A Tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels

Toward the end of our trip we took a visit to see the Cu Chi Tunnels, which are a network of connecting underground tunnels used by the Vietnamese during the war to hide out from the Americans. They also served as communication and supply routes, hospitals, and a place to sleep. The tunnels are very small and are only about a meter high, but they connect to different rooms that were designated for different purposes– dining hall, living quarters, etc. It was such an awesome experience to be able to go down into the tunnels and experience just a tiny bit of what life was like for the soldiers during the war. 

     

Visiting an Elementary School

If I had to choose a favorite day from my trip, this would probably be it. We went to visit an elementary school to donate/install a few computers, and teach the kids a few things about them. We divided into two groups, so the group that wasn’t working on the computers got to play outside and basically have a mini field day. We taught them how to do the hokey pokey, and they taught us a new way of playing hopscotch.  I also got some beautiful flowers from a little boy who climbed to the top of a tree to pick them for me! (For the record, if I could speak Vietnamese I would’ve told him to come down because I was so nervous that he would fall…) 

All in all, it was a great day and I’ll cherish its memories forever. 

                   

Vietnamese Cuisine

To give you all a “taste” of what I’ve been eating the past month, I decided to dedicate a post just for that. For the most part, I really enjoyed Vietnamese food. It was very different than what I’m used to (they don’t serve hamburgers there…), but I was pleasantly surprised. I’ve never been one to be adventurous with what I eat and I’ve always thought that I hated seafood. I can now say that I’ve eaten snake!! (although never again). And that fish can be really tasty.  

                         

Building a Biogas System

We got to build a biogas system in a Vietnamese family’s back yard. This system will turn the waste from their pigs into fuel for their stove! Such a great experience and will hopefully be something that will impact this family for the better.  

          

  

  

  

  

I love Vietnam

This is truly such an amazing place. I love the culture, the people, and even the food (most of the time). We’ve been exploring and learning and doing so much (while having a blast) that it seems like we’ve been here forever, yet it seems like time has gone by so fast.. Having a great group makes everything 10x better too.

  I love these traditional Vietnamese hats…

We met with an English club from the University we’ve been working with and it was so cool to talk to them and hear about what they do for fun/their lives/etc…

Absolutely love the fruit here….. This is something called “rubitan” or something like that…. I’ve never heard of it before but it’s really good. Kinda tastes like a grape…

We’ve done a lot of exploring too… floating markets, a pagoda, a rice factory tour, and so much more. Here’s some random pictures of it all…            

P

Day 1 in Ho Chi Minh City

After 30+ hours of travel time, we finally landed in Ho Chi Minh late last night. Luckily we got to sleep in a little this morning before heading off to do a little touring of the city..

First stop was food… We had pho and a coconut!! Delicious.

Next stop was a visit to the Reunification Palace. It was so beautiful to look at and very interesting to learn a little about the history of Vietnam. Here’s a few pics…

This sign says how many soldiers were in the country during the Vietnam war and was updated every day. The first one (“Hoa Ky”) is the number from the US. It’s crazy to see it compared to the total at the bottom…

And then here are some pictures of a pretty cathedral we went to…