Xin Chao Vietnam!

A 3-Day Trip to Ho Chi Minh and Mui Ne.

First day. 16072010, TR2326 0735hrs, five backpackers departed Sg. We arrived Tan Son Nhat Int’l Airport at 0840hrs, met Ms Dao, our tour guide. We all jumped inside our 15-seater van and directed our way to Bui Vien St, District 1 to pick-up another of friend of mine who came from Tokyo. While on the road, we witnessed millions of motorbikers chasing through the traffic. Not exagerrated. There are millions of motorbikes in Vietnam, almost 1:1 ratio with its population. 

Journey began. 1st Stop, Cu Chi Tunnel, 1.5hrs away from HCM Central.

We drive-thru Jollibee for mobile lunch. Everybody were excited pcking-up their favorites and very affordable.Chicken Joy Meal for less than 100K dong. Yummy! Langhap sarap talaga!

Around 1200hrs when we explored Cu Chi Tunnel. With an admission fee of 65,000 dong, you will enter a 75-mile long complex of tunnels. We personally experienced 30-m of dark and narrow tunneling, and of course, took hundreds of pictures.

While on our way back to HCM, rain poured heavily, so the guide rerouted to the handicapped handicrafts factory. People there were talented, creative, artistic, detailed, skillful.

It was still raining heavily when we reached the city so we decided to postpone the city tour due to rain. 1700hrs when we checked-in at Saigon Mini Hotel 5 at 196 Bui Vien Street. At 1800hrs, we street-walked for food under the drizzles. Directed to Pho 2000 Resto which is very near Ben Thanh Market, we had a bowl of pho noodles. The best of its kind! 2 thumbs up!

We then shopped at nearby Ben Thanh Street night market. I bargained patiently for some nice wall frames featuring Viet woman body silhouette in black and white effects, bought two and a set.

On our way back to Bui Vien Street at 2200hrs, we chilled-out for some Saigon beer and night life in the nearby corner bar. There were dozens of Westerners in town. Great crowd, great music, cool atmosphere. Ended with couple of glasses of vodka.

Second day, 17072010. At 0700hrs we woke up to English breakfast, then checked-out at 0830hrs ready for Mui Ne, a 5-hr road trip from HCM. We stopped over a mall to grab some food and drinks. Travel continued. Pictorials inside the van. A typical Viet province along the way, rice fields, dragon fruit plantation, etc.

We arrived at Phan Thiet with colorful fishing boats welcoming us from afar. Reached Tien Dat Resort, Mui Ne at around 1430hrs. It was such a lovely place, fit for relaxing, nice swimming pool. There was Mr. Khanh, our guide for that afternoon. Checked-in the resort quickly. At 1500hrs we drove ourselves to the north end. There was a little creek, the Fairy Stream, that winds its way through the sand dunes. Stream’s bottom is super soft sand and mud. We had fun walking through in bare feet.

After a mile of enjoying the stream’s mile, we headed to fishing village, where you can find lots of colorful fishing boats plus the round-shaped native boat they use.

It was about 1700hrs when we headed to Red Sand Dunes. The illusion of being in a different world was there with the exotic scenery of the famous Red Sand Dunes one side and the white sand beaches with palm trees on the other. We had hundreds of captured scenes in this beautiful Saharan desert, Vietnam version.

Mui Ne, which means sheltered peninsula in Vietnamese

and the surrounding Binh Thuan province really have a lot to offer. Beautiful tropical beaches lined with groves of swaying palm trees, immense Saharan-style sand dunes meandering for kilometres in colours of red, yellow and white; tall mountains with bamboo rainforests, and deep red canyons parted by twisting streams.
We ended the day with a Vietnamese-style massage for 200K dong and a treat of G7 Vietnamese coffee, which tastes like heaven.

18072010 was the third and final day of our trip. It started with a sumptuous breakfast from Tien Dat Resto. Then we packed-up and checked-out. All set and ready to be back to HCM.

We arrived HCM City around lunchtime. We went straight to Ben Thanh market to not miss shopping. I loved every moment as we saw stuffs at very affordable prices. Grabbed a 70L aircontact Deuter, a The North Face Daily backpack and a red Crumpler body bag, all in less than 100SGD. Great! They don’t seem to be original but was 100% contented the way it was neatly sewn and its quality. Of course, I never missed to grab 2 boxes of G7 Vietnamese coffee.

Notre Dame Basilica de Saigon

Since we still have time, with the use of my iPhone application showing images of tourist spots in Vietnam, we guided our driver for a quick city tour. We showed him photo of a church and voila! He knew it! Notre Dame Basilica de Saigon, the city’s main church inspired by French colonial architecture. Just nearby the church was the Gothic architecture-styled Saigon Central Post Office.

Then we showed him photo of a palace and he nodded. He drove us to Reunification Palace, formerly known as Independence Palace, a historic landmark and the site of the end of Vietnam War, during the Fall of Saigon in 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates.

Reunification Palace

The rain poured heavily. Stomachs begging for lunch. Another Jollibee on the way, so we stopped and had a 30-minute dine-in. Chicken joy, spaghetti, peach mango pie and vanilla cone twirl. Full and satisfied!

Finally we headed to the airport to catch our 1725hr flight back to Sg, except 1 of my friends who flew back to Japan the next day.
It was indeed an amazing experience! Next stop? Cambodia. Hopefully. =)