Vietnam, Day One !

The beginning of Vietnam.

This morning I woke up at four thirty; what an amazing start of this trip is the first thing that came to my mind. We then all met at the airport, and I wouldn't be lying if said we were all kind of lacking interest and looked rather tired and grumpy, at least that is how Emilie looked like for the first few hours or so, lovely friends ...

As we got through all the check in and the security areas, I was finally going to get my sought after breakfast, but no. "Guys we don't have enouh time!" is the response I got from Ms. Tu. Me, Lydia and Emilie ran to get something to eat on the go, and after paying 5,30 for a coffee I felt even hungrier after having to throw more then half away because of the amazing rule not being allowed drinks into the gate.

We finally got into the plane; realized that I was assigned seats with Alex and Tait, trust me after two and a half hours with these two, wierd humorous guys I was happy to be out of the plane and fianlly be in Vietnam for the first time. We now arrived at the hotel, and I'm really waiting for that shower.

BYEE

Frida

Fianl events of Day 1

After the Night Market we came home and rested for a bit, and put all of the very ‘real’ clothes ;) (There were definitely no fake brands in the market) back in our rooms before we went to dinner. Unfortunately a lot of the stalls were closing when we arrived and a lot of the people proved to be very hard bargainers.
After our shopping trip we went to dinner, on the bus to the restaurant we were entertained by Gaurav and Emilie in their intense battle for who could actually come up with the most stupid comment of Vietnam 09 (they were not entirely aware they were under observation.)
The meal was really good and we left to get on the coach with 24 full bellies and 24 sets of very tired eyes.
- Alex

vietnam day 1 (mid day events)

We took the bus to some food court with several Vietnamese cousines, I personally think that the food wasn’t exactly what I’m used to in Singapore. There were many funny occasions such as Karl’s eating of the mysterious leaf plant…. Following this amazing lunch we traveled on our homey bus, there we got the shock of our lives; we discovered the ways of torture in the Vietnam war which was well gruesome. There was one torture method that extremely disturbed the ladies of the group, and relied on using live snakes to all sorts of terrifying things… scary right?

I’m looking forward to tonight. (pillow fight)
Tait

A very full day upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh

Well the day finally arrived and after much anticipation the participants of the OFS Service trip to Vietnam finally got underway at a bleary eyed 5:30 am from Changi Airport this morning... Despite the early departure time the students were in great spirits and everyone was excited to finally be on their way... We landed in a bustling, sticky Ho Chi Minh and caught our bus to the air-conditioned sanctuary of our hotel.

After some much needed rest and freshning up we headed out to a Vietnamese restaurant to feast on "banh xeo" a type of pancake cooked on charcoal and stuffed with all manner of meats and vegetables and then eaten in a pouch of various leaves and herbs... Needless to say everyone wolfed down the delicious food and immediately took to all of the new flavor combinations.

After lunch we headed back on to the bus once more, to navigate the unbelievable jam of bikes and people as we made our way slowly to our next destination, the War Museum.

As we wondered past shocking picture after shocking picture, much of our exuberance was tempered by the realities of all that the Vietnamese people have endured in their recent history and we realized that this is the same place featured in so many of the movies we have all seen. These weren't scenes from a movie though. This was graphic reality. As we left the museum, more quietly than we had arrived, I for one took solace in the fact that we are all here to try and do a little to help people who have clearly endured more than I could possibly begin to imagine.

Right now we are back at our comfy hotel ruminating on all we have seen already. As we shelter from a thunderstorm and prepare for a nocturnal adventure to the night market and food stalls we all have a lot to think about... I have no doubt that by the time everyone makes it to bed tonight we will all be ready for a good long sleep .

Tomorrow is is another early rise and a two hour bus drive out into the jungle where we will meet the people whose house we are all going to try and build.