History Channel Asia: Hidden Cities, Season 2 - Vietnam

Screencap from the History Channel Asia's Hidden Cities webpage.

     This is perhaps my most favorite show on History Channel Asia.  I was so engrossed watching it last time that I live-blogged all the episodes.  

     If in the first season, host Anthony Morse brought us to China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan, this season, the locations will be closer to home as it includes the Philippines!  Yay!

     This season, Anthony Morse will take us to more countries, including Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, China's Yangtze River and the Grand Canal, Sumatra, Si Chuan and Chongqing in China, Sarawak and of course, the Philippines.   This just proves that the first season had been a hit with viewers because if it was not, there would have been no need to add a couple more countries to explore. Well, all I can say is, the more the merrier! 

     For the premiere episode, Anthony Morse will travel to Vietnam.  The episode synopsis states:

 Vietnam

Premieres 23 November, Wednesday, 9pm

For a thousand years, devastating wars and civil strife dogged Vietnam's history. But behind its troubled past is a fiercely independent people with a deep hunger for knowledge and wisdom and an unrivalled skill for military defence. Proof of this lies beneath its modern cities and jungle ruins.

On the surface, Vietnam's pace of life is blistering. But scratch deeper, you'll find that it's a country with an amazing past. In this season premiere of Hidden Cities, we'll learn about Vietnam's violent history.

From long forgotten wars that decimated a Hindu empire to the ingenuity of its common people… in resisting the superpowers of the modern era. We'll also learn about the tenacity of the Vietnamese people, how importantly they view wisdom and education.

Beneath Vietnam's stunning landscapes are stories that beckon all of us to explore even deeper into this promising star of Asia.

      Go check the Hidden Cities' website HERE.  It has tons of features, such as episode guide, gallery, e-guide to each of the countries visited, the show host's blog and even a contest where you could win one of the prizes.

     I'll be live-blogging the show tonight, and I can't wait to do it!

Vietnam Travel Adventures: Ho Chi Minh DIY City Tour

   

     I was pretty honest when I said before that there was not much planning for our trip to Vietnam. Although we booked tickets way ahead, like more than 2 months before our trip, I just booked our tours quite late; 2 days before we arrived in Ho Chi Minh City.  It was so late that the Sinh Tourist Office had to send me a payment link for the Cu Chi Tunnel tour because it cannot be booked anymore via their website.  Oh well.  The beauty of taking tours - you can just sit back and relax after booking one.

     On the other hand, DIY tours are more flexible when it comes to time management.  You can take all the pictures you want; there's no need to rush, unless your travel companions are impatient.  Heehee.  However, DIY tours are quite taxing; you need to research, research and research.  And despite making all the preparations beforehand, you'll probably still end up asking locals for directions.  For  lazy people like me, DIY tours are a welcome challenge.  But, there are still times that I just get so busy with no time to spare for planning a tour.  And, that is what precisely happened in Vietnam!

Vietnam Travel Adventures - Day 2: Cai Be and Vinh Long Mekong Boat Tour

     Once again, me and my friends took a tour with the Sinh Tourist.  Usually, the tours I get uses a van and there are either just us or some other people on board.  But the Sinh Tourist tours are different.  They use tour buses.

     We arrived at the office just when the bus was about to depart.  Heehee.  We were the last ones to board the bus and we were seated at the very rear because the bus was already packed.  Oh well.

Vietnam Travel Adventures - Day 1: Taking a Break, Dining and Night Market

     

     From the Cu Chi Tunnels, we came straight back to the Sinh Tourist office.  By then, we were already famished.  It was past 1:00 p.m. already.  We just picked out a place to eat near the area.  We would have wanted to have some Vietnamese food but we have not yet scoured the area, and all we saw were those western-styled restaurants since we're in the backpackers' area.  We picked the Buffalo, and dined al fresco.  Prices were reasonable considering the taste.  I got a lasagna, because I'm Garfield and I love lasagna, and my friends got some subway-like sandwich, similar to the ones sold by the street vendors in Ho Chi Minh, and some steak.  My lasagna was really yummy; the sauce was made of real tomatoes and it was served in a clay pot. Very cute.  It cost around VND 110,000 and I ordered some Vietnamese iced tea (iced loose leaf tea sans sugar), and paid 10% service charge.

Vietnam Travel Adventures - Day 1: Cu Chi Tunnels

     My friends were surprised when I told them that we had to wake up early for our Cu Chi Tunnels 1/2 day trip with the Sinh Tourist.  "How early?"  They asked me. I told them we needed to be at the Sinh Tourist office around 7:45 a.m.  Their faces just went blank.  After all, we just checked-in and it was 2 a.m. already.  We only had a couple of hours to sleep, and well, good luck to us.  

     Luckily, we all woke up on time, and we were even able to have our light breakfast at the hotel lobby.  I only researched where the eff is the Sinh Tourist office before we went down for breakfast.  I was banking on the computer and free internet inside our room.  As it turned out, the Sinh Tourist office is just less than a 5-minute walk away from our hotel.  In fact, the distance is less than 100 meters, as per Google maps.  

     I got our voucher from the Sinh Tourist office and we waited for 15 more minutes.  The bus was scheduled to depart at 8:15 a.m. Even thought it was so early in the morning, the Sinh Tourist was buzzing with activity; people were everywhere.  Some were fortunate to have seats inside the airconditioned office; others were standing outside.  Most of the clients of the tour office were caucasians.  There were only a handful of Asians, and there were some folks which I presume were Filipinos.  They were eating breakfast inside the office.  

     I took the time to browse through the shelves of tourist pamphlets.  I was most interested with their Saigon-Phomn Penh-Siem Reap-Saigon package.  I'd like to go back to Ho Cho Minh for that trip sometime.  Perhaps next year, around January or February when it is not that hot.

     Finally, at exactly 8:15 a.m. (9:15 on my watch), the bus arrived.  What do you know?  It was on time.  Yay for us.  We quickly climbed aboard the bus and we had seat assignments.  We were seated a few seats in front of the middle section.  My friends and I were excited...to sleep on the bus, lol!  It was not hard to do, really.  First, the bus was cruising at a very slow pace, coupled with the congested streets.  It was a Friday, a workday, at rush hour, so what do we expect?  But I think I fell asleep after we passed by a Jollibee branch somewhere.

     I think we travelled for at least 2 hours, and I woke up some 20 minute before we arrived at the Cu Chi tunnels.  Before I forgot, we shelled out VND 80,000.00 each for the entrance.  

 

Of course I've seen a jackfruit tree before; we also have it in the Philippines.

This one, though has so many fruits!

     So, what happened over at Cu Chi tunnels?  Not so much, really.  The place is a forested area, and we were shown the ingenious booby traps laid by the guerilla against the American forces during the war.  There were some demonstrations, and we we shown some of the tunnels used by the guerilla.  The original entrance to the tunnels was too tiny; almost just the size of a shoe box, but the Vietnamese, being slender and light on their foot, easily fits into the tunnel.  I could never fit inside those entrance, but some were dug out to accommodate tourists, like us.

 Apparently, this is a bomb crater.

There are a lot of these houses of some sort.

Booby traps.

 

Step on it and metal spikes would be waiting to pierce your flesh.

 Tinhe (did I get his name right?), our guide, explains the tunnel system.

Yup, we went inside the tunnel.

We got out in a similar tunnel.

      The most fun part came when were asked if we want to go down a tunnel.  Of course, we knew before hand that the tunnels were widened for tourists, so we went ahead.  Told my friends to let the others go in first so we wouldn't bother people behind us.  We queued at the entrance; it was steep going down.  Tinhe, our guide, explained to us that there are several exits; 20 meters, 50 meters, 70 meters, or something.  My friends and I decided that we'll get out at the first exit.  So, we were waiting patiently for our turn, like, for more than 5 minutes already, but the line was not moving.  We wondered why.  

     Let me tell you first how we were lined up.  The first to go down the stairs were the caucasians.  They were not so old; perhaps, around 40ish; some were 50ish.  At the end of the line were the Asians, like us.  Perhaps, the caucasians were enthusiastic to go down the tunnel and maybe, the Asians were bidding their time.  In all fairness, most of the Asians in our group were females; there were only at least 3 Asian males.  Some more than 5 minutes passed, and the caucasians climbed back from where they went down, despite the clear warning that once you go down you cannot come back.  Well, it's because people were still on a queue at the stairs, so it'll make it hard for those coming down if someone would force their way up.  The stairs were steep and narrow.  I think, there were at least 5 or 6 people who came up, all caucasians, except for one Asian male who was around 50ish.

     We finally got down the stairs and we saw a big room where most of the caucasians were standing.  They have not proceeded in entering the narrow tunnel; they were clearly bidding their time, perhaps, trying to gain some confidence.  We just went ahead, downwards.  First, I must tell you that I took off my glasses and it was dark.  There was only a candle light at a distance, then nothing else.  There was a caucasian man in front of us, directly behind my female friend.  Behind her was my male friend and I was the last.  Behind me were 4 or 5 female Asians, Singaporeans, I believe.  

     Anyway, I was yelling at my male friend that I couldn't see anything. My vision is 300/300 so I'm handicapped without my glasses in the dark.  My friends were both giving me directions because they know I'm the clumsy one.  Honestly, it was not hard to walk inside the tunnel; I just couldn't see anything.  I'm 5'6 but I only needed to bend my back down a bit, like a semi-duck walk stance, but I didn't need to crawl.  The caucasian in front was having a hard time and he barely fit into the tunnel; he was almost on all fours.  My female friend who was much more smaller, was almost walking upright. There was a portion in the tunnel where we needed to sit on the ground and drop ourselves to the lower ground.  It was at least a 2 feet clearance. I heard the Asian ladies in the back kinda on panic mode, so I waited for the first one to come near me and I told her to hold onto my hand so I could lead her safely to the point where they need to sit down and jump.  Then, we got out of the tunnel!  Yay!  But we had a picture taking first.  Lol!

 Guerilla mannequins.

These are bombs, not vases.

  Slippers!

 Tourists can experience live-action firing of heavy weapons for a fee.

Film showing about Vietnam and the Cu Chi Tunnels.

This was our last activity before we went back to our tour bus.

     Over-all, I'd say that the Cu Chi Tunnel experience was great, only if it wasn't that humid.  It was fun, and the bottled water the tour guide gave us really helped a lot.  Oh, we were given some roasted, or perhaps boiled tapioca with salt, sugar and sesame seeds, if I remember correctly.  It only reminded me of home.  We also have tapioca at home, only that we call it cassava or kamoteng-kahoy.

     We travalled back to Ho Chi Minh and I slept for most of the time.  I woke up when we were near Jollibee again.  And, for the nth time, I marveled at how slow the driver was driving.

Asian Travel Adventures: Ho Chi Minh City - Airports, Hotel and Tour Arrangements

     The last trip I had, before Ho Chi Minh City, was in Beijing, China, last November 2010.  I am quite fortunate to have been able to embark on another Asian travel four months after.  It also means, again, that I am running low in savings.  I think that I haven't hit the penniless stage just yet, so, for now, I am indulging in trips abroad and I have upcoming trips to Taiwan next month and to Singapore in July. 

     That being said, I swore that I would not spend too much money in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC).  I wanted to save some dollars for my Taiwan trip; after all, I had this belief that I would be spending less in HCMC because I had friends who'd be travelling with me and with whom I could share the hotel cost.

Asian Travel Adventures - Back from Ho Chi Minh City: Midnight Flights and Bright Lights

    

     One of the crazy schemes of Cebu Pacific to offset their low-cost mantra is flight scheduling in the dead of the night...Really, it'd make Howard Wolowitz's mother to holler, "At this unholy hour?!"  Well, whatever you save in booking your flight you spend for an extra night at the hotel, unless you choose to stay over at the airport waiting for the sun to rise.  Anyway, that was what happened in our Ho Chi Minh flight last Thursday with Cebu Pacific.  I mean, late flight and extra day at the hotel.  We departed from NAIA Terminal 3 at 23:00, and we arrived in Ho Chi Minh at 00:30 (GMT +7), with a one hour difference between Manila and Ho Chi Minh. By the time we exited the Arrival Hall of the Ta Son Nhat International Airport, I was already tired.  However, few of the good things about late night flights include the chance to use less of your treasured vacation leaves at work and to see the pretty dazzling lights of the city from the plane.  Every time the cabin lights are dimmed to give the passengers a better view of the city we're about to reach, I will almost always start to sing to myself Bright Lights by Matchbox Twenty - 

Upcoming Travel Adventure - Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam

     Yesterday, I posted about Cebu Pacific's seat sale, 50% off on all flights (subject to availability), and well, my friends and I booked tickets to Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam, for travel in March.  It's going to be my first travel to Vietnam and I'm quite excited about it.  Seriously, though, I don't know what's to see there, so I'll have to research and research well.  

     Wish me luck!