torturing Vietnamese and the birth defects that came from the use of Agent Orange.  It was pretty depressing but interesting to see.

We ended our trip with lunch at Com Nieu Sai Gon which is a restaurant that makes rice in a clay pot and then when they serve it, the break the clay pots all over the floor and toss the rice across the restaurant.  We didn't get any pictures because it usually happened so fast we couldn't get the camera out in time but it was pretty entertaining.

Overall we had a good trip and I was excited I was able to add another country to my passport!

Work trip to Bintan, Indonesia

I had my first work trip for our end of the year off-site.  We took a ferry ride that was about an hour long to Bintan, Indonesia.  We were in conference rooms the majority of the day but we did have dinner on the beach which was nice.  They also treated us to an activity of our choice so I got a facial which was nice and relaxing!  It was nice to be able to get to a beach that was so close - Jimmy and I may have to go back for a weekend!