28th NOV -1st DEC

Vietnam(HCMC)
//revised\\


yes.. another back to back holiday str8 after aust.. hoho am totally enjoying my self spending silly...

well cindy was totally nice to get her dad down to yishun to pick me up so early in the morning.
reach airport just awhile after the rest. after check in we had breakfast at han's..
budget airport.. is really budget.. sheesh
i think vietnam airport even better then our budget...

upon arrival we hop onto the pre arranged taxi service with bring us to our hotel..
can't remember the name.. but the street address stays deeply in my head..
195 bui vien street dist 1.. haha a results of too many taxi rides. =x

Day 1 (28/11/08)

went for lunch at lemongrass, then head down to Ben Thanh market. it's basically like our wet market.. just super size it and divide it into 2 different sectors outer and inners. For outer sectors it's mainly souvenirs for inner sectors it's further divided into 4 major sections namely handicraft/food/clothes/bags.
after walking ard buying stuffs like cashew nuts and coffee, we went back hotel for a rest..
before head back to Ben Thanh Night Market which is like our pasa malum and that's where you will find all the Addias and Nike shirts.
went Ngon for dinner(marche style.. just that you order and they serve str8 to your table)

Day 2 (29/11/08)

Cu Cui tunnel and cao dai here we come. bus ride was about 3hrs? we visited the temple first just in time to catch the afternoon prayers. the origin of cao dia was quite interesting.. i can't remember anything the guide was talking about so can't really give a detailed explanation. it's made up of 4 different religion chrisitian,taoist, 2 other i can't remember.. went for lunch which was hmz.. i would say it's quite nice.. i knoe my tour mates will totally disagree with me.. haha it's basically steam rice top with really colourful veggies and the main dishes will be served on other plates. like i mention.. out of 5.. 4 gave bad review..
still trust my taste? haha

After the "outstanding" lunch we took another half hour bus ride to Cu Cui tunnel
Cucui tunnel was basically a tunnel system dug entirely by hand throughout the viet nam war. it's not dug by south or north but rather by the villagers themselves.
the tunnel system is one of the most impressive underground system ever built by human. consisting of 3 different levels. 2-3m 5-7m 8-10m underground. each some areas are big enough to hold a meeting in there. others are simply just small tunnel about .9m high and .6m across. but the one open to public was widen to allow tourist to enter in.
each tunnel system had their own defense system. for gas, flood, etc
they even have a smoke-less kitchen where by smoke will get re-routed into a small hole several meters away from the kitchen with lot of small openings along the entire smoke tunnel. thus dispersing the smoke relative near to the ground in small amount.
kk prob dun touch on all this if not will be an essay liao..
went stella for dinner. pizza fiesta!


Day 3 (30/11/08)

Mekong delta! the life giver of HCMC.
2half hour on a mini bus to the jetty and a short boat ride to coconut island. where they made coconut candy and every other things out of coconut. the coconut candy when served hot is woohoo, super nice! but the cold harden version i won't comment on it..
transfer to a short bike trip down to another place for tea. mixed with honey. which is quite refreshing. my groupie had a chance to take photo with the local star.. a 2m long python! ha!
After the drink we transfer to a sampan along a small stretch of inlet there the locals use the oldest method known to man.. paddling to get us to the inlet opening where our boat was waiting for us, few of us got a chance to do the paddling.
went to Eagles' island which was in front of coconut island. there we had lunch which was erm.. 'nice' is hardly the word to use.They serve a fish call Mekong fish, they way they present is kinda hmz unique.. the fish was deep fried then made to stand the then help of 4 chopsticks.
There's hardly any eagles to see.. rather.. none.. boo
After lunch it's boat ride to another island for fruits.
like my friend phrase it.. "da chuan huan xiao chuan, xiao chuan huan da chuan"
this is really the case of swapping mode of transport to everyother place we visited.
and everyother places we visited we had something to munch on. it's liken to a food tasting trip
we had dinner at a corner shop(santa's corner i believe) totally a wrong choice bleahs. food not really that fantastic..

Day 4 (1/12/08)

Head out early to Notre Dame Cathedral. which looks like that actual Cathedral back in erm.. france?
Head to ngon for breakfast had a hard time explaining to the staff about our choice of food.
after breakfast we stroll over Reunification palace for some photos. decided against going in.
as it's not worth it to spend the money for half and hour..(they have a closing time and we are just half hour away form the closing time. the place i reckon would take about and hour or more the walk finish. )
went back to Ben Thanh market to do last min shopping. all of them are really putting in effort to spend the last of their Dongs.
not worth it to bring it back.. even though i would love to bring back some.. haha =\
Flight back to SG.

thanks to my wonderful groupie, consisting of cindy,verity,sherlyn and muyi.
who mange to hit a total shutter count of 2.2k of photos in a mere 4 day 3 night holiday.
for photos please refer to cindy's blog.. http://misscindylin.wordpress.com/