Sooo...

I'm still not adjusted to the time difference here...sleep does not come easily and when I do finally pass out I'm awake after a few hours. My dark circles are in full force. We had a free day yesterday so the group and I explored the city. We tried to hit up some of the major sights Ho Chi Minh has to offer. The city is quite crowded...there are people everywhere. Vendors haggle you at every turn. We walked through the Ben Thanh Market...it was a sensory overload the moment you stepped inside. This sprawling marketplace sells everything you could possibly imagine...like a Walmart but in a 3rd world country! When you first walk in there are a variety of food stalls selling anything from pigs ears to freshly cut intestines, livers, and hearts. A lot of fruits, vegetables, and fish are out on tables and even lining the floor. There were several stalls selling strange looking things like dried worms and seahorses...yummy (picture is at the top).

The market is located in the busiest section of town. Crossing the street is no easy task. The motorbikes do not stop for you. The technique for making it across alive is to simply stick your hand out and go...just walk out into the traffic and hope someone will stop...or at the very least slow down.