Vietnam 0301042013

If there is a Southeast Asian country I know very little of, it is Vietnam. Prior to the trip, all I knew of the country is that people wear a conical hat, and that it has an agrarian economy.  As for its history, all I knew was related to the US-Vietnam War.

Days before our trip to Ho Chih Minh, I scoured the internet for Vietnamese songs, hoping to learn a bit of the language. It proved to be a difficult task, since the language has many vowel combinations, to say nothing of the accents. Although utterly discouraged, I discovered some good Vietnamese pop songs.  The first song I listened to was White Noise’s Kết Thúc (To Kill a Love), a rock ballad which encouraged me to explore more of their music.

Some three days before the trip, my friend and I were doing research on what to do in HCMC. Late last year we booked a flight without any plans; we thought of exploring on our own. It all changed probably thanks to the scary thought of getting lost in a foreign country with no means to go back home, as what frequently happens in movies. I did research on budget hotels and decided to stay at dorm-type inns. It doesn’t matter where we stay, as long as it is convenient to commute to and from the airport, as long as it is cheap and clean, as long as it is near museums and parks.

On February 28, right after work, my friend and I met at Magallanes MRT station and took a cab to NAIA Terminal 3. Once inside, we talked about our itinerary. We arrived there early and while waiting for boarding time, planned our day 1 schedule. During the flight, we took our much-needed sleep after winning netbook sleeves from Cebu Pacific for correctly answering trivia questions. (During my Hong Kong trip last February I also won two bagtags.)

One funny incident left us laughing at our stupidity. Before we boarded the plane, already past the boarding time, we saw some French running to our assigned gate. We laughed at them wondering what if they missed their flight. It turned out WE almost missed our flight had my friend not checked the time. We ran like crazy, like the French we laughed at just minutes ago. It turned out we hanged out near the wrong gate! Inside the plane, we burst out laughing, telling ourselves what an adventure it was! And so I learned an important lesson: Always wait at the correct gate.

It was past midnight when we got to Ho Chih Minh airport. Instead of hailing a cab to take us to the city center, we decided to spend the wee hours of the morning at the airport and slept on the benches overlooking the well-lit city below. Cool breeze turned into chilly wind after a few hours, rousing us from sleep and prodding us to put on our jackets.

At 6:30am we took the bus to ben Thanh Market. From there, we began our exploration. We only had a tourist map in hand in search of Pham Ngu Lao Street which is reputed to have backpackers’ lodges and cheap hotels. On the way, with stomachs grumbling, we paid heed to street food and had a bowl of pho bo each to give us strength for walking in case we get lost.

We were assisted by a cute young man who works at the Japanese embassy. Since we do not know Vietnamese and were armed with English only, we had a hard time talking to the vendor who did not understand English. This young man, named Ngsii (if I got the spelling right), was like a knight in shining armor to us two damsels in distress. And we both agreed that he is cute.

Pho bo (beef noodles) sold in the streets near Ben Thanh Market, 30,000 VND

While in search of a cheap hotel, we met another cute young man named Han Tu. He’s a friendly fellow we near Bui Vien Street. He told us where cheap inns can be found, certainly a godsend. We then found Thai Nhi Hotel which charges 12 USD a night for a room on the 4^th floor. That’s 6 USD per person and so we took the offer. The room has a small TV with cable, a fridge, and clean bathroom. Beds and pillows are not as comfy but it’s definitely better than sleeping on hard benches in the open. The owners are a bit friendly, so unlike the reviews in TripAdvisor and Travelfish I read when I got back to Manila. But maybe I can owe that to the fact that the owner’s sister works at Taiwan and I look like Chinese and almost spoke to her in Mandarin. And I am glad I read the reviews after the trip, otherwise we wouldn’t want to stay there, cheap it may be.

Day 1 of our Vietnam trip was spent exploring the streets in District 1 and visiting museums, parks, coffee shops, and bookshops. We were unfortunate to have encountered a scammer bicycle rickshaw who demanded that my friend and I pay 1,000,000 VND each for 2 hours’ service. We were shocked because initially they asked for only 15,000 VND. I guess at the onset we should have had our suspicions. In fact, I found the initial rate unusually low so I kept on asking if it’s really 15,000 VND and the driver repeatedly said yes. We should have known that something was amiss right then and there.

Beware of bicycle rickshaw scammers like this one. I interviewed  legit ones and they wear white uniforms.

What we visited/ saw:

1. War Remnants Museum (15,000 VND)

2. Zoo and Botanical Gardens (8,000 VND)

3. History Museum (15,000 VND, pay extra 32,000 VND to be able to take pictures inside)

4. Museum of Ho Chih Minh Campaign (15,000 VND)

5. Notre Dame Cathedral (we attended mass in Vietnamese)

6. Saigon Central Post Office (free)

7. Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre (150,000 VND)

Day 2 was the day we toured the Mekong River. We booked the tour from the agency just across our hotel. I think it’s the cheapest in the area. We randomly asked around and it was the cheapest we found at just USD 8. After the tour, we shopped at Ben Thanh market and Saigon Square.

A woman paddling for tourists in the Mekong River.

Day 3 we did the Cu Chi Tunnel tour which we booked at the same travel agency as the Mekong River Tour. It was amazing how they created the complex tunnel system which reflects the tenacity of the human spirit to defend themselves from foreign aggression. We experienced just 100 meters of this more than 200 km system and yet we were easily exhausted. It is hard to imagine how the Vietnamese people were able to live underground for years. And for this, I developed a great deal of respect for them.

Before the tunnel tour, visitors will have to listen to an interesting lecture of the system

After the Cu Chi Tunnel tour, we asked to be dropped at the Reunification Palace. Inside the four-storied French-styled palace are conserved rooms, halls, and  even vintage items like telephones, kitchen equipment, etc. 

Reunification Palace (Dinh Thống Nhất), also known as Independence Palace 

For the food we tried, please click HERE.

Detailed blog entries to follow. :)

At present, I am reading more on the history of Vietnam.