Viet Nam!

Hello everyone!

Xin Chao from Vietnam, Lauren here! So far our trip has been amazing! We have spent the last two days in Ho Chi Minh City at the city center. Our first full day in the city we spent getting our bearings straight and making sure to do all the tourist sightseeing we could find. We saw: the Re-unification Palace, the War Museum, a few art galleries by local artists, the Notre Dame Cathedral and a city sculpture park. We walked all day until our feet were killing us! Things we have learned: 1) They have the best coffee in Vietnam! 2) Little children will assault you (aka Jared) to get you to buy postcards... 3) You can't go wrong with anything that you order on the menu (all food has been incredible) 4) The local people here have been extremely friendly and helpful to us 5) The traffic is INSANE! No lanes, no rules, cross quick or die.

On our second day we headed to the cu chi tunnels about an hour outside the city. The tunnels were used during the Vietnam war for the vietcong community to hide from enemy fire. The tunnel system is incredibly intricate and well built! We had the opportunity to crawl through the tunnels which Jared, Rick and I gladly accepted. Jared crawled through all 150meters of tunnels that we were allowed to enter. It was dark, wet, hot, extremely small and kind of scary! But definitely worth the experience. When we got back from the tunnels we took the afternoon off to relax after having a fun lunch entailing habachi esq bbq. Sara and I got our nails done at a local spa that included a 2-hour foot and leg massage for only $30! We spent the afternoon talking with the girls at the spa and drinking tea....the boys spent the afternoon in the hotel worried that we died. When we got back we got ready for dinner and a night out on the town! First we hit up a Kareoke bar (when we meant to find a restaurant...oops) We went to the international dance club called Apocalypse Now (seriously...) and we quickly found out that this was a place for Vietnamiese women to pick up American husbands! Let's just say that Sara and I got some evil stares and the boys had a GREAT time.

Today we headed to the beach on the east coast of Vietnam which is beautiful and relaxing! There are little hotels everywhere and we are now at a casino grabbing a mid-day drink. We are thinking of heading to Cambodia a day early (tomorrow afternoon) so we have more time to explore the ruins and temples. We miss everyone very much! I'll update you when we can..it is very difficult to find free internet and a computer.