Today was our first day off! Woo hoo! Our day started with a
tour of the Reunification Hall, which was the palace of the president of
Vietnam started in the 60’s. A bomb had damaged the original palace during the
scuffles of the Vietnam War between the north and south of Vietnam. A new palace, The Reunification Palace, was
ordered to be built in its place, and the palace served as the home and war
workplace for the president during the Vietnam War. It was super hot during the
tour, but it was still really cool. The basement was designed a bomb shelter
area, and it housed a lot of the war plan meeting rooms. Multiple presidents
lived in the palace; the shortest was for 43 hours. Next, we went to the Notre
Dame Cathedral and the biggest post office in HCMC. Inside the post office,
there was a giant gift shop that gave us our first taste of the arts and crafts
of Vietnam. We did not buy a lot because we planned to go the market later. 
The beautiful souvenirs!
Next, we went to a Buddhist Pagoda. The architecture and
decoration was so unique. When we went inside we had to take off out shoes and
we got to see the place where the monks pray. There was a huge statue of Buddha
and lots of different flower, food and drink offerings on the alters. Finally,
We came back to the hotel for lunch and an afternoon swim in the rainstorm on
the roof of the building, which was sweet.
Alex and I outside the pagoda
Later in the
afternoon, we went to the Ben Tan Market with our friends from UEF. We had
learned from our language class how to barter in Vietnamese, so I was very
excited to put my skills to the test. The UEF students said we came out pretty
successful with our bartering by the end of the shopping trip. You can find
almost anything at the Ben Tan Market, including: food, flowers, clothes,
jewelry, suitcases, dining utensils and other souvenirs. Some Vietnamese
phrases we used were: Cai Nay Bo Nhieu (Pronounced Guy Ni Bo New) = How much
does it cost, and Mac Qua = too expensive. When we would barter, we would start
by cutting the asking price in half, which was what our language class teacher
taught us to do. I got some really pretty and CHEAP souvenirs!
Eric, Elliot, and I in our rice farming hats!
In the evening, the UEF students took us to a karaoke bar,
where we had a private karaoke room. I did not do sing karaoke though because I
cannot sing and that would have been embarrassing. We had a blast though! Later
that night, our group went to a club called Lush. Lush is owned by Glass Egg, a
company we will visit on Tuesday. We had a lot of fun hanging out as a group!
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