Here are some snapshots of the water puppet show we visited the day before.
Next morning comes early as we wake up at about 7am for the adventure to be revealed.In Vietnam, the day seems to brighten up much earlier than in Singapore.At about 4 to 5, I can see the sun rays illuminating into our room.
A picture of the sunrise from the room.
We had breakfast at the Hotel,which is inclusive, before meeting Jason and the driver.The streets of HCM was packed by then with motorbikes and cars.We also saw many Vietnamese sitting along the streets on small little stools and enjoying their coffee.Kind of a culture for them as we see such scenes everywhere. Very relaxed indeed..
Street scenes in HCM.
Along the way, I estimate that in every 10km, cows can be seen! Be it a brown one, black, white one..you can see them grazing the grassland freely. I cant help but feel excited seeing these cows!haha…
Cow pic.
Our 1st stop was to this handicraft centre where crafts are made frm egg shell..it’s brilliant art that egg shells can be utilized in such manner, producing many interesting work.I kinda regret not getting the artpiece as seen in the pic below..now I can only enjoy a photograph taken of it hehe..
The artwork which I like a lot
People in action.
Handicrafts galore.
The next stop was to the ever-famouS Cuchi Tunnels..there seem to be many changes since Sharon’s last visit as heard..they got a walkway to the Cuchi tunnels..seem much cleaner too!And so, we started to explore under Jason’s guide, seeing different man-traps which the Vietnamese has brilliantly designed to escape from the Americans eyes.
Traps everywhere!
Tunnels so small..all for us to try whether we can squeeze in..I rmb the 1st tunnel which we attempted to move in was a nightmare..there were bats on one side and frogs on the other side, making us unable to move through that we have to come out!hehe..definitely a unforgettable experience..heard say the tunnels were actually widened to facilitate tourists to move through..Vietnamese are not really big-sized, rather small-sized I feel..no wonder they can climb through these tunnels!
Us with the bombs.
Us eating Tapioca and drinking tea~
Posing with the tunnels!
Challenging ourselves with guns!
After visiting Cuchi tunnels, it was almost noon time. We embarked on the 2nd part of our itinerary..that is to My Tho Islands…along the way, we encounter water buffalo which is bathing and suntanning..is reallie おおき！since is the ox year, we need no reason to take pics with it!hehe..
Water Buffalo 写真集
Us with the water buffalo
Waterbuffalo and me
The My Tho trip comprises cruising through the Mekong Delta to visit the different islands around it.On each island, we explored the highlights like visiting the fruit plantation, hand rowing sampan, python encounter, monkey bridge, coconut candy making..
We also had a sumptuous lunch with the famous Elephant Ear Fish and also learnt how to prepare hand-made spring rolls..I tried the Saigon Beer..not bad!
Lunch on day2.
Jason and us on the boat.
Aesthetic beauty on Mekong Delta.
Coconut husks made to good use.
On the way to python encounter.
Python encounter.
Fruit plantation
The fruits are so yummy..i have never tasted so sweet papaya, watermelon, chiku, jackfruit before..it’s definitely a MUST to taste these fruits when you come to Vietnam!
Fruits galore.
I basically made a huge mess while rowing the boat..I feel im slowing down the boat sampan speed actuallie but I dun care haha..jus thinking to have fun..the ladies rowing in front and behind me look very pretty…with their typical long hair and slender figure, you can probably imagine how beautiful they look like when rowing the sampans..
夕阳西下
Nearing evening time, we made our way to a famous pagoda in Mekong Delta..u can see that it’s very magnificent with the intricate designs of its sculptures…what makes it best is that the sun is setting down when we reach the pagoda.
The trip ended with a 1.5h journey back to the city..it was a rather bumby journey..regardless of which country I went to, I realize the outskirts have many beautiful attractions away from the city which take hours to ravel to and from..this is something tat reallie test my patience haha..果然，好的东西是要慢慢等待！
A trip to the villages made me create a poem along my way back to the city:
乡村生活，真得不错。
生活缓慢，但却自在。
简单知足，放下脚步。
仔细聆听，生活点滴。
你说好吗？
We made our way to makan dinner @ Dong Than. From our opinion, Thanh Binh’s food is a better choice than this..the food was rather oily..no doubt is very very cheap to have meals over there..I had a bad stomach upset after this dinner..sent me diarrhoeaing in the middle of that night..tough luck man..
Dinner on day2.
After dinner, we made our way to the night market nearby Ben Thanh Market…All of us were trying to use up our Dong haha..and so we went around scurrying for good deals..bought some sports apparels for Dear, souvenirs, shoes..food..im surprised they sell many shoes over there..quite good deal..and I was contemplating whether to get a cold wear over there..still contemplating haha..until the 3rd day comes when I let loose my pocket and spend whatever I have hehe..
It’s a pretty interesting day with many brand new experiences…looking forward to the next day’s adventure!
