Weekend travel is really non-stop (and soon will). After diving at Dayang Island in Malaysia, my same travel stuffs (e.g. nike gym bag, lowepro bag that contains my D300, D70, wide angle and portrait lenses and tripod) will be off with me again – with the usual travel attire of walking shorts, comfortable shirts and slippers.

It’s time to go to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

It was a trip that’s much anticipated. Not because of some personal expectations, but because of the company that I went with – closest friends here in Singapore – the trip that succeeded the ever-long forgotten trip in Bintan, Indonesia.

It was an early flight, unlike my other previous travels which where done after work - by bus or by plane. With a normal itinerary, I woke up 4:30am, prepared for the journey, met up at the airport, boarded and gone to the destination. In a very short while, Ho Chi Minh story started upon arrival to the city airport.

My first impression with their airport was – “nanliiit tingin ko sa airport ng pinas”. It’s clean, not that big but sufficient and looks like a mini-Hong kong airport for me.

Our general Vietnam itinerary focused on 2 places – Ho Chi Minh and Cat Tien. We arrived early at HCMH so we had time roaming around the city and stroll to their known landmarks. On the way to the Renumeration Mansion, there’s one thing that shocked us all – Jollibee! May Jollibee sa Vietnam. Though we dreamt of eating it before leaving for Singapore, it was not achieved, unfortunately.

Walking in Ho Chi Minh and crossing the street amazed me. Neither because of their buildings nor their thin-but-high houses, but because of countless motorcycles roaming around the whole city. Maybe 90% of the vehicles are motorcycles. Just maybe. And the funny thing about HCMH is that, narrow roads have 3 traffic lights – big yet high, medium-sized and at the middle of the side, and small, head level – all these 3 pertaining to one direction. So one intersection might consist of 12 traffic lights (for 4 directions). On the other hand, bigger roads and ‘rotondas’ (circular roads) don’t have traffic lights.

Crossing a street was an adventure. As one of the reminders we got from someone whose working there – “don’t be so pa-tanga-tangang tourist”. Crossing a street in HCMH requires skill so if you don’t cross Manila streets in cowboy style, you will not survive in this city.

Visiting a market is a unique experience. As I was walking around their dry market looking for souvenirs, vendors were fond of touching me saying “you buy anything?”. Not really an embarrassing one, but being touched by complete strangers while persuading to buy from them caused me to have some Goosebumps.

After the first half-day trip in HCMH, we went to Cat Tien. It’s a 4 to 5 hours travel from HCMH. It is a special place for me. In order to get to the “hotel”, we crossed a river thru a small vehicle carrier boat and the place is so close to nature. We spent our first night there. Night activity involved dinner and night spotting. There were a lot of animals seen – a bat, a monkey-like-animal-but-not-really-a-monkey, a deer, a deer, a deer and a deer.

Second day in Vietnam, we woke up early for trekking – an adventure that most won’t forget. Nobody said closed shoes was required and because of that, most paid the consequence of not wearing one. The trekking to the Crocodile Lake was an encounter with blood-sucking limatiks - members of the leech family. Many attempted to have some fresh blood thru my feet and hands, but only one succeeded. But it’s ok; it was not the first time because I used to encounter these species in the Philippines when I go mountaineering.

 

We spent the afternoon by visiting the locals and by river boating. The boat ride was a relaxing experience, lying down and looking at the sky while thanking the Lord for a very wonderful rural experience in Vietnam.

We went back to HCMH after, and stayed another night in a hotel. Dinner was a superb experience, eating authentic Pho (rice noodle), with 333 local beer and mango shake. Awesome! Since the night was so young, some headed to the night market while some went to a bar near the hotel. I went for drinking. I already had 1 beer during the dinner so I just enforced control to myself and had only 2 beers at the bar. After that, I went ahead of some to the hotel, washed up and rested.

Last day in Vietnam, we woke up early and had some breakfast in a nearby cafeteria. Though I’m not a coffee drinker, I tried the Vietnam coffee and I should say that it was so good. 

We headed off to the airport. Again, along the way, I saw one Jollibee store again and since we had no time to check it, the only thing I did was to stare to it until it looses my sight. I even forgot to take a picture of it. Stupid me. We arrived at the airport, then checked-in and waited for an hour for boarding. After a couple of hours, we’re back to Singapore again.

All in all, it was another great experience. Though this trip didn’t have any beach tour as one of the itineraries, I enjoyed the trip and I enjoyed every thing I encountered here – including the limatiks. It was another trip close to nature – something I love to do.

Hope to travel more. Next stop – Puerto Prinsesa and El Nido, Palawan, Philippines on the May 1.