Week 7 in Ho Chi Minh City

This week we continued to explore the outlying areas of southern Vietnam and absorb the controversial history that colors this fascinating country.

After previously visiting the War Remnants Museum in the city, we gained further insight to the Vietnam War by exploring the infamous Cu Chi tunnels. We crawled our way around the underground network, some of us overcoming fears of small, enclosed spaces and experiencing the intense conditions firsthand.

We also visited a unique religious site, mixed in a bit of partying in the infamous backpacker’s district, and of course, carried on with our educational endeavors!

We’ll be back next week with a new video :)

Edumadic Profile: Meet Rachel!

Rachel is a 22 year old American from Washington, Missouri and most often found behind her camera lens!

She has experimented with various forms of higher education over the past several years — a traditional 4-year university, a community college, online classes — and has used that experience to truly determine how education best fits her needs.

Like many people, moving on campus to have the traditional American college experience wasn’t quite what she envisioned and she wasn’t challenged at the level she predicted she would be. The general requirements felt too repetitive of her high school studies and didn’t provide enough freedom and creativity. Though it was a hard personal decision to make, Rachel decided to try a new path and returned home to attend a community college.

This path led her to understand the necessity of general studies that lay the basic foundation for any degree; she was able to take a photography class in her final semester which helped her realized what college could be if she could get through the basics first.

She’s proud to have completed her Associate of Arts degree, and to have finally found the motivation to continue learning through alternative schooling. Ever since she went on a European trip at age 15 with an Education First program, she knew travel and education were meant to be combined and she sought out opportunities that led her to Edumadic.

“Language and culture have always intrigued me… being abroad and experiencing these different languages and cultures firsthand while I’m learning about them will better my understanding as opposed to reading about it in a text book — this program is a way to have all of those things!”

Rachel will be spending her time studying linguistics, and continuing her journey into photography with online classes in photojournalism, post-production and editing. She’s quickly learning the road to improvement could also be the ultimate career path.

“I follow several travel bloggers on social media and I feel like they are living out my dream…I would love to be able to travel and promote destinations and businesses by sharing what I experience — I truly believe photographs can change the way people think.”

Rachel couldn’t ask for better hands-on lessons in photography in our beautiful, inspiring locations, and you might even see some of her work pop up on the Edumadic Instagram!

You can follow Rachel on her personal Instagram at @rachl.jones and her photography Instagram at @the.snappingturtle

Cu Chi Tunnels

An intense underground maze of tunnels outside of Ho Chi Minh City are part of an even greater network of tunnels across the entire country.

They were used as hiding spots during combat for the Viet Cong, served as supply and communication routes, makeshift hospitals, and even living quarters throughout the Vietnam War.

Several trap doors on the jungle floor lead down to the tunnels and we were able to experience the cramped quarters as we crawled our way through the tunnels. Scary but an incredible hands-on history lesson!

Backpacker District

Bui Vien Street is an energetic and eclectic mix of hostels, bars, and shops known for it’s debauchery.

The crowds come for the all night parties among the masses of world travelers passing through. It’s quite a sight to take in!

Cao Dai Temple

This temple is a sacred destination in southern Vietnam — it’s the center of an intriguing and homegrown monotheistic religion called Caodaism.

This religion, though believing in one God who created the universe, is a combination of beliefs and practices from multiple religions; Roman Catholicism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism are all represented in some way.

Caodaism has only been around since the 1920s, while only making up a small percentage of the religious demographic in Vietnam, tourists come from all over to experience this one of a kind holy destination.

A Day in the Life:

This week we followed Melissa for a day! This is what she got up to:

8am — 10am Planning the day.

First, coffee. Then I spend the first part of the morning making breakfast at home as well as a schedule for the day based on the work I need to do — I handle the Edumadic social media (and this newsletter!), and I also have a remote marketing job so it’s a bit of a balancing act. The most difficult part is choosing which café to start at!

10am -2pm Buckle down.

I jump on the back of a scooter taxi and head into the city center for about $1 USD. My favorite work spots are large multi-floor cafes so I can tuck into a corner table, put on my headphones, and work for hours. I mainline traditional Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk this entire time.

2pm — 5pm Exploring.

I search for lunch on the street somewhere — Bun Cha Gio (noodle salad) or a Banh Mi sandwich is simple and cheap, and I’ll walk around some shops for a little retail therapy or to grab groceries. If we’re planning upcoming excursions for the group, I’ll be scoping out different tour operators and negotiating prices. We keep each other updated in our WhatsApp group chat on our whereabouts so we can easily meet up for any of the above!

5pm — 7pm Snack time.

I head back to the house (and usually get stuck in traffic because I continually forget about rush hour), for a snack while I catch up with the Edumads to see how they spent their day and make dinner plans.

7pm — midnight Family dinner and more work!

Our group loves to all join up for family dinner at the end of the day. We have a staple Pho place but we’ve also used our house kitchen to cook for each other. Beers, cards, and movies tend to follow, but most nights I spend working late to crossover time zones with my coworkers — an easy trade off to be able to travel while I work!