Day 1: Singapore - Ho Chi Minh
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh - My Tho - Ben Tre - Ho Chi Minh
Day 3: Ho Chi Minh - Mui Ne
Day 4: Mui Ne - Ho Chi Minh
Day 5: Ho Chi Minh - Singapore
THE PREPARATION
I had my leave approved since January 2007 and had initially planned to go to Koh Phangan for the full moon party during the long weekend. However, accomodation and flights to Koh Phangan is too costly. Hence, I decided upon making a trip to Ho Chi Minh instead.
After a price check with few travel agents in People's Park, I made my booking with Jetstar Asia for a $309 return air ticket including tax. Holidays during this period is quite expensive due to the school holidays + public holiday combo. On the other hand, I had also booked a one night's stay at Lan Anh Hotel for US$18 as it was highly recommended by Lonely Planet and the Virtual Tourist Forum.
DAY 1 (31 May 2007, Thursday)
Flight 3K551 took off at Changi Airport at 0725hrs and arrived at Tan Son Nhat Airport at 0820hrs (local time). My Garmin GPS clocked 300km/h at take off, top speed of 892km/h, and a trip distance of 1240km on the Jetstar flight. The ariel view over My Tho, the great Mekong Delta, was lovely.
So is the ariel view over Ho Chi Minh City.
The airport looks quiet as I believe 3K551 is the first flight arrival of the day. At the travel agent in the airport, I got myself a taxi voucher to Saigon, District 1, for US$5.
The taxi arrived in Pham Ngu Lao (aka backpacker's area) and I made my way to Lan Anh Hotel. The location of the hotel is extremely good, just 2 units next to Sinh Cafe. The receptionist is able to speak English & Mandarin as well.
The hotel isn't fantastic, it looks like a budget guesthouse, but has the basic stuffs like air-con, hot water, bathtub, towel, blanket, tv with satellite channels and even a lift/elevator which most hotels in the area does not have.
After I dumped my luggage in the room, I went down to Sinh Cafe and booked my tour to the Mekong Delta in Ben Tre & My Tho, as well as a 2D/1N trip to Mui Ne. The Mekong Delta trip cost US$7 (including transport, lunch & tour guide), and the Mui Ne trip cost US$45 (including transport, hotel, 2 lunch, 1 dinner, 1 bfast & half day tour). *sigh* ....... BUT that means I have no more free time to visit the Cu Chi Tunnel!!!!
I had a French baguette at a food stall opposite Sinh Cafe and then I decided to explore Saigon District 1 by foot.
Pham Ngu Lao area
One of the many travel agents in Pham Ngu Lao
September 23rd Park is "The Black Hole" of Saigon due to its scale (10-hectares) and decade of inactivity. It currently hosts the 'EU Herd of Cows' in the park that week. I'll tell you more about this park at night later.
Pho 2000 was named after Bill Clinton when he had Pho(Vietnamese rice noodles) at the shop in the year 2000.
Ben Thanh Market was built in 1914. The the clock tower with 4 clocks facing 4 directions is considered the symbol of the City.
The market is one of the biggest markets in the city where everything can be found, from vegetables to fish, electronic gadgets, clothings and leather bags, shoes etc. The market now also caters to the increasing tourist visiting HCMC with a wide range of cheap imported goods.
Tran Nguyen Hai Statue in the middle of the roundabout, next to Ben Thanh.
Rex Hotel has great views from the rooftop veranda bar, which is decorated with caged birds, plaster elephants and potted anumal-shaped topiaries.
City Opera House was built by the French at the end of the 19th century and renovated in the 1940s, this fine example of colonial architecture is a landmark in the centre of Saigon. It is no longer used for European opera, but there are occasional performances of Vietnamese music. Sadly, when I was there, it was closed for renovations.
Opera View is one of the newest building around, with even a Louis Vuitton boutique at the ground floor.
The City Hall, originally called the Hotel de Ville, is now rebranded the People Committee's Hall. It's not open to the public, so you can only see it from the outside. I heard that its better for photography at night as it is illuminated at night. The statue of Uncle Ho in front is a very popular place for photography by tourists.
The Revolutionary Museum was built in 1886 and once known as Gia Long Palace. It covers the various periods in the city's 300 year history, focuses mostly on the war and has some interesting displays and some decent art exhibits as well. Underneath the building is a network of tunnels and corridors that stretches all the way to Reunification Palace. However, these are not open to the public. Outside are a Soviet tank, an American Huey helicopter, an anti-aircraft gun, and an American built F-5 that was used by a South Vietnamese pilot to bomb the Presidential Palace. The old rustic building seemed charming to some, as there were a few couples having their wedding photo shoot at the museum.
After a tiring walk, I saw a Pho stall and had my very first bowl of Pho Ga (chicken pho) in Vietnam. It cost just 15,000VND(S$1.50).
Look! It's a limited edition Pepsi that translates to 'Pepsi Festive'.
Back on foot, I walked to the Reunification Palace. The palace saw the rise and fall of 4 presidents before the North and South Vietnam reunified. Though it is no longer used for state affairs, the palace is still filled with grandeur and awe.
Visit the various rooms and you will realise that the past presidents have high taste for furniture and antique. It is 5-story building consists of 100 rooms and chambers. The more interesting floor is the basement which contains a network of tunnels, telecommunication center and a war room.
The Central Post Office's architecture style is French colonial. Enter the post office and you'll notice the immense ceilings, and has the feel of a train station. You also can't miss the massive portrait of good old Ho Chi Minh. They sell stamps and souveniers inside.
The Notre Dame Cathedral is situated in Paris Square, in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. The neo-Romanesque architecture and its two 40m-high square towers tipped with iron spires dominate the Ho Chi Minh City's sky line. Take note of the opening hours or else you will make a wasted trip there.
On completing most of the attractions in Saigon District 1 by foot, I hopped on to a taxi-meter to go to Cholon, District 5, the Chinatown of Ho Chi Minh.
In Chinatown,Thien Hau Pagoda is also known as the "Goddess of Sea" by many Chinese. Many sailors, fishermen and travellers would pray to her for safety at sea. You will be amazed by the intricate carvings on the walls and rooftops.
Cho Lon means "big market" and the Binh Tay Market is the largest market in Saigon's Chinatown. Much like Ben Thanh Market, the aisles are full of just about anything that you would need for the modern Vietnamese life. However, the prices are generally cheaper than Ben Thanh as this market is more popular with the locals.
In Cholon, you can hear the locals speaking Mandarin or Cantonese, thus making me feel more 'at home'. I stopped by a local Chinese cafe and had my dinner there. Ordering food is a breeze as there is no communication barrier!
After a tiring day's walk, I had a nice shower back in the hotel after dinner. Then I ventured around Pham Ngu Lao/De Tham area for some shopping. I simply love the place.
There were various roadside stalls along Bui Vien Road that sells bamboo clams, mussels, la-la, gong-gong, zut-zut, etc. Although the look gives you the impression that the food is dirty and unhygienic, but yummy...... the steamed bamboo clams are fat and juicy!!! It is eaten with some brown salt + lime juice + chilli sauce.
This is probably the best Pho Bo (Beef Pho) I've eaten and it cost 18,000VND(S$1.80).
As I was wandering around, I stumbled across a nice hotel and I went to check out the rooms. It was amazing! A room at Lien Ha Hotel cost US$17 (S$26), and it comes with a full set of toiletries, a safe, satellite tv, air-con, hot water shower, and the best thing is, it's only 6 months old! Immediately I told the receptionist that I want the room tomorrow!
DAY 2 (01 June 2007, Friday)
Today I have a tour to Mekong Delta, so I got up at 0700hrs, packed my stuffs and check-out of Lan Anh Hotel, and then check into Lien Ha Hotel one street away. Look, isn't this nice?
The very friendly receptionist at the Lien Ha Hotel.
There are many many of such book-seller in the vincinity. Their books are all pirated copies and they sell it at a fraction of the original price. She is a dammmmm hard-seller, keep pushing me to get a copy once she knows that I am interested in one of the Lonely Planet guidebook. Eventually, I managed to get a copy from her for 60,000VND(S$6) after much bargaining. See how strong she is?
I got back to Sinh Cafe to wait for the air-con coach that departs for Mekong Delta, the true Vietnamese countryside.
The tour group of about 20+ tourists arrived at My Tho in about 2 hours and we were briefed on our Mekong Delta trip itinerary.
We begin the journey with a motorised boat along the Mekong River from My Tho to Phoenix Island.
He is our boatman for the day.
I can't believe it, infrastructure on the Mekong River is so good that you see streetlamps right on the Mekong River????!!!!!
On arrival at Phoenix Island, we visited the paper rice cracker farm where we were shown how paper rice crackers are made from scratch.
Lunch was catered for, on the Phoenix Island. Besides the exotic 'Elephant Ear Fish', all else were just normal dishes!
After lunch, we continued on the same boat along Mekong River onto Ben Tre mainland.
We had tea tipped with real bee-made honey at a bee farm. Thereafter, we walked through the countryside and onto the main tarmac road where a few horsecart waited for us. The horsecart took us through the villages and we see how the locals live in the countryside.
The 10-min ride ended at a Fruit Farm where we were served some local fruits while listening to some Vietnamese folk singers/musicians touch your heart with heart-felt music. Shortly later, we were transferred via another mode of transport. This time we were on a sampan powered by human muscles.
The 15-min sampan ride took us from the narrow river back onto the main Mekong River, where we board the larger motorised boat to the Coconut Candy Farm. This farm shows how coconut is boiled, hardened and then wrapped as coconut candies.
This is interesting... a recycled coconut husk is being used as a teapot warmer!
Alright folks, that's all for the day! Back at My Tho, we took the coach back to HCMC and everyone on the bus fell deep asleep after a tiring and warm day. We arrived back in Saigon District 1, at around 1800hrs. Again, its back to hotel for a relaxing shower!
Again, I walked around Pham Ngu Lao at night, having a delicious meal at Kim's Cafe with Vietnamese spring roll and Vietnamese white coffee, and shopping around the area, before ending up with some more steamed bamboo clams by the roadstalls, and eventually at a more 'happenning' pub for some chilled beer and soothing music.
In the daytime, this is a breadstall, but at night, this roadside stall sells bamboo clams and all the shellfishes.
DAY 3 (02 June 2007, Saturday)
It's another day where I got up early to check out and gather at Sinh Cafe for the 2D/1N tour to Mui Ne.
The coach is running on full house, and we left HCMC at 0730hrs sharp and head towards Phan Thet Province.
After a 2hrs journey, we arrived at a petrol station for a short break. Boy, its the cleanest toilet I've ever been to. You'll need to remove your shoes, and put on their slippers when you enter the toilet. Inside, its indeed sparkling clean and dry!
In another 2.5hrs, the coach arrived in Mui Ne Resort. Wow.... its beautiful!!! I was pretty excited the moment I see the nice blue seafront at Mui Ne Beach.
At 1430hrs, I gathered at the resort lobby for the half day tour of Mui Ne. The first destination is the White Sand Dunes, or Bao Trang (White Lake) is the top attraction at Mui Ne, after the beach itself.
A small stand of pine trees sit on the southern end of the dune lakes, offering a perfect spot for a picnic and afternoon nap.
The dunes range from gold to pure white. The average temperature is 27C. With no overhead cover on the dunes themselves, there is intense sunshine and a reflective glare off the dunes and the lakes below. This is also the driest known location in all of SE Asia.
Next stop, the Red Sand Canyon. The Red Sand Canyon is another great photo opportunity.
And lastly, the final stop of the half day tour, is the local fishing village.
See the round boat that resembles a bowl? I saw 5 of these boats, being chained together, and then towed by a motorised boat, and the fellas in the bowl just need to hang on for their life, like on a banana boat!!! Looks fun, but I didn't try it!
A local preparing squids/sotong on a BBQ hot stove at the fishermen village. It looks delicious and I very much wanted to try. But guess how much she is selling for? 80,000VND(S$8) per piece!!!! What a rip-off!!!!
DAY 4 (03 June 2007, Sunday)
It's a nice fine morning when I woke up on a lazy Sunday. I strolled on the beach for a nice sea breeze gently blowing into my half-asleep face.
After breakfast at the hotel, I went over to one of the bike rental shop neaby to rent a bike for half a day. Charges are just 50,000VND(S$5) for half a day (cheaper than having the squid yesterday - ha ha ha).
About 2km from the resort, lies the Fairy Stream. I parked my bike at the entrance and was led in by a little girl, who eventually became my unofficial 'tour guide'. Although she could not speak any English, she is careful and took care of me during the walk on the shallow stream. She pointed out to me constantly, informing me to avoid deep areas and guided me to walk on 'safer' areas.
The 1.2km stream has colourful sand banks along the sides,with really shallow waters, leading to a small waterfall. The most amazing thing about this hike was the red soil surrounding it. The streambanks were composed of the most red, iron-enriched soil I have ever seen. It was soft and doughy to walk on. Some of the adventurous ones even climbed to the peak of the sand banks, which is at least 10-storys high!!!
I moved on and went to explore Mui Ne further, till I reached the Red Sand Dunes. This is quite small on scale compared to the White Sand Dunes I visited yesterday. Nevertheless, its worth a quick visit as you have time.
Here are some of the sceneries that I took while I was exploring Mui Ne on bike.
Time is running out. I need to return the bike, check out of the hotel and get on the bus back to HCMC. I know I will be missing this place, and as a matter of fact, if I were to return to Mui Ne to see the natural attractions, it will definately be more touristic in a few year's time. Maybe in 5 yrs, there will be more resorts, more shops, big malls, pubs, etc. Hence the kind of nature's feel won't be there anymore.
Back in HCMC at 1800hrs, I went back to Lien Ha Hotel to catch the live telecast of the MotoGP race held at Mugello, Italy, on satellite TV. Race favourites Valentino Rossi made history during the race by winning the race in his homeground, for the 6th consecutive times, which no other riders in history has done so. Excellent ride!
After the race, I went over to Ben Thanh Market to do some last minute shopping as I am returning to Singapore tomorrow. On cutting through the September 23 Park to get to Ben Thanh Market, I was surprised to see so many lovebirds!!!! The entire park is filled with motorcycles, and on every single motorcycle, there is a pair of lovers either kissing or hugging just so openly! The best thing is that the motorcycles are all parked so close to one another!!
At the Benh Thanh Market, the market itself is closed, but the surrounding roads around the market is closed to traffic and they showcase a lot of roadside foodstalls and souvenirs for grab. I had my last bowl of Pho Bo and bamboo clams(not again??!!) there at the night market.
DAY 5 (04 June 2007, Monday)
After checking-out of Lien Ha Hotel, the receptionist hired a taxi for me for US$6(S$9) to head to Tan Son Nhat Airport. I boarded Jetstar flight 3K552 for the journey home.
Here are some portrait photos which I'll like to share:
Fruit seller
Cactus seller
Cyclo rider
The traditional costume of Vietnam
Girl selling rice paper cracker
One of the many chewing gum sellers at Pham Ngu Lao
MORE PHOTOS
Click here
FAST FACTS
Accomodation: S$40
Air ticket: $342
Taxi & Transport: S$17
Tours from Sinh Cafe: S$80
Shopping: S$48
Food & miscellaneous: S$57
TOTAL EXPENDITURE: S$584
TRAVEL GUIDES / NEWS / MAGAZINES
Vietnam Travel Guide
http://www.guidevietnam.com/
Wikitravel
http://wikitravel.org/en/Vietnam
Threeland Travel
http://www.threeland.com/
Virtourist.com - travelling around the world
http://www.virtourist.com/asia/vietnam/index.html
WorldAtlas.com
http://worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/vn.htm
Lonely Planet
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/asia/vietnam/
Virtual Tourist
http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/Asia/Vietnam/TravelGuide-Vietnam.html
Hotels in Vietnam
http://www.hotels-in-vietnam.com/index.html
Tales of Asia
http://www.talesofasia.com/vietnam.htm
Sinh Cafe Vietnam
http://www.sinhcafevn.com/default.asp
Sinh Cafe Travel
http://www.sinhcafe.com/index.htm
Sinh Cafe Travel
http://www.sinhcafetravel.com.vn/
Sinh Cafe Travel.com
http://www.sinhcafe.net/sinhcafe/home.htm
Sinh Cafe Open Tour
http://www.sinhcafe-opentour.com/
Vietnam Open Tour
http://www.vietnamopentour.com/
Kim Travel
http://www.kimtravel.com/main.htm
Tropic Tour Vietnam
http://www.tropictourvietnam.com/index.asp
Vietnam Hotels
http://www.vietnamhotels.biz/index.htm
Delta Adventure Tours
http://www.deltaadventuretours.com/
Fidi Tour
http://www.fiditour.com/index.php?l=1&cid=1&f=1&tplid=3
Handspan Adventure Travel
http://www.handspan.com/
Frommer's
http://www.frommers.com/destinations/hochiminhcity/0198020004.html
Footprint Vietnam Travel
http://www.footprintsvietnam.com/
MOTORBIKING IN VIETNAM
Golden Triangle Riders
http://www.gt-rider.com/
Adventure Rider Forum
http://www.advrider.com/
Minsk Club Hanoi Vietnam
http://www.minskclubvietnam.com/index.html
Voyage Vietnam - Mototours Asia
http://www.voyagevietnam.net/eng/38.php
Offroad Vietnam
http://www.offroadvietnam.com/eng/2.php
Explore Indochina
http://www.exploreindochina.com/
Free Wheelin Tours
http://www.freewheelin-tours.com/
Vietnam Rider
http://www.vietnamrider.com/
TRIP REPORTS & BLOGS
http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Hanoi/blog-124330.html
http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103078&highlight=vietnam
http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=121471
http://thang-long.blogspot.com/
MAPS
http://www.indochinatour.com/vietnam/map/map.html
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/asia/vietnam/
http://members.tripod.com/ScoutBird/maps.htm
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