Cu Chi Tunnel Tour

Our second day in Vietnam started early. We woke up at 7AM to visit The Sinh Tourist as we have a booked half-day Cu Chi Tunnel Tour. With our experience, I can recommend Sinh Tourist. We left their office on time, their buses were in good condition most particularly their air-cons, and they even provided us bottled waters. However, the problem with all of the group tours was the hidden itinerary: there were several stop-overs to souvenir shops. It was such a waste of time! Good thing that during our tour, we only stopped at one shop and stayed there for only 30 minutes.

Cu Chi Tunnel presents how the South Vietnamese people won against the US army. We watched a short video presentation before going to the main area. Afterwards, we toured around the forest and was amazed on how the soldiers survived and won the war.

A camouflaged hiding area

Sample trap used by the Vietnamese

Tunnel Air Hole

Posing at one of the tank

Rubber sandals

Pretending to be a guerrilla for a minute, we ate what they ate: steamed tapioca and hot tea

Before the tour ended, we crawled on the 100-meter long tunnel. At first, it seemed easy but as we moved further, the tunnel opening kept getting smaller. The strength of our legs were tested with us doing the duck walk! I have felt how hard it was for the soldiers during that time to hide under the tunnel.

We arrived at Ho Chi Minh City at 1:30PM. Time to fill-in our stomachs with some Vietnamese specialties at the Lemon Grass Restaurant, details on my next post. :)

Vietnam Charm - Day One

I booked a ticket to Vietnam for Jan 20 - 25, which I thought were excellent dates because of  the Chinese New Year holidays in Singapore. But then I learned that during those days, the Vietnamese celebrate Tet (their New Year), which means shops and restaurants are closed for the whole week!

Good thing I didn't changed my flight. It was a great experience to witness their new year celebration. There were some establishments that were still available, as well as public transport. If you happened to book for this period, you can spend your time at Mui Ne, just like what we did.

We toured around the city on our first day. Shops were still open since they wouldn't be closed until the 24th. We stayed in a resort-like house, thanks to Neanne's (my sister-in-law) godmother. And the bonus part is we had a free tour around Vietnam.

We went to Nha Hang Ngon for lunch.

If you've read the Lonely Planet book on Vietnam, this place has a different name written on than on the book, but it's referring to the exact same place.

160 Pasteur

Our orders...

Lotus Salad

Fresh Salad Roll with Shrimp and Pork - 14,000 VND per piece (29 PHP / piece)

Seafood Fried Rice

Grilled Shrimp wiith Lime and Chili Garlic Salt - 130,000 VND (266 PHP)

Grilled Beef with Chili Salt served with seasoned toast -  125,000 VND (255 PHP)

Fruit Shake. I really loved the Strawberry Milk Shake at the right.

All were fantastic! And it was inexpensive, our total bill was only 671,000 VND (1,373 PHP) for the four of us. No wonder there were a lot of diners here.

After a great lunch, we headed to Reunification Palace. 

A quick tour around their numerous meeting rooms. :) 

One of the many meeting areas around.

There is an entertainment area in the upper level which includes mini theater and piano. I was thinking maybe while the husbands were on a meeting, their wives were entertaining themselves at the upper floor.

Hunting memorabilia are also displayed.

At the basement, there is a network communication system used during the war.

And a kitchen with a giantic mixer. :)

Afterwards, we went to War Remnants Museum.

It was heartbreaking to see stories about the victims of the war :-(. To cheer us up, we dropped by Saigon Square for some shopping.

We wanted to go to Ben Thanh Market but we were invited for a dinner at Cham Charm. Who are we to resist a free buffet dinner with free-flowing wine right?

The highlight of the dinner...

Grilled Lobster with cheese

Drink-All-You-Can Wine

We ended the night with a photoshoot around the area.