Vietnam II (Cu Chi tunnels & Ho Chi Minh)

After returning from our bike tour thoroughly soaked and exhausted, we met up with everyone else again and did a bunch of eating and walking around the city--past the Reunification Palace and through local markets, all while trying not to get hit by the thousands of mopeds on the street.  Literally everyone seemed to have one.  There were lots of hole-in-the-wall restaurants with chairs and tables on the street; we had some great Pho at one of these at 3am before we left for the airport at 3:45am on Monday morning.

Hole-in-the-wall restaurant with a mix of tourists and locals

The Irish boys (Chris and Rob) playing with their food

Vietnam I (Mekong Delta)

A group of fourteen (!) of CUHK exchange students went to Vietnam this weekend, Ho Chi Minh City to be exact.  Since we had so many people we decided to split up so everyone could do what they wanted to--a few people went to the beach in Mui Ne, a few people stayed in the city, and 4 of us girls decided to go on a 2-day biking tour to the Mekong Delta.

It was a small private tour, so it was just the four of us plus our tour guide.  We got driven out of the city in a van with the bikes in the back for about an hour, then we got on the bikes and started going, first on paved country roads and then on gravel paths through rice fields and villages.  It was a whole new way to see the Vietnamese countryside; biking in the local traffic really helped immerse us into the culture and allowed us to see, hear, and smell the place in a way that is not possible from a tour bus.

We watched workers peel cashews, sampled fresh dragon fruit, rode alongside children biking to school, plugged our noses from the horrid smell of durians being sold on the street, watched a moped pull a cart filled with three grunting full-grown pigs, and waved at smiley locals yelling "Hello!" out of their hammocks.

Ready to bike

Mainland adventures I (Shanghai & Hangzhou)

For the weekend of October 1st, I went home to see the family in Shanghai and we took a train to Hangzhou, which has a beautiful lake where the emperor used to go chill out over the summer to get some fresh air and nature.

John (a Canadian) and Matt (a Seattle-ite who wishes he was Canadian) came with me to Shanghai, though they stayed in the city for the entire weekend.  The trip started out on a bad note because we missed our flight thanks to the crazy Shenzhen traffic, but thankfully we were able to rebok for a flight about an hour after we got to the airport.

John and Matt, fast asleep.  It's too bad I don't have any more flattering pictures of them from the weekend...