Day 11

Today has been a great day. This morning, we didn't have classes, but instead went to the Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange. It was in an old French government building, and it now has this statue of a bull and a bear in front of it which for some reason I thought was really awesome.
The stock exchange itself was a little different from what I expected it to be like. The trading floor was small and all automated by computer, no crazy people running around and shouting.
After the Stock Exchange, we went to the War Remnants Museum, which is only a block away from our hotel. To give you an idea of the kind of things in this museum, it actually used to be called the 'War Crimes' museum, and before that, it was the 'American War Crimes' museum. Outside were a lot of pieces of military equipment left behind by the Army (a fighter plane, helicopter, tanks, etc.), which were all really cool to get up close to and look at. The inside, however, is where it got really interesting. Around the city, there are lots of signs of propaganda, which is all really interesting to look at (pictures of Vietnamese soldiers helping farmers, pictures of Ho Chi Minh with a HUGE smile on his face...stuff like that). The War Remnants museum, however, was filled with pictures and objects whose captions blew my mind. I can't remember anything specific, but I got a few pictures of the posters that were up there. Some of it was also really disturbing and kind of upsetting, but it was history, and it is completely representative of what Vietnamese students are taught in schools.
This afternoon, we spent the day shopping in the markets. We first went to the Binh Tay Market, which is what the Vietnamese call their 'Chinatown.' It was more like a warehouse, and there was hardly anything touristy. We found a few things, and then got lunch at a Chinese restaurant, where we unknowingly ordered chicken feet. We didn't realize that we were eating chicken's feet until I had two, so that kind of ruined my appetite. No wonder there was hardly any meat on them and the bones were really brittle... But then we went to the Ben Thanh Market, which is more oriented towards Americans. I finished all my shopping there, which is great since our time is almost up here in Vietnam!