Quote of the day

“Thou shalt not be a victim. Thou shalt not be a perpetrator. Above all, thou shalt not be a bystander.”

~ Holocaust Museum, Washington, D.C.

Close of my travel chapter

I would like to close this chapter on my Vietnam trip. Overall, it has been a great and invaluable trip. I saw many new and interesting things, met new friends, understand the history of Vietnam, saw the lives of the locals, shopping and great food....etc. The Vietnameses are very friendly and helpful.

Recommend all who have not been there to go. Go there with an open mind and you will be surprised by the many news things you see and experience, and the people you meet.

Check out Jay's blog from his perspective on our Vietnam trip.

Rice Paper Making

In Vietnam, fresh spring rolls use rice paper wraps. Below is a video on how rice paper is made.

Saigon = Ho Chin Minh City

The most memorable day I had at HCM was when I visited Cu Chi tunnel. It was dug by the Viet Minh and later expanded by Viet Cong. It was used a base for storage, refuge, sleeping quarters by the Viet Cong as an offensive against the American troops.

We completed the 90m crawl in the narrow and dark tunnel. It was quite an experience and we were all wet after the crawl.

"Same Same but Different" team

Offensive traps against the American troops

This American tank was destroyed by a landmine

Nha Trang - Islands hopping

The 3 of us did not sleep well except for Jay. Something interesting happened on the coach. 3 persons slept on the floor of the coach. One on a hammock hooked to the side of the seats, while the rest just laid a cloth on the floor and sleep. We arrived at Nha Trang at 6+am.

We changed into our swimming gears at An Phu Travel group to prepare for a day of swimming and snorkling at the islands. We also visited an aquarium on one of the islands.

We check-in to a hotel to wash up and rest for a while. Jay, Danny and I got sun burnt as we did not apply sunblock on our back. It was painful ;-(

We had a good dinner at Mecca restaurant (rating: good). A lot of the Vietnamese restaurants have pretty dim light with neon lightings.

After dinner, we had a walk before returning to the hotel to prepare for our night train to Saigon.

It was indeed a tiring day and when I laid my head on the pillow on the train, I dozed off despite the noise from the moving train.

"My Son" - Beautiful Mountain

The next day, we left for a day trip to My Son. It was an impressive site worth going.

My Son which means beautiful mountain, was built by Champa kingdom in the 4th-13th century, whose origin was from the Javanese in Indonesia. This site was the area of worship to their gods. It was fascinating to understand how the Champa people worship as the local tour guide explained. My Son was a smaller version of the Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

The Viet Cong used to use this area as their hideout but it was later bombed by the American army. A few temples were destroyed.

After My Son, we took a boat ride to an island where wood handicraft was made.

We went back to Trung Bac for Cao Lau again for lunch. My last meal in Hoi An.

Lanterns are sold in many shops here in Hoi An. Our tour guide bought us a lantern each.

After which we went back to our hotel to prepare for our 12-hour night bus ride to Nha Trang.

Hoi An

We left from Hue in the morning for Hoi An, a small town at the central of Vietnam. It takes about 4 hours bus ride from Hue to Hoi An. After we checked in to the hotel, the hotel shuttle brought us to Pho Hoi Garden restaurant (rating: good) for lunch.

After lunch, we went to Cua Dai beach. It is beautiful beach and many tourist came her to swim and sunbath. Jay and Danny rent a pair of bermudas each to enjoy the dip in the clean sea water while Estella and I sat by the beach sipping our coconut juice under a shade. Every 5 minutes, the locals will approach the tourists to buy their fruits, products and even leg massage and pedicure service. After the guys had their share of fun in the water, we left.

The hotel shuttle dropped us near Hoi An's central market and the old quarter. There are a lot of cloth shops where customers can make their jackets, dresses..etc and collect them within a few hours or the following day. I enjoyed walking down the streets though it was rather warm. I bought a book called "The Girl in the Picture". It is about the life story of this girl whose picture was seen all around the world and helped turn public opinion against the Vietnam War.

We went to a silk embroidery shop, where we saw the process of how silkworms grow to become a cocoon then the silk is used to weave into fabric.

In this silk embroidery shop, we saw the handiwork of the locals. It was impressive. The embroidery work looks like still life from a distance unlike the many embroidery work we saw in Vietnam. These works do not come cheap. The prices range from USD200 - 500.

We tried Cao Lau, a local dish at Trung Bac restaurant (Rating: good). It was tasty. After our sumptous dinner, we walked to Phang Dinh Phung to wait for our hotel shuttle to bring us back to our hotel.

Blackout!! It happened when we were back in our hotel. Thank God, the power came on shortly. Do not be surprised when you experience black out in Vietnam!

Hue

We reached Hue at about 8am and we checked in to Sports Hotel (Rating: Good). The weather was surprising hot as compared to Hanoi. It was even warmer than Singapore.

After check-in, we left for a day trip to visit the Imperial City, tombs, local art-works and etc.

Hue was the capital of Vietnam during the Nguyen Dynasty and is one of the cultural cores of the country. Nguyen Dynasty ruled Vietnam between 1802 - 1945.

Outside view of Imperial City. It is built on the same principles as Beijing's Forbidden Palace.

It was a pity that certain parts of this city were destroyed during the Vietnam War when the Americans attempted to root out the Viet Cong soldiers at the Citadel.

We visited some emperors' tombs like Tu Duc's. It was interesting to hear the stories of the lives of these emperors.

[Left] I am about the same height as this Emperor.

Along the way, we stopped by some local craft shops. There was a little girl making incense.

A lady asked the tour guide,"Aren't she suppose to be in school now?"

Not all children have the privilege to have proper education like what we have in Singapore. We saw another boy at night seeking for income by polishing shoes for tourists. Even when we were in Cua Dai beach at Hoi An, many children earn a living by asking the tourists to buy fruits, snacks..etc. In Singapore, it is not legal for children to work at such a tender age.

Due to the warm weather, all of us were tired and sticky, we left the rest of the tour group and went back to the hotel to rest after lunch.

We went to the Perfume River in the evening after dinner. We boarded a boat to view the traditional cultural performance.

Halong Bay, Hanoi

In the morning we departed from Hanoi to Halong Bay. We passed by Quang Ninh province where coal is mined thus making this area polluted. Healthcare and sanitation are not very well taken care of in Vietnam. It is normal to see people wearing masks in Vietnam to protect themselves against the pollutants in the air. Does these masks really help to filter the pollutants? Such scene reminded me of those SARS period where we were given "certified" mask to wear, which would filter harmful elements and are hard to breathe.

It took 3 hours to reach Halong Bay. Thank God for the good weather as the day before it rained. The weather was cool and refreshing while the scenery was spectacular.

Jay and I shared a table with a Vietnamese family when we had lunch on the boat. We had a good conversation with them. They have a cute little girl whom I enjoyed playing with.

It took us more than 4 hours to reach Hanoi from Halong Bay. The bus moved like a snail on the road and possibily caused a French couple to miss their night train. Felt so sorry for them.

We changed our hotel at Hanoi as we found difficult to sleep. The new hotel was slightly better but I found strange practice here in Vietnam. The hotel will close for business after certain hours like in our case, the doors were closed with the metal doors pulled down at about 1030pm.

We went to the recommended fish restaurant in Hanoi the next day. Though there is only one dish in the menu, many people patronized this popular eating place. We arrived at about 11+am and soon after the restaurant was full house.

After lunch, we visited the several art galleries at the city centre while on our way to the museums. The history and revolution museums were not very impressive. The presentation and layout were not user-friendly for visitors to grasp the history of Vietnam. Display items were all over the place.

We tried home-made ice-cream and rested by the lake for a while before we headed back to have dinner before our night train to Hue.

Day 1 - Singapore to Hanoi

We went to the Budget Terminal to catch Tiger Airway to Hanoi. The Tiger Airway was delayed for 3 hours due to air-conditioning fault. Several passengers missed their connecting flight at Hanoi and were complaining and one man even asked to meet the manager. Nothing was done to pacify the fuming passengers. Personally I think Tiger Airways should give adequate explanation and compensaton for the delay. We only knew that the delay was due to air-conditioning fault when the pilot apologized for the delay as we board the plane. We departed from Singapore at 9pm and reached hanoi at 12pm (Hanoi time). Hanoi is one hour behind us. Our poor tour guide, Hanh, waited at Hanoi airport for about 6 hours as she was there at the airport at about 6pm.

We took at cab to Prince hotel (rating: poor) at the old quarters. After putting our lugguages, we went down the street to Hanh's office and met her sister. They run a tour agency together. We had our supper together along the street. Quite a shock for city dwellers like us. We saw tissues thrown all over the floor. We sat on stools and had our soup noodles.

After this we went back to our hotel for a rest.

What a day to start a holiday trip!!

Vietnam - 23 Mar 07 - 1 April 07

Jay, Danny, Estella and I went for a 10-days Vietnam trip. We flew via Tiger Airway to Hanoi, then took a night train to Hue, bus to Hoi An, a night bus to Nha Trang, night train to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and then back home to Singapore.

It was my first visit to Vietnam and it has been an eye-opener indeed. Thank God for His providence and guidance throughout the whole trip. I was also reminded of how blessed I am as a Singaporean.

I will detail my trips in the following posts. Please check it out.