Ho Chi Minh City & the Mekong Delta

Arrived in my final country of Vietnam on April 5th. Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, is situated in the south of the country and is the largest city with a population of 7.4 million people. Spending three days in the city, I really came to enjoy my time here, walking around the motorbike infested streets, lively markets, and quiet city parks.

In one park in particular, local university students come in the afternoon to find tourists to speak English with. Seeing groups of students crowded around individual tourists on my first night, I walked to the park on my second night in an attempt to attract a group of students to talk to. Only 30 seconds after sitting down, two students walked up to me and we began talking. Over the course of the next four hours, I spoke with a group of twenty students. With varying degrees of English speaking skills, the students were interested in American culture, while I asked many questions about Vietnam and their lives. Students pulled out their English text books and I helped them with some exercises they struggled with, while one girl going to a job interview asked help in pronouncing words for her interview. I also taught them new words such as sibling and likewise, while they taught me different words in Vietnamese.

I went to the park two nights in a row and each time spent over three hours in the park talking with over a dozen students. Each night I also was invited by students to get dinner and some drinks at local restaurants. I feel very fortunate to have grown up in a native English speaking country because all across the world people are trying to learn English. In all it was a wonderful experience and a great way to meet the local people of Vietnam.

During my time in Ho Chi Minh City I also took a tour of the Mekong Delta where many people make their living fishing and selling goods on floating markets.