ThankfulLees

Monday, September 10, 2012

Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City

Yummy Prawns. Prawns are a lot of effort if they are not already peeled.

We really enjoyed the food in Vietnam and it was Cheap!! Especially compared to Singapore Prices.

Grilled Squid.

We visited the Cu Chi Tunnels (<--click for more information)

This picture was on the way to the Cu Chi Tunnels.

I took several pictures along the way but the further we went, the fewer pictures I took. I had an overwhelming feeling of sadness. In the center of the site, there is a place where you can shoot all types of guns. I kept hearing the gunfire in the background while imaging the terror of war. It was more than I could handle. By the end of the tour we were all very somber.

Disguised entrance in the middle of the jungle floor.

Barely big enough for a Vietnamese Man to fit his shoulder through.

Ho Chin Minh City Traffic. We loved it!

I loved all the balloons on the back of this motorscooter. I am always impressed with the amount and diversity of things that people are able carry.

Christopher negotiating in the market. They loved him!

Sardines? Or, us trying to fit into one taxi.

Jordan and Christopher sat in the front and the rest of us squished in the back.

We really enjoyed Vietnam. The people were wonderful and the scenery was incredible.

Phu Quoc Beach

We flew into Ho Chi Min City and then flew to the island of Phu Quoc,Vietnam. It was a nice relaxing beach vacation.

We rented this boat for the day to do a little snorkeling and water fun.

Syd and Me

Ethan

Yummy Snack. This was our first experience with 'fresh' sea urchin and it was YUMMY. We all wanted more. Who knew we would love this spiny little creature so much.

Fresh Fish? This little place had all kinds of fish, sharks and various other creatures. You pick what you want and they package it up for you and off you go to lunch.

Adam and Christopher

Adam was fearless. He jumped from the top of the boat without even a hesitation.

Christopher

Preston

Ethan

Spencer

Jordan

This nice lady came by several times selling us these nice crispy sesame chip tortilla

Our beautiful beach!

This is the ultimate sand castle!!! They kids and Dad spent a good portion of the day creating this masterpiece. The Colosseo

We left the airport in 2 taxis on the island of Phu Quoc. I am pretty sure Christopher shows our taxi guy the hotel name. I have no idea where we are going. Christopher goes in one taxi, I go in the other. After an hour on dirt roads where I literally had to close my eyes several times to avoid screaming out loud (pick any number of scenarios to facilitate imagining this- my favorite was wondering who was going to win the game of chicken with the dump truck on the one lane of paved road) Spencer is no help in this because he is a natural conspiracy theorist and is sure our Taxi driver is going to take us to his village and eat us. Okay so maybe I exaggerated a little, he just pointed out that we had only turned left 4 times and we were going to end up back where we started. Christopher is no where in sight. I have limited money. Ethan has my phone. The language barrier is unbreakable. We are seriously in the middle of nowhere, in the mountains. I do know that our hotel is supposed to be on the beach. After a few more left turns and evidently some down hills we arrive at a hotel. We pile out of the taxi and at this point I am trying to not have a full out panic attack. Finally Christopher pulls up in the other taxi, so if we are lost, it is together. We weren't lost and our hotel turned out to be a quaint little hotel right on a lovely beach!