Day 22 - Vinpearl Land Waterpark/Amusement Park/Resort

One of the attractions that the city of Nha Trang boasts is a huge island resort that includes an amusement park, waterpark, arcade, private beach, hotel, spa, golfing range, and the worlds longest cable car system over water. I think the entire resort is owned by the company, Vinpearl, as you see a huge Hollywood-like sign when you head towards the island by cable car.

This would be the first time I would ever go to a waterpark, so it would be a new experience. When we got to the ticket office, there was a huge one-hour line just to get onto the cable car to the island. Quang said that it is NEVER crowded and there are never any lines, but I guess everyone was in town for the Beach Festival and decided to take a visit.

We noticed a lot of flashy Vietnamese people with their LV purses and iPhones. Many electronics in Vietnam are much more expensive compared to the U.S. Quang told me about the some Vietnamese people's obsessions with the latest technology. People end up saving all their money to buy the new iPhone or latest designer purses, even though they could use the money to live in a better home or save it for something more important. I guess it's the same there as it is in the U.S. where consumer debt runs rampant and people save money just to show off their material possessions. I asked Quang how he could tell whether someone was actually wealthy vs. just playing the part...he said that everyone at the waterpark with iPhones and designers purses probably are just saving their money for these possessions, because the real wealthy people would be staying at the resort and spa on the other side of the island.

We had our first English lesson of the day, where he asked me to differentiate between the pronunciation of Sheet, Seat, Shit, and Sit. You never realize how hard it is to pronounce some of these words until you hear someone else attempt to do so. I gave him a sentence to recite for the rest of my stay:

"Sit on the toilet seat to take a shit and use the tissue sheet"

The water park was very fun, and there were not a lot of people in line, despite what we saw at the cable cars. Quang said that most Vietnamese people hate the sun (they desire light skin), so they didn't not go to the waterpark at high noon when we went. We went on most of the rides and I survived, although some of the slides hurt a little, especially the ones where you didn't use a raft or lifesaver.

After that, we headed to the aquarium which housed a huge walk-through underwater tank and a mermaid show. Towards the end of the night, we headed to the arcade to play some games (all of which were free, included in the price of admission) before watching a magic show and a part of the light/water show that had similar elements to the World of Color show at Disney's California Adventure. We left early and raced to the cable car line to ensure we'd get a quick ride back so that we could make it for dinner at his home. The cable car ride back in the darkness was scary. The ride took about 10 minutes to get from one side to the other, and all I could think about was what would happen if we were to drop from the cable line into the ocean...I don't think we'd survive!

Everytime Quang goes home to Nha Trang, his family has a seafood BBQ with his relatives on their roof. It was great to be included in the occasion, and everyone was so hospitable and friendly. They seemed to be a close-knit family, and I got to see 4 of his mother's sisters, all of who looked alike. The night was spent sipping beers and pepsi, and eating crabs, squid, and clams.

Another English Lesson for the day came up - The pronunciation of Squid vs. Sweet. To the native english speaker, you wouldn't think these words were very similar, but its difficult for a Vietnamese native to pronounce them.

Quang and I had an interesting conversation about the international issues regarding North Korea after dinner. It was interesting to see his view of the United States as a "superpower." I told him about the human rights issues in North Korea and he was skeptical about it because it was probably skewed by the U.S. media. I told him that there were first-hand accounts of some of these violations by people who escaped the country. He also wondered what gave the U.S. the right to tell North Korea to disarm it's nuclear weapons...which I had a hard time explaining without furthering the view of the omnipotence of the United States...

This homestay is turning out to be a very positive experience, being able to share, learn, and teach each other about random things in our lives. I even got to do laundry at his home, which would be the first time all trip that'd I'd be able to use a washing machine. I found out that I'd been using fabric softener instead of detergent for the majority of my hand washes...No wonder none of my clothes looked clean, although they smelled nice...

Cable Car ride to Vinpearl Land with the "Hollywood-esque" sign in the back.

Great views of the Nha Trang beach in the distance

The Multi-slide at the waterpark

The "Mermaid" show in the underground aquarium

Another homecooked meal - Probably one of the best soups I've had, which included sweet potatoes in a broth with small shrimps and ground pork.

Family Rooftop BBQ with Quang's family!

Day 14 - Mekong Delta and Homestay

Day one of a two day tour of the Mekong Delta, a waterway system in South Vietnam known for it's floating markets, rice production, and fruit orchards, among other things.

Woke up bright and early again to get on a bus. Stood around with all the other foreigners on the side of the street to get on our respective buses, depending on if we were taking a 1, 2, or 3 day tour. For some reason, all the foreigners took the 1 and 3 day tours, so I got on a bus with 2 Vietnamese families and 1 Kiwi.  I didn't know if I got on the wrong bus or not. We had a mini group of about 12 people.

The first stop was in Cai Be, which was about a 3 hour bumpy bus ride. It didn't help that I took my malaria meds on an empty stomach and I felt nauseous the whole way. When we arrived at Cai Be, we took a boat around the delta and canals and stopped at a village that made rice desserts and rice paper- the wrapping that is used in many Vietnamese dishes including spring rolls. We then stopped at another village that raised bee farms and produced honey products including Royal Queen Jelly. The jelly is not actually honey, but the nutrients that worker bees provide to the Queen to make her live longer. I'm not sure of the efficacy of such products on treatment for humans though.

Afterwards, we had lunch at a village and were able to see some of the daily life of these people. Some of them were in the canals hunting for sea snails, others were swimming in the waters or rowing small boats. I had a conversation with the tourmate from New Zealand, who told me a little about the history of New Zealand and how the country is adamant about separating itself from Australia. He also told me a little about the travel culture of recent college grads. It's pretty common for Kiwis and Aussies to fly to London to start their travels, maybe rent a flat and a minivan, find a job there, and travel around Europe and everywhere else. It's an entirely different expectation for college grads there compared to America, where everyone is so focused on starting their careers right after college.

We traveled to Vinh Long, where we walked around the markets. All the markets in Vietnam pretty much sell the same produce, meats, and other goods. At the end of the night, we took a bus ride to Can Tho and part of the tour group stayed at a hotel while another part participated in a homestay.

I opted in on the homestay and it was a little scary at first because we were transported by taxi at night to the village, and it took a while to get there because the taxi driver got lost in the darkness of the small alleyways of the small village. To top it off, it was raining and none of us knew what to expect with the homestay. When we arrived, we were greeted by one of the villagers, who took us on a boat to cross a small river to his home.

I assumed the homestay would be an authentic live-in experience where I would live with a family and do the things they do on a regular basis, but it was more of a "tourist" version of a homestay. Everyone who signed up for it were taken to this one family's home, but there were separate bungalows for each party, separate from the house that the host lived in. We all sat together at dinner and helped wrap spring rolls before they were fried. We then had a big meal of fresh fish spring rolls and fried vegetarian rolls (made of sweet potatoes and peas). But the tourists all had dinner together, and afterwards we all just sat and chatted for a couple hours.

It was good though to meet new people. Met a couple of people from Switzerland, a couple people from Singapore, and a couple people from the U.S. Learned a little about Singaporean politics and their economy, which is mostly service and manufacturing based. Since the country is so small, they have absolutely no agriculture, and pretty much imports all its food. They recently had an important election where some independent party members won some seats in the government, which was a big deal because the dominant political party - the People's Action Party has long been in full power since the country first gained independence. The country also requires men to serve in the military for a certain amount of time since the country is so small, similar to Israel. What was surprising was that they also had that requirement in Switzerland, even though it's a "neutral" country.

At the end of the night, we all toasted and had rice wine before retreating to our own bungalows.

Riding along the delta in Cai Be

Making rice paper - notice where the paper is being dried, which is where it get's its weaving pattern when you purchase it in the markets

Puffing rice to make rice desserts - The pieces of rice are cooked in a pan of hot black sand

Handling pythons at the honey bee farm. The fear is masked by the happy face.

A woman collecting sea snails in the canals

Rowing along the canals

My bungalow at the homestay

Wrapping spring rolls

Our homestay dinner