Vietnam Trip - Day 3

Day 3 started bright and sunny.. with us reluctant to leave dreamland.. haha.. but we have loads of programmes planned ahead~ with no time to waste, we had our fill and off we went.. to our beloved Sinh Tourist to board our bus which will bring us to Mekong Delta =)

And we were pleasantly delighted to know that we had the same tourguide that we had the day before! haha.. though his english is hard to understand, but it's the familiarity that he brings along, which makes the trip more interesting.. haha..

How can we not take a shot with him.. haha.. Just to remember how he looks~ Honestly, I think he looks like the rounder version of uncle ho.. haha..

We were squinting coz it was very sunny! haha..

About to board the boat behind lo!

We spent a good 45 mins on the boat which basically brought us ard the village.. I'm not good with names of places, so I'm not sure where we were.. haha.. all I could say is that we were going towards, touring ard, or at Mekong Delta.. HAHA! yes.. I'm very bad with names =P

Very sunny day...... Very glaring too!

After being on the boat for quite some time, I definitely welcomed the idea of stepping on land (or boardwalk) and do some nature hike.. haha.. reminds me to the nature reserves in Singapore =)

We walked along and followed the guide, even though we really had no idea where the guide is bringing us to.. hahaha.. like some treasure hunting walk..

Of course, we never fail to stop and take some shots along the way.. hahaha.. we have to be real quick in doing that as there were ppl behind and in front of us, we didnt want to cause too much of a disturbance to them..

We we then led to this small hut, where a vietnamese lady was sitting aside make rice paper.. she was demonstrating how it's made, all from scratch.. quite interesting, but I've already seen it the day before at Cu Chi tunnel attraction ma.. so it's nothing new to me.. HAHA!

The tourguide called for a volunteer.. and I thought, why not? HAHA.. no one will remember me anyways.. haha.. except for ppl who captured me on their cams.. =P

And so... I did.. haha.. grind the rice into some milky pulp.. haha.. which will then be poured over a traditional steamer to harden.. and dried under the sun to.. tadah.. rice paper =)

After which, we were asked to walk again.. haha..

I'm lost in a forest.. haha..

We walked more... and were led to a small hut selling local (village)-made souvenirs (which I hope they are telling the truth, coz I think I see the same things retailing at different parts of Ho Chi Minh.. haha..).. and it was time for lunch!!!

I had to capture this fish... as it was impressively huge! hahaha... Looks pretty ugly, but I'm sure they have a way to make it taste good.. =)

Rice paper roll again.. haha.. fried and steamed.. you name it, they have it.. Feeling very satisfied after lunch, we strolled around the village and made our way back into the boat again.. to where? I was not very sure then.. haha..

Just hop on and continue with the adventure.. haha..

After 15 minutes of boat ride, we arrived at another small village.. haha.. apparently, the guide told us that he's going to bring us somewhere to hear the local people play musical instruments and sing~ =) Something very traditional which I was looking fwd to..

Turn and say cheese!

This is very funny =P I was about to pose when my hair got in the way.. haha.. and the camera clicked when I was flipping my hair away, and out comes this classic silly and sluty pose =P

We finally arrived at a little hut, where we were entertained with the local people singing with their melodious voices, and a plate of tropical fruits on the table.. haha..

Enjoy~

After which, we were taken on a horse ride, which lasted 10 minutes or so? hahaha.. I never expected that, and I felt sorry for the horse as it was carrying 4 adults and it must have been tiring! But it was something we would never have done back in Singapore.. haha.. and we got local straw hats to wear too! =)

We were on the horse 'carriage'... haha..

It dropped us off soon after.. and we were led to this small river at the back of the village.. where we were given another surprise! haha.. we were going on a sampan ride~

Can you see the little sampans at the back? We were excited!

Row and row for a good 15 mins =) Like the locals.. and snap snap snap my camera went...

Mr Koh got a chance to row the boat too.. haha..

We got back to our original boats.. and proceeded to a local coconut candy factory.. haha.. not exactly a factory, but more of a facility =) 

Here's our guide again, showing us how coconut candy were made.. =) We bought a few packs home as well.. haha.. though I think it was quite pricey..

This little girl was the darling of the trip.. haha.. she's korean.. and she's so cute.. I need to take a picture of her =)

After which, we went back to our coach and that marks the end of our mekong delta trip.. hahaha.. It was a long morning+afternoon.. but it was definitely enjoyable! =) Makes my whole trip so much more enriching.. full of heritage and culture.. haha..

Thankfully, it only started to rain after our boat trip around mekong.. haha.. and I must say Vietnamese are well prepared for wet weather.. ever ready!

We headed back to the hotel for a good wash, before we dash off for a good dinner... stomachs were roaring by then! haha.... We walked to this magnificent looking building (which we passed by every night when walking back to the hotel from Ben Thanh market.. haha), and decided to at least take a few shots of it (with it too) before we leave HCM.. haha..

Feels like we're in Europe.. haha.. HCM has quite a number of french-flavoured buildings..

I took a picture with Uncle Ho too! =)

Finally, we decided to fill our stomachs and let our cameras rest for the night.. haha.. We proceeded to Vincom Centre.. and we immediately felt like we're back in Singapore coz everything seems so familiar.. urbanization and all the global brands in the shopping mall made it feel like home..

Quite posh~ while the surroundings of the building were starkly contrasting..

There's an arcade that was humungous too! haha.. there's an area for bumper cars too..

And a shop named after Fanny~ haha..

We finally settled dinner at Kichi Kichi... which has operations in SG too.. haha.. just that we didnt try in back at home coz it was too pricey.. =) There, it was just less than SGD 15, compared to when we eat at Singapore, it would be ard SGD 25?

It's buffet steamboat time! hungry hungry~ Though selection was not wide, it was still nice dipping raw food into steaming hot soup.. haha.. We had our fill soon after.. We cannot waste time eating away~

We went back to Ben Thanh Market again~ at my request... haha.. coz I want to buy more dri-fit, and to satisfy my shopping crave! hahahah... Thank you Mr Koh =)

We had desserts at this cafe overlooking the junction.. and it was nice just to watch the bikes and ppl go by us as time ticks away.. this is life! =)

I love Ben Thanh! hahaha........

Await my final post on my Vietnam Trip..... as we bade goodbye to HCM...

Vietnam Trip - Day 2

After sufficient rest the night before (enough to fuel us for the next day, though I would have preferred more time to snooze).. haha.. We had our breakfast at the hotel.. simple fare, but enough to make us full... and we were all geared up for the day and coz we have quite a list of attractions to visit for the day =)

while in the cab..

Our friendly hotel recep had actually helped us booked a full day tour with Sinh Tourist (I can’t commend them enough).. haha.. coz their tours are affordable (I hope so =P, and they keep to timings very well!) Plan for the day was: Cu Chi Tunnel and City Tour~

our favourite tour guide.. haha!

I’ve heard much about Cu Chi Tunnel before I came, so I was naturally looking forward to this tour.. haha.. So after a bus journey of ard an hour, we have reached the attraction! =) The entrance is not flamboyant nor flashy, but I’m sure this place is rich with history, stories and fascinations..

We started the tour soon enough and was brought around the trail of the attraction, with our friendly tour guide showing and explaining some of the exhibits along the way.. Though half of the time, I couldn’t really catch what he was saying, it was good enough~ I understood what he was trying to convey… Sometimes, historical exhibits and images transcends languages…

can you see the spikes in this trap?

We walked and took pictures for a good half an hour.. and passed by numerous man-made traps made by the Vietnamese soldiers during wartime.. For the history of it, I shan’t dwell too deep into it here, coz I myself do not really understand how exactly the war started, reasons, resolutions, and impact….. I need to read up more.. haha..

The highlight of the trip was crawling into a tunnel, which was home to the Cu Chi people and soldiers during wartime.. and it was hilarious!!! Not because I had to crawl like a duck, but the Caucasian behind me was cursing and swearing throughout the 20-30m long crawl as it was excruciatingly painful for him to crawl like how I did.. coz he was very much bigger sized than me.. and it was challenging for someone of his size to endure this strenous activity.. HAHA! He came out all wet and had some stain marks (could be from the walls of the tunnel) on his shirt.. super funny!

See that AM behind me? Yes, it was hilarious crawling while listening to his swearings.. HAHA!

I'm such a good photographer.. not easy to take pictures in the tunnel ok~ =P

The last part of the Cu Chi tunnel adventure ended with us watching a documentary on the Vietnam war, and with our tourguide giving us an insightful and hard to understand lesson on history.. I tried my best =P

We headed back to Sinh Tourist office (our initial starting point) and had an hr break for lunch before we went back for our 2nd part of the trip, which is the city tour~ =)

We had surprisingly edible Korean food.. HAHA! But I still prefer the Korean food I always have in Singapore.. at least I could eat with ease knowing that preparation of food is at least clean..

We continued with our City tour and first stop: The much talked about War Remnants Museum.. It’s a good place to come, if you’re interested in the Vietnam war.. The attraction has many US planes displayed at it’s front courtyard, and of course, I had to take pictures with them…

Inside the building, contains a treasure trove of history, images, articles, clippings, relating to the war.. The most impressionable part would be the pictures of the victims of the war.. and pictures of deformed children and generations due to the effects of a dioxin called Agent Orange.. It was an eye-opener, educating everyone on the effects of war.. There wasn’t much pin-pointing and condemnation around the museum, which I feel is objective in a good way.. At the end of the day, we all know that war brings nothing good to mankind~ make peace ppl….

Next, we proceeded to the Reunification palace where the president used to work and live in.. haha.. quoted word for word, as explained by our tourguide.. We toured the different rooms in the building, and seen some of the elaborately furnished rooms (dining, entertaining international guests, meeting, entertainment, etc)…

Posing with the palace~

Pretty touristy with plenty of coaches...

Their meeting room for meetngs with international guests.

We saw a helicopter at the roof too!

Mr Koh meddling with the radio system..

I'm actually sitting in the president's table.. which is underground by the way.. in a room for meetings.. =)

Lastly, we visited Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office… It was raining cats and dogs when we arrived, but we still went down the coach to explore the area.. The design of these buildings were distinctly French as Vietnam was once under the French rule, so these buildings retained some of the French flavoured designs, which brought about a quite a nice and refreshing twist amidst the asian architecture..

Inside the cathedral~

We popped over to this Post Office, which is just beside the cathedral...

The inside of the Post Office =)

Nice westernised deco.. with clocks showing times of the various major cities in the world~

The tour ended soon after and the coach driver and tour guide nicely dropped us somewhere near Ben Thanh Market! My favourite haunt for dri-fit.. hahaha..

But then, due to wet weather, we decided to rest our legs and hide away from the rain.. at our favourite coffee joint - Highlands coffee, to have a cup of coffee + cheesecake! yummy~

We shopped around the night market and had dinner at Pho 24, one of the local noodle food joints.. haha.. quite up-market for the locals I think..

Yes, I had rice noodles again =) That's the best thing to eat when I'm sick..

After dinner, we walked around Ben Thanh Market again (coz I requested for more shopping time =P) hahaha.. poor Mr Koh..

And unfortunately, I fell sick on day 2... must be the overdose of jackfruit chips the night before and the weather in vietnam and the lack of rest the past few days, which made me so vulnerable.. I'm just weak.. tsk tsk!

I KO-ed immediately that night.. to make sure I am fit to climb out of bed on day 3... hahaha!