Day 2 Vietnam-3/23/09

On the second day in Vietnam I had a trip I needed to go on for my non-profit marketing class.  The trip was to a school for the handicapped but more specifically kids who were deaf or had Down's syndrome.  The principal came out and talked to us for about 30 minutes or so at first (through a translator) a we didn't really know what we were supposed to be doing at the school so it was pretty awkward.  After the principal was done talking they had us walk around the school but it was pretty hard to interact and talk with the kids as none of them spoke English and there wasn't any games to play with them.  They all had little biography pages for us to fill out about ourselves: our name, hometown, birthday etc so we did that until they told us we should go downstairs to play with the kids.  The school was incredibly humid and hot, I have no idea how kids can go there to learn everyday.  Our trip leader brought some bubbles and some balls as gifts for the kids to play with and I started playing catch with this one kid for a while.  After about an hour they served us a huge lunch and we had no idea why they felt the need to give us so much food.  It was then time to leave and we still had the whole afternoon to go explore more of Ho Chi Minh.  Phil and I met up with Sam and Kayla on the ship and we headed out to grab some more lunch at Pizza Hut cause we had a craving for pizza and wings.  After that we headed to the Independence Palace which was used by the President of Vietnam until I believe the 1990's.  It was really big and decorative with many rooms used for meetings, entertaining people, a movie theatre, pool tables and gambling.  There was also the rooms in the palace that were used to plan the war.  There was also an old American helicopter on the roof with the American flag crossed out because the Vietnamese had taken it and used it after the war but left all the original paint.  After that we headed back to the travel agency to book our Mekong Delta/Cu Chi Tunnel overnight trip for the next two days.  It was only $130 for 2 days/1 night including hotel and transportation.  There were some markets nearby so we went and browsed at all the fake North Face backpacks, watches, polo's, etc.  I ended up buying a few Nike dri-fit t-shirts since it was so hot.  We went back to the ship to shower and get ready for the night and then headed out to this outdoor restaurant where you cooked your own food in the middle of the table.  As we were waiting for them to bring our food, all of a sudden the lights cut out and music came out with the birthday song.  The song lasted well over 5 minutes and there were disco lights spinning and then "happy birthday sweet 16" came on.  It was really really strange and definitely a cultural difference.  We were all sitting there taking video and pictures while no one else seemed phased by it.  After dinner we went bar hopping for a bit and then ended up sitting at this street vendor for a while that had tables and chairs and cheap drinks.  We just hung out for a bit and then took a moto back to the ship.  We agreed on giving them a bottle of vodka (them drinking it after the ride of course)that we had left over in exchange for a free ride back.  We thought they agreed and we got on the bikes, when we got there they started yelling at us why didn't we pay and we walked away.  I gave my guy $1 and they started chasing us into the port and the lady driver hit Kayla on the arm.  We just kept walking, not wanting to get into a fight in a foreign country and we got into the port so they couldn't follow us any further.