The Quest for Scavenger Hunt Glory
The second morning for the graduate program opened with a Tai Chi class in the heart of the Ho Chi Minh City at the Tao Dan Cultural Park. A large contingent of Vietnamese were treated to a graceful display of Tai Chi that can only compared to what one might expect from a horse on skates. After about twenty minutes of flailing arms and uncoordinated movements, it was time to begin the main event… A scavenger hunt that spanned more than three miles and five places of interests. Each group was led by a Vietnamese tour guide who was instructed to offer minimal assistance to the students during the scavenger hunt. Let’s be honest, their main goal was to ensure none of us ended up getting run over by a herd of scooters as we ventured from location to location.
The five locations were:
- Le Cong Kieu street
- Ben Thanh Market
- Reunification Palace
- The War Remnants Museum
- Central Post Office
The groups started in different locations with instructions to take photos of specific items at each point of interest. The instructions varied from taking a photo of team members eating a Durian fruit to buying a stamp from the Central Post Office. The purpose of the scavenger hunt was to allow each team to execute various tasks at each site in order to learn and step out of our comfort zones. The latter proved to be the greatest challenge of the entire scavenger hunt. Each team was allowed to choose their level of participation at each location. Several teams opted not to perform some of the suggested tasks (using locals to spell out ELON at the Presidential Palace). Many of the tasks were jovial in nature to encourage interactions with people such as a picture with a student fist bumping somebody in a conical hat. Now back to the Durian fruit–the best way to describe this “fruit” is it tastes like the smell coming from a stopped up sewer with the texture of raw chicken skin. We honestly have no idea how or why people would choose to consume this fruit but apparently they do.
The scavenger hunt ended up taking most groups about 6 to 7 hours to complete and left many people quite exhausted. The groups met in the professors’ suite to have a debriefing session, compare stories and announce the winners. The top 3 groups were awarded prizes ranging from paper whirly helicopters to spinning orbs with flashing lights. All in all, each group thought the scavenger hunt was a good way to dive into many of the sights around Ho Chi Minh City.
Written by Brian Piantadosi
