Wednesday 17 August 2011

Xin Chao(Hello) Vietnam!

     To visit Vietnam was suggested by my sister, since it is a 1 hour 30 minutes travel from Singapore so I nod because I have 3 days rest from work and  why not take the plunge to a short holiday away from busy and exhausting work.

Good morning Saigon!


     We visited Ho Chi Minh City, commonly known as Saigon, is the largest city in Vietnam and the former capital of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).  Just a brief run of history, Ho Chi Minh (He Who Enlightens)  was a communist leader of North Vietnam from the end of World War II until his death in 1969.  He visited the Soviet Union to study revolutionary tactics and was sent to China to spread communism throughout Asia; he founded the Indochinese Communist Party in 1930 and spent the rest of the decade living in China and the Soviet Union.  During World War II he was in Vietnam, where he organized the League for the Independence of Vietnam, called the Viet Minh.   He led of eight years of underground resistance against French Colonial forces(1946-54), then turned guerrilla warfare against the anti-communist government in South Vietnam.  He was "Uncle Ho" the symbol of the communist willingness to sacrifice and to endure a war attrition, even to the time when the Americans were involved in the fight against the Viet Minh (and its successor, Viet Cong). 

Uncle Ho or Ho Chi Minh the number guy in Vietnam


     Ho Chi Minh is a vibrant and promising city, where business and trade is growing.  You will be amazed on their mode of transportation which is motorbike that  causes chaotic traffic because they go at discretion to certain extent, despite of traffic lights and they don't follow traffic rules.  

Motorbikes were coming from different directions



     On our first day, we visited Cu Chi Tunnel Complex which is 1 and half hour drive from the city.  On our way to Cu Chi you would noticed a line of rubber trees as one of the most important economic sector of Vietnam.  It was raining so I wasn't able to take picture of the rubber trees.   Cu Chi is a historic revolutionary historic relic where it is the base of Cu Chi District Party leadership in the anti-American resistance, the tunnels were used by Viet Cong guerrillas as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches and living quarters for numerous guerrilla fighters. The tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their resistance to American forces, through which they secured American withdrawal from Vietnam and ultimate military success.  

Booby trap with bamboo spikes

Other booby traps used during the war

Rice paper making as one of the works done by women during the war

Inside the tunnel

Tourist from our group braved the 3rd level of the tunnel

Exit from the 100 meters long tunnel

Bomb shell taken from the Americans

This is how it looks inside the tunnel


Entrance of one of the tunnel


     You can still see the remnants and some were restored which was destroyed during the war such as trap door on the jungle floor leads down into the tunnels, closed and camouflaged which is almost undetectable and booby trap with bamboo spikes.  Tourist can enjoy the complex by sampling the foods that the underground Viet Cong fighters had eaten such as rice, tour guide showing how the tunnel works, firing a variety of Vietnam War era weapons at the shooting range, which cost about VND 12,000 per ammunition and entering the tunnel system which my sister and I tried to conquer the 1st level which is 30 meters long.  We went back to the hotel at 7:30 pm and had a sumptuous dinner at Ngan Dinh Restaurant at the 5ht level of Windsor Plaza Hotel.  We were not able to go out after the dinner to explore the city because of the rain so we decided to have an early night off  because we need to be up by 6:00 am and ready for the day 2 trip to the countryside.

at Ngan Dinh Restaurant serving Chinese foods

Rituals before going to sleep...1

2....

3....

good night!



     We had a good night and sound sleep, freshened ourselves at 6:00 am and took our breakfast at Cafe Central An Dong at the 4th level of the hotel and at 7:30 am we were picked-up for the Mekong Delta trip.  Were bound to the southwestern region of Vietnam which is Mekong Delta where the floating market is a good place to see their trading activities.  Mekong is a very rich and lush area, covered with rice fields. It produces about half of the total of Vietnam's agricultural output (in fact the delta produces more rice than Korea and Japan altogether), and is the place for timeless sceneries of farmers planting or harvesting rice.  On our journey,  one thing that caught my attention were the tombs are everywhere, as part of their beliefs, they bury their dead in the land that they owned and they worshiped as their gods.  Due to a 2 hours drive, we fell asleep and went to visit happy house (toilets) twice.   It was sunny when we started to sail the floating market, but alas we were not able to see the busiest time in the market.  Farmers from the region bring their goods,  which they hanged on the tip of the bamboo pole the samples of their merchandise, such as fruits and vegetables mainly, to the markets and sell them to local dealers. These dealers sell the products to shops in the neighboring towns and to wholesale dealers from the big towns. On the floating markets you do not only find people buying and selling goods, you also find floating restaurants, floating bars, floating gas stations, and many other floating shops. Canals are here the easiest and fastest way of transportation.  

vast rice fields

as Google translate it "Stops at Mekong" one of our stop going to Mekong where we had to use the Happy house

Delta River going to the floating Market

A turnip at the tip of the bamboo poles indicating that they selling that vegetable

Floating  Cafe, serving hot coffee and soda


Trading their goods

Our captain, I call him kuya because I don't know his name

He's trading sweet potato

Squash

Longgan


     Part of our trip was a visit to the local folks who made the famous rice paper and sweet delicacies such as coconut candies with variety of flavors from their harvest and rice pops. They allowed us to make our own rice paper and  we got a thumbs up because we made a perfect rice paper.  I bought some pieces to try it at home.  We also visited an old house who specialized in growing bonsai and they served us a tropical fruits: banana, dragon fruit, lonngan  and rambutan.  We had a dinner in one of the restaurant in Mekong serving local foods such as fried noodles, elephant fish in a stand and it was made into fresh spring roll with mint and lettuce, beef, cooked in traditional Vietnam way, soup and our favorite fried spring roll.  It rained in the  middle of our trip, its good that we bought a conical hat or no'n ba`i tho in vietnamese (sign of Vietnamese inventiveness and simplicity) and a rain coat given by our guide.  It was muddy, maybe because of the rain, as the weir were not concrete you must be very careful because might slipped off or sunk your feet.  Mud and rain were not a hindrance to our sail because we were able to enjoy the river,  sights of water mangrove, local folk paddling the water and tourist like us enjoying the trip. 

Cla's turn to do the rice paper, first spreading a ground rice over a flat pan in a very thin round shape

2. Cover and cooked with the steam of hot water
3. Remove the cover when its cooked


4. Remove  the thin sheet from the pan

6. Spread over a bamboo grid and left to dry in the sun


My turn




I was grinning because I made a perfect rice paper

Popped Rice

Coconut candy making

Water mangrove on our way to the restaurant

Lady paddler, works in the Mekong Travel

More paddlers

Bonsai

with conical hat
We need to wear raincoats because of the rain
An old house also from Mekong


Your visit in Vietnam is not complete without conica hat



     On our way back to the city, we had a pit stop at Nam Qouc MST Co. famous in lacquer paintings with mother of pearl sea and egg shells inlay.  It was a special because it was made by an artistic and meticulous hands of the handicapped.   We're back in the the city at 5:00 pm, freshen ourselves and we went to Ben Than Market to take advantage the sale items for souvenir and pasalubong.  After bargaining, we decided to end our adventure in the market, but  it was not good experience with the taxicab who charged as VND 321,000 on our way back to the hotel, and were not briefed about the good and the bad taxi in the city. Instead of sulking to that bad experienced we splurged ourselves in a good buffet dinner at Cafe Central An Dong.

     On our day 3, our guide took us to a half day visit to China town in the 1st District, then to the Reunification  Palace, formerly South Vietnam's presidential palace which is also known as Independence Palace.  It was restored and left largely untouched from the day before Saigon fell to the North.

Temple in China town

Reunification Palace

Architecture inside the Notre Dame Cathedral

Post Office

Busy Post office

Facade ofNotre Dame Cathedral

U.S. military tanks

After effect of Agent Orange




Agent Orange was closest to my heart because  during my Toxicology course in college I was assigned to discuss it.   It was a heart breaking experienced when I saw the pictures of those people who were exposed to this chemicals





     We also stop at Notre Dame Cathedral and Post Office and lastly at the War Remnants Museum.  It exhibits and various U.S. military hardware (tanks, jets, helicopters, howitzers)on display outside the building. It displays disturbing man's cruelty during the Vietnam (American) War includes halls full of gruesome photograph, a simulated "tiger cage" prison and jars of deformed foetuses, attributed to contamination by agent Orange. If you are an American tourist, basically the place is anti-American and you would be uncomfortable to see the pictures that your country did to Vietnam.


     After a warm morning trip to the city, we had a lunch at PHO 2000 recommended by our guide, serving a delicious spring roll and noodle soup then  we checked out the hotel and prepared the afternoon flight going back to Singapore.  We touched down at 8:00 pm local time and were home at 9:00.  

It was called President's noodles because US President Bill Clinton dined here in one of his visits in Vietnam in 2000

We tried the recommended food to feast on

Beef Vermicelli

Our favorite, fried spring roll

Pho



      This trip gave us lot of thoughts of how these people especially the children lived their lives in the 70's running and hiding from fire and bombs. It was already in the 20th century but without knowing it,  there's a war going on when I was a small child enjoying hello kitty, barbie dolls, collecting stationary and stuffed toys.  What if I am in their shoes? Will my family survive?


      Million thanks to our guide, Tram(pronounced as Tam), Song and Tree for an unforgettable sights of Saigon.
    

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