History meets Dehydration

Our day started out with an early but short flight from Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to our next location, Da Nang.

This kid cracked me up "Dad Pose" at the airport 

 After an hour long flight, we landed in Da Nang. This coastal city was a popular R&R location for soldiers and other military members during the war. The Americans nicknamed the beach “China Beach” and was also used as the basis for the tv show China Beach in the 1980s which focused on the experience of female nurses in the Vietnam War.

The first stop we made was to the Cham Museum which was full of statues from the ancient times of Vietnamese History. They were displayed much like museums in the states display these kinds of artifacts. I would qualify it as an art show, the various statues and relief pieces were installed on columns or the walls depending on the pieces. They were given a very basic label which just said what the piece was in both Vietnamese and English. While one could learn a lot by reading some of the introductory labels and other panels strategically placed around the museum, there were also handouts about the pieces which a visitor could utilize for greater interpretation of the pieces if they desired.

Melissa and I, it was so bright outside you can barely see the top of what we think is a monastery from the second floor of the museum. 

 After spending some time in the museum we headed to Hoi An for lunch, which included a pit stop at the beach and since we were in the Marble Mountain area we also stopped at a marble shop. On the way to the shop we learned that the marble industry is literally ruining the landscape of Vietnam. It is a very popular commodity and in the past 3 years 2 entire mountains have been destroyed.

Da Nang Beach, part of "China Beach" 

Best beach view ever! 

The gorgeous mountains with a partial shot of a marble lion statue 

 Hoi An is known as the cultural heritage town in Vietnam. The government has passed laws and statues to enforce historic preservation of the city, which caters specifically to tourists. After consuming a delicious multi-course lunch (as most of our meals are here) we headed on a 1 ½ hour walk about the city. It was blistering hot and I was not feeling well, but trekked through. We learned that Hoi An was a major port city in Vietnam, and that was apparent through the collision of cultures between Chinese and Japanese. This is very evident through the architectural styles and the town was lovely to stroll through. I just kept focusing on how pretty it was.

This is the Japanese covered bridge it separates the Japanese and Chinese sections of town

Entrance to the Japanese Bridge

 Probably the weirdest part of our day was at the so called "Oldest House in Hoi An." We thought it was going to be your basic tour, and then it turned into a QVC special. We moved from our starting point to a back room where you could purchase embroidered table cloths and napkins. Upstairs our tour continued and so did the selling pitch. We were invited to "tea" where a woman proceeded to try and sell us coasters, other odds and ends, and the best was the opium pipe. We all were a bit uncomfortable, and I gave a small donation so that I didn't seem like a total jerk. It was hilarious.

Interior of the oldest house in Hoi An 

A fisherman, when the tide comes up he lowers a giant net into the water and then back up in the hopes of catching some fish, it was fascinating to watch.

We then checked into our hotel which ended up being a lovely resort. What a surprise! Melissa and I could barely contain ourselves. After an exhausting and very hot day we were in a beautiful relaxing resort with a spa! We had free time so we decided to go get manicures. After a nap we headed into town for dinner which was entirely to delicious. I had lost a lot of electrolytes that day so I drank an entire coconut which fun fact has loads of natural electrolytes. A cautionary tale for anyone traveling to Vietnam during the summer months it is brutally hot and humid thus very very easy to become dehydrated so water is key to survival.

Manicure View 

The Coconut! Yay for electrolytes

Tunnels, Palaces, and Museums...Oh My!!

Today has been an amazing first full day in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).
Melissa and I started out by heading to the one and only Starbucks at 6:15am. We had to wait outside for about 15 mins for them to open, but spent our time taking pictures. I was able to try the Indulgence Asian Dolce Latte, and it was so delicious. I also got a BBQ Pork Wrap which was one of the most delicious food items I've ever gotten from Starbucks. I also fulfilled my mission of getting a Vietnam Mug and we admired the inside of the store before heading back to our hotel to meet up with our group who was at breakfast.

We then began our 1 1/2 hour journey through Ho Chi Minh, a Rubber Plantation, and the countryside to the Cu Chi Tunnels. They have turned the infamous system heavily utilized throughout the French and American Wars into a tourist site. We got to crawl all around the tunnels which had been widened for tourists.

The view coming out of a tunnel 

Dylan descending into one of the tunnels. 

Photo-op with the mannequin

Cassava with a salt, sugar, and peanut blend

Northern Vietnamese performing surgery in a tunnel.

From there we headed to a firing range that was part of the tunnels. I got to shoot 5 rounds in an M-16 rifle. 

Cody (who is blind) giving me aiming tips, hilarious and helpful

We headed back into town for lunch which had oh so many courses that were incredibly delicious.
For the afternoon portion of our day, we headed to the Reunification Palace (Independence Palace) where our guide Phoung took us around and showed us the highlights.

Reunification Palace

 After the palace, we headed to the War Remnants Museum. This museum is clearly telling the story of the French and American War through a communist lens by using photographs and some artifacts. They strange part about most of these cultural locations is that they are very open air. Which as a museum professional kind of freaked me out, but the galleries were climate controlled to some degree. The objects are also essentially used to the crazy humidity here. The three levels contained different exhibitions that were topical to the war. I chose to go to the Effect of Agent Orange gallery which looked at how the ten year period from 1961-1971 that the United States dropped NaPalm on Vietnam has had a lasting and horrific affect on the Vietnamese people. It was incredibly sad. We then journeyed to the Historical Truths gallery which definitely used sensationalized language to tell about the events that led up to the United States entering Vietnam for war. The final exhibition that I liked was about the various protests that happened around the world against U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Not only did anti-war protests happen at home but in just about every major city and country you could name. That was eye opening to me, to see how many people around the world were rooting for Vietnam to just be left alone and free.

War Remnants Museum 

 We left the museum and headed back to the hotel to freshen up before a delicious dinner. After consuming a lot of food, several of us decided to head out and explore a night market, Saigon Square, and other aspects of night life here in Ho Chi Minh. We ended up at a lovely establishment entitled the Drunken Duck which we all thought was hilariously named. After consuming a drink we split off with part of the group going back to the hotel and four of us decided to go look at a couple really cool architectural buildings. I was able to get a really nice Filipino man to take a group shot of us and then we headed back to the hotel.

It has been a crazy full day and I cannot wait to see what kind of shenanigans happen tomorrow. Vietnam is pretty awesome.

Epic Flight!

Well we have completed our epic 24+ hour journey half way around the world in order to arrive in this beautiful, muggy, rainy, hot country.

We started out by leaving Flagler College at 3am. About 15 minutes after we left, our professor received a phone call from another bus driver wondering where we were. Apparently our group had accidentally been double booked with bus companies. The hilarity continued as we realized that we not only had one coach size bus for 10 people, but two. Crazy things happen.

The craziness continued on our flight from Orlando to Los Angeles. We had a winning moment when a group of us realized we were sitting in the two emergency rows in the middle of the plain. Hello glorious leg room! About 10 minutes into the flight at the tail end of take off an older woman behind me threw up and then appeared to be having a stroke. They called for any doctors or nurses on the plain, and about half the plain seemed to be so including an ER nurse, anesthesiologist, and some other kind of doctor. Well the woman wasn’t having a stroke, but through out the flight continued to receive medical attention, and about 2/3rds of the way through they gave her an IV. That has never happened on a flight before!

Melissa E. and I on the Plane 

We landed at LAX, paramedics took the older woman off the plane and we proceeded to our next gate, we had 20 minutes before the plane began to board for Tokyo. This was our longest flight about 16 hours. I watched parts of 3 movies, Gangster Squad, Guilt Trip, and Quartet. I also attempted to sleep and took SleepWorks by Advocare, it definitely knocked me out, but because it was a plane I wasn’t able to sleep in a super long stretch of time.  I ended up missing a snack and a meal, but they give you a lot of food that is not particularly great so no harm done. I sat in front of my friend Melissa E. and had a window seat. We tried to sit together, but the women on the aisle seats of our row didn’t seem to keen on the idea, so we dropped it.

View from the plane in Tokyo going to Vietnam 

We arrived in Tokyo, went through security again, and connected to our next flight to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. From here we switched from flying American Airlines, to one of their affiliates, Japan Airlines. Flying international airlines is awesome, because the food is so much better. For our dinner we had the choice between Chicken and Fried Rice or Pickled Plum and Seaweed flavored rice with grilled Spanish Mackerel. I got the latter dish and it was surprisingly delicious. The dinner also came with two side type boxes of food. One contained a potato salad type concoction with salami, shrimp, and another fish piece that may have been squid. The second component was noodles, tofu, spinach, and perhaps crispy tofu. The dinner ended with Haagan Daz ice cream and coffee or tea. Yum. Also they were the first airline to provide us with actual metal utensils and even a hard plastic cup for tea as opposed to the paper or foam cups of other airlines.

Japanese Airlines Food 

While we left at 9am from Orlando on May 21^st, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh on May 22^nd at 10pm. With the time changes and the amount of time it took to travel, we have essentially lost an entire day, and my brain is very confused. Tomorrow our journey of Ho Chi Minh begins.

Preparing for the 'Nam

Tuesday I'm leaving on a very long journey to Vietnam. I have the amazing opportunity to go on a Vietnam War study abroad trip to Vietnam with my lovely undergrad institution and my favorite history professor who I went to Europe with 3 years ago.
Many people are shocked when I tell them that I am going to Vietnam. They look at me and wonder why in the world I am going all the way to this southeast Asia country. Well because I have done most of my undergraduate and a lot of graduate school research and projects related to the Vietnam War. My first project examined the roles of women in the Vietnam War from nurses, to the women's army corp, red cross workers, and other civilian organizations. In addition I continued to further examine this War and women's place in it throughout grad school.

Second  Lieutenant Kathleen Sullivan treating a Vietnamese child 

All of this research was spurred by a conversation that I was fortunate to stumble upon in undergrad. I was conducting oral history interviews with woman veterans when I found a woman who had been a nurse in the Vietnam War. Since that day I have essentially become obsessed with finding out more about this war and time period.
Enter this lovely study abroad trip with my favorite professor from my undergrad, Flagler College. It will be a fast paced trip through a country that is comparable to the size of New Mexico in land area.

Our Itinerary has us in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) and surrounding area for about 3 days. We will explore the Cu Chi Tunnels, Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, and a floating market. 

Tour guide demonstrates a secret entrance into the Cu Chi Tunnels 

From there we will begin our journey north stopping in Da Nang and the Cham Museum, followed by Hoi An where we will visit the iconic and famous My Khe beach which was nicknamed "China Beach" by the English, and the Marble Mountains.

My Khe Beach aka "China Beach"

 In addition to these we will get a change to explore Hoi An including a bicycle excursion into the countryside. (I haven't ridden a bike in a couple years so this will be interesting). After a full day of exploring we will begin our journey to Hue which was a former capital of Vietnam and full of the ancient history of Vietnam. We are scheduled to explore the Tomb of Tu Doc, Khai Dinh, and Minh Mang. That afternoon we will get to ride down the perfume river exploring the 200-year-old Citadel and Imperial City.

Imperial City 

 Our final stop in our tour through the country will be in Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam during the war. Our major stops will be the Ho Chi Minh Complex and the Hoa Lo Prison, aka the "Hanoi Hilton" which became famous when American POWs were held there. This trip will be eventful and amazing. I cannot wait to see all that Vietnam has and visit the first and only Starbucks located in Ho Chi Minh! 

(all pictures come from Wikipedia) 

Vlog

So I decided to make a video during our first day of travel. The sound seems to be a bit wonky, and I totally look ridiculous, but whatever. Enjoy!

Chaperoning

I just got back from my first trip as a chaperone and not a student. It was a totally different experience yet it was practically the same as going on a trip, except I was in charge of over 30 7th graders and that freaked me out a little. However it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I had an okay time and it was totally fun to be an "adult." I really don't think it would have been so bad but it was so hot outside that everyone was miserable. Although what we did last week was for God and I'm glad that I went