May 17: Ho Chi Minh

We began this morning in Ha Long Bay aboard the cruise ship. We were taken to a small island with steps that lead up to a cave, and we were able to go inside and look around. The view from the top of the island was stunning, especially with the early morning sun. After we returned to the boat, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast before returning to the city to board our bus.

After we arrived on the buses, we then departed for the airport in Hanoi in order to catch our plane to the largest city in Vietnam and our final destination for this international tour—Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. We went through a speedy security check, and then arrived at our gate to discover that our plane was going to be delayed almost two hours. This gave us all plenty of time to walk around and grab a bite to eat before boarding the airplane.

Luckily, the pilot of our plane was able to get us to Ho Chi Minh relatively quickly considering our plane left so late. After our arrival to Ho Chi Minh (also referred to as Saigon), we were taken to a beautiful restaurant with incredible food. This was one of the few meals we have had in Vietnam where we weren’t given full shrimps to break apart, but instead we were given large fried spring rolls and clams. After we finished dinner, we then checked into our rooms at our beautiful hotel in Ho Chi Minh. Although BYU Singers definitely enjoyed their time in Ha Long Bay these past couple of days, they are very excited to collaborate with other choirs and perform for new audiences in these remaining days of our tour in Southeast Asia.