Here's the itinerary for the 4 days:
Day 1:
Free & Easy!~
Day 2:
My Tho City (Vinh Trang Pagoda)
Mekong River (Mekong Delta)
Ben Thanh Market
Thien Hau Temple
Day3:
Cu Chi Tunnel
Lacquerware shop
War Museum
HCMC Post Office
Notre Dame Cathedral
Day 4:
Free & Easy !~
On the first day, we were already greeted by the notorious traffic in HCMC. Motorbikes were everywhere. The air pollution was rather bad, and I couldn't imagine how my nose and lungs could stand all these for 4 days. Crossing the road proved to be one of the most challenging tasks, but the surprising thing was, once you stepped on the road, these vehicles will steer away automatically. If it was in Singapore, someone would horn real loud before you or jam his break at the last minute to make you jump.
We seemed to indulge in intense bargaining at Ben Thanh Market for quite some time. Some Vietnamese girls at the market would grab you by the arm and ask you to buy their stuff, making it seem as it their business was that bad. I ended up being "choked" in buying a shirt and pants, which later I realised the price could be slashed to a lot lesser. But of coz I managed to convince myself this was part and parcel for a tourist.
2nd day was a rather hot day, and we took a boat across Mekong River to one of the poorest islands which produces honey, coconut sweets and many other food. The folks there entertained us with their folk songs combined with Chinese songs (subject to changes if you are from another race). It was nice sitting in a sampan enjoying the nature trail of Mekong Delta. Hmm Ben Thanh Market again?! We shopped again and I have started to become dizzy of all the mazy shops around.
That night, zongwei and I ventured into somewhere like Chinatown by a cab. Wow, those places sell things many times cheaper! Imagine a pair of adidas slippers (pirated) for 80 cents. And realised a lot of people there are like Taiwan; youngsters got around in their motorbikes and shops sold clothes similar to Bugis Street.
3rd day was interesting in the Cu Chi Tunnel. We got to tunnel through some hideouts when decades ago, Vietnamese were using these tunnels to hide themselves from the Ang Mohs. A lot of history of these wars were also illustrated in the war museum. Some were rather gross.
I was starting to love this place, but it was time to head back to our hectic "clean" and "green" city. But seriously, it was greener in Vietnam. You can definitely find food if you are a cow as in the rural areas, green fields were spread around like mattresses for cows.
It really got me a bit of time to get used to Singapore rather than Vietnam. Hahaah.. Hmmm where to for the next stop?
Some more videos can be found at: http://youtube.com/user/guntaobu
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