"So, Nick, how many places have you been to since, like, ORD?" Ok, ok, I guess not many other people'd need to show 2 hands worth of fingers in order to answer this question, though to be honest, I didn't really plan for this last trip to Vietnam. And I mean LAST trip. At least, the last one before I leave for the US (considered going to KL with Fu Yee, but decided my parents'd kill me if I brought it up). But I thought, since I'll be spending lots of time in the States in the future and won't be returning to Asia often apart from home, I might as well take the opportunity to visit a country I haven't been to before. Hence, Vietnam.
And I'm quite glad I went. Almost didn't make it right from the start though. The night before, we had our Tao Nan reunion (Our first successful one in almost 10 years! I recognised most of those who turned up. Not many of us underwent radical changes, though the teachers were shocked at Xin Quan's Ah Beng outfit :P Shane was the only one I had trouble identifying. The 2 president scholars, Mikail and Audry, graced the occasion as well. Audry, almost unsurprisingly, had another class reunion organised just next to our tables. Anyway, it was great seeing all of us together again after all these years, even if only half of us turned up.), so Matthew and I ended up reaching home at almost 2. We slept at 3, crawled out of bed 2 hours later, and called a cab to send us to the airport. And this was where the fun started. We both assumed that since JetStar's a budget airline, we should be boarding at the Budget Terminal. Big Mistake. When we realised only Tiger Airways was using the terminal, we rushed to take a shuttle bus to Terminal 1. It was already 6.15am by this time, but I assumed we should be able to get to Terminal 1 by 6.30am, an hour before departure. Big Mistake 2. The shuttle bus parked at the Budget Terminal for 10 minutes before taking off. The bus's leisurely cruising speed only served to increase our anxiety. Then came Big Mistake 3. We assumed (the 3rd damn wrong assumption) that the shuttle bus'd take us to Terminal 1. When we stopped at Terminal 2, I realised that we had to take the skytrain to get to Terminal 1. 6.40am. The check-in counter would be closing in 5 minutes. Matthew and I gave up all pretense in self-control and coolness and started running over to the skytrain, wheeling our luggages as fast as we could. The skytrain refused to cooperate however, so we were forced to wait out another agonising couple of minutes before we finally got onto the carriage. 6.50am. We dashed to our counter, half expecting to find it shut. Instead, we saw Yu Xian calmly waiting for us in the queue. Kinda spoiled the dramatics of the whole situation, but I'm definitely not complaining. Can't imagine my parents' expressions if I told them I missed my flight because I stupidly went to the wrong terminal.
That was a great start to our adventures. Luckily, we met up with Raymond uneventfully, and he brought us for a breakfast of beef noodles (Not pho. Yet.) He's worked in Vietnam for 3 years and can speak the language. After our meal, he brought us over to the hotel my dad booked for us, as insisted by his business partner. More on the hotel later. We checked in, then went to check out the local tour agencies that peppered the backpacking area nearby. We settled on the day tours we wanted to take for the next few days, and soon after we settled down for our first (of many) meal of pho. Though I'm not a fan of soup-based noodles, I must say I rather like it. Simple, filling and tasty, especially if the beef slices are thin and tender. Still, you can have too much of a good thing, but again, more on pho later. Raymond brought us to some of the city's attractions, such as the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral, City Museum and War Remnants Museum. I have a few pictures of them, which I'll include below. The War Remnants Museum in particular showcased the horrific consequences of the 30 year war waged with the United States. Despite all the propaganda, there was no disputing the fact that the Americans caused the Vietnamese much suffering, especially with the mindless usage of Agent Orange. What were they thinking?...
We returned to our hotel to have a rest, but ended up watching Jurassic Park. For dinner, Raymond brought us to this bustling Vietnamese steamboat stall. The locals dig the place apparently, but few if no other foreigners were around. We had our fill of charcoal grilled mutton wrapped in rice paper as well as mutton and vegetables cooked by steamboat. The soup base was fantastic, and just thinking about it now makes me feel hungry. In my opinion, this was the best meal we had this trip. And I almost forgot to mention: We travelled by motorbike to the stall. Sitting in Raymond's motorbike and watching him weave through the chaotic traffic was pretty exhilarating. Of course, I wasn't too thrilled to see that one of his side mirrors had fallen off, leaving him technically blinded on his right side. But we got around safely enough :)
We got up early to go for our tour to the Cu Chi tunnels and Cao Dai temple the next day. The Cao Dai religion is the Vietnamese approach towards resolving religous differences: Just mix'em all together. It's mostly an amalgation of Taoism, Buddhism and Christianity, with a little sprinkle of Islam added in just for extra diversity. At least, that's what's said on the brochures. The different-coloured robes they wear during their religious ceremonies denote the "branch" they're more inclined towards. Most of them wear white, signifying their allegiance to this religion. I can't make much of their prayer session, though there're some elements borrowed from the other "branches". For example, plaques with Chinese phrases written on them were placed at the back of the hall. Further in front is an altar, with a decorated chair placed nearby, presumably for the high priest to sit on. And if I'm not wrong, I saw a Buddha statue or two somewhere. But the most distinct symbol is the eye in a triangle. A literal representation of the Holy See? Whatever it is, it's a little weird. What's weirder is that the Three Saints that signed the covenant between God and humanity are, of all people, Sun Yat Sen, Victor Hugo and Nguyen Bin Khiem (a 15th - 16th century Vietnamese poet). I don't quite comprehend the link, but if the followers do then I guess that's fine...
Next came the Cu Chi tunnels. This was the intricate system designed and used to devastating effect by the Viet Congs in their guerrilla war against the Americans. In fact, these tunnels were probably the main reason for the Americans' use of Agent Orange in a desperate attempt to flush out the Vietnamese. Simple as the idea seems, it takes an enormous amount of planning, cunning and willpower to implement it successfully. Not to mention all the effort needed in digging. I did my digging during my time in the army, and I sure won't want to be one of those diggers back then. There was a showcase of all the grisly little traps the VC used throughout the campaign, most of them very sharp and spiky. We even got to shoot an AK-47 at the shooting range there. Not that they let us aim: We basically just stood there and pulled the trigger without getting to aim much. And all that for S$20! In Singapore, I'll get paid shooting my rifle!
So that sort of wraps up the 1st day tour. And the next day was spent at Mekong Delta. As the name suggests, there's a lot of water there, so we got to travel by boat to the village we were visiting. Nothing much to say about the village. It's been wholly "touristified", little more than a tourist trap. They did make some good coconut candy there though...
Sadly, apart from the candy, there really isn't much else worthy of mention, so let's move on to the next day (Tuesday). And now I'll talk about our hotel. If there's anything that ruined my holiday in Vietnam, it would be the damned hotel issues. Let's start with the first one. According to the original agreement, we were to have the room for US$25 per night. Raymond reiterated that agreement the day we checked in, so we assumed everything was settled. Plus, according to the waitress at the breakfast area, breakfast meals were complimentary. So imagine our shock when we got the receipt. Instead of US$25 per night, it was US$40 a night. And to add insult to injury, we had to pay for breakfast too. By this time though, we were rushing to catch our bus to Phan Thiet, so we quickly settled the bill without much argument. Still, I was pretty pissed off at all the extra costs we had to pay, so I called Raymond up to ask him to help us check it out. Later, we found out from him that the hotel (bless their initiative!) gave us a more expensive room without telling us, hence the extra costs. And there was no explanation for the breakfast. I was already seething by this time, and the hotel at Mui Ne fouled my mood further. Our room was supposed to be US$30 as agreed earlier. We got that room, but found out the toilet was choked. Then, we were offered another room of the same size, but somehow cost $5 extra. And $5 more for air-conditioning. And hence, we
also paid 40 bucks for this room, its faulty tap, soiled towels and non-functional TV. Oh, and the mosquitoes, too. Whatever we saved from our bargains at the shops hardly made a dent in the extra accommodation costs.
But as Yuxian so wisely said, "We're on holiday!" So we didn't let it bother us, too much. Phan Thiet, or more precisely Mui Ne, is a 5 hour drive away from Ho Chi Minh. It's an up-and-coming beach resort, though still in great need of development. Dilapidated buildings and zinc-roof huts are the mainstay of the "city" centre, and things only started looking decent when we approached the resort areas. The drive down the road hugging the southeastern coast of the country brought back memories of my trip down the Great Ocean Road last year. Beautiful scenery, long drive. VERY long drive. It was lunchtime when we finally reached our hotel, but we hurried to book our half-day tour. As it turned out, we had to skip lunch to go for it, so we did (saves a bit more money!) Our jeep driver was an aptly named Joe, and our 1st stop was the White Sand Dunes. One of the features that make this otherwise ordinary beach resort so special would be the numerous sand dunes a few kilometres off the coast. I'm not sure why desert geology would appear so close to shore, but it's very marketable. Anyway, the white sand dunes are quite majestic and beautiful, and strongly resemble the real thing, especially with the hot sun beating down on us. Little children carrying plastic surtboard-shaped pieces are all over the dunes, trying to loan their rides for a very "reasonable" fee of US$2. At the same time, many of them were eyeing the biscuits we brought with us. I believe they missed their lunch and maybe even breakfast for the sake of their work. In fact, most of them don't stay near the dunes, so they have no choice but to hotfoot it all the way to this place. Which was why so many of them were glad to squeeze onto our jeep and drop off at a town further down the road. My heart goes out to them, especially to this sweet little girl who hitched our ride for most of the tour. We were glad to share our seat with her.
Anyway. After the white sand dunes, we visited the Red Canyon. It's a small hill formed by red clay, with landforms resembling stalagmites. These protruding structures and the canyon itself were probably carved by a small river that flowed through the hill. I tried getting to the top but the rock was extremely soft and crumbly. Besides, I didn't want to stain my jeans.
The Red Sand Dunes were next, and in my opinion they weren't as nice as the white ones. We were supposed to watch the sunset from here, but found out that the sun was actually setting behind the green pastures and not behind the dunes. The drizzle made the sand clayey, spoiling the intended dust-dry effect. Still, we did get some nice pictures of the landscape.
Our last stop was the fishing village, at which we stayed for like 5 minutes. That little girl who hitched a ride went with us to the beach and picked a few seashells for us. Thinking about it now, I regretted not buying anything from her, especially since she not once tried to sell anything to us. Even worse, I absent-mindedly left the shells she gave to us at our dinnerplace. I was ready to shoot myself after that.
Our night was spent uneventfully. Thankfully, our mosquito nets functioned well enough so we weren't bitten. We got up at 5am next morning to catch the sunrise. Since the sun set behind the dunes the previous day, we expected the sun to rise from behind the sea. Bizarrely, when we got to the beach, we found the sun rising behind us! Which meant, somehow, that the sun was rising behind the dunes, from the West. Needless to say, we were rather stupefied and disappointed by this strange scene, so after savouring the sea breeze for a while, we went back to sleep.
An hour before we were supposed to check out, we headed for the so-called Fairy Stream nearby. The sight that greeted us looked exactly like Sime Road River. I brilliantly lost my shoebag containing my sandals back on the bus, so I couldn't enter the river and explore further. Matthew was the only one who went forth, and apparently the scenery was good further down. Guess the Fairy Stream had to have something more than Sime Road River could offer, given its flattering name.
Then it was time to leave Mui Ne. The bus journey back was a nightmare, taking 6 hours due to bad traffic conditions and terrible weather. It was almost 8 by the time we reached HCM, and Matthew and Yuxian went to ensure the tailored clothes they were buying fit them to a T. This took more than 2 hours to complete, and it was way past the time we arranged to meet Raymond at our hotel. He didn't seem to mind, however, and he took us out for a late dinner of (guess what?) pho. We returned to his office apartment building and stayed there for the night, since it is much closer to the airport than where we were staying. And of course, I refused to patronise that hotel further after what they did to us.
And so, this was how my last trip before I leave for the US went. It was only a short holiday, but I brought back quite a few memories of the place. Good food, way-cool traffic, cheap clothes. Cunning hoteliers. Most vivid in my mind, however, are the smiles of the children we sat with as we cruised along the coastal road of Mui Ne. That little moment made the trip a whole lot more memorable for me.
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