vietnam
i actually wanted to title this backpacking, but after the
eye-opener in vietnam i realised that it would not do the
term justice. a self actualised holiday independent of our
parents within a small specified buget is more accurate.
but its a mouthful dont you think? so here you have it,
a complete reproduction of my travel diary. yeah, yeah
its expanded and polished up a bit but all totally true.
in my point of view at least. rant!
Thursday 091106 day 1
Flight, Tiger TR 328, airbus 320, cost 185.46SGD x 2
Things to do
-find hotel in pham ngu lao area
-find tours and prices for,
1) cu chi tunnels 2) mekong delta 3) da lat
Tiger TR 328 departed @ 1230SGT arrived 1330VNT
half an hour late due to delays in singapore, we changed
plane as it would take longer to remedy the problem.
no complaints, buget ticket u know, though you'd wish
such checks were done earlier especially when you arrived
2 hours early just to wait again, didnt the crew do the same?
*All times are given as local vietnam time unless otherwise stated
1500 got our FAVOURITE hotel HUONG at Bui Vien
1500 - 1600 we walked (4-5)km on Tran Hung Dao street
to Cho Lon, cho means market, cholon is pronounced che lern
we spent an hour there before walking back where
we had our dinner of pho bo, pronounced fer bur @ 1830
we were at huong by 1900, slacked and cooled off before
going out again. so we headed toward dong Khoi area.
1930 - 2200 we we exploring and we had our bia hoi!
thousands are all VND, the rest are in USD unless stated
Expenditure
1)cab 5 2)hotel 8 x 3 nights 3)bia hoi 11 000
4)fritter 2000 5)H2O (5L) 12 000 6)333Bia 5000
7)coconut 4000 8)pho restaurant 28 000 x 2
9)orange juice 25 000 10)sidestall 50 000 11)bia hoi 11 000
Diary entry
Good day save for the delays. thankfully no horror food
run-ins. it was hot during the day so it sucked when we
walked longer distances. new socks with new balance
just dont cut it for the trip, should have got good trekking
shoes. got conned quite a bit as we didnt have the heart
to bargain. had an intro to eating pho bo. we felt bia hoi
was very watered down and was not very bitter, @ 4k
VND per person and 8k for 2L. this is cheaper than water
at some places! planned for tomorrow and slept @ 0000
Friday 101106 day 2
Jokes so far, i miscalculated and woke up @ s'pore 5am,
which makes it 4am in Ho Chi Min(HCM) which is 2 hours
early. Left @0615 for the Reunification palace. we had
breakfast first as it didnt open till 0730. It was grand
but boring, history and nostalgia for some i guess. then
we headed to the war remnants museum, for more
history, but it was more interesting as it leaned toward
my liking for military hardware. also the prison mock-up
was enlightening. bought the local bread on the way to
tex, which was like a subway but with fish sauce. so i guess
it was pretty good ham and veg. then the 2nd joke. put
in a lot of effort to navigate to tex (we're still new right)
just to find out we've been there already. the same place
where we went to the supermarket the night before.
(but its a good toilet break spot, haha) then we headed to
Ben thanh. i bought chopsticks. was back in hotel by 1145
1) breakfast 6k 2) entry fees 15k x 2 (palace + museum)
3) bread 3k 4) chopsticks 50k 5)addidas bag 5USD
left the hotel @ 1230. first we spent 30mins to get tours
to cu chi and mekong, then we tried to see what was
available for a nature adventure in Da lat. the price of
90USD put us off making a decision straight away, so
we headed to Dan sin. everything there was either
hardware or military surplus. after dan sin, bought
satay and tapioca browns and had lunch. afterwhich
we headed back to the hotel and was back by 1400
1)CuChi 4 x2 2) mekong 17 x2 3)lunch 10 000 x2
4)satay 5 000 5)tapioca fritters 4 000
got ready to leave @ 1430 but we were too tired so
we slept in the room till 1600. then we left to find a fit
for our last 2 days in vietnam. we just walked around
all the open tour agencies because we reasoned that
we didnt have the time to figure out everything by
ourselves so why not get a guide. it produced the
best and worst results of the trip. econmically it did
make sense but living up to expectations is another
issue, so it is very important to know what you want.
and some things just cannot be accounted for and the
best picture is given on the ground not the tour office.
we were back by 1630 and prepared for our boys night
out. we left for Dong Khoi @ 1730. headed to
Augustine's for french cuisine. killed time by buying
shorts and grabbed a beer after dinner, while we waited
for the night scene to heat up. Entered Gossip Club
@ 2150 and left @ 2230 (i just couldnt do anything,
dont have clubbing in my blood i guess, girls were
quite wild and i thought the music was terrible)
we were back in the hotel by 2240
1)Augustine's 245 000 2)shorts 120 000
3)beer 18 000 4)Gossip club 9USD
Saturday 111106 Day 3
today started with a bowl of hot noodles before going
on the Cu Chi tour. it started late. (what's new?) 0815
surprisingly because the group was quite big, with
30+ people at least. mainly caucasians. we went to a
handcrafts factory first,which lionel and i had not
much interest in. we reached Cu Chi around 1015. It
was interesting. though the tunnels were not so scary
due to the saf tunnel confidence course. there was a
shooting range but its a big ripoff @ 25 000 a bullet.
and which SAF man would pay to fire when he's
forced to range in the army. then we saw a small rice
paper and rice wine making set up. talk about a
home-made brew. Then the main event (to me),
crawling in the tunnels! both of us did the full 90m.
though there were 2 other exits every 30m. that
concluded the tour. it was funny to hear lionel
scream after he took a fright by some americans.
i tasted some sweet rice wine before leaving. we
left @ 1345 and was back by 1430. then we had a
beef noodle lunch before returning to the hotel by 1515
1) breakfast 5000 2) entry fee 70 000 3)lunch 15 000
left @ 1800 for dinner. walked to the wharf which
was boring but stumbled upon apocalypse now.
then we walked back to ben thanh market where
we ate at the 1st stall on the right when we face
the market from the round-about. the food was
in small portions. waiter was rude and it rained
halfway through our meal! so we left at 2030
and shopped and was back in the hotel by 2115.
** ALWAYS! ALWAYS! AGREE ON THE
PRICE BEFORE ANYTHING. If the waiter
moves away after your order without telling
you how much is the discount he promised it
is better to walk off. it saves your pride and
counters the risk of confrontation due to expectations
1)beef hotplate 20 000 2)transparent spring roll 2500
3)kebab 8000 4)saigon bia 9000
5)wet towel 1000 6)shirts 125 000
Sunday 121106 Day 4
woke up @ 0630 after a good sleep. had a breakfast
of prawn noodles. then we checked out of Huong.
Lionel left his teaset and a dollar for tips. tour would
have been punctual if not for a family with a young kid.
left for trip proper @0815
1)prawn noodles 10 000 3)tip 1USD
toilet break along the way @ 0925. continued @ 0940
arrived at my tho (mee tor) around 1015. then we had
a boat tour around. went for lunch at turtle island.
where we saw them catch fish with nets along their
canals as lunch was served. (al fresco if u were wondering)
then went to see them make coconut candy as well
as sample honey tea, banana whiskey and rice wine.
went back to bus. left @ 1450
1) tips 5000 2) drink 10 000
toilet stop @ 1510 and we left @ 1520
1)1.5L 10 000 (buy beer!)
reached the ferry point @ can tho(ken ter) @1730
the barge took 30mins to cross. we were at the hotel
by 1830. famished, we went to look for dinner.. the
place was a semi ghost town. bought some munchies
and water and then got ripped off big time. our
morale hit rock bottom back in the room where
we just wondered why things were just plain unfair
to us. there were many instances where i'd describe
the vietnamese as nothing short of fantastic. but
this and saturdays' dinner just really showed the
ugly side. i'm fine with the fact that profit making
is a necessity in a business but to rip us off 10x
it really stings. especially when we are paying with
our own money and our salary isnt that high too.
it was wth the 2nd most expensive meal of the trip
and at a roadside stall to boot. it was a chicken
and coagulated blood porridge. so back in the room
we complained, about the uninteresting sights
and long travel times, getting ripped off, the hotel
with no air-con but mosquito nets and no tv.
the no air-con didnt bother me, but think about
the mosquitoes. and no tv means there's nothing
to do since even the shops close early here. yup,
the placed is sumarised as nothing to do or see.
1)bread 3000 2)pastries 6000 3)1.5L 4400
4)chicken porridge ripoff! 50 000 argh! argh! argh!!!!
Monday 131106 Day 5
some info to help with understanding the situation
yesterday, and our frustration when our expectations
are not met for how much we paid for the trip. 17USD
1) room at huy hoang 90 000 or 6USD
2)breakfast a)bread +eggs 6000 b)coffee 5000
so that is a good 10USD on the bus and profits alone!!!
so cummon couldnt we get a little better deal?
so now after popping 5vitCs, 2(panadols anti
inflamatory and anti histamine pills) i'll try explaining
last night. what were we thinking 100 000 for the meal!
**if you pay 20 000 you can expect a building stall
and not a streetside one for a one dish meal!!! please!
the chicken meat was tough, kampung chicken so the
meal got messy with simple things like getting the
meat off the bone. so use your hands kids!
-self update. i kindda caught some bug from the people
around so i was down with a bit of a throat inflamation.
i had a bit of a temperature so i popped a few pills.
a first in 4 years i think. oh well...
woke around 0530. lazed till 0610 waiting for the
morning call that we expected not to come. we were
right. so we got down to breakfast @0625. after the
bread fried egg and coffee we went up to take our
bags to deposit downstairs. they thought all young
people like to climb you see so they gave us a room
on the 3rd level. oh i didnt mention there was no lift.
ready by 0645 and killed time from then. the bus
left @ 0705. went on a boat ride to the floating market
@ 0725. went to the rice paper factory @ 0800
went on boat again @ 0825
1) 1.5 L 8000 (buy beer!)
then we headed to cross the 'monkey' bridge which
only interested the angmohs, before proceeding to
go fruit sampling. then to the boat again and the rice
factory before heading back for lunch at our hotel.
1)lunch 28 000 2)1.5L 6800
the bus left for HCM @ 1220. stopover @1455
1)1.5L 12 000 (better buy beer!)
continued @ 1505. we were in HCM by 1630. then
we were to make the dumbest decision of our trip.
we booked the trip for Muine which left on the same
night. more time to do stuff there we thought. oh so
we thought. After settling admin matters of cancelling
our cat tien proposition at another tour vendor and
requested huong to hold the teapots 2 days more,
which they did. we went to look for dinner. we
changed some currency at the bank at Tex.
*lesson learnt, we'd rather let them profit a bit
and sleep well with legit cash than suffer the
consequences of a dubious transaction.
dinner was seafood. the giant prawns were fantasic,
it was great to suck at the heads which were sweet
and juicy. beef was tough and nothing special. then
we went to buy clothes again. more water and
we were off to Mui Ne by 20 00.
1) Mui Ne 40USD, 10 transport + 30 a room/ night
2)dinner 103 000 3)shorts 140 000 4)1.5L 5000
stop to fuel @ 2140 left @ 2200. arrived @ seabreeze
hotel @ 0040. shacked and grumpy due to the cramped bus
Tuesday 141106 Day 6
both of us were kindda sick and shacked so after
our complimentary breakfast we rested in our
rooms till about 1150 before setting out for internet
access. then we rented a motor bike and got some
lessons. theres no clutch on that motorbike in vietnam!
then i toured a little on the bike. i hit 58km/h by the
beach. OMG! the feeling was fantastic. the bike shook
and rattled and all i did was floor the throttle. then
horrors! the bike ran out of gas, and i filled up at the
wrong station. back @ 1340 to write. coolness!
1)bike 25 000 2)fuel 12 000
I hit 70km/h. i went to the western end which had
those tall clifts overlooking the sea. it was a fantastic
view. the feel was very relaxed and the gusty wind
just had a magic feel to it. returned the bike an hour
early and filled with gas (not sure if they appreciated
the courtesy). then we went for dinner, ate at the hotel
which the guy did not return my change even after
saying he would. at this time i didnt bother anymore,
poor people and honesty are worlds apart at times.
at this point i guess i'm resigned to their reasons of
survival. sometimes the matter crops up about me
being a skinflint, in certain cases it really isnt the
money but the principal and expectations. crap dinner.
1)dinner 60 000 2)breakfast 35 000 3)room 25/night
00) bungalow 35 - 40 garden vs sea view.
see how much the tour group and hotel makes already?
Wednesday 151106 Day 7
my camera died today!!! so that means other than the
motorbike pictures we dont have much on Mui Ne.
Lionel's birthday, i wished him to recover soon. not
really much to be happy about. woke @ 0730, had our
'free' breakfast and went to walk a little on the beach
before sleeping. the sleep last night was ok. i'm getting
used to the air-con already and axe oil helped. only thing
is the mosquitoes leave huge itchy bumps where they bite.
though stealthy they can be rather slow and easy to kill.
checked out @1145 and went to buy some tidbits for
the ride. got a picture of the wind/kite surfing shop.
time to wait for the bus which should arrive at 1330.
1)1.5L 8000 2)potato chips 40 000(rip off but no point)
In Mui Ne, for beach enthusiasts staying at a beachfront
hotel is advantageous for the convenience of beach chairs,
shades, bars and privacy. the lull period is a better time to
go as there is no rush for such facilities. however(seabreeze
hotel) where we stayed is an example for not staying in
your room if the quiet environment is all you're looking for.
TV channels are very limited and theres no cable. nightlife
is pretty quiet so you'd go to bed early. prices almost double
during peak periods so have a care especially when they
decide and dictate their peak periods.
we got on the bus @ 1330 just for it to stop a minute later
for a half an hour lunch break @ the T.M. cafe. all i got
was a coke as i really had no mood to eat. the inside of
the bus was hot and stuffy as the aircon blew out hot air
that didnt circulate and it didnt help that the legroom
did not compare favourably to the mekong and cu chi
buses. we left the cafe @ 1405 for HCM.
1)coke bottle(cheaper than can tastes like crap) 5000
stopover @ halfway point1705. left @ 1720. this place
was another example of discrimination. i bought a
pineapple there and i chose a nice yellow one. and after
i paid the lady gave me a white one and i couldnt insist
any other way because she didnt understand. and
after that she still asked me to buy another! i told her
it wasnt sweet. it really is terrible that she assumes
i would let myself be bullied due to my youth. sigh.
but the toilet there is good though. almost singapore like.
1)pineapple 5000
arrived @ HCM @ 1905. I then changed 20USD before
splashing on a good german dinner. Then i met Su-au
again. hes a cool german guy with taiwanese parentage.
he actually bought a bike to ride from hanoi to HCM and
like us he didnt have a license too. and hes talented coz
he bought spares and a toolkit and he could just repair
the bike as it broke down on the way. even at night! we
had some shakes, before just walking around town. i
bought an orange juice before saying goodbye. It was
already midnight. i slept at 0030.
1)krombacker pilsner 0.3L 42 000
2)roasted pork knuckle 143 000 3) oxtail soup 35 000
4)tax and tips 25 000 5)coconut shinto(shake) 8000
6) orange juice 25 000
Thursday 161106 Day8
woke up @ 0640 and got ready to go back to singapore.
re-arranged my money and passports. left for ben thanh
@0725. stopped at the park for a while just to watch
life go by. the schools hold PE(physical ed) in the park.
the locals play sports, walk, jog and meet up there. i
played a little badminton with the locals. its was fun, not
used to the wind and open sun though so i missed a few
shots. but the people capital investment wsas good. then
i walked around the market looking for shirts. didnt want
to seem like all i had was an addidas sponsorship. i got
2 hawaiian like design shirts. vietnamese girls are damn pretty.
1) 2 shirts 110 000
so i'm starting to feel its better to go to the market in the
morning. its even better if you have time, you can walk
around or bargain longer. sport shirts should start around
30 000? never tried but they are damn happy even when
shirts got for 50 000. shirts could be from 50 000 and
above. we checked out @ 1030 and tried Loteria, the local
fast food chain. the food was decent. we finished by 11 10
and made our way to the airport by cab. @the airport we
still had to pay airport tax. (see the importance of setting
aside spare cash even till the last minute? we thought we
paid for it when we bought our ticket already.) thankfully,
both of us still had more than sufficient excess. not much
to see or buy so we went to the gate and waited.
1)room 8 2)Loteria 44 000 3)cab 1 4)tax 14
the plane left early this time @ 1320. home! we met more
singaporeans who worked and lived there and gained
many insights. thank you sir. and both of us found out
than the best seats to go for are those next to the exit!
haha. they have the most leg room! we touched down
@ 1600. dont expect much because the walkway isnt
airconditioned or carpeted. the biopass was good to use.
but to have many people placing their thumbprint on the
same screen seemed a little unhygienic to me but it was
relatively quick(no queue coz maybe no one else has it,
but the computer processing time was slow for something
so advanced) and easy to use. we bought baileys and a
sherry at the duty free. then only did our bags load on
the conveyer belt. we we out @ 1635! we survived!!!!
1)coke on tiger airlines 2.50SGD
2)baileys 30.60SGD 3)harvey's bristol cream 21SGD
moving forward together
Oh finally, something to write about. though
not surprising since lionel had to bash the idea
through to my thick skull about how things
are going on from the domain of the masses.
although i do admit that i'm am painfully not
up to date about this elitism issue, i am very
concerned over how it is turning out, especially
when it has ramifications on so many levels.
1. it reminds me of the jc - poly/ite divide esp
when wsm is from a top jc
2. it is a rich - poor divide between capital
owners and capital labourers.
3. our behavior and response to the situation.
we see merchants of venices, pharisees and
those who just want to roast her up.
This is a painful episode, but what is really more
important is how we pick ourselves up from here.
It is very upsetting to see those who have noble
motives of standing up for the disadvantaged,
stoop down to the same level and mirror the
same actions of meanness in order to teach her
a lesson. although it would be fair to postulate
that her family shares a similar trend of thought,
i would say almost all singaporeans do too and
we are all just lucky enough not to be in the
position of responsibility to answer for it unlike wsk.
observe parents from all walks of life when they
meet, students who have just received their
psle, o or a level results and conversation
starters. education and one's future is usually
the most discussed topic. parents aspire for
their children to have a 'comfortable' life. these
aspirations lean towards having a headstart,
connections, prominence so that one would
be able to survive and thrive. meritocracy
forces us to be result focused and thus favours
the elite. we place so much hope, such high
expectations, practically worshiping their
achievements and then we say but we are
all the same, sure and some are more equal
than others. if we ourselves subconciously
live out such values we make ourselves to
be a joke when one explicitly sound out this
belief and we beat her over the head for it
because god forbid we look into the mirror
and see ourselves there. better we conciously
tell ourselves it doesnt exist.
it is hard to argue that help is readily available
when there are indeed barriers to attaining them.
but to be fair, those who need help sometimes
find it hard to approach those who can help them.
it is seen as a loss of face, or they would rather
be noticed by the aid givers, or basically believe
it is not worth the trouble at all. i feel saddened
because the easiest option would be to lay blame,
create a ruckus and then everyone swings by
his emotions which just increases the distance
between two groups of people because they
will not understand each other.
other issues such as job security also peppered
our talk. which i knew relistically had to be
tackled impartially. yes i fear for the instability
of the job market, and i feel for those who
are vunerable. sure the government could do
more, but pray suggest something. protectionism
hurts us more in the end, foreign labour controls
could have political undercurrents that we
are unaware of and it doesnt help that there
are those who are just waiting for a free handout.
oh believe you me that you'd be similarly swayed
when u see how people behave in the army.
when they do less work but still want the same
number of off days or when the regulars
do almost nothing at all but still take a much
higher pay. though i dont blame them since
they are probably stymied in even attempting
to deal with basic discipline problems due
to the 'safety' doctrines anyway. pardon my
digression, but life still goes on with all
these setbacks anyway.
education is a great leveller, however to
pursue it also depends on choice.
hypothetically, we have mr kid. when he
was young his family provided well, he
asked and he received. he spent his days
on computer games, played hookey went
to parties with his friends and ended up
blue collared. at work he drank, smoked,
played more games and perhaps even
took to de-tensing at geylang. he reached
his mid thirties and had aged parents
and 2 children to feed. he takes home
2.5k a month and he starts to feel insecure.
and so he asks you for help. you are
generous. and so you do. multiply that by
1 thousand people per year. then what
is the point of others studying hard at
all since our fate is perpetual assistance.
remember the time when there was only
a misunderstanding about a friend not
pulling his weight in work, why the two face?
hence, just as we cannot force a horse at
the river to drink we have to accept that
there is no fruitful action to take at times
such as these. our elders should not take
our lack of action as apathy or resignation
but the maturity to realise that we cannot
do anything for others till we ourselves
are empowered to do so. as for me, my
branch of peace is always extended, that
i may be a partner to the disadvantaged
to the success of our makings.
