Sunday, May 10, 2009
9:49 AM

Good Morning Vietnam!

Vietnam.
2 to 9 May.

Six. Chau Doc. So we booked the Mekong Tour to get from Phnom Penh to Saigon via the Mekong Delta. We were told that, for the price, we would be getting a night's stay at Chau Doc, a small fishing town, and take the boat all the way to Saigon, stopping at towns like My Tho and Can Tho. It turns out that we were only taking the boat from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc, and taking a mini-bus to Saigon, bypassing all the other towns!

The route down was beautiful as we passed by the maize and rice fields. We witnessed simple families living by the river, children and dogs playing, men bathing and women washing their clothes in the muddy waters.

Kids enjoying their swim in the murky waters.

Monkey bridges a common sight along the Mekong delta.

Ducks too.

Water buffaloes feeding on the nutritious mud.

Fishing is the way of life on the delta.

As we reached Chau Doc, I was amazed to see a place that looked so much like Singapore in the 1960s - shophouses with Chinese words, ladies in matching floral tops and bottoms with a Chinese collar (yes, the kind you see on TV shows like Toufu St). There were no tuktuks and few cars in Chau Doc, but plenty of motorbikes, bicycles and trishaws. Vietnamese are essentially also Chinese people (majority) and pray to Taoist gods and Buddha, since they were a part of China not too long ago. In Cambodia, I was amazed by how well the locals could speak Chinese, but unfortunately in Vietnam, almost none could speak Chinese.

Chau Doc is very 1960 Singapore.

Sweet snacks for sale.

A trishaw guy suggested a cheap and clean street stall for dinner with veryvery good sugar cane juice. It was just simple pork rib with rice, but very satisfying.

Seven. Saigon. Early in the morning we visited the fishing villages (kelongs) and the Cham minority village which made up of the Muslim minorities that came mainly from Malaya and Indonesia in the past. When we were back, we were told the bus was delayed from 9am to 12pm, so off we headed to Sam Mountain for a good view of the town on motorbikes! This was probably my second time on a bike, so I couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive. Perhaps the delay was a blessing in disguise as the view atop was fantastic! It was totally how I imagined a delta would look like - lots of canals and flooded fields. Apparently the Viets on the Mekong also have among the best irrigation technologies in the world, having learnt from both the Indian and Chinese farmers.

The fishes were so alive during feeding time!

Not so alive anymore!

The towns on the delta were beautiful in a simple way.

They make silk sarongs and scarves at the Cham village.

Found an emo kid.

View atop Sam mountain.

Each of us had a motorbike up Sam Mountain.

After a freaking 6h bus ride (inclusive of traffic jam), we reached Saigon. The moment I reached, it felt a little like HK with all the neon ads and hectic nightlife, except it would be more crowded in HK with less motorbikes.

Dinner was yummy Pho Dac Biet at Pho 24.

Eight. Saigon. We headed to Cu Chi Tunnels to understand more about the Vietnam war. It was amazing to see how the Vietnamese used simple tricks to win the war!

Traps using efficient physics.

Entrances to the tunnels were well-camouflaged. Besides, the Viet Congs were so petite!

SAF soldiers too.

But no way are the Americans going to get through!

The tunnel was already enlarged for tourists to visit!

Lunch was Bun Bo Hue at Quan An restaurant.

Banh Xeo.

Nobody liked Vietnamese spring rolls except me :(

We then visited temples at Chinatown.

The temples were usually dedicated to Guan Gong.

Then it was drinks atop Sheraton for a sunset view.

Statue of HCM before Hotel de Ville.

Nine. Saigon. At Ben Thanh Market, we always get quoted 4x our final price, which is ridiculous! So we simply walked away if we don't agree with the price and will immediately have our price cut by 1/4. The price differentials are so illogical that I was able to buy the exact set of chopsticks at 50,000 dongs but was quoted 120,000 dongs at another.

Pho Bo. Pho 2000 was better than Pho 24.

The most unforgettable part of Saigon? The traffic.

The Museum was very informative, albeit a little sleep-inducing in such hotness, where we learnt more about the Vietnam War and the cruelties committed on the locals by the Americans.

We had massage by blind masseuses, but my masseuse was merely pinching my skin, and not pressing on the right muscles/nerves/spots. The highlight for the night was witnessing Peiying half-forcing-half-puking her stinky fish hotpot soup.

Ten. Saigon. Thor and Leann reached, and we headed to the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Church and French Post Office. The most amazing event was Thor raising his hands to ask the guide at the Palace, "Excuse me, who's that person over there?" It was obviously Ho Chi Minh. His face is everywhere in the shops, on the streets and on the Dong notes. So the guide answered, as we cringed and attempted to feign strangers to Thor, even more so when she asked Thor which country he was from.

Reunification Palace.

That's Uncle Ho.

Yellow room.

Red room.

"Do not step on this carpet."

The guys were checking out the petite guide.

At Notre Dame Church.

The French Post Office.

After a good iced coffee, we headed to Ben Thanh to get traditional coffee maker and Weasel coffee powder. I'm seriously not a big fan of coffee, but the Vietnamese traditional coffee is so aromatic and thick that I got addicted to it!

Ben Thanh Market was where we got most of our souvenirs.

More temples...

This Bun Bo Hue was even better! It was somewhat like Penang Laksa.

View from our hostel.

Eleven. Dalat. Dalat was chilly at night since it's on the highlands. There, we met up with Peiying & Co at Hotel 171 before heading off to explore the area.

Street snacks for sale!

Dalat has their own Eiffel Tower too!

Pretty flowers in Dalat!

A little like Blackforest.

It's great not to sweat!

Fairyland of Vietnam?

Traditional mud hut.

Traditional weaving machine.

Elephant Falls was the biggest muddy falls I've been to!

It was spraying water all over like an Elephant!

Silkworm larvae.

The first stage was to dump the larvae into the boiling water and extract the silk fibres.

Weaving into the cloth.

Dinner was taco at Cafe V.

Twelve. Dalat. Breakfast was cheap and good baguette again, before heading to Bao Dai Summer Palace and Crazy House. The summer palace was so disappointingly ugly and small, but the Crazy House was weird but fun!

Dalat town was very pleasant.

The Vespa outside the Bao Cai Summer Palace was much better than the palace!

What a dull palace.

Nice garden tho.

Welcome to Crazyhouse!

Crazyhouse, crazy rooms, crazy beds.

Crazy designer with crazy ideas!

Crazy view from Crazyhouse.

We took a cable car to Chua Chuc Lam which counts as my favourite Buddhist temple in the whole of Vietnam. It was peaceful, facing the lake, with good constant breeze that caused the windchimes to sound melodiously, and was meant to be a place for the monks to attain nirvana and to cleanse the soul.

View from the cable car.

The windchimes were sounding melodiously in the background.

Great place for the nuns to attain nirvana.

Took a luge ride to Datanla Falls.

Datanla Falls.

Sunset at Dalat town.

Thirteen. Nha Trang.

White rose for breakfast was awesome! It tasted like chee cheong fun with char siew and bawang goreng.

Took a bus to Nha Trang, but met with a landslide on the winding mountain road which caused the rocks and logs to fall on the road, causing massive blockage and traffic jam. We had to wait for another hour before the excavators arrives to clear the road, which was impossible and extremely dangerous for a non-4WD to cross. It was only 3h later that we were able to carry on with the journey.

Indeed Nha Trang is like ECP except the beach is cleaner, the sand softer and the place bigger. Of course the sand can't be compared to the whiteness of that in Redang. Anyhow, I thought it unwise to stay on the ECP side of Nha Trang unless we were all willing to spend money on snorkelling/ diving and staying in a nice resort on the opposite island.

Seafood in Nha Trang must be really good and fresh and cheap, we thought. But we turned out to be horribly wrong as we ventured on our worst meal ever in the whole trip. The seafood not only costed a bomb, the portion was small and the taste disgusting.