Vietnam- Busy DAys in Saigon!

These first few days in Saigon have been very busy, but nonetheless, they have been amazing. We arrived in Saigon on Wednesday and went to an awesome indoor food market. The city of Saigon, or Ho Chi Minh City, is very different from Hanoi. As we were warned, it is definitely a place where travellers must watch their bags more. It is a less conservative city, with a younger population, but similarly busy and loud. I like it a lot here. We have performed at a few schools, but more Universities now than elementary schools. It is very interesting seeing the differences between American and Vietnamese Universities. Most have been smaller and all students commute. The other day we performed at an art school and there was a routine fire drill during our rehearsal. Everyone exited the building like normal, but once we stepped outside, we noticed everyone filming the drill. Then, from around the corner, came two huge firetrucks. They hooked their hoses to the fire hydrants and started shooting huge streams of water up at the building. Then people from inside sprayed a whole can of a fire extinguisher out of the window of a high floor on to the people below. It was an insane spectacle. We were all so extremely confused. But when I asked the students around me, they said they only do this once a year and everyone, including the fire department, practices the fire drill. Even if it wastes insane amounts of water, floods all the streets and gets us all wet before our concert... it still does seem pretty practical.

The other day we also participated in another boat tour. We got to boat down a river and see the fish farms along the side. We then stopped at a village that makes coconut candy, popped rice, rice crackers, and snake wine! Yes that's right, they soak actual snakes in the wine. We got to taste all of the things and they were delicious! They gave us so much fruit on the boat tour, and we eat got our own coconut too! We then left the big boast we were on and took a smaller boat into a little canal. I saw some mudskippers and some really cool wild orchids. We then stopped at a restaurant owned by the family that runs the tours and were served a FEAST. I'm talking courses upon courses. We ate a whole big fried fish that was standing upright on two skewers and dishes of seafood and noodles and spring rolls and more. I ate another fish eye and tried the brain too! It was truly a great time. We also were able to listen to some traditional Vietnamese instruments and singing that they played for us. When they were finished, they asked us to share some of our music with them, and so we sang one of our Latin choir pieces and then one of our Vietnamese pieces. Every time we perform our Vietnamese pieces, the people always get so happy, it is truly a great feeling, being able to see them smile so big.

-ECM