Vietnam 07

Took me quite a while to write something about the trip. Finally gathered enough motivation after my first paper in 3 months is over.


Flew to Ho Chi Ming City with Jetstar. We kinda paid more than we should. The very next day after we paid for the tickets, Jetstarasia decided to come up with a $2 promotion. What a good omen!


Day 1:

Checked in to a wonderful guesthouse "Blue River Hotel". The staffs there are simply fantastic. The facilities there are new and clean. With aircon, attached bathroom, cable television and free internet usage, it cost 6 USD per pax per night. How I wish they have this everywhere in the world.

Dumping our bags, we embarked on a "7 hours City Tour" recommended by our little blue book.
With a little Holland all thanks to ____ (I shan't mention name) and a few short cuts, we managed to keep the tour to within 7 hours with plenty of rest in between. Some (mis)adventures also took place: chased by dogs, vendors, disrupting traffic flow.

First meal in Vietnam, at Pho 24, just before walking round district 1.


Different sizes of noodles.

Kanghao with a street vendor prior to being harassed by a coconut drink vendor for 2 whole streets

Overcoming the language barrier to buy a cup of "mix ice" desert. It took two NUS students to do the job with a wtf hand sign (look carefully and you shall see) from Alex.

Final Destination "Jade Emperor Pagoda". I was sincerely hoping to see something grand. Maybe not as grand as the grand palace of Thailand but at least a little taller (my understanding of pagodas is that they are supposed to be tall), bigger and filled with a few more statues of deities. This is seriously not a site worth visiting for Singaporeans who have see many many more variety of temples in their lives. This is not withstanding the fact that this is the most out of the way tourist attraction in the city tour.

Concluded day one with ~20 fake pirated adiddas polo tees.


Day 2:

Dragged ourselves out of bed and had our first breakfast in Vietnam. We asked for coffee but they served us both coffee and tea. That is where we learn that vietnamese usually starts the day with a cup of tea.

Took a long bus ride to Cao Dai Temples. It's a temple built like a Christian church decorated with Buddhist lotus, emphasis place on direction like in Islam and Taoist influences in its rites. There are another 3 religions involved but I can't really remember. It was really an eye opener.

Front view of the temple


Different colours symbolise different "religion"

With so many tourist staring at them, taking pictures with flashes on, they still carried on with the mess.

Visited Chu Chi tunnels, indigenous product of Vietnam war and a very popular tourist destination now. Watch a super low quality video that was produced like 20 years ago? The irony is that it is shown on a huge plasma screen that will cost me more than a year worth of allowance. There's more than tunnels in that place. It's is more like a open concept museum that show case how the people lived in the extreme conditions during VW. The highlight is the tunnel where I gave up on the first exit and some ang mos didn't even bother to try since they know they will be stuck somewhere along the tunnel.

After crawling through 30 m of the infamous tunnels

Concluded the day with more than 100 hours worth of DVDs


Day 3:

Mekong delta day. Took boats everywhere in the region. Visited honey farm. Took pictures with python. Witnessed coconut sweet production line.

Kanghao tasting the wind.

Snakes like this are available everywhere for people to take picture.

Straw hats with a plastic cover.

Concluded the day with more DVDs and polo tees.

Day 4:

The designated shopping day. I bought a cheapo backpack that look sturdy enough for 12 USD. Walking in the crowded Ben Thiam Market for the next 2 hours was quite physically and more importantly, mentally demanding.

Ate Pho at Pho 2000 a shop patronized by Bill Clinton when he visited Vietnam. More shopping followed.

Girls went for their long awaited pedi and mani cures, Kanghao went to for his hair styling. Gary and I made our way back to our room. My last meal there was from the fast food chain a shrimp burger, supplemented by a baguette with some fillings from a road side store right next to it.

Concluded the day with a flight back to SG!