Vietnam'08 (Days 1-3) After months of planning, our original itinerary to Hanoi and North Vietnam took a hit about 2 weeks before travel. Hanoi and some northen provinces were flooded! And so we switched our destination to South/ Central Vietnam, just like that.
Within a week and a half, we had the rough itinerary ready with airline tickets booked. Call us super.
Well, not thaaat super, I realise now that it'd be O-K if we just landed ourselves in the region and planned everything from there. But of course, it'd be haphazard and the probability of getting scammed would be even higher.
Ahhhh... the joys of backpacking! =D
After the usual mad rush at work that is customary for anyone who's planning to go on looooong leave, by the time 22nd August rolled around, I was desperate for the leave. I was also excited because it was the first time the four of us long-time friends were going on a trip together! ;-)
22nd August'08
We woke up at the ungodly hour of 0430, all to catch the early 7+am flight. We landed in Saigon around nine, pretty early as Vietnam is one hour behind Singapore.
Scam #1 We got scammed by a 'taxi' driver the moment we stepped out of the airport. Don't ask us how much we forked out for a trip to the backpackers' district, we paid only slightly more than 1/3 that amount for the similar return trip 10 days later!
The ride gave opened our eyes to Saigon traffic for the first time, there were scooters everywhere and they were not limited to 1 human passenger. These 'cargo' ranged from long bamboo poles to 3 children + 1 adult crammed behind the biker. Some ladies rode side-saddle. There was a constant honking coming from every direction which I seriously think defeats the purpose of honking. Guidebooks recommend that pedestrians not wait for a break in traffic to cross the road, but instead just make your way across slowly and let the bikes make their way around you. You know what? That's easier said than done.
First glimpse of Saigon traffic
The taxi dropped us off on the road on the side opposite to our hotel and it was up to us cross the road by ourselves! After deliberating maybe about 10s, we launched across as a bloc of 4 and I didn't even look at the traffic. (It was a fluke. Saigon's traffic stressed me very much later in the day.)
After depositing our backpacks at the hotel, we were ready to explore Saigon!
It was not as easy as it sounds. We wanted to walk to the all-famous Ben Thanh market, but we remembered the very scary roundabout that stood in our way. Our mission, therefore, was to avoid the roundabout but get to the market unscathed.
After some harrowing experiences, we did it! It was time to reward our ravenous selves with lunch! Here, blur us were ushered to sit down at one of the stalls at virtually no protest on our part.
Bun stall
pronounced 'boon', not bun as in the bread bun
The white rice noodles you see there is bun. We were fascinated by the big-head-prawns!
I-don'-know-what-this-is-called
We weren't overly fond of the mint taste, imparted by whole mint/ peppermint leaves wrapped in the rolls! The bun we had was really good, though.
Upon leaving Ben Thanh Market, we had a photo opportunity with the frantic roundabout, which strangely didn't look as frantic as it had appeared earlier.
Tran Nguyen Han - 15th century general immortalized in a statue right in the middle of the frantic roundabout
It was really warm and I was already cursing my decision to wear black jeans.
The early part of the afternoon passed in a hot blur. To escape the heat, we frequently wandered into the various little bookshops, Adidas, or souvenir shops along the way. Shopping for clothes was out of question. No mood! We snapped photos with no real purpose.
Chiu Ling and I, with Uncle Ho
People Committee Hall
To our disappointment, the Opera House was undergoing reconstruction.
Opera House?
It was at the point that we got scammed again. Somehow, we ended up paying 50,000 dong (>S$4!) for 2 sour coconuts from this lady on the street. We were too stunned to bargain, I think. I still hadn't gotten used to converting the dong to S$ or US$ in my mind.
Back to People Committee Hall With one sour coconut to show off
Notre Dame Cathedral
Next to the cathedral we spied a very distinguished looking building, which we initially thought was the railway station! Train station?
Maps of Cochinchina
These maps were on either side of the walls. I just love maps that look like that.
Stunning interior
We were awed when entering the building.
I then realised it is their Central Post Office!
Write your letters here.
Xinmin at phone booth!
You can actually spy the reflection of Chiu Ling snapping this photo from the glass door. Haha.
After a not-so-short rest at the nearby air-conditioned Diamond Plaza, we proceeded to make our way to the Reunification Palace. This is the site of the former presidential palace of President Diem of the South government. To get there, we had to cross this busy road where traffic didn't seem to wane at all. So there we were, waiting like idiots for just a small break in traffic that we could take advantage of. In the middle of the chaos, a local boy peddling coconuts stepped out from the other side and slowly, made his way across, all the while motioning for some other tourists to follow his lead. They eventually made it to our side, but hmm, we were still stuck! To our surprise, the boy turned around and proceeded to break the traffic again, this time for us! He didn't even try to peddle his coconuts upon reaching the other side, instead waved to us a friendly 'Bye' before setting off down the road.
Not all of them are scammers. =)
We wandered around the Reunification Palace aimlessly, snapping mediocre pictures. These days, the Palace is used for important meetings with delegates around the world. At times when it is not used, tourists such as us were welcome.
The grand rooms were boring to me. What interested me more was the underground paraphernalia and tunnels that were apparently never used.
Helicopter, still parked there.
The tunnels open to exploration
Shooting range
We watched a video of the history of the Reunification Palace narrated in weird Mandarin. Before I knew it, I was struggling to keep myself from falling out of the seat. (I'd been awake since 3.30am Vietnam time!) It was a good refresher.
A similiar tank crashed through the gates of the palace in 1975 during the liberation of Saigon.
Siqi and I
We had dinner a restaurant recommended by the hotel staff. There, I played mime-your-order with the waitress who didn't seem to want to waste her spoken Vietnamese on deaf tourist ears such as ours.
This is the first in a series of babbling videos. I have totally no idea how to edit videos so here you go!
Peach babble
欣敏名言：大粒不代表是好的。
With the right company
As long as the company is right, we can have fun in a 2-star hotel just by commenting on 2 peaches. =)
23rd August'08
It was the day for our day tour that combined a trip to the Cao Dai great temple and the Cu Chi tunnels.
Not that temple had anything to do with the tunnels. Not directly, anyway.
Personally, the Cao Dai great temple was a yawn.
The Cao Dai religion, which translates literally to 'Tall Tower', is an indigenous Vietnamese religion born very recently, when the 'Supreme Being' revealed himself to Ngo Van Chieu in the 1920s. A mixture of Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianity, Chritiany and Islam, the temple properly reflects the rojak nature of the religion.
The sloping roofs temple-style + Islamic minarets
Twin cathedral towers adapted from Christiany
Tacki-fied Taoist interior
The supreme being is represented by the all-seeing eye on that globe.
Prayer
I'm no architecture expert, but too much of rojak is just... way too much! At least I'm not calling it vulgar like some 'expert' did. I did mention to Chiu Ling that the building reminds me of a blow-up of the paper houses that we Chinese burn for the dead, though... Ermmm...
The prayer service wasn't overly exciting, either. A female priest actually succumbed to the Z-monster. (We saw! Tsk!)
We endured a half-day boring bus ride for that? -.-
And then it was time for the Cu Chi Tunnels! These tunnels were used by the Viet Cong for guerilla warfare against the US enemies.
Going
Going...
Gone
It was a rather large tour group, which explains my sub-optimum position to take photos. The guide wasn't very accomodating to our group either, he explained everything in a rather detached way, moving at a pace that allowed little time for photos and reflections. Along the way, it became more and more obvious that he only paid attention to the big burly Westerners.
Some things are just typical of Asians all over the world, eh?
Nevertheless, it was a good place to go to, albeit a little too touristy. We got to see the various traps set out for the American GIs, and had a good shudder as we went along. No good pictures were taken as I was too short and insignificant to get into position for good shots.
Before the trip, I was convinced I wanted to try a hand at the AK-47s. When the chance came, I couldn't help jumping at every crack in the air, and we were not even close to the shooting range yet! It goes without saying that I decided to forgo the chance.
The highlight of the Cu Chi Tunnel tour was of course a venture into the tunnels itself. These days, the tunnels have been widened to allow big, burly Westerners easier access. Even so, the 100m stretch of tunnel that we went through seemed a lot longer than that! I could either choose to waddle along like a duck, or bend at the waist and walk cautiously forward as fast as possible so as not to lose the lead in front. In and around the bends, I lost the light at the front and actually shoved my face into the bottom right in front of me! AHEM. It was the first time I kissed someone's ass.
Emerging
I can understand why angmohs can experience claustrophobic attacks in there! I wasn't too thrilled myself.
We ended the tour with a party of tapioca and Vietnamese tea.
After dinner in Saigon (we had KFC! -.-), we hurried back to our hotel to collect our backpacks as we had a 2200 train to catch to Hue. We didn't aniticipate anythng particularly exciting, until it started to pour sometime around 8pm. As it neared our departure time, it showed absolutely no signs of abating.
The receptionist at the hotel was so nice. While the rest of us were strapping our backpacks and busying ourselves with umbrellas, he offered Siqi a professional poncho and hoisted her pack onto his back! As we made our way downstairs, I realised that the alleyway was flooded! Nothing scary, it reached my mid-calves, but it sure was WET.
Xinmin
Scooters shot by at almost the usual speed, sprays of water flying in all directions from the front wheel. They boys really looked like they were having fun!
According to the hotel receptionist, floods like that were nothing out of the ordinary. Just last week, one came up to waist level, and some of his guests waded out in bikinis.
Siao!
We did get to the train station to find the correct platform and train in the end.
Our quarters, for the next 15hours
You miiight have noticed that we've been in the same clothes the whole day. That's right. We had no chance to bathe! If ever you guys plan a similar trip, can I advise not to plan it this way, it felt reaaally yucky!
We were pretty tired and settled down to sleep not long after, as there was nothing to view at night anyway. Around midnight, part 1 of a little drama happened:
A crew staff shot into our room and let loose a whole string of Vietnamese, we sat up, and I answered "Sorry, we don't understand.", and he visibly winced.
"Foo!" He said, enthusiastically shoving make-believe food into his mouth. "Foo!"
Okkaaayy... Supper?
"Menu?" we asked.
"Foo!" He replied, repeating the same action over and over again.
"Erm, no menu?"
"No! No menu!"
In desperation, we dug our phrasebook out. In my haste, I couldn't find the word for menu. The guy asked for our phrasebook and subsequently pointed to "Pho Bo".
Aaahhh... Beef noodle soup! I don't take beef, unfortunately. We shook our heads and the guy went off. We didn't know it at the time, but we had rejected our breakfast for the next day.
24th August'08
That was why when the rest of the train were having their breakfast around 8am, we were having our biscuits for breakfast!
Part 2:
Around 9am, the same guy shot into our room again. This time, he knew English.
"Chicken!" He announced unceremoniously. "Chicken!"
Siqi and I looked at each other. Chicken? I could take. He must have seen the assent in our faces, because he proceeded to boom, "Two!" "Two!"
Two? There were four of us! All of nodded our heads to indicate we wanted whatever he was selling.
"Four!" He exulted. "Four!"
I thought he was still selling breakfast, and dug out my phrasebook to point out 'Pho Ga' (Chicken Noodle Soup) to him.
"No!" He exclaimed with a laugh, nodding his head.
So what kind of chicken is it?
"Chicken!" He repeated, indicating me. "Chicken!" to Chiu Ling. "Chicken!" "Chicken!" thereby branding the four us chickens in his cabin.
He left after issuing tickets and collecting money, and we were left wondering if we'd bought a whole chicken for each and every one of us.
We only got our answer slightly after 11am, when our bento sets was delivered to us. It was lunch. Not breakfast!
Nice bento?
Guy selling snacks
In between, we had nothing much to do and it was quite cool to just sit back, play bridge, or contemplate our navels for a while.
Train scenes:
Train station mart
When it came to the famous Hai Van Pass between Danang and Hue, the locals were waiting at the window with their video cameras as well! Cool~ That's when we know we're on to something good, eh?
A local woman identified us as Singaporeans from our unique way of mixing English and Mandarin in the same sentence. We had very nice chat. It must be the Hue hospitality, (I've got nice memories of Hue.)
The most valuable advice from her: While crossing the road in Saigon, just close your eyes and do it. The motorists will make their way around you!
Sure or not...
We reached Hue at 5pm.
To our relief, traffic is better in Hue, though still freestyle by our standards. Our cab driver drove in the middle of the 2 lanes, honking his way through!
