We’re back! After approximately 16 hours of flight time starting in Ho Chi Minh City and probably the tightest layover we could get away with in Denver while clearing customs, The Fishback Honors College and College of Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Sciences landed in Sioux Falls at approximately 4:00pm central time on Sunday, April 21 st . What an incredible trip! There were a few downs (I don’t think our students will miss the heat), but many more ups. Exploring Vietnam for 10 days is certainly an experience I will not forget. The highlights for me were: The terraced rice fields in Sapa. What an incredible view. Walking the local footpaths and seeing how the local Vietnamese have developed the steep mountains to their benefit has to be seen to be believed. We hiked for several hours, I think I could have hiked the hills for several more. The Angkor Wat temples in Siem Reap, Cambodia. One of two UNESCO heritage sites we visited
Our first stop on our trip to Vietnam was the United States Embassy. After trading our passport for a visitor badge, we were greeted by their public affairs specialist, Kate Bartlett. She told us that the multipurpose room that we were in was used by three different Secretary of States. Through her job, Kate was able to meet President Obama and President Trump when they visited Vietnam. The place across the hall is called the American Center. It is filled with educational books to help people learn about America. It also had college prep books like ones for the ACT or SAT. It also had an area to study or work or use technology like the 3D printer. This area is available for anyone to use, but its purpose is to help Vietnamese people prepare to live, work, or get an education in the United States. She had told us that Vietnam is 5 th in the world for students on U.S. campuses with over 25,000 exchange students. Later on, we heard from a panel that had Camron, the embassy spokespe
May 18 Thursday We started our day with breakfast in Ho Chi Minh City and then headed to the Mekong River area which had 4 islands named after the sacred creatures in Vietnamese culture – Phoenix, Turtle, Unicorn and Dragon. On the way we stopped at a bamboo shop where we got to experience a live infomercial. They had very useful products, and we learned that bamboo is highly absorbent and antibacterial. They had kitchen towels, clothing, braces, socks, and so much more. We then finished the rest of our drive to the Mekong River where we boarded our tour boat. USS Minnow? Honey Our first stop was a honey farm where we got to try honey tea along with royal jelly which is considered the most precious bee product. It contains 16 necessary Amino Acids and has great success in cosmetics. After teatime, many students chose to hold a 10kg python and take photos. Snake necklace Tilapia farm Our next stop was a fish farm where they grew pink and white tilapia. Unfortunate
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