Since I'm leaving for Long Xuyen (my mom's hometown, going to see some extended family) tomorrow and then leaving for the US shortly after that, Chu Dung wanted to host a dinner for some of my new Vietnam friends. What a great way to say thanks and bye to my new friends!
In the afternoon, I met up with Keisuke and YoungJi at Parkson Plaza across from the medical school (126 Hung Vuong Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City); it's a huge shopping center than sells all the name brand stuff, cosmetics, handbags and shoes, women and mens clothes, kids stuff, etc. Some of the prices are more expensive than in the US, but I suppose you could find some good deals there. There's also one floor of food court, one floor for a gym (which was completely enclosed in glass and looked really cool), and a movie theater on the top, 7th floor.
We got some bubble tea and walked around the mall. Em Na met us later and we all got tickets for the 3:15 show of the new "Star Trek" movie - only 60,000D because it was a matinee showing before 3:30 pm. That's only $3, so for sure I was going to see a movie here in Vietnam before I left. And the movie theater and seating was great, just in like in the US. Although the popcorn is sweet and sticky, not the salty kind that YoungJi and I were expecting to taste =/ boo!
Loved the movie more than I expected too, and everyone else seemed to have a good time. YoungJi said she really enjoyed it and hoped to see again with Korean subtitles so she could fully get the whole movie.
For dinner we headed out to district three and met up with Chu Dung, Chi Cindy, Chi Linh, Chuong, and MooYoung (student from class). We had a great meal of seafood, meats and rice, and it was fun to see all my friends from different parts of my Vietnamese life at the same time.
L to R: Chuong (mom's friend from US that travels back and forth between VN and USA, finishing up MBA in Vietnam, and really helped me plan my trip here), Chu Dung (my host), me, and Chi Cindy (former coworker of Chu Dung, we went to Vung Tau together, and since then we have become friends).
After dinner we walked over to Cafe Soi Da (went there a few times with Chuong and once with anh Khanh) to enjoy some dessert. I also brought along some chocolates to share, the little chocolate liqueur bottles and we had a blast giving the Vietnamese Cheer "YO!" and taking our shots of chocolate. Thought sometimes they were so melted because of the heat, so it was a bit messy to eat them...
With YoungJi and MooYoung.
A good way to celebrate the trip with friends and say bye!
pictures from Thursday
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