First Day Out and About with Claire!

On our first day with the whole group, we got to tour the Fito Museum of Traditional Vietnamese Medicine and Pharmacy in District 10, where we learned about the influence of Vietnamese doctors in expanding the practice of healing and disease prevention through various natural means. As emphasized by our guide, the Vietnamese have a longstanding tradition of utilizing the herbs and other natural remedies grown/produced locally to treat illnesses, and strongly appraise prevention of these illnesses by living a healthy daily lifestyle. Additionally, we learned about the less conventional methods doctors would use to diagnose their patients, such as through palm reading. At the end of the tour, the museum offered us different types of tea, which were labeled according to their functionality, such as those for brain power or stress-reduction.

After the museum, we travelled to District 1 where we walked through their largest park and did some shopping in the Ben Tanh market.

That night, we visited the heart of District one, where the city was setting up decorations for the Tet Holiday. We stopped there for a while and people-watched from the balcony of a local café. From there, we were able to see all the people shopping for presents for Tet, or taking a break in the center where kids could play in the fountain or order food from street vendors.

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