Candice & Todd's blog: Summer is officially over. Part 4a - Mercer's enrichment: his Asia trip (Vietnam)

Mercer got to go on a "senior" trip this summer. When he decided that he was not going to go to upper New York for college... and we weren't going to rent a car and drive around Canada... he said he wanted to go to Japan.

(quick note about the lights on the airport lighted cover: ATL 100 - the cover is displaying the 100 to honor the 100th anniversary of the airport!)

Well, a family vacation to Japan wasn't happening, but... the athletic trainer from the high school was taking students on an EF Tour. The tour was to Southeast Asia.... it was close to Japan! One of Mercer's friends was going, so he was all for it / excited to go!

His boss at the summer camp was so gracious this summer. Mercer had off for his "long weekend" baseball tournaments... and he also got a little extra time before they were closed for the 4th of July week to depart for his 10 day trip.

We have some photos Mercer texted us and some photos from coach Hopp from his daily posts in the an App we were all invited to + his google drive with hundreds of photographs.

I don't have much commentary about the photos, so it's just going to be a photo deluge with a little bit of notes here & there.

Travel day - drop off a the airport at 5 something AM....

We could follow along using the airplane tracker ... and ... the Life360 App that we were also a part of.

Funny thing: they stopped down in JAPAN.... in the airport before they went to Vietnam.

so... we got him to Japan. ha ha!

They made it to their hotel and apparently this was a highlight: that the hotel had air conditioning!

Mercer sent us this photo of the safe. (the microwave -- inside joke!)

The next day - their first full day in Vietnam....

He sent some images from the bus ride... Labelled as "architecture"

This one was a gold hotel colored this way to attract tourists.

There are a lot of food photos between Mercer and coach Hopp throughout this post!

These vertical photos are ones Mercer sent us from his cell phone.... so... he apparently liked the hat they were wearing on the boat....

And a selfie on the boat.

Here's a selfie he took later that day and sent us!

He liked that hat! :)

Another water photo - but this was taken in order ot coach Hopp's photos. Not sure if this is near the building that is pictured above?

These images are from an outing after dinner that Mercer actually did not go to. His roommate (KL) was sick after dinner so he had to stay back with him. (no one could be alone on this trip)

Mercer messaged us to let us know.

We checked in with KJ's mom and she said that he apparently put a lot of peppers on his food -- it was too hot and upset his stomach!

Coach Hopp posted the following morning that he captured some images from an early morning walk in Ho Chi Minh City

He took sunrise photos in the city overlooking a landmark bridge.

I love unique bridges - so I had to look it up and send him the info: the Ba Son Bridge (formerly Thu Thiem 2 Bridge) was designed by the international engineering and architectural firm WSP Finland.

It is a 113-meter backward inclined pylon bridge inspired by a "dragon's jawbone."

I looked this up:

The Independence Palace, also officially known as the Reunification Convention Hall is a historic landmark and government-owned public all in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

This may be out of order, but there was a random photo - I think from the tour guide which was given to Hopp and put in the same folder. Not sure if this was at the same place or some place different.

This was at the end of the same folder. Probably goes with some of the furniture in the building photos above? (but - reminds me of something I did in historic preservation class at SCAD - we learned how to layer and do lacquer).

Here's something I looked up:

What is Lacquer?

Natural resin: Lacquer comes from the sap of native East Asian trees.

Hard coating: Artisans paint many thin layers of sap onto wood.

Glossy finish: Each layer dries and gets polished to create a hard, shiny, and waterproof surface.

They went to explore an area that had underground tunnels. I had to look up information on this too:

An immense network of connecting tunnels located in Ho Chi Minh City.... and are part of a much larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country.

The tunnels were used by Viet Cong soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, and helped to counter the growing American military presence.

These "rocks" / mounds were hiding cooking places for the soldier.

There were entrances into the tunnels. Mercer said he and a few others from the (extended) group went in.... but not many. He said it was a little claustrophobic.... but he was OK.

He sent a short video of walking through - the person in front hunched over / crouched down while walking. (He said it didn't bother him.) I took a screen shot of the video and here's a glimpse inside from that video.

(I'm sure back then, they didn't have lights in them!)

(continued looking up from online).....

The tunnels contained various bamboo traps made by the Viet Cong to injure and potentially kill American Tunnel Rats if they breached the tunnels. The tunnels also contained ventilation shafts to release smoke from fire and any poisonous gases pumped into the tunnels by the American troops.

This one looks like a demonstration of how the tunnels worked / were hidden.

Mercer said that they had these little holes in the ground for people to hide in and then pop up / shoot the enemies. Coach Hopp had a picture of the guy in the light shirt going down into the hole. Mercer said he went in too.