I was initially worried about landing in Vietnam because I absolutely had to find Thinh or else I'd be lost and unable to communicate. He landed back in Vietnam from Thailand and Cambodia just a couple of hours before my flight landed, so it all worked out well. I stayed with him and his cousins in Ho Chi Minh City the first night and we flew out to Da Nang the next morning. It was a little unfortunate I wasn't able to explore Ho Chi Minh City, but that's okay, I had a lot of fun anyway. =)
Since my first day in Da Nang was Christmas Eve, Thinh and I decided we'd get into the Christmas spirit a little and buy a tree to decorate. This is where I learned how much VND are worth, which made me thoroughly confused since I had USD, VND, and Yen in my wallet all at the same time. (1 USD = 16,000VND). Thinh's family, like most of Vietnam, is Buddhist, so there was no real point to the tree except to have some fun. We also stopped to get sugar cane juice from a street vendor, which was yummy. Street vendors have some amazing food. Afterwards, I went to meet his aunt, who I think my mom would have gotten along with perfectly if they were able to speak the same language. She owns a fabric store on a busy street that's full of all kinds of great material. She's also very generous, which I learned when she brought out grapefruit, bananas, coconut, baos, tea, and guava for us to eat while she talked with Thinh. That also made me fall in love with fruit in Vietnam. It's delicious!
Since it was Christmas Eve, we went to a restaurant called Viet Nam by the beach. That was my first experience riding a motorbike, even though my dad told me not to. (It's actually not as scary as the bus, but that will come later.) We had a great dinner with Thinh, his cousin Quan, and Quan's friends. Afterwards, we tried to go clubbing, but it didn't really work out to well, but it was fun figuring out what to do while we were actually in the process. XD
The next day, I had my first bowl of Pho, which was a little disappointing because it's so similar to what they make in the U.S. Haha, so moving on...I went to My Son with Thinh and his cousins. My Son is a collection of ancient ruins. There are the remains of statues and temples everywhere. The funny square structure with the pole sticking out of it is, go figure, a fertility symbol. There was also a very pretty column engraved with sanskrit that I loved. It rained a lot while we were there, but I really enjoyed looking at all the Buddhist art and sculptures that were around. Japan doesn't have anything like that, and definitely nowhere near as much work done in stone. Absolutely stunning.We ended the day with a meal of Thinh's favorite (chicken and pan fried noodles) and then went to a cafe called Googol with his cousin and her friend. (Cafes are the hangouts in Vietnam.) The cafe was great. I don't have any shots of it, but Thinh does, so hopefully I'll be able to get them from him. (He also has a brand new beautiful Canon camera that made everything look amazing.)
More to come, but I'm getting tired. Don't worry, I"ll add in pictures when I have the time...
