The first two days I explored Ho Chi Minh City with my friends. We started the day at the post office. I had a ton of post cards to send because I haven't been able to find postage or postal services anywhere. I purchased stamps, but I was so confused when I received stamps that weren't self-adhesive stickers. The workers watched me struggle as I hand glued stamps. After our adventure at the post office, we stopped at a coffee shop for some famous Vietnamese condensed milk coffee. We then walked around town in search of Tan Ding Church “The Pink Church”. Tân Ding church is a church built during the French colonial period in the 1880s when Vietnam was part of French Indochina. It is the second largest church in Ho Chi Ming City. It is a gorgeous church, and it is appropriately named. We were unable to get inside, but the inside is completely covered in glass and jewels!

We explored some local parks and drank Bubble Tea. It was nice to be off a strict schedule for once and to move around the city at our leisure. We finally made our way to the famous Bui Vien Street. We ate Pho (Pho is a Vietnamese soup consisting of broth, rice noodles, a few herbs, and meat, primarily made with either beef or chicken.) and spent the rest of the day walking up and down the shops on the street. Just before sunset we went to a rooftop restaurant to watch the sunset over the city. We spent the night exploring the night life of the city.

A group of us grabbed breakfast at a cafe and then hit one of the biggest markets in Ho Chi Minh. We spent most of the day shopping and bargaining with the locals. We had lunch at Pho 2000. The waiter watched me struggle with chop sticks for 5 minutes and then kindly brought me a fork. I stick out like a sore thumb here. I can tell that the locals are talking about how long my legs...especially when they motion at how high my legs come up on their bodies.

We wandered off the beaten path a bit and we found an outdoor market. I saw some pretty unusual foods for sale. As we walked through the “smelly” street my friend Brooke said, "This is NOT for Allison Ney!” She knows me pretty well at this point. I was definitely shocked when I saw that they were selling raw meat on the street and there were snails climbing out of buckets before the could be sold off.

After a long day of shopping I went back to the ship to meet my friends for our late flight. This is where my time in Vietnam took a turn, and I’ve decided not to post about that part. All you need to know is that two of us made it to Hanoi and two of us didn't. I caught the last flight out.

I woke up super early at my hostel in Hanoi. I grabbed a banana and checked out of my room. A tour company picked us up and drove us 4 hours to Ha Long Bay. After a couple hours on a cramped bus, we finally arrived at one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been. Ha Long Bay is one of the 7 Natural Wonder of the World. We boarded a house boat and cruised through the rocks for a few hours. We ate lunch, settled into our rooms, and laid out in the sun.

In the late afternoon we left the boat and visited one of the famous caves. It was so awesome to explore the caves, and they had amazing views of the rock formations. After the caves we went to a little beach. We swam and watched the sunset. We ate dinner and slept aboard the boat.

I woke up to an intercom system announcing that I only had 10 minutes before it was time to leave. I boarded a smaller boat, and we rode to a floating shack. At the shack we rented kayaks and explored a few smaller caves. My arms are still sore from the kayaks.

After we rowed back in, we headed to an Oyster Farm. We watched someone implant artificial mother peals in to the oyster so it could grow a real pearl around it. It was interesting to learn a little bit about the oyster farming because I honestly didn't even know that an industry such as that existed. We went back to the boat and ate lunch. We started to sail back to shore and our short visit to Ha Long Bay came to an end. We had a long bus ride back and we got in around dinner time. We ate dinner at this amazing rooftop restaurant and then explored the night markets of Hanoi. The streets in Hanoi are blocked off so that vendors can line the street every weekend. It was busy and crowded, but so much fun.

I didn't even sleep because I didn't want to miss my early morning flight. I flew back to Ho Chi Minh City on the first flight out. After a quick stop at the ship to drop off our belongings, we went to the Vietnam War Museum. It was heavy, and it was hard to view such horrific and graphic images. It seemed like a completely different war when viewing it from a different perspective.

After our time at the museum, we went shopping at another market because we needed to end on a lighter note. We ate lunch and ended our time in Vietnam. After 32 hours without sleep, I passed out at 3PM and said farewell to Vietnam.