The first day in Vietnam I went on a field trip to 500 different religious sites. OK, it was more like eight places but it felt like 500. We went to a Mosque, a Church, some Buddhist Temples, a Cao Dai Temple, and even the site of some Ancestor Worship. To be honest, by this point in the trip I've seen so many religious sites that I think if I see one more Pagoda I'm going to barf. Anyway, the church was interesting because it has a giant statue of the Virgin Mary outside and it has a formation in the rock that looks like a tear rolling down her right cheek. Supposedly it just appeared one day and since then the statue of the Crying Virgin has been a hot spot for pilgrimage and tourists. We also went to a few Buddhist temples, one of which had a "super far out" Buddha. And that's the best way I can describe him. He had neon lights, Black lights, incense, and all kinds of craziness. I felt like I had been warped into the 70's. It was definitely the coolest Buddha dudes I'd ever seen. The Cao Dai Temple was the most educational… see this religion is a mix of Christianity, Buddhism, and the Muslim faith. They try to take what they consider the most important aspects of each and melt them into one religion. I would tell you more but my tour guide didn't really know anything else and I couldn't find anyone who spoke English. It looks like their main symbol is the 3rd Eye of wisdom, and it can be found all over the temple. They also had a lot of dragons. I wish I could tell you more. Nonetheless I commemorate their efforts to bring unity.

One of the places I loved the most was the Nguyen Dihn Chieu School for the Blind. They are the only school for the blind in Vietnam it seems. The children come from all over, some of them are totally blind and others are visually impaired with low vision. The schooling is free but the parents have to send a certain amount of money for food. Some of the kids live there, the local ones can go home in the evenings. They teach them all the regular educational stuff like math and reading, but they also teach them how to work with their handicap. They learn to use brail and get around on their own. They teach them arts and crafts and musical instruments. They prepare them to be integrated into regular schools and then be successful in the world. We got to meet a lot of the kids and see how they made school books in brail with a brail machine that was donated. Some of the kids played music for us and sang. They played one Vietnamese musical instrument that had at least 30 strings on it. They were extremely talented. They also make beaded bracelets and other crafts to sell and raise money for the school. (Yay, guilt-free shopping).

My favorite part of Vietnam was the Mekong Delta. The Mekong River is huge and runs through Vietnam, Cambodia and some of the other countries in the area. There are islands in the middle large enough for villages. We got to ride canoes through the local villages and squeeze through the small waterways passing other canoes. The trip included a snack of some of their fruit and tea. They have one fruit called a Dragon fruit that is fire red on the outside and white with black pokadots on the inside. We also got to see were they make coconut candy. The women mix everything, cook it, cut it up into pieces and wrap it in rice paper which you can eat. Generally, the Mekong Delta is much calmer and relaxed than the city.

You can buy everything and anything in Ho Chi Ming City. Especially DVDs for a dollar… You can get the whole collection of Star Trek for a dollar a DVD… Not that I got them of course because those would be illegal to bring back home (cough, cough). I got a great teal teapot, some more jade bracelets (they are in every country) and a fancy looking robe with a big dragon on it. The lady said it was Vietnamese and Chinese silk… I'm not always sure I should believe what they say, but it feels like silk to me.

The city is covered in motorcycles. I guess they are more like mopeds. When you look down a street you see 200 motorcycles and 2 cars. There's almost as many motorcycles as people in the city. And one dollar gets you a motorcycle taxi ride anywhere in the city. And the special thing about Vietnam is when you want to cross the street… you just walk across in a straight line, at a constant speed and all the motorcycles swarm around you. It works everytime, even though I thought I was going to get killed each time.


sleeping in the mosque


The Koran


In a church


Pic of market from the bus


Out on the street


Motorcycles, motorcycles, motorcycles!


Decked out Buddha!


Inside the temple


At the blind school


At the Blind School, she was really curious!


At the Mekong Delta