Michigan State Fellowship: Vietnam May 2014 @hollymarich - Tumblr Blog

Last Few Days! Vietnam Travel

Day Twenty-Two

Last meeting to debrief

Last chance to be a tourist in Vietnam!

Scooter taxi

High-end store window-shopping

Walking in the rain

Vietnamese style...

Pizza Hut, Dunkin Doughnuts, Burger King

Day Twenty-Three

Airport

Late night flight to Korea

Endless layover

Endless flight to Detroit

Endless layover

Final flight to Salt Lake City

Almost home!

Day Twenty-Four

I will finally be home!

Wow! This past four weeks has been an

Amazing

Unforgettable

Life-changing

Adventure!

So grateful.

#Vietnam #Holly Marich #Travel home

Motor bike taxi to the post office!

#Vietnam

I don't recall seeing any if these Western food shops in any of the other cities. Saigon is very good at catering to the homesick American!

#Vietnam

Scooter Taxi in Saigon!

#Vietnam

Vietnam Travel Day Twenty-One

Today's visit to Cuchi Tunnel became a continuation of the experience at the War Remnants Museum. Again, it was very unsettling to see war tools and tactics that, to this day, haunt veterans of this awful war. The most unsettling part of today's tour was the "theme park" or "Disneyland" feel in how the space was presented. There seemed to be a lack of reverence and a disconnect from what these artifacts represented. I'm still trying to sort this out.

Happily, later this evening, a distraction from this sadness was provided by a bonding moment full of silliness and laughter at Karaoke! This was my first experience with Karaoke. I had a blast! I guess the Asian approach to Karaoke is a bit different than in the states. Here we rent a room for our group so the singing and foolish activity can happen in the safety of your equally silly and foolish friends! I am not allowed to post pictures or videos of this event as we all agreed, what happens in the Karaoke room stays in the Karaoke room!

One more day and we leave this beautiful country. I cannot believe it's time to go home!

#Vietnam #Holly Marich #Travel day twenty one

These tunnels were recreated for tourists. All the originals (much smaller than the replicas) were destroyed in the war.

Such a strange feeling being here. A lack if reverence.... Just strange.

#vietnam

Cuchi Tunnel

#Vietnam

Karaoke!

#Vietnam

Vietnam Travel Day Twenty

We are at the last few days of our travel here in Vietnam and I am at day twenty of my blog. Today included a visit to the War Remnants Museum, and our last school visit, Hoa Sen University.

I hesitate to write anything about our visit to the War Remnants Museum because I understand so very little about this time in American history. I only feel confident in simply stating my immediate feelings based on what I saw...grotesque scenes of war. It was a horrible feeling, walking through the corridors lined with photographs representing images of the Vietnam war (aka the American war). My heart aches for both the Vietnamese people that suffered as well as the American soldiers expected to participate in this conflict. War is so ugly and sad. Leaving the museum, it was hard to switch gears and transition to an inquiry stance toward the educational systems of Vietnam, but... we were quickly carried away from the museum to our last school visit of the trip. It was a very quiet ride between locations.

My first noticing of Hoa Sen University was the smell of fresh construction. The meeting room was modern - uncharacteristic to what I’ve come to expect in our meeting locations. This meeting room was missing the expected Vietnam meeting room physical structure: the Ho Chi Minh portrait, fake flowers, tea cups with bitter tea, and tropical fruit for meeting snacks. As a matter of fact, it was a meeting that felt very informal. Only one university representative joined us for today’s meeting, the director for the department of international relations. He kindly answered all of our questions and provided a tour of the beautiful building. Aside from the aesthetics of the space, the Hoa Sen brochure slogan “to live as one should, to study as one must, to see oneself as part of the world” was especially memorable. My first reaction, this is a nice summary statement for our trip, especially the emphasis for global awareness! My second reaction, in combination with statements given by the director, this school is headed in the right direction! Maybe this very progressive education model will become the norm for Vietnamese schools of the future. According to our host, the system for Vietnamese education has a very long way to go before reaching a system like the United States. I’m thinking this is interesting food for thought as Vietnam works to decentralize their system and the United States works to create a more centralized system. Maybe we will meet somewhere in the middle and both get it right!

For our free evening, Jihyun and I went to the different shopping areas close to the hotel and to dinner. We ate, (yes, I had pizza - it was wonderful!) we talked about our research and we listened to live music at the REX hotel Rooftop Garden. Come to find out, this rooftop location is considered “One of the best bars of Southeast Asia” voted by Newsweek magazine in 1996 and listed as one of “1000 places to see before you die” by Patricia Schultz - the American Travel Writer. Honestly, I’m not sure why it’s so highly regarded. It was nice, and fun, and had a great view but...well, those are all really good things! Maybe it does deserve such accolades! On a closing note, I almost mustered up the courage to go for a scooter taxi ride tonight! Almost! Maybe tomorrow! Until then, have a wonderful day!

#Vietnam #Holly Marich #Day twenty