Falling in love with Ho Chi Minh City

Not sure what we were in for, we woke up to a cultural cooking class. Little did we know, that hotel also happened to be a five star hotel with the chefs teaching us how to make spring rolls. The place was seriously beautiful, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a fancier and well-decorated place in my life. The ceiling was high with a skylight and there were 12 feet tall plants in giant pots. The entire place just radiated with a glow of wealth and power. It was such a nice establishment in fact that I was inspired to become a millionaire just to have more of the nicer things in life I’ve encountered. After a history and a tour of the hotel as a hotspot for foreigners, we started our class. Basically, how to make spring rolls was to get some rice paper, get it wet with water, put in shrimp and other veggies, and then finally roll it up into a nice Vietnamese burrito. They didn’t even taste half bad either.

      

Following this class we were treated to the buffet of a high class five star hotel buffet which honestly ranks in the top 5 of my best meals of all time. There was so much food already prepared and available that I ate twice the amount I normally eat for a meal and was full for the whole day. They had these cuts of ham that make my mouth water writing this, and these amazingly well-seasoned sausages. I also ate some salmon and chips that were to die for. The rice was yellow with seasoning but tasted better than any rice I’ve ever had. Period. What was really worth writing about however were the desserts. Everything deserves mention but I only had the chocolate cake because I liked them so much. There was a raspberry filling in them that took the edge off the chocolate and just made it so much better. Other people swear by the lemon cake which was apparently “better than everything else by a mile” which I find hard to believe. Also there was a cocktail jelly drink which had a liquid and jelly part. Apparently it tasted “like a millionaire”. Words can do no justice for the spread we were given on that morning.

Afterwards we went to Saigon Newport which was a shipping and logistics site. It was pretty cool to see how Vietnam handles its unique logistics problems and how expansive their network is. With the conclusion of the presentation we were given a showing of the control tower where a lot of the expensive operational hardware and software was kept. The show really started when we were given a bus tour of the actual ship yard where we saw massive containers being lifted and placed. The hotel was our next destination.

Mmm shipyards

As with every other day, the evening was where things got interesting in Vietnam. Everyone sort of split up during the night and went out to get dinner in groups which really showed how things were changing. Instead of the massive groups of people that barely knew each other going out to get food, smaller tight groups of friends organized trips to go out and explore. What made things a lot better too was how everyone got along so well with everyone else.

What I ended up doing was seeing a few students from UEF who wanted to take me out to dinner and see the city. It was different for me because I was completely separated from the rest of the Pittsburgh people. They took me to an outdoor restaurant which was cool and then took me to a bridge which was a beautiful location at night. I felt so close with some of the students there and never felt so close and so appreciative of the city. I ended the day sitting in front of the tower that was filmed as Stark tower in the avengers bonding with the UEF students. It was a night I’ll never forget.