I've had an interest in Vietnam after watching so many war movies and t.v. shows with my Dad. When I found out I was coming to Singapore, I knew I had to make a point of visiting the country to see what it was really like.
After securing an extra day of leave, Sapna, Jens, Kristin and I decided to get out of Singapore and head to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) over Easter weekend (April 6-9). The flight and VISA cost us a mint at S$313 for the flight and S$70 for the VISA, but upon arrival, prices fall dramatically. If you can, I recommend going for longer than 3.5 days, but that is all we could manage with our work schedules.
After clearing customs, we caught a cab to the 'Red Sun Hostel' in the backpackers area of Saigon. It was awesome! I'd recommend it to anyone. It included breakfast which was a real treat; Vietnamese coffee is to die for!
The first day we basically ate WMF (white man food, for those of you who haven't read my previous posts), drank beer and Vietnamese coffee, and explored the city. I had some tailoring done, which cost me US$112 for 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts. The quality is allright, but they didn't seem to understand that I wanted it 'fitted.' Even after an adjustments it still isn't quite right, so I'll have to find a tailor in Singapore and see what they can do.
The second day we took an organized tour of the Cu Chi tunnels, located about 70 km northwest of Saigon. These tunnels were used by the VC (Viet Cong) forces in their fight against the South Vietnamese and American troops. It was interesting to listen to the presentation because it was from a totally different perspective than we are used to. The Americans were the agressors this time, not the saviours trying to liberate the Vietnamese from communism repression. Vietnamese soldiers, even some women, were given medals for killing the most Americans, or destroying the most tanks. I really felt sorry for the Americans in the room when the tape was playing; they must have been terribly uncomfortale. After the tunnels, the tour bus dropped us off at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. What resonates with me the most about the museum are the pictures illustrating how devestating Napalm and Agent Orange are, not only to the Vietnamese landscape, but more importantly to the people; burns and mutations were not uncommon, and their effects linger to this day.
After securing an extra day of leave, Sapna, Jens, Kristin and I decided to get out of Singapore and head to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) over Easter weekend (April 6-9). The flight and VISA cost us a mint at S$313 for the flight and S$70 for the VISA, but upon arrival, prices fall dramatically. If you can, I recommend going for longer than 3.5 days, but that is all we could manage with our work schedules.
After clearing customs, we caught a cab to the 'Red Sun Hostel' in the backpackers area of Saigon. It was awesome! I'd recommend it to anyone. It included breakfast which was a real treat; Vietnamese coffee is to die for!The first day we basically ate WMF (white man food, for those of you who haven't read my previous posts), drank beer and Vietnamese coffee, and explored the city. I had some tailoring done, which cost me US$112 for 2 pairs of pants and 3 shirts. The quality is allright, but they didn't seem to understand that I wanted it 'fitted.' Even after an adjustments it still isn't quite right, so I'll have to find a tailor in Singapore and see what they can do.
The second day we took an organized tour of the Cu Chi tunnels, located about 70 km northwest of Saigon. These tunnels were used by the VC (Viet Cong) forces in their fight against the South Vietnamese and American troops. It was interesting to listen to the presentation because it was from a totally different perspective than we are used to. The Americans were the agressors this time, not the saviours trying to liberate the Vietnamese from communism repression. Vietnamese soldiers, even some women, were given medals for killing the most Americans, or destroying the most tanks. I really felt sorry for the Americans in the room when the tape was playing; they must have been terribly uncomfortale. After the tunnels, the tour bus dropped us off at the War Remnants Museum in Saigon. What resonates with me the most about the museum are the pictures illustrating how devestating Napalm and Agent Orange are, not only to the Vietnamese landscape, but more importantly to the people; burns and mutations were not uncommon, and their effects linger to this day.
The third day we took another organized tour down the Mekong River. This was slightly more 'touristy' than the Cu Chi tunnels, but I still had fun. We travelled in many old boats down the river, one of which was paddled by two women, saw a coconut candy factory, had lunch, fruit and tea (all at individual stops!), and of course had the opportunity to buy crafts. I opted to leave the souvenir purchases till the end; I don't want to end up with too much stuff. The highlight of this excursion was holding the python (twice!). I don't typically like snakes, but they assured me it had eaten recently and posed no danger. I guess they were right!
In the evenings we explored the city, visted the markets, drink lots of beer (Saigon beer is great in the heat!), sampled more coffee and tryie out some of the other local delights. Vietnamese spring rolls are a must have. Now a word on the coffee. It comes with a small percolator perched on top of the cup, and tastes slightly of almond. I take mine with condensed milk, which makes it a bit sweeter, but the girls had theirs black. Truly excellent.
I'm going to leave it there guys. Until next time!
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