Saturday, May 12, 2012

Today we did not have class or company visits, so we got to do fun stuff around HCMC all day. First we went to the Reunification Palace. It was originally built by the French during the French Colonization period as the Norodom Palace, and then it became the Independence Palace when the French were defeated in the battle of Dien Bien Phu. The president of South Vietnam lived and worked at the palace until Saigon fell in 1975. When North and South Vietnam were reunited to become the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, the palace was renamed the Reunification Palace. We got to go inside the palace and see all of the different meeting rooms. In the basement, we got to see some historic maps and also technology (such as radios, telephones, and projectors) that was used in the war. The front of the palace is supposed to look like bamboo because it is a symbol of Vietnam. Also, the shape of the bamboo rods catch the sunlight and make the building very pretty.

Next we rode over to the Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral. Both are very pretty buildings that we took lots of pictures of. The cathedral was closed when we were there, so we just went inside the post office, which has a little market in it. I bought some little gifts in it, which, again, I’ll keep a surprise. Afterwards, we drove to a Buddhist Temple. The architecture was that of a traditional pagoda, but it was made with all new materials. While we were there, an art class was sitting outside sketching the temple. Before we went inside, we had to take our shoes off. We lit incense and prayed. The temple was filled with flowers and gifts for the dead, which reminded me of El Día de los Muertes in Mexico.

Afterwards we went to lunch at the hotel and cooled off a little bit in the pool. We met up with our UEF friends to go to the market. I walked around with Tam, Wen, and Alex, and Tam helped us find good bargains. She was very helpful. I bought a ton of stuff, which I am really excited to bring home. The market was a little less crowded this time, but it was still very overwhelming.

Next, we went to dinner at a Karaoke Bar with our UEF friends. My friend My told me that she would sing a song if I would, so the two of us sang a Backstreet Boys song together. It was pretty funny. We ate beef with noodles, which was pretty good. We were able to get a private room at the Karaoke Bar that could fit our whole group. It was really classy looking, and I couldn’t believe we were able to get the room. It had one long booth that curled at both ends, so we all squished in. The wall opposite us had a big flatscreen TV where the music video and words showed up. I had a really fun time!