Vietnam2006

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 18:47

Introduction:

I love Vietnam, and wanna go back someday in the future. For more pictures, pls go to my albums.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 18:52

Trip Details:

Aug 7th, Monday, GZ-HCMC,slight rain
  

Haven't been abroad since last year, I was a little bit nervous and always worried that my plane may fall, calling mom and dad saying good bye and love you as if i never gonna say it again, and bought the insurance of round trip so that if something really happens, my dad and mom will not be too helpless. Maybe I just too sentimental, but who knows, unexpected things always happen.

I was way too early to get there and ended up killing my time by window shopping those airport tax free shop, tax free, but cost highly. Quite frequently heard about Japanese kids speaking their language in the shop, they are the most welcomed people for any store in the world, I think. And it was also true even in Vietnam, and I guess it will not be wrong anyplace in the world. The waiting gate for GZ-HCMC was crowded by people you can tell they are from Vietnam. Mostly Dark, some are well dressed but still not fashionable at all. Of course, you will see some tourists in between.

The plane is Vietnam Airline though I bought the tickets from China Southern Airline. The ladies on the plane were quite pretty dressing the Ao Dai. I didn't get one for myself during this trip, a pity.

The trip took about 2 and a half hours and when I got to HCMC, it was around 5:30P.M. The customs is easy to get through and Co Hue picked me up soon after I got out of the Tan Son Nhat Airport. HCMC is not a very nice looking city with a lot of, oh my god, I should say countless numbers of motorcycles in the street. Luckily the building there was quite unique with narrow front but wide side and tall upper. People like to paint their house into very vigorous colors and evidently did it quite frequently thus they all look new to me.

I stayed my first night in the Windsor Plaza Hotel in District 5, so called China Town. A piece of advice, not worthwhile regarding a 5 star hotel.

All I heard and all I saw from now on turned to be Vietnamese, which is a language I barely know. So I started to learn some words as Xin Chao( Hello), Tam biet( Good bye) and mostly useful Cam On( Thank you).

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 18:58

Aug 8th, Tuesday, HCMC-MY THO-AN HOU-VINH LONG, Sunny while Rainy
  

Woke up at 6 a.m, Co Hue and Co Hao took me to the clothes market for shopping, it was quite similar to China wholesale market so I was not quite interested, just for a look. Later we got back to Windsor and had a breakfast buffet there, I didn't eat much but the Pho~ I love it so much! I have already recommended this to my friends after my US trip but unfortunately the Vietnamese Restaurant in GZ just can't get the authentic flavor of this rice noodle soup with beef. It was so tasty with the lemon juice and lemon grass.

It took us about 1 hour and a half to get My Tho and visited one nice house there. Food is very delicious since I had the very big shrimp(about 15cm*3cm in size) and the so call elephant ear fish, very tasty. Vietnamese people eat rice, but they like rice noodle and a kind of paper made of rice very much. They also like to eat the fresh vegetable uncooked, which is just like the salad. Every meal will always go with Nuoc Mam( fish sauce) And here I realized it will be a fun trip since so many fruits are available after the lunch. I found one fruit never seen before, local people call it BOMBO. I like it a lot.

After the lunch, we took a boat to the phoenix Island and Dragon Island, Tortoise Island, meanwhile tried a little Vietnamese Canoe in the rain, it was fun while mosquito is killing me. Phoenix Island has been famous due to a monk, who set up a religion called Co Co Nut Religion and he himself kept eating the coco nut until death, so that you can see the pictures of him kept shrinking as he grew older. Quite interesting to see his life story and the buildings in this island. We tasted some delicious co co nut candy and listened to a lady sing 2 very sad songs. Traditional Vietnamese Music sounds to me just like to traditional Korean Music, always crying for something, sad and way too depressed.

The MeKong River was quite yellow at this time of the year and I saw so many people living in the board upon the river, most of them live by fishing. There I saw a bridge being built which has been sponsored by Japanese. Vietnam is quite poor and therefore they will still accept the Japanese after the history.

Later that day, I went to An Hou. After the quick dinner, we went to Vinh Long in a small hotel to stay for the night.

Fruits are everywhere I went by, oh, I can't enjoy it more.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:04

Aug 9th, Wednesday, VINH LONG-AN HOU-VINH LONG, very sunny

Vinh Long is medium size town. From where I stay there is food street nearby with a lot of people having breakfast there. They offer Pho and all kinds of Vietnamese snack.

But I spent my early morning in the internet since something needs me to catch up and left for An Hou again around 9 a.m. We took again a small boat and became so closed to the water, people in another boat passing our by had a lot of fruits and vegetable on their boat, here there is a fruit wholesale market and from here the fruits are purchased and shipped to different part of Vietnam. The wind were so strong that I lost my Vietnamese hat in the MeKong River!! and there was a sudden rain which stops within 30 seconds.

Later after the lunch, and again, fruits, and Co Hue showed me to the opposite side the original old house . You can tell it used to be a nice house with 3 floors and the back of this house is the river, from here people used to take a boat to the garden every morning. How nice.

After visiting the old house, I went back to Vinh Long with Co Hao and David, and tasted the street BBQ of dry fish, very fishy. Hehe. The dinner was quite nice, with 2 fried fishes and the broccori and shrimp.

I went back to the internet again and a man showed interest in me, typical Vietnamese man, not quite interesting.

That night I stayed in the house of Uncle Long who can speak Chinese! Finally!

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:09

Aug 10th, Thursday, VINH LONG, very sunny

I went to visit the market, fish market, food market and clothes market. Every where we went, so many beggars came towards us. Beggars in Vietnam are quite different from beggars in China, they are more aggressive and persistent, as if you have to give them some thing. Some beg with an empty hand while some beg with their lottery in hand. In Vietnam, you will see such lottery vendors extremely frequently, no matter in the country side or big city.

After my delicious Bam Mei( French bread Sandwich), we went to a pottery factory. We took a pedicab which looks very cute.

There I met Vy, my dearest Vietnamese Friend. She was so nice showing me her pottery factory. I saw how they made the pottery and later when back to her house to had a delicious meal. Coco Nut Juice is always the drink for the meal. Later she even showed the whole town with her motorcycle. Woman in Vietnam seem not to use the sun block too often. Though always with strong sun shine, they use the physical protection such as hat, sun glass, mask, neck cover, long glove, and long pants. It was useful as I tried but it just looks too ugly and can you imagine in a street full of people without being able to look at every single skin? I like the mask though, some of then just look very cute.

Vy took me to have my first Vietnamese Coffee, it was great and I drank both coco nut juice and coffee ever since for the rest of my trip.

Wonderful night, Vy sang the SHA LALALA with me.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:13

Aug 11th, Friday, VINH LONG-CAN THO-RACH GIA, sunny day, windy night

Pho again, then we said good bye to Uncle Long and continued our trip to Rach Gia, which is the departure port for most of vietnamese refugees to the states back to 70ths. Before I left Vinh Long, I tried to buy the same hap as the one lost in the Me Kong River, and guess what, inexperienced me got treated by the lady for a hat priced of 19,000vnd.

I am so glad that Vy and Anny coming with me so that I am not too bored. It was a long journey and we did our tour in the car in CAN THO, this biggest city after the HCMC in the southern Vietnam. Accoring to what Vy said, students in the south will have to come to this city to take the entrance exam for college.

We arrived in Rach Gia around 4 and bought a lot of fruits to visit someone here. They introduced me to a very delicious yogurt, yummy!Rach Gia is a also a port with quite a lot of boats. We stayed in a hotel called CALI and that night Vy gave me a special birthday gift by taking me to a foot massage place where I later found out we were the only 2 customers who were ladies and we were almost cheated by the mean ladies there. She almost made us pay another100,000 vnd and also tried to force us to tip her. WHAT!!! So be careful when you go to those massage place, it could be very dangerous.

The foot massage is not cheap there, each person 75,000vnd/per hour.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:16

Aug 12th, Saturday, RACH GIA-VINH LONG-VUNG TAU, sunny-rainy
  

My birthday!!

Anny gave me a birthday gift, she was so thoughtful since I didn’t quite mention this to her. But the bad news is that due to the approaching storm, we will not able to go to the Phu Quoc Island.

We went to the breakfast and I couldn ‘t help order another coffee, god, I just like it so much. And then we left for Vinh Long with only a short pause to have the lunch, the banana cake was quite delicious too. And Co Hue introduced me a kind of fruit called FISH EGG, very tasty too.

After we dropped by Vinh Long to say good bye to people there, non stop we rushed to the costal city Vung Tau. When we got there it was already 9 p.m, and therefore I basically spent my whole birthday in the car. Sweet Vy prepared the birthday cake for me. Thank you, Anny and Vy, Friendship Forever!

Though staying in car for a long time, I tried to cheer all of us up by singing, so here we go, Chinese singing v.s. Vietnamese singing. That was when I found out actually Vietnamese pop songs are very pleasant too.

Night in Vung Tau is nice with the wet sea wind. Though very late at night, you will still see a lot of people outside either taking a walk or riding the 2-seat bikes.

Happy birthday To me.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:19

Aug 13th, Sunday, VUNG TAU, rainy-cloudy-windy

After traveling all around, we deserve a peaceful day. Vung Tau is historically recognized as the last departure for American Soldiers at the end of the War. Today Vung Tau has quite a lot of nice hotels to attract the tourists. I had the Bam Mei for breakfast and we toured the city 3 times during the morning and had a lunch in a restaurant by the sea side, the view was quite nice. Vung Tau has a lot of temples and pagodas along the sea side, they belong to different religions, we went in one of them and I prayed in Chinese and Vy told me to pray in English so that the god here can understand, that was funny. Since I found out the singer called LAM TRUONG is quite nice and his song KATYKATY amuses me, so I went and bought a karaoke of this song so that I can sing in China.

We later went back to the hotel to get changed for swimming, I didn’t need to since I don’t wanna swim. The beach here is just ok but I just enjoyed watching people relax and play. I bought some bracelets and rings for myself too.

For the first time of my life I rode the 2-seat bicycle and it was great!! 8 girls and 3 boys just made the riding like a competition and all of us enjoyed ourselves so much riding along the highway of the coast.

Later that night we went to a nice restaurant in the sea side, delicious meal again. I tried to resist, but I really feel they can only be described as delicious but nothing else. Must Try.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:22

Aug 14th, Monday, VUNG TAU-MIU NE(PHAN THIET), rainy
  

We went to a so called famous place for the sea food breakfast. I can tell it is famous since I saw a lot of white people in it, even though the dining environment just not good. It was a fried shell with flour.

Since Vung Tao is not pretty enough so we moved on to farther north to explore more about the coastal beauty of Vietnam. Mui Ne is a place without too many tourists in the beach so that you can totally relax yourself since the hotels here really offered wonderful holiday service. We stayed in the hotel SAIGON MUI NE and the environment here is just terrific! They are like a resort and the hotel owns part of the beach. There are a lot of couches by the sea and a little bar for you to have a cocktail while feeling the breeze right from the sea in front of you. That night after the early dinner, I spent some time with Anny to walk alone the beach and drank the cocktail Banana Bommie which is not my taste. But the flower on the edge of the glass is so attractive to me with the light white, yellow combination and the slight scents from it.

I went to bed early since I planned to wake up early for the sun rise.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:26

Aug 15th, Tuesday, MIU NE-HCMC, rainy
  

I wanna kill Anny for not waking me up that I missed the sun rise. Any how I still went to the beach again to catch the beauty around 6:30a.m. Some tourists also walked and jogged along the beach. Nice Morning.

The pho here is not good, the rest is ok. We enjoyed the beach again and the pool. This resort also offered the tool show like how to weave the cloth and the fishing boat and so on.

Miu Ne is a place with pretty beach, constant peace and nice hotels but nothing else. So basically if you enjoy crowded environment, you should never be here. It is actually very poor except for the tourist resources. I bought 2 windbells made of bamboo, with 30,000vnd each.

We checked out around 11:00a.m and left for HCMC. We passed by a lot of fruit gardens and got a basket of GIN GIN for lunch. They are so cheap, 3000 vnd/kg.

It has slight rain when we checked in the SAIGON PINK 2 near the Ben Thanh Market, and right away we went into the market to get some thing to eat. Later that evening, we went out to start inquire prices of different souvenirs and took the motor of ANNY and VY for a night tour of SAIGON. We had some nice snacks some where in the street too. When I got back to hotel, I took with me my favorite BOMBO. I found out things in SAIGON is quite expensive compared with the country side.

Anyway, Bombo is so good.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:30

Aug 16th, Wednesday, HCMC, rainy
  

Another Motor tour around HCMC

We went to a place to eat what Anny says the best Pho in HCMC, I found it was just ok. We ordered some tea and I really thinks Vietnamese Tea quite soso. We passed by most of the sites in HCMC like the Notre Dame Cathedral and the main post office. I was planning to take some pictures but later a sudden rain changed my plan. We spent the morning go to the entertainment game in a mall and got the most delicious Bam Mei( again, Anny says that), each cost 10,000vnd.

Later that afternoon, I hanged around with David in Ben Thanh Market again comparing prices and he really bought something, 2 rings and 1 tobacco pipe, but later we found out we got cheated by the vendor about the ring since it was not made of real buffalo horn at all. By the way, the Che( a kind of drink) is so good, Recommended.

Later that night we had a dinner with Co Hao’s friend and later we went to a beautiful embroidery shop where a pc of embroidery cost an average price of 500 USD. Oh wow. The lady in the shop told me sometimes one piece of them took 4 month to complete, from that perspective, it is reasonably priced.

We later dropped by the bar in New World Hotel, which David told me Bill Clinton stayed in. I ordered beer “SAIGON”. Vietnam has 3 beers easily seen, 333, tiger and Saigon, I personally prefer TIGER. The singing group is wonderful and the man sings “ Every time you go away” so well that I can almost feel something.

Every time you go away, you take a piece of me with you……

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:33

Aug 17th, Thursday, HCMC, sunny

Crazy shopping day.

I started after 2 days asking for prices. And it was a tough day since it was hot and we kept drinking tea, che, and then another strawberry shake. Thank you Anny, Vy and David for accompanying me.

Later that evening, I saw Anny’s brother Man, and Cho Khai and some others and had the last meal with them. The doggy in the house is cute but too ruttish, picture with Man was tough. He looked quite handsome but it just hard to show in the picture.

Later that night, we had beer together and walked in the street late night for the last time, they though I was drunk but I was just too sleepy and hard to face the feeling of saying good bye to them. Oh, I will miss you guys, Vy, Anny, David.

*BonitA* · 2007-01-26 19:36

Aug 18th, Friday, HCMC-GZ, sunny

Woke up early again, had the last Pho and Vietnamese Dripping Coffee, took the last look at the street, the hotel, the motorcycle, the people, then we left for the airport.

Hug, Hug, Hug, endless thanks and wishes all by hugs.

Farewell, my friends.

Tam Biet, Vietnam.

I thought the things would be very easy like customs, in fact, it is not, and it took me 40 minutes only in line for the documents check, which made me almost miss my plane. But right after I got on the plane, I spent 1 hour waiting while the plane just didn’t take off, later I found out they were waiting for a Chinese national youth soccor team to come up in. They won the 3rd place in this competition held in Da Nang. I also met another famous column writer in the same plane too. Interesting.

When plane arrived in GZ airport in 4 p.m, I am home. And so my trip to Vietnam finally ends.