We got to spend almost a week and a half in Vietnam. On my mission the Vietnamese people were just people that we didn't know what to do with because we couldn't talk to them and there were no Vietnamese members in our branch. I was glad to get a new perspective and learn how sweet and kind these people can be and to see some of their country. A lot of it looks fairly similar to Cambodia, but the biggest difference to me was the roads. Oh my Vietnam has beautiful roads- although after being accustomed to roads in Phnom Penh that might not be saying much. But they definitely have their act a lot more together in Vietnam. There were lots of pictures of government leaders and communist propaganda, but besides that I probably wouldn't have known what kind of government was ruling after just spending a week there.
The first day there we went to Ha Long Bay.
The first day there we went to Ha Long Bay.
"Ha Long" I believe translates to mean "dragon's landing." It is said that the dragons would come train here with the ancient Vietnamese warriors and that made them successful in battle. It is several kilometers long of all these beautiful green-rock-hills sticking out of the water.
They call this one the kissing chickens.
Proof that I rode a water buffalo.
People still use these basket boats in river communities.
Pho in Vietnam. The way they make it here the broth tastes really good and almost thick with flavor. I plan to be quite the Pho connoisseur when I return to the states.
A cobra holding a scorpion because why not?
These are rice husks and they use them for fuel in the province. This stock pile was in a brick kiln.
This one got domesticated on his way to the bay...
They call this the elephant ear fish.
We sung river songs going down the river.
$1 = 22,300 Vietnamese Dong so almost everyone is a millionaire!
Ho Chi Minh on another street corner.
There was a helicopter pad halfway up the tallest building in Saigon, and I made a resolution to land on one of these someday. Also- Battlefront 2 anyone?
We almost tried to sneak into that swimming pool.
Sabbay Die! Laos was great too for the 40 minutes we were there.