In February, 2023, 19 first year students from various degrees flew to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for a cultural immersion trip filled with laughter, memories and new international friendships.
With nervous excitement running through all of us, we laughed together at the airport and during our long nine hour flight. After touching down whilst waiting to pass through customs, we were entertained with numerous videos and pictures of our SEA Vietnam buddies eagerly waiting for us outside. We were welcomed with big waves and even bigger smiles as we got to meet our buddies whom we had been getting to know for weeks prior and started our journey through the bustling Ho Chi Minh City.
Once we got settled, we went to dinner with our buddies, where we experienced various plates of delicious Vietnamese foods including Vietnamese spring rolls, wraps and a type of coffee flan for dessert. It was really nice to be with people who were so accommodating and energetic, especially considering we were all so tired after such a long day. We received a warm welcome speech, some preparations for the trip and even a live performance skit, by the buddies, on how to barter at the local markets. After such an amazing first night, full of joy and delicious food, there was not a doubt in our minds that we would have the time of our lives on this trip.
After a much-needed sleep, we woke up excited for our first day in Ho Chi Minh City. We walked to the classroom where our orientation was held by our Vietnamese local buddies. There, we were taught about the different tones existing in Vietnamese phonology and key phrases that proved extremely helpful throughout the trip. We were also prepped on important sentences we could use to bargain at the markets later that day.
After our orientation, we were treated to some Vietnamese iced coffee and got to know each other a little better. We were then divided into two teams. Team 1 gathered at the park across from the Independence Palace where they learnt about the history and political significance of the building. They then learnt how to play a Vietnamese folk game called “Banh dua” which involves throwing a bunch of chopsticks on the ground, throwing a ball up into the air and picking up all the chopsticks back up before catching the ball. Meanwhile, Team 2 visited the Ngoc Hoang (“Jade Emperor”) Pagoda where they viewed a number of the temple’s statues that are significant to Buddhist and Taoist lore. They then participated in the photo challenge where they had to ask some locals visiting the temple in Vietnamese if they could take a photo with them. The teams then swapped tour destinations before lunch time before trying some delicious phở.
After lunch, we all met together at the Southern Women’s Museum where we all learnt about Ao Dai (traditional women’s clothing) and the history of Vietnamese women in war. We were then further divided into four teams and given the Vietnamese words for three different types of fruit. We were sent off to different market stalls to go and bargain for these fruits without knowing what they were. We definitely couldn’t have done this without a few reminders from our local buddies of the phrases we learnt at orientation. We soon all ended up with dragon fruit, custard apples, oranges, and a few other treats! After that, we all met up at a nice café where each team presented their bounty and told everyone how much they spent. Team 2 were crowned the winners of the market challenge by Mr Tai.
On day three, exhaustion and jet lag beginning to set in, we set out to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels on the outskirts of Ho Chi Minh City. As we travelled north, I remember being struck with how diverse the environment was; the cityscape oscillating between historical architecture and modern designs, urban residences and immense garden spaces. During this time, our wonderful tour guide, Mr Tai, took the opportunity to share the history of the tunnels in a number of conflicts faced by Vietnam. We were grateful that Mr Tai could also share the experiences of his family during the Vietnam War.
Upon arriving in Cu Chi, we were once again acquainted with the extreme humidity of our host nation. We found ourselves in a forested area, which was preserved in respect of the district’s history. It was surreal to explore this place that had witnessed such violence in decades past. We first sat down to learn more about the tunnel systems and how they were used in guerilla warfare, as supply routes, hiding spots and even as living quarters before trying our hands at camouflaging a tunnel entrance. It was difficult to imagine spending one’s days within the claustrophobic passages and caverns of Cu Chi and harder still to imagine having to navigate the dense undergrowth in fear of an ambush or inadvertently activating a trap. Catching but a mere glimpse of these lived experiences from wartime Vietnam is something that none of us are likely to ever forget.
The afternoon saw us back on the bus headed to the War Remnants Museum. It is difficult, even in retrospect, to put to words the value of this experience. We started our exploration of the museum’s top floor. We were met with an overview of the various conflicts Vietnam had faced in the past century; very much what we expected to occur. However, as we descended the floors the lived horror of war was revealed. The displays of chemical warfare, war crimes and the extreme violence were difficult to stomach. The reality of these exhibits were too grotesque to describe in detail now but were as educational as they were confronting. There was hardly a dry eye amidst the group. Needless to say, we learned a lot.
The itinerary of our sixth day in Vietnam was affectionately nicknamed “Education day,” as we were set to visit the Lac Hong Bilingual School and Lac Hong University. In the morning, we boarded the bus to travel over to the bilingual school. The first thing we were struck by was how big the school was and how many students there were – children from K-12 attended and the campus was absolutely huge! All of the students playing outdoors waved to us from a distance and many teachers from the school greeted us warmly at the gates, which was a wonderful welcome.
We were all given the opportunity to pair up with a teacher and introduce ourselves, and then were given a tour around the grounds. All of the students were very keen on saying hello and giving high-fives as we walked past! Following our tour, the teachers that we paired up with took us to their classrooms to give us the opportunity to teach classes from the junior school. Each of us had the opportunity to do things such as teach students our names, Aussie games like heads down thumbs up, and help them fill out worksheets on details such as our favourite colours and animals to help them practice their English. After teaching our class, we were taken to the school cafeteria and treated to lunch while we continued to get to know the school teachers.
Following our visit to the Bilingual School, we travelled to the nearby Lac Hong University where we were given a guided tour through some of their most impressive and innovative rooms – including a news production room and multiple robotics and tech laboratories. The university also gave us a presentation about the university; complete with a musical piece and trivia about Vietnam! Each of the students and the faculty members of the university that we met with were so welcoming and very willing to answer every one of our questions, and it was interesting to see how their university was both similar and different from the University of Newcastle.
The Mekong Delta Tour was a long awaited highlight that our buddies had been telling us about for the past week and covered Days 7 and 8 of our tour. We started the day bright and early at 8am to head on to a 2 hour bus trip to meet our boat at the delta. We started by visiting the last of the floating markets and enjoying some coconut water before continuing on. Mr Tai (our tour guide), was able to show us the rice milling factories where they remove the husk off rice for farmers. The farmers keep the rice and the factory keeps and on sells the husks either in vietnam or exports it as a burning material. After this, we visited one of the families that makes use of the rice. We were shown the processes they have innovated to get the most use from the rice. They are able pop rice to turn it into a crispy treat by drying it out and cooking it in a large pan with some of the sand from the delta. They make their own caramel candies using the rice which they make and package all by hand as well as producing their own rice wine. We all got to try some of each product and it was surprisingly delicious and similar to things we are able to buy at the supermarkets here in Newcastle. I will say though, that rice wine has far more alcohol content and is much more potent than the alcohol products available here.
We moved on to go and find some lunch, we docked and went on a long walk, by this point we were all pretty tired. We found ourselves at Ba Kiet Old House, it is known as one of the nine great beauties of vietnam. The house was built around 1838, all made from precious vietnamese woods such as ironwood and rosewood. Almost every part of the house is decorated elaborate with hand carved patterns typical of the old house style in the Southern region during that time period. It is the last one still remaining. Here we ate lunch and it was very peculiar, our appetisers were recognisable dishes like spring rolls and vegetable soup with noodles but the main dish definitely made me lose my appetite. In australia before cooking a fish we descale, debone and remove the internal organs. In vietnam, they do not prepare the fish beyond washing it. The others did not seem so bothered by this but i was genuinely terrified, I swore I could feel it looking at me.
After lunch we continued on out boat tour by seeing various musical performances in the traditional folk style of South Vietnam. After each performance Mr Tai would explain what each song was about. Each unique but instead of the literal sense of current music, they were stories told through lyrical poems. Last was our turn on the small boats that locals use to traverse the river. Known as sampans, they’re manoeuvred by a local standing at the end using two large paddles and incase that doesnt work they use whipper snipper’s as a back up motor , we had be incredibly careful to not tip them. On these we were taken through a narrow water way that went past locals houses. We saw the jackfruit trees, a variety of farm animals and laughed at titanic jokes as we all came to the conclusion if a sampan can hold 4 of us surely, there was more space on that door for jack.
At the end of our tour we said good bye to the captain and disembarked to head towards our homestay. We met a local at a petrol station where we all collected these sturdy metal bikes and rode about 1km to our accommodation. I was a bit rusty so I nearly knocked a few people out at one point almost falling off but, we all made it one piece. Once arrived we were given our rooms and the afternoon for rest, we played pool and card games, did some exploring, chilled out in some hammocks to call home and gave it a go on the tree swing, while occasionally raiding Mr Tai’s snack collection to try different vietnamese snacks.
We all met back up for dinner where with Mr Tai’s help translating we were shown how to make our own spring rolls, it took us a while to make enough to feed all of us but it was so worth it in the end. As a welcoming gift the owners of the retreat shared some of their personal collection of wine, but didn’t tell us which one. There were three large containers, 2 with snakes and one with bark. More than a little hesitant we gave each other a look of uncertainty but ultimately decided ‘when in rome’. We said our vietnamese cheers and gratefully drank it. It burned our throats as we all laughed as Mr Tai told us it wasn’t the one with snakes, he just wanted to trick us to see our reaction.
Mr Tai was catching up with the owners as they were old friends while the rest of played this really fast charades game that Hannah taught us. We laughed at each other alot during that as our guesses were often very random. Mr Tai found a guitar and serenaded us but couldn’t remember any english songs so instead found a tune and replaced every word with na na na. We couldn’t help but laugh along with him. Lulu had a shot after Mr Tai and played us a sweet melody. By this point we were all exhausted and headed off to bed in our bungalows.
For Day 8, it was another early wake up, we got to visit a locals home but to get there we rode 6km there and back throughout rural south vietnam. Surely giving the villagers a startle at first but we quickly became popular with people waving as we sped through the communities. Once arrived a local woman served us tea while we recouped from the sweltering heat. Once we had cooled down she taught us how to make Jackfruit leaf cake otherwise known as bánh lá mít. Turning rice into a glutenous paste mixing it with strained jackfruit leaf juice and then pressing the dough onto the leaves and curling them to be put over a fire. Mr Tai gave us some coconut cream to try with the cooked bánh lá mít and it was delicious, it added an extra sweetness that perfectly balanced the flavours. After, it was time to head back to the homestay to pack up, so we rode the 6km journey but took the slightly longer scenic route as we were determined to see a little bit more before we had to leave.
Once at the homestay we took a second to regain our strength, we packed our bags and headed off to return our bikes. On the way we got to see how a local uses plants from the delta to make baskets and other weaved products. A few of us including me got a weaved bracelet. A short walk from here took us back to the boat where we travelled back to meet our bus and arrived at the end of our day back in Ho Chi Minh City.
Global Traveller 