Day 1
Before we went there, we had already arranged for private tour and airport transfer. Accommodation, travel expenses and meals are included as well, total spending is about S$430 each. Upon reaching the airport, we were separated into 2 cars that drove us to Compass Parkview Hotel. It's an apartment suite, we had 2 extra single beds, 3 of us in 1 room, another 2 in the second room. Due to insufficient space in the rooms, they placed one of the single bed in the living room. Yl ended up sleeping in the living room because we don't want to sleep alone. After resting for a while, we decided to walk around before going to the restaurant for our free welcome dinner thrown in for us by the tour agent. We went to the banh mi store located near our hotel (recommended by the tour agent), it's similar to subway but this is way more delicious. We just walked and stopped to eat whenever we passed by any stores we wanted to try. Crossing the road for the first time in hcm scared me cause there's practically no traffic lights, you don't wait for them to stop because they won't. You have to pluck up your courage and just cross and they will automatically stop for you or avoid you. All you hear is the honking sound. Walked over to Notre Dame Cathedral, wanted to go inside but it's closed so we went to the post office nearby as well as Saigon Opera House. The sky became dark and seems like 8 plus when it's only 6 plus. Had drinks at L'usine, the ambience is good, you can choose to sit outside where you can get a view of the streets. Took a taxi to the chateau where we had our welcome dinner. I would recommend you to take the vinasun taxi to travel around. It's much cheaper, we only spent about S$1 each for the cab fare. Ordered saigon beer, I don't like the taste of beer, only managed to complete half the bottle. The food is like the zichar here, I thought it would be western food. The place seems rather high-class, almost all the people there were angmohs. After dinner we went to circle k mart to buy some snacks before going back to hotel.
At Changi Airport, before boarding
Xin chao (hello) from hcm!
Look at the traffic here!
Notre Dame Cathedral
Post office
Saigon Opera House
L'usine
Chateau
Day 2
While bathing, I held onto the pole above the bathtub to prevent myself from slipping. When I leaned gently against it, it fell and I hit my kneecap against the bathtub. It had a huge bruise, quite painful. Had a very filling hotel breakfast before we checked out and set off with our tour guide. It requires a few hours to travel from place to place so I usually sleep on the bus ride there. We went to Cai Be, located in the Mekong Delta, for a boat trip on the river. The boat provides us with fruits and coconut drinks, they even allowed us to try and steer the boat. The boat ride is very relaxing, you don't have to think about anything, just sit there, enjoy the view and the cooling sea breeze. We visited the traditional workshops where they showed us how they make their local snacks. It looks easy but it's actually very difficult when we try it ourselves. We also had a short sampan boat ride along a little creek lined by water coconut trees. They had a restaurant situated behind the historic house where we had our lunch. Tried to make spring roll using rice paper but failed terribly. Just dip the rice paper into water, put all the ingredients inside and start wrapping. You got to do it fast if not the rice paper will stick onto your plate which makes it difficult to wrap. After that was free and easy, we went to hotel at Can Tho. Walked to ninh kieu night market near our hotel, shopped around for a while and had dinner nearby. Their food is really good, especially their noodle soup (example pho). Their rice comes in one big bowl, I ate 2 bowls of rice for every meal without fail. I didn't even know I can eat that much until I came here with them. Continued to walk around the night market and bought some finger food, I like their sotong with the special sauce, it's spicy but nice. Finally got a watch I like too :) Since we were separated into 2 rooms on different levels, jy, mag and lays came up to our room to talk for a while and eat the snacks bought earlier at the workshop.
Boat ride and coconut drinks
In the process of making rice paper
Mekong Delta
Historic House
The view through our hotel's windows
Mr Ho Chi Minh! It's been very long since I did a jump shot
Ninh Kieu Night Market
Day 3
Every morning for breakfast, I'll eat omelette and their noodle soup. After breakfast, it's another boat trip to floating market. They sell fruits and drinks on their boat. When we stopped at one of the boats, some of the small boats will come near to ours and start to let us try their stuff and sell it to us. It's something different, quite an interesting experience. After that we went to see plantations and made our way to long an province and arrive at binh tien farmstay. Had lunch prepared by the host, they had vegetables for every meal. I don't eat raw ones, only cooked ones, now I see vegetables also scared. Rested for a while watching the ducks swimming in the pond, birds flying around, cows eating grass, meowmeow coming to disturb us every now and then. Those who are afraid of cats immediately sit with their legs on the chair/above ground whenever meowmeow came near. Luckily I'm not scared, I used to be scared when I was little. Don't know why when I grew up, somehow or another I'm not afraid anymore. Now they say I look like a chipmunk because of the way I eat guava, although they are still saying I look like chicken little. All right, I know I'm cute and chubby haha. Played card games, losers had penalties like shouting moooo to the cows until they looked up, saying quack quack and imitating how the ducks walked, dancing ballet, walked like a crab. Usually those who thought of the penalties will get karma. After that we went to fish in the pond, caught my first fish!! I'm the only one to catch it, so proud of myself, it's all beginner's luck haha. Went to fly kite after that, it's my first time too, very fun but neck and hands will be very tired and sore. Went back to fishing, they couldn't believe I dare to touch an earthworm. I dare to touch but still had to rely on mag to help me hook it onto the fishing rod. Our host prepared dinner for us, I didn't know that morning glory is actually kangkong until yl told us. They had a stereo bluetooth speaker, so we connected to it using one of the phone and enjoyed the music while having dinner. We sure know how to enjoy life. They even have karaoke system with english and chinese songs but all the songs are oldies. Don't even have my jay chou :( We don't even need aircon, it's very cold at night. Meowmeow was standing outside our room door purring, wanting us to let her in but I didn't hear it until jy told me. Their toilets are open-air, there's only window blinds to cover the open space area. I don't feel safe and there's no hot water. Bathing at night with cold water makes it even colder, can't stand the coldness. There were spiders, insects and mosquitoes around but luckily we have the nets over our beds where the mosquitoes can't fly in and sting us. I still got bitten before I went to bed.
Floating market and plantations
It doesn't have the handles at the sides initially so you have to cross while holding on to the log you are stepping on, thus the name Monkey Bridge
Binh Tien Farmstay
I caught my first fish!! Yay!!!
Day 4
Early in the morning went cycling around the village after breakfast. Some paths were narrow, I can't cycle in a straight line haha. Cycled around to see how they make the fishing rods and visited vegetable farms. Due to time constraint, we had to cycle back at 9 plus. On the way back, I was turning round the corner before I realised I was cycling too fast and the path was narrow and curvy. I came to an abrupt halt and knocked my hand against the gate. Now I have a bruise on my hand, so accident-prone. Helped them to harvest the rice crops in the garden for a while before packing to leave. We noticed that meowmeow only responds to the owner's high-pitched "meowmeow", so we imitated the owner and the meowmeow was confused. So cute~ Bade farewell to the host and meowmeow, moving on to cu chi tunnels. Upon reaching there, we watched the video to have an overview of the whole thing. There are lots of underground tunnels connecting half or total covered hideouts, shelters, fighting bunkers, hospital, school, living rooms etc. It was built and used by vietnamese for resistance against their enemy during the French and American war. The tunnels were very small, had to either bend my body and walk or move forward in a squatting position. We were out of breath when we reached the surface, quite tiring even though it's only a short distance. Saw the traps set up by the guerrilla, all I can say is they are really smart. Even though they don't have sophisticated weapons/armouries like the US, they were able to outwit them using all those traps. Cu chi tunnels were a terror/living hell to the US army. Some of us had a chance to fire shots from AK47 guns, the sound is deafening. The sound is so loud that I was startled the first time I heard it. Had lunch at a restaurant opened by a singaporean, saw pictures of our esplanade and MBS on the wall, the food has the taste of our hometown haha. Bade farewell to our tour guide, she's a very nice and friendly person, accompanying us for 3 days to all the places of attraction. Back to the same hotel we had in ho chi minh city on day 1, went to diamond plaza. The things there are quite expensive. We went to ben thanh day market but almost all the stores are preparing to close already. We just went into a random cafe to have drinks before going to the seafood restaurant recommended by yl. Heard that it always has a long queue, luckily for us we managed to find seats when we got there and don't have to wait. Ordered scallops, crabs and giant tiger prawn which cost us a fortune but it's really good. Initially all of us had a lot of money left, after the dinner we almost went broke. Shopped at ben thanh night market, bought a lot of stuff there, we really bargained a lot. Even a few cents we also want to bargain, the shop owners all gave in to us in the end. Went back to hotel to put all the stuff we bought before going to heli rooftop bar at bitexco financial tower located at level 52. It has a breathtaking view of the city but the music is too loud and I hate the smell of cigarettes. Drank my expensive cocktail and watched people danced, felt a little dizzy when I left the place. Had heart-to-heart talk with the girls, surprised at hearing words of wisdom from yl, too bad those 2 sleepy pigs didn't join us. Slept at 3am and woke up at 6am, I couldn't open my eyes.
Vegetables farm
Harvesting rice crops
Watching video before exploring the place
The entrance to the tunnel is very small, only slim people can go in
Exploring Cu Chi Tunnels
Shooting range
Late lunch! I just woke up from my sleep haha
Group photo with our nice and friendly tour guide, Ngon!
Nice but expensive seafood dinner
Nightview from Heli Rooftop Bar
Day 5
Had breakfast at hotel and went to war remnants museum. Reading those stuff about what happened makes me think that the US were really cruel. The side effects of agent orange are horrible, I'm full of admiration for those who faced life with a positive attitude. They don't let this kind of things bring them down even though they are the ones who are suffering from it. Went back to ben thanh day market. After that was to co.op mart to buy instant noodle soup, bought lotteria chicken (beside our hotel) for lunch. Wanted to buy banh mi back but the store wasn't open for business, so sad :( After lunch, some of us went to the shops along the streets for some last minute shopping, it's almost the same price as singapore's. Took airport transfer and we were too early when we reached, had pizza before boarding the plane. Came back to singapore, continued to shop at duty free, had kimchi soup for dinner at airport before parting ways with them. Felt sad we had to come back, 5 days seem so short. Total expenses for this trip is about S$720 including air tickets, I think it's considered cheap already despite the fact that we ate tiger prawn, went to heli bar and got a private tour.
War Remnants Museum
Co.op Mart and Ben Thanh Day Market
Feeling sad that we have to go back :(
