Official Day 1: Let the hunt begin

Saturday night we found out our first destination. Vietnam! So that night we had a 12 1/2 hour flight to Taipei where we would have an hour layover, then another three hour flight to Ho Chi Minh city and arrive Monday.

So as soon as we found out about the flight, we went to our rooms to pack and nap before taking the subway to the airport. Once we got to the airport, I was a bit out of it but ready to rock and roll. We got through security pretty smoothly except that they had to check if my scissors were small enough (they were), other than that we got to the gate and boarded fairly quickly. 

Now for the plan ride. I, being the lucky duck I am, got smushed between a stranger and my dad. Joy. I first read a few chapters of the Odyssey, I know my teachers are thinking, “what a responsible student” and my response to that is “Thank you, you’re making me blush.” Anyway after finishing some Odyssey, I decided to watch some shows I downloaded on Netflix and nap, cause I’m a pro multi-tasker. So some information that my sister divulged about this trip is that it really helps you learn to sleep on planes. My response to that is “it ain’t workin yet.” The nap on the plane, I’m pretty sure made my back speed up to about 60 years old, my knees speed up to about 55 years old and the rest of me a bit dead. To sum up what that meant (for those who don’t speak fluent Emory), the nap was a big fat turd. It’s okay though, that was not anything surprising, just unpleasant. 

We arrived in Vietnam and had to wait a few hours to check into our hotels. Once we checked in, we were given the scavenge book. First my dad and I went to a book store to buy some maps and travel guides. Then we went to a nearby cafe to plan out everything. We also did a few social scavenges there. We asked some locals questions about their life in Vietnam and stuff. 

Since I did a lot today, I’m just gonna talk about the memorable stuff.

So today Daddy and I went to a fancy karaoke place for one of the scavenges. Me being a shy person wasn’t all too excited to go but like my dad always says “get comfortable being uncomfortable.” So we went in and got a private room. Score! Unfortunately many of the songs were in Vietnamese, not really surprising since I’m in Vietnam. Fortunately one song was in English. Let it go. Yes, Let it Go from Frozen. So we decided to sing it. Once we started to jam out we realized  it’s the wrong version and has the wrong lyrics. I know, total let down. 

Another memorable scavenge was the massage. One teammate had to get a traditional Vietnamese massage. Unfortunately that teammate was me. Although it is relaxing to lie down on a comfy mattress with fancy sheets, it is uncomfortable to be doing that with no shirt or bra and have a person touching you. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I didn’t have such a big aversion to physical touch but it is what it is. One thing I did like about it was the hot rocks. They were very smooth and relaxing.

Onto the next. For one of the scavenged we had to try this food where it was a cooked baby chicken in the egg. I know your thinking, “isn’t that just a hard boiled egg?” It’s not. It’s when the baby chicken actually grows in the egg and then is cooked a little before it would’ve hatched. This is one of those foods that send “mixed signals.” This meaning that it looked like a white, turd slug sphere but smelled and tasted like egg yolk and chicken. It tasted very good but we just had to close our eyes when we ate it. But it was a great experience!

That’s all the memorable ones that I can think of right now. Well everything is memorable, those were just the super memorable ones. This was a pretty great first official day. 

talking to local

massage

karaoke