I kind of forgot to write a post for the entire time we were in Vietnam. I was too involved. So, this is one big one to make up for it.
It was lovely there, it felt nicer than Bali, the water was warmer, the traffic was better, and I think it’s just overall cooler. My only complaint is that our villa was by a fish market, which gets real stinky some days.

We went to the beach a lot. The undertow was intense one day, but everyone is fine and it was fun. If we didn’t wanna deal with the undertow and waves, we had a big pool in between our houses that was always clear and beautiful.

One of my favorite things we did was Da Nang Downtown, which is just a little theme park with the 18th biggest ferris wheel in the world and a seven dollar admission. They could’ve charged wayyyy more. The rides were super fun. There was literally nobody there. We got straight on to every ride we got in line for. They legitmately had people standing around waiting for us to get in line so they could go tend it.

We went to D&D at a cafe every Friday. It was run by a young girl named Lucky. She’s an amazing DM that just goes with the flow and has impeccable patience. It was super fun. Her brother has quickly become one of my friends. They’re both very sweet kids and I look forward to seeing them again. On our last day in Vietnam, we met up with them and went to Da Nang Downtown again. They’re going to meet up with us in Cambodia and will even be there on my birthday.

We went to VinWonders, a huge theme park that included a water park, cultural park, zoo, river safari, arcade, and a bunch of stores and restaurants. The amusement park rides weren’t open in the rain, but everything else was and it was great. We fed elephants and giraffes. The littles were junior zookeepers. Mom and I snuck off to the arcade and had one of the best times- all the games were on free play and I got a cute little action figure. By the end, the rides were open and we got to go on a few, because we got there as it was closing. There was an amazing water show at the end and I went home happy.

We went to a cooking class as well, we learned to make corn springrolls, rice pancakes, papaya salad, and cao lau. It was freaking delicious. I think cao lau was my favorite thing we had in Vietnam, the banh mi were pretty close though. At the cooking class, we also learned how to make the traditional lanterns. Then, we went on a coconut boat ride, which might’ve been one of the weirdest experiences of my life…there was a lot of Gangnam styling.

We took a guided tour to Marble Mountain and explored all the caves. We learned the punishments of the afterlife. For example, if you cheat on your partner, you will be tied to a burning pole for eternity after you die. Fun stuff. We climbed a lot of stairs, went through small spaces, and ended up at a very hot, very crowded mountain top. It was actually quite fun. We were then taken to Monkey mountain with the big lady Buddah statue. The monkeys were much more intimidating than those of the monkey forest in Bali. We also ate a real Vietnamese lunch at a local home, and went to a pretty marble statue shop and then home.

If you ever go to Vietnam, I HIGHLY recommend going to the bamboo circus. Even with all the amazing things we did, the bamboo circus was the most mind blowing. I couldn’t even clap because I was so shocked. I mostly just sat there like an idiot. I don’t want to get too far into it, because I couldn’t put into words how this made me feel. It was just immediately a 15/10 and like holy crap.

Bah Na Hills was gorgeous and also a very strange experience. It didn’t feel like Vietnam at all. It was neat, but also impeccably crowded. We watched a Spanish dance on a stage by a pumpkin patch with a castle in the background, in Vietnam…? There was also an arcade type element and the alpine coaster. Very strange experience.

Mom signed Terrell, Roland, and me up for wood carving classes from this amazing shop. I made a shark. My hands were a little too shaky for wood carving, so they helped me out. Terrell made an amazing whale. They called him Van Gogh because of his technique. He made the wood around look like waves.

Also, I just really need to bring up Wren’s pet hairball, because what’s up with that? I shared a room with her, and she kept a little ball of hair in a dislodged headphone cover. She kissed it goodnight every night. Luckily, mom made her throw it away when we left Vietnam.

You’re going to have to see Mom for the other stuff we did, because I’ve already written so much that my fingers are cramping. So thank you for reading my mega long list that isn’t even everything we did.