Trip to Vietnam

     Well... I have a lot of free time. Recently I went to Vietnam with my family and some of my mum's friends. So, I would like to write about my experience there and the differences of Vietnam and Malaysia, in my opinion.

     We went to Ho Chi Minh City. When I first arrived at their airport, I didn't feel like I was exactly at Vietnam. It reminded me a little bit of Malaysia. Of course, Vietnam wasn't as hot as Malaysia though. In Malaysia, If you're standing outside you are likely to sweat in a heartbeat. I am proud also to say their airport wasn't as great as our airport at Kuala Lumpur.

      The other thing I noticed that was different was that there were a lot of motorcycles and scooters. There are quite a few motorcycles in Malaysia. They don't ride in large groups, If you see that then it usually means they are probably gangsters. But, what baffled me the most was the fact you actually can use ringgit Malaysia at Vietnam. Not only just in specific stores too, most of the stores you can use ringgit. They also speak quite a bit of Malay. I guess a lot of Malay tourist come cause' there are also loads of restaurant with halal food.

     We all arrived at Vietnam at night. That night, we went to watch the water puppet show. Which confused me at first, no, I was confused the entire time. I didn't speak Vietnamese. So, I didn't understand. It was all so random to me. I wonder if there was actually a story behind it or was really just random puppets dancing in water. At one point in the show there were two chicken, rubbing their necks against each other and slowly going down in the water. Suddenly an egg popped out and it hatched and a baby chicken came out of it. So, I guess I could at least understand what happened between those two other chicken.

      The next day, we went to the Chu Chi Tunnel. It was a military zone. They hid underground during the war. It was nice learning about the Vietnamese war strategies. There were even women fighting in the war. Go women! Yay. But, not only were there women but they were also young. Like, school girls went around holding guns shooting Americans. I liked our tour guide. He said his name was 3. He made jokes in Malay. He was quite good in Malay too. He said all his joke with a serious face, so much that it was hard to tell whether he was joking. When he was serving us cassava, we invited him to eat with us but he suddenly went, 'No! I don't want to die!' All of us almost spitted out our food before we realized he was joking again. Also for some reason he refused to pass me a drink giving everyone except me. 

     The tour guide was wonderful. He quizzed us, he made us think. Not just give us information. Finally, we went into the tunnel. As we were going in, some grown up foreigners came running out, also the kids. Which made me scared. What was in the tunnels? I went in, then realized why. It was tiny! We had to crouch down. The tunnel, I mean. I hesitated to enter a few times. Like should I? But they wouldn't let me out. My father went in first. Cause' there were only two guys. My father and this other uncle. So we made my father go first and the uncle go last. The girls in between cause' we were scared. As everyone was entering, I tried to escape last minute. But, my mum's friend was like, 'Just enter,' I'm kinda glad I was between two aunties. Two grown ups. I was terrified. I kept muttering, 'I'm scared, I'm scared.' The aunt in front of me then reached out her hand to me. Which comforted me a lot. We finally got out which felt like forever to me. 10m, I think it was. Actually we could have continued, it was actually way longer. But, none of us could stand it anymore. The uncle at the back continued few holes more though. And to think the guide said they enlarged the tunnels. It still felt suffocating. Easy said those before the war that wasn't claustrophobic probably end up being one after the war.

    I would like to talk about the history I learnt here. But I think It's better you look it up. I was always puzzled about the Vietnam War cause' at Malaysia they don't teach you. I learn too little about other countries history. I am Form 5 and all we really learnt is our own country history. Which isn't bad, but we would be considered ignorant if we don't know the world's history. During my father time he said he learnt about Vietnam War when he was 15 years old. I didn't get close to learning any world history at 15. Just Malaysia's. Just ranting here...

   I went to Sungai Mekong the next day. But I'm going skip that and write about the last day. We went to a museum about the Vietnam War. War Remnants Museum. Freaked me out a little with all the pictures. Dead bodies. Many people around the world actually was against the Vietnam War. They did a lot of things to revolt. For example, one man burned himself to prove a point. So scary. I'm not going to talk much about what I saw at the museum to avoid spoilers. Lol. 

     Okay, that's about how far I will say about my trip to Vietnam. Much more happened but writing it all seems too bothersome. And who's willing to read it all, not me that's for sure. I'm also not getting anything out of promoting Vietnam anyway. Hmmph!

Maybe I should be a historian or would that be impossible for me. I love history though.

cảm ơn