HCMC 2006

Vietnam Trip (21/10/06 - 24/10/06)

I am finally back from HCMC, Vietnam. Thanks to Tiger Airways for this horrendous trip. We started our journey as early as 445am in a taxi to catch the 650am flight. After checking in, we saw a long queue at the Han's counter. These people are waiting to buy breakfast because Tiger doesn't serve food on board. We were not sure whether the stores in the departure hall are open so we asked. The nice guard reply, "I not open the shop. How I know? " He left us with no choice but eating at Han's.

The flight was only 1hr 45min. We reached HCM at about 730 local time. We can't even check in into the hotel because it was too early. So we left our bags in the hotel and took a walk on the street. There are hundreds and thousands of motorbikes greeting us on the street with their exhaust gas. Crossing the street is a challenging task here. Luckily we were trained in Malaysia before. The only thing we need to take note is that the traffic actually comes from the left hand side. After having brunch in a local cafe, we walked along the busy street again. Our next stop was Ben Thanh Market, a smaller version of Chatuchak in Thailand. Just imagine how stuffy it is. Ben Thanh Market is packed with many tiny stalls selling all kinds of commodity from souvenir to fabric for making "ao dai", the traditional costume. The food court here is also selling delicious local specialties such as pho (vietnamese beef noodles), fried spring rolls, grilled meat rolls on sugarcane, rice paper rolls etc .

At night, we had our dinner at a famous seafood restaurant, Ngoc Suong Saigon. Although the food is tasty like any other restaurant, the interior setting of the restaurant is just so grand that made our spending value for money. 7 of us spent 1.5mil (rich leh) for prawns, crabs, fish, lamb, greens etc. It's about SGD23/pax. We end our first day quite early because the Mekong Delta day trip is waiting for us on the next day. 

On the second day, Nyugen Chew left Vietnam and 6 of us continue our trip in Vietnam. We joined a day tour in Mekong Delta by taking a bus provided by a local travel agent. The bus journey was so hot and painful because the road was bumpy and the bus driver was constantly using the honk as a preventive meassure. Moreover, the bus was moving at the speed of 50km/hr... It took about 3hrs to reach a jetty where we started the boat trip into the villages. First of all we cross the Mekong River to watch coconut candy production. Then we change to a smaller sampan as the river gets narrower and shallower. We had a chance the row our sampan and experienced the life of fisherman for once. After that, we stop at a few stops to watch small bee farm, python and listen to the vietnamese songs live. There were 4 islands at that area namely, turtle, unicorn, dragon and pheonix. The Mekong Delta trip is quite relaxing until the torturing bus ride back to HCMC again. At night, we had dinner at Vietnamese House. It was very disappointing because we were served with the local food which is available everywhere outside yet paying 3-4 times more.

We joined another local tour on the third day organized by the same tour agent. This time we chose a historical and educational trip to Cu Chi Tunnel. This short also started with a terrible bus ride. We de tour to a handicapped handicraft factory and bought some souvenir. After 2hrs, we reach the place. During the vietnam war, the vietnamese fought the US soldiers in the forrest. They dig tunnels all over the place to hide from the US soldier. By walking (half squatting) through one of the tunnels, we learnt much about their tough living condition underground and their strong fighting spirit. We were shouting for torch light and making a lot of noise in the tunnel. If we were the vietnamese soldiers we would be dead meat. This half day tour was short and we were back to HCMC in the evening. That is the time to worry about the multi million dollar question again "Where to eat dinner?" Strolling along Nguyen Hue Street, we found an international cafe, The Central Cafe that offered nice food at moderate price. After dinner, my symptoms of food poisoning started to manifest . My stomach pain get worse in the middle or the night and i suffered high fever, too. Luckily I am going back to Singapore soon.