Destination: Ho Chi Minh Part 2

Day 2
Date: 14 April 2010

I will be going for the river/boat/island hopping tour today.

I paid around USD10 or was it USD15 plus additional USD2 for hotel pick up (return).

I woke up super early to have breakfast at the hotel coffee house and I was a little late because the driver was already waiting for me outside the hotel.

I think it was around 8am when the driver picked me up. I was driven to Sinh Cafe again to board the bus for my tour.

I will be doing the Saigon - My Tho - Ben Tre tour. The bus that we took was really comfortable and clean. We were supplied with a bottled water and a snack (chocolate bar).

The bus ride was about 2hours or so. I lost count. We did stop by a petrol station along the way for toilet break. Surprisingly the toilets at the petrol station were really, really clean.

Once we arrived My Tho, we went on board a boat. It was no luxury boat but, it was alright.


My Tho, is the capital of the Tien Giang province in Southern Vietnam. It is the first city in the Mekong Delta travellers from Ho Chi Minh City will arrive and hence a popular spot for dropping tourists on one of the many Mekong boat tours. Source: Wikipedia

The boat ride was really nice. Luckily the temperature was about 26c, otherwise I would've had a headache because of the heat.

The Mekong Delta hosts fishing villages. Look at all the boats parked outside the houses!

Typical fishing boat. Trying to be artsy by taking a black and white photo.

Why do they have so many plastic bottles oustide the boat? Maybe to fill them up with water for when they go out to the sea and fish so they would have fresh water for cooking and drinking?

Muddy water.

Another boat.

We were dropped off at Unicorn Island. Lunch was also provided with this tour package.

The guy in the white shirt was our tour guide. We were shown some kind of snack and how it was prepared. I forgot what it was called.

We walked some more.

We arrived at this place where everything was made of coconut shell. Incredible! I didn't get any because I'm not really into coconut shells.

We went back to the boat after that. We were then dropped off at another island. Again, I forgot the name. The locals performed a couple of songs.

We went on a horse carriage ride after that. It was fun!

Luckily the horses weren't smelly.

We then headed to the bee farm. We were served with a honey with lime drink.

Oh no! Bees!

This was one of the last thing that we did before we had to head home. We boarded a sampan and a vietnamese lady were rowing at the back of the sampan.

It was really nice with all the shades of leaves. Breezy too.

I was really tired at the end of the day but fun, nevertheles.

Destination: Ho Chi Minh Part 1

Day 1
Date: 13 April 2010

Here I am, telling myself that I will never ever go to Vietnam.

This is the view taken from the hotel room. Surprisingly the weather is OK. I guess it was around 26c then.

That's Saigon's main post office. It's situated right opposite the hotel.

I was just walking around, taking in all the sites.

They sure have a lot of motorbikes here!

Then I saw the Notre Dame Cathedral, of course the Vietnam's version. It's a whole different story in Paris!

It's small and I notice alot of couples getting their wedding photos taken here.

This is HCMC's Main Post Office building.

Another modern building!

I was heading to Sinh Cafe. It's not a cafe but a tour agent. Their office is really modern and looks professional. Oh yea, most important of all, it's air-conditioned and they have 2 computers with free internet access!

This is HCMC's Municipal Theatre, also known as Saigon's Opera House.

Built in 1897 by French architect Ferret Eugene, the 800 seat building was used as the home of the Lower House assembly of South Vietnam after 1956. It was not until 1975 that it was again used as a theatre, and restored in 1995. Source: Wikipedia

Obviously that's Louis Vuitton's outlet.

This is Nguyen Hue roundabout.

One of the shops selling woodcrafts.

That's Ben Thanh Market. It's located right at Tran Nguyen Han roundabout. Opposite is the main bus station.

This is a park - Công Viên 23 Tháng 9 - not really sure if this is an address but I got it off Google Map.

OMG, when am I going to reach Sinh Cafe?!

Almost there, Sinh Cafe is right around the corner. Phew! That was the longest walk every - I think it took me about 1.5 hours. I was actually walking very slowly since the weather is not too warm.

This is my beef noodles. I had it at one of their beef noodle fast food chain restaurant - Pho Hoa Noodle Shop. It's yummy. After converting, it's about RM8 per meal and that's excluding drinks. It was GOOD!

Walking back to the hotel. I was trying my best to find another route back. I think I might have gotten slightly lost here.

That's the Reunification Palace.


Reunification Palace (Vietnamese: Dinh Thống Nhất) formerly known as Independence Palace (Dinh Độc Lập), built on the site of the former Norodom Palace, is a landmark in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. It was designed by architect Ngô Viết Thụ and was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. It was the site of the end of the Vietnam War during the Fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates. Source: Wikipedia

This is another park - Công viên 30-4.

The trees are really tall here and also it's breezy most of the time. Wonder why?

That's the Notre Dame Cathedral again.