BCSM Vietnam 2008 - 09

Hello Everybody,

My name is Tran Dinh Song. I am living in Danang, Central Vietnam. I have been a tour guide for eighteen years now. I am a Veteran of the Vietnam War. I was in the Air Forces of South Vietnam from 1967 to 1975, spent two and a half years in a re-educational camp, and then became a teacher of History and English in a high school until 1990. Recently I returned to university in Hanoi and I now have a Masters Degree in Linguistics.

I love History, and I would like to share my love with you. My philosophy is that a tour guide can be considered as a Good Will Ambassador who can help foreign visitors understand the History, Culture, Habits, Customs and Daily life of his/her country/people.

I am very excited for our program to begin and I look forward to welcoming you to my country very soon!

Tran Dinh Song

Posted by Global LAB at 5:53 AM | Permalink

July 6: Depart USA for Asia

Hanoi

July 7: Upon arrival at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport at 10:05pm, group will be met by guide Tran Dinh Song and transfer to hotel.

July 8: After waking up in Vietnam’s charming French influenced capital city, we’ll wander the narrow maze of streets within the bustling Old Quarter, visit Ho Chi Minh’s Soviet-style mausoleum in Ba Dinh Square, and explore the grounds of the exquisite Confucian Temple of Literature, Vietnam’s first university, founded in 1070.

After lunch, we will head to Hanoi’s West Lake and visit Tran Quoc Pagoda, the city’s oldest pagoda.

In the evening we will enjoy a performance of traditional Water Puppet Theater.

July 9: Today we will visit Hoa Lo Prison, the famous “Hanoi Hilton,” where American fighter pilots, including Senator John McCain, were held as POW’s during the war.

After lunch we’ll explore the “36 Streets” of Hanoi’s Ancient Quarter and learn about the history of the guilds that are still active here.

Ha Long Bay

July 10: This morning we check out of our hotel and head to spectacular Ha Long Bay, where we board a boat and cruise out among the thousands of steep karst formations.

July 11: Swimming and kayaking in the beautiful waters of Ha Long this morning, before we return to Hanoi to catch an overnight train south, to Hue.

Hue

July 12: Arriving in Hue, on the banks of the Perfume River, we’ll check into our hotel, have lunch, and then head out to explore the Imperial Citadel. The Citadel was modeled on Beijing’s Forbidden City and was home to the Nguyen Dynasty Emperors.

July 13: This morning we board a boat and head up the Perfume River to explore Thien Mu Pagoda and then the magnificent Minh Mang Tomb. After lunch we will have time to visit the teeming Dong Ba Market.

July 14: All day excursion as we will explore by private coach the legendary DMZ, the so-called demilitarized zone that saw many key battles and firefights during the Vietnam War.

July 15: Full day community service project at Duc Son Pagoda and Orphanage.

July 16: Full day community service project at Duc Son Pagoda and Orphanage.

July 17: Free morning to explore Hue and/or shop for gifts/souvenirs. After lunch, we will take a flight up to Hanoi and connect to our return flight home to the USA, departing at 11:35pm

July 18: Arrive JFK, 11:40am

Posted by Global LAB at 4:51 PM | Permalink

After 21 hours of flying and layovers, we finally arrived at our hotel in Hanoi! Our day of travel went very smoothly. We all met at JFK at 10am (some of us a bit earlier at 9am:)) and got ourselves organized for our upcoming adventure. We even rubbed shoulders with Former Mayor Rudy Guiliani at security.

We flew from NY to Seoul which took us 14.5 hours and another 4.5 from Seoul to Hanoi. Ms. Lob read about 500 pages of her book while the rest of us watched a ton of movies. After eating so much food on the plane, we finally arrived at 11pm to meet our tour guide Song. He was waiting for us at the airport with a smile. We know he will take great care of us while we're here.

Today we are heading into the city to see Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and some pagodas. We can't wait to see Vietnam!

Posted by Global LAB at 4:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It's very interesting learning so many things its not like people say that Vietnam is all about the war and they are not interested in Americans. As I learned about the prison called the "Hanoi Hilton" I learned about how Vietnamese were imprisoned by the French in this place and how McCain was treated. Then we went to the Pagoda were I learned so much; after all the hard work it was time to try new food. Try this food it was really hard for me but I tried to try it.

Dayana

Posted by Global LAB at 5:47 AM | Permalink

Today we went to visit Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum and it was incredible. I can't believe it was even possible for a dead person to look the same for over 30 years. When I saw him lying there, i was amazed and thought it was a little creepy too.

After that, we went to see his home from the outside. When Ho Chi Minh came to power, the government gave him a big mansion to live in. But he didn't like to live all alone in that big house, so he moved to the garage and even that was too big for him, so he built a really small house on stilts to live in. It didn't have any electricity, running water or air conditioning! We couldn't believe that he turned down a mansion to live in a tiny 2 room house. After that we went to relax and drink some water because we were really thirsty. It was cool because we also met a Vietnamese lady who's name was Hong. She spoke English and wanted to get to know us. She was an English teacher and she was really nice. She asked us if we could sing a Celion Dion song but none of us could sing =D

I learned to count to 6 and say kiss and hug. By the end of the day, I also knew how to say baby turtle- umbe rua because we visited the embalmed turtle and the turtle pond. We saw 2 umbe ruas- that meant we were very lucky!

Over all, today was a great day and we can't wait for tomorrow when we go swimming!!!

Kiara

Posted by Global LAB at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well today we boarded the Baitho and it is a beautiful boat. It has two decks the sleeping rooms and the tanning and laying down area at the top. In this boat we cruised around Halong Bay and did many different things. Like go in a cave where we saw different types of rocks and also Ms. Lob, Dayana and Kiara kayaked around to go to the beach. We also went to a grotto and was told there were monkeys flying through the trees. I can say for sure the food was the best we ate like kings and queens. We had crab, squid, fish, clams, rice, fruits, shrimp and a few more things. Dayana had a big smile on her face because she finally liked the food. Tyler, Kiara and Ms. Lob all jumped into the water since they can swim while Clarissa and I (Karina) took pictures. We saw a few jelly fish but nothing dangerous.

Halong Bay is an amazing part to visit in Vietnam.

Karina

Posted by Global LAB at 5:13 AM | Permalink

Yesterday, we boarded a train to Hue, we arrived today at 10:00 at today. The train was fairly good, but the bathrooms were nasty, not clean, the rooms were tiny, I didn't have a good sleep on the train. The ride was 10 hours. The ride was fast. During the night we looked out the windows to see the view, before the ride the group bought some snacks for the train. Itwas a crazy ride. The train colors was red,blue, green in a 2 tone paint. There was Asian people.the group had a room with 6 beds. The train was long with 12 cars compared to Acela from
Amtrak 6 cars.

Jayeola

Posted by Global LAB at 6:00 PM | Permalink

After a hot long ten hour ride in a train we finally arrived to a beautiful hotel called 'Asia hotel.' I'm loving this hotel already, especially the pool! This hotel is really fun because it has a Sauna, a massaging place where you can get massages, and of course the beautiful pool. I'm also enjoying the beautiful view from our room porch. Everyone is really nice and kind here. We are all excited to be here for 5 days. I'm really glad we are all having fun! =]

Clarissa

Posted by Global LAB at 6:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today was the hottest day we have been here so far.We went to the "Thien Mu Pagoda" which mean "godest from the sky." This is where the buddhist worship their buddha's. This pagoda is equivalent to our church except we worship Jesus Christ. This pagoda was built in the 17th century by a South Vietnam warlord named Nguyin. Nguyin named Hue the capital of South Vietnam when it was seperated into South and North Vietnam. He came upon this pagoda when one day he was walking in a jungle of pine trees and there was a big rock in the middle and a very beautiful strange looking lady was sitting on the rock. Her cheeks were rosy red but her hair was gray. The lady told the warlord everything about himself and that he was going to make Hue the capital of South Vietnam. He was shocked that she knew this things. Then she told him that she was a godest from the sky. In her memory he built her the "Thien Mu Pagoda". To reach the heavens you most go through seven stages and once you reach heaven the buddhist call it nirvana. Then we went to Khai Dinh temples. Khai Dinh was a warlord of Vietnam. Khai Dinh was known as the good for nothing king because all he did was listen to the French. He did nothing to support the country. He was very selfish and to show this he would give the French gold and other merchendise and in his return he would get money. The one thing that Khai Dinh is appericated for was making a tenple as a tourist attraction. The temple showed dragons on the celing, guards, elephants, and many other wonderful sights. Then we went to a in door market which didn't have much to offer except clothes, bags, and more clothes and bags. Saw some amazing things today but it was so hot. =[ LOL

Tyler

Posted by Tyler at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today we went to an orphanage where the entire group decided to go before coming to Vietnam. Getting over there was a little exciting, when we got there i was so excited seeing all these little and small kids just running to you. I felt sad just seeing how much love all this kids need in their life. Knowing how I am with my mom made me feel that each and one of them will need one too. As one of the monks was explaning how most of this kids ended up in this orphanage it could be by the war and parents died, or parents were dead already, or they were left in front of the orphanage, or parents were too poor to take care of them. As we were looking around the entire orphanage I saw were they slept, ate as a family and did their chores. I was really happy being able to play, and enjoy myself with these kids. It was so amazing how all 200 kids from all different ages had so much energy,
and how I get tired so easily. This part of the trip is my favorite if i could do it every day I will. This kids are so amazing and great. At one point I wish I could take them all with me but I cant. This day I would never forget, that I was able to give some of my love to someone that doesn't get it everyday.

Dayana

Posted by Global LAB at 5:36 PM | Permalink

Today we went to see the underground tunnel of where the Vietnamese lived during the Vietnam War. Americans were bombing the North of Vietnam from the sky. These people had no other way of surviving besides going underground. People actually lived there for years. In the tunnels, we SAW a space for woman who needed to give birth and we also SAW spaces for a 4 member family to live in. It was soo small and also very dark.This was a great experience because we got to learn and see how it was for the Vietnamese people.

Kiara

Posted by Global LAB at 6:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The final day is here and we are going home. Today we will take a flight from the old capital of Vietnam, Hue to the new capital of Vietnam, Hanoi. When we get to Hanoi we will spend most of the day there since our flight doesn't leave until late at night. Then we get on another plane to Korea. Then we get on the big plane from Korea back home.!!! This is gonna be one heck of a day. Lol. A whole lot of flying. Lol

Tyler

Posted by Global LAB at 6:49 AM | Permalink