Weekend Recap

the plan was to attend a friend's wedding in mumbai. but the 2days leave needed was a hindrance that i decided to forgo it. during one of the friday's meetup a friend talked about vietnam. somehow he couldn't make it as he is now freezing his axx of in uk on business trip while me and another friend do it. a pleasant 4D3N in ho chi minh city that gave me a better knowledge of the war and somehow made me wonder if i am claustrophobic or just afraid of dark.

day 1 - 07Feb'08

we arrived in ho chi minh city, formerly known as saigon, in the afternoon, straight to the hotel to put our stuff and out to start our sight seeing. the plan was to visit the war museum but the hotel staff told us it was closed that we ended up walking to the cathedral and post office, one of the attraction in saigon. on our way to the saigon river we stopped to see some dragon and lion dance in front of one of the hotel. it was pretty pack as all the motorbikes (which i think occupied 80% of the road) halted to watch it. we continued our walk once its done and had a nice stroll along the river. from there we saw some festivals so we headed there. crossing the road was a tough job, and that comes from me an indonesian!! its like motorcyle comes from all over you. festival wise, it was a beautiful display of flowers with some exhibition and bridges and of course rats everywhere. tired of walking we headed to one of the known restaurant for dinner. my friend wasn't feeling well afterwards that she threw up on our way back to the hotel. for sure she left some souvenirs along the street in saigon :)

day 2 - 08Feb'08

as we couldn't book a private tour for cu chi tunnel due to the new year we joined the group tour. i actually preferred this kinda tour as its cheaper :). made a stop in a handicraft store where all the things are made by handicapped before heading down to cu chi area. it was quite a long drive and upon seeing those rubber forest along the way i sense a similiarity of that area with lubang buaya. well both are invaded by communist, so i guess thats why i felt that way. it was a good tour along the area and a great knowledge on how the viet cong defended themselves against the americans and south vietnam troops. i decided to forgo trying the first hideout as i am just afraid i'd be stuck on my way down and i don't want to embarass myself because of that. one man tried and he couldn't continue due to the size of his tummy. after watching the video, listening to the explanation, seeing the different bunkers and traps we were given a chance to experience what the viet cong experienced - walking inside the tunnel. we were warned earlier that the tunnel was made small to fit the vietnamese size and not the americans size. few people in front of me decided to quit after trying to enter it. with the huge gap between me and the person in front of me, i went in and we had to squat all the way. the light was very minimum that after passing the first lantern i felt uneasy. i looked back and cl was making this 'oh shxt' kinda smile. i continued and fearing of a panic attack if i kept on going, i stopped saying that i wanted to go out. the guy behind asked me to continue as he said its the same if i go ahead or turn back. so i continued awhile and when i saw a total pitch black in front of me i really had panic attack. what if i fainted and i know if i continued i might've cry. at the same time my heart was pounding mad. so i stopped and insisted on turning back. i felt bad as 3 people had to go out to give way for me but i just didn't care. once out i was sweating like mad and i realised a lot of people decided not to do it as well. i was tempted to go in again after i managed to calm myself but i think being brave wasn't the right thing to do so i walked to the exit area instead. cl told me that it was good i went out as she could sense the panic in my voice. she told me about the squatting and a little crawling and the soreness she had afterwards. we ended the tour by sitting at the area used by the viet cong to eat and ate what they used to eat during the war - steamed tapioca with peanut and tea.

back from the tour we asked the guide to stop us at the war remnant museum. it was a very good history lesson for me. i learned more about the war - the what, when, why, who, and how. they displayed some featus victims of the agent orange as well. i never felt that satisfied getting out of a museum before.

back to the hotel for a short rest before going out for dinner and walk along the streets. it was darn pack but i had to take my hat off for the vietnamese - the road is clean and is not as polluted as jakarta. but i still love my city.

day 3 - 09Feb'08

we started early for a 2 hours drive to the mekong. we booked a private tour for this so we had a nice cozy car but couldn't sleep as the guide kept on explaining about everything along the way. a nice day for cruising along the river. stopped at unicorn island where we had a taste of local snacks and stopped by to see how the coconut candy was made before heading back to the boat and off to phoenix island. took a sampan ride along the small river to get back to the big river. it was a pretty interesting ride i should say. we had our lunch afterwards - elephant ear fish, tiger prawn, vietnamese pancake and some other stuff. i was pretty relax here as they only served seafood. the day before i had difficulty asking if they serve pork - making a pig's honking noise didn't help at all!

on the way back the guide brought us to a temple of the cai dai religion - one of the religion in vietnam. it is pretty "interesting" as cao dai incorporate buddhism, hinduism, taoism, judaism, christianity and islam together!! they used 3 colours one representing buddhism, hinduism, and the rest of the religion in one colour. their symbol is the left eye, big brother is watching you :)

back to the hotel we rested awhile before going out for dinner. we wanted to try the vietnamese food so we went to one that is decent enough. i am actually tempted to try those by the road food but i guess cl isn't that kinda person, furthermore her 1st day experience made her more vigilant when it comes to food - not even ice cubes for her. i am proud of my indonesian stomach!

day 4 - 10Feb'08

we walked to the cathedral area and then city hall area in search of a cyclo but we couldn't find any. so we flagged a taxi to go to the jade emperor pagoda. it was very pack with worshippers. i saw people praying and releasing birds, people praying to all different gods there - it was an interesting place. still i can't get the picture of the sad turtle in the caged dirty pond out of my mind. it must've been one of the offerings but still it's darn cruel for the turtle!!

went to ben thanh market afterwards and had a stroll around the wet market before doing some shopping, well if getting tees for my nieces and nephew can be called shopping that is. took a cyclo back to the hotel. it was an interesting ride! when asked how much he said "up to you, it's new year". once around the area we paid 20,000vnd only to get cursed. they asked for 200,000vnd. nuts! the guy at the hotel told us its 50,000vnd/hour and our journey is just arounf 15mins. i kept on using their "up to you" as a defense and he kinda slapped my hand when i added another 5.000vnd. we were getting annoyed but not wanting to give in. he ended up showing us a paper where its stated 150,000vnd/hour. stupid!! i used that info as a bargain and after quite some time they decided to settle with 50,000vnd.

back to the hotel and rest awhile before flying back home.

it was a pretty interesting getaway indeed. i still can't believe i didn't do the tunnel. i should've asked what to expect inside the tunnel before entering it to avoid that panicky state. so ashamed of myself!!

still ... sun, river, motorbike, 25% of tunnel. i enjoyed it!!