Saigon and Mekong Delta Trip

HO CHI MINH CITY (HCMC) / CAN THO CITY / CU CHI TRAVEL

March 18 – 22, 2011

 Our mountaineer friends from SMB planned a road trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. However due mixed up in booking promo fare of Cebu Pacific Airways, me and my wife’s schedule ended up only for Ho Chi Minh City in 5 days.

 Our first itinerary is Mekong Delta up to Can Tho City on first two days.

 Our plane arrived HCMC at about 12:30 AM. We waited at the airport until 5 AM to get taxi going to the bus station of Phung Trang in Le ton Thonh  St.  While waiting we met 6 ladies from Accenture who were going straight to Cambodia and Siem Reap. We all snatched some precious rest and sleep outside the airport on the waiting area.

 I had my US $ 26.00 changed to Dong at rate of Dong 20,900 to US $1.00 inside the airport. I also have withdrawn Pesos 200.00 using my BPI Family ATM card from ANZ ATM machine at the waiting area. It was converted to Dong 100,000.

 At around 5AM, there was a Vietnamese guy with radio who can hail metered taxi from parking area. He informed me that it will be around Dong 130,000 to Dong 150,000 going to the backpacker’s area.

 The ladies were offered US $ 18.00 for the taxi but I informed them about the metered taxi. The ladies invited us to ride with them and share the fare.

 The meter went up to Dong 195,000 meter plus ripped off service charge of Dong 50,000. I shared Dong 80,000 for me and my wife which was not bad.

 Per advice, it is better to take Vina Sun, a government taxi. Accordingly they were honest and it will be around Dong 130,000 only. Mai Linh taxi also has good and honest drivers.

 It was 6:30AM when we arrived at Pam Ngo Lao St. where the bus station to Cambodia is located. We separated with the ladies and took our very first Vietnamese breakfast of Pho Bo in front of Quincy restaurant. Pho Bo was exotic in taste. It must be mixed with 3 types of mint leaves, chili and some vegetables. Pho Bo was Dong 60,000 (Php 120) and 250ml mineral water was Dong 20,000 (Php 40). It was ripped off again. Just across the street in Quincy, Pho Bo is Dong 40,000 (Php 80) only and mineral water is Dong 10,000 (Php 20) only. We learned about it after 2 days of stay.

 We took a taxi going to the Phong Trang along Le Ton Thonh Street. It was a just a ticketing office of Phong Trang and the bus terminal was far outside the city. There was a free service van to get to the bus terminal. The taxi meter was Dong 58,000 (Php 116). We found out on the third day that our very first breakfast was just 10 meters away from another Phong Trang ticketing office. We wasted Dong 58,000.

Actually there are plenty of ticketing offices of many bus companies along Pam Ngo Lao St. or any other places. The price is legitimate. Our ticket to Can Tho City was Dong 80,000 and you can see it painted on the bus door.

 Our trip started 7:30 AM and we arrived in Can Tho bus stations about 11:30 AM that included a 30 minutes break in Cai Be for snack and relieving.

 In the HCMC as well as in Can Tho, I was amazed by the volume of motor bikes as well as bicycles on the road. They look like swarm of bees when traffic light went green.  According to our guide to Cu Chi tunnel (4^th day in Vietnam), there are 5 million motor bikes in HCMC with population of 10 million. The cars in HCMC are 500,000. The tourists last 2010 in HCMC was about 5 million.

 It was quite difficult to cross streets without traffic light and even with traffic lights in red, the bikers will go when clear of crossing cars but not of pedestrian. The trick is walk slowly and the bikers will avoid you. One thing I like was almost all bikers drive slowly and carefully. Compared to Filipino bikers, we are always rushing as if rushing to the toilet with LBM (diarrhea) or there is fire emergency.

 On the way to Can Tho, we crossed so many wide rivers of the Mekong Delta. The scenery is full of green with vast good vegetation. It is same scenery in the Philippine’s country side. I noticed that there are so many tombs just beside houses. Accordingly, Vietnamese can bury their dead anywhere they like it.

 The highway roads are wide and cemented. It is well maintained. Just after its town, the roads have toll and motorcycles have its own lane, the outer lane. We encountered no traffic or traffic jam. The vehicles are moving at almost same safe speed. Vehicles maintained the inner lane. The bikers and cyclist maintained the outer lane. There is no driving at high speed. The vehicles must be traveling about 80 kms/hr and bikes traveling about 30 kms/hr. If there will be an accident, it must be scratches only and no fatality.

 I may be wrong. The joke is that there are so many hospitals in HCMC due to number of accidents. A low 10% means 50,000 motor cyles involved in accident.

 I envy the traffic in Vietnam compared to the Philippines where almost everybody is rushing at high speed, cutting each other way, not letting others pass. The bikers are at the mercy of public buses and transport trucks. Come to think of it. The Filipino drivers are quite used to it and there not much accident. However if there is an accident, there are always death on the road. Maybe Vietnamese are not advisable to drive in the Philippines. Just a thought.

 At the bus station in Can Tho, the Mr. Hung, the owner of guesthouse, came with two motor bikes. I and my wife had to piggy back. It was hell of an experience with my wife who has never ride a motor bike, the more piggy back with a smelly sweaty biker. Hahaha! She hold tightly the biker.

 At least for Mr. Hung doesn’t smell bad.

 The guesthouse is about 8 kms from the city and located in the countryside. We rode the bike and Mr. Hung’s bike had a flat tire. We waited for repair. The other biker and my wife proceeded.

 The other biker went back to pick me up. Then I joined my wife to cross a low tide river. All of us the including the bike crossed the river with a small boat that was pushed by a long bamboo pole. The river is about 10 meters. We then walked on a trail about 1 kilometer surrounded by trees and some isolated houses. It was about 12 Noon and hot and dry. I was disappointed since we can not go to places without walking back 1 kilometer on trails, cross river and ride 8 kilometers by motor bike to the town. I said to myself “What a mistake believing forum comments that this is a great guesthouse to be.”

 I told my wife that we will back out.

 I do not fancy the place since it is just like in the Philippine countryside where I grew up. Trees, rivers, and few houses are nothing great for me.

 When we came to the guesthouse, we were greeted by the Vietnamese wife who does not understand English. The place has plenty of thatched rooms with toilets each. There were rooms right along the river and rooms just beside a man made lagoon with fishes. The serenity of the environment made me feel at ease.

 We decided to stay for the night to taste the Vietnamese homemade food which is our main purpose in taking the guesthouse based on comments in forums.

 City of Can Thon is small and that there are less remarkable places to visit than HCMC. So I had tried to convince myself that this was a new experience in a foreign country.

 We planned to move out early morning to the floating market and back by bus to HCMC.

 At about 1PM, we took our lunch. It was home made and so delicious. The foods are two boiled egg plants with some tomatoes and onions, a bowl of cabbage, and two slices of never-have-seen-nor-tasted fish with sauce in my life. The meal was unique. The fish was so soft and has plenty of fats with little meat. The rice was so good like Japanese sticky rice. We consumed all including the dwarf sweet banana. We call these Senorita banana but ours are  smaller.

 After lunch, two backpackers came who became our companion. They are Joseph and Ganeth from Israel. They were friendly and we got the same vibrations. Maybe since we are almost of the same age.

 At about 3 PM, Mr. Hung came and announced that we will go to mat making, blacksmith and an herb factory. We only have to pay $ 5 each for the boat ride. I want DIY (do it yourself) tour but I can’t since we are quite in a far flung area. So I agreed since there was nothing to do and nowhere to go that afternoon.

 It turned out Mr. Hung has two big boats with capacity of about 15 persons each. We rode one of the boats together with the Israelites.

 It was a great experience cruising and viewing the life of Vietnamese along the river.

 The Vietnamese are using the boats as the main means of transporting goods such as farm harvest, construction material, people and anything under the sun that will fit inside the boat from one place to the other.

 We went to see how Vietnamese women weave mat and make knives. Men worked in the fields to earn money while the women stay at home attend to children and daily household chores. When women have spare time, they do some work like weaving mat. Two ladies can finish one mat about 1.5 mtrs by 2 mtrs in 45 minutes and sold wholesale about $ 1. Mr. Hung told us about the lives of these weavers.

 Then we took our boat and went to the blacksmith. It was a woman blacksmith whose families were blacksmith for so many generations. There were two men helpers. It reminded me of my neighbor in my town of the blacksmith back in 1960. It was the same way. I was back in my childhood time. It was my innocent childhood time when I never thought of what my future will be.

 We walked and went further to an herb factory that produces several and different medicinal herbs from bark, roots, leaves and fruits of all kinds of trees. The products are free and given by a Buddhist nun who is doctor. The doctor treats people for free. The workers all work for free.

 All money and food come in the form of donation from wealthy people who were cured by the herbs. The house is made of concrete and by Philippine standards, these monks are rich.

 Factory workers worked for free and without salaries. They even donate money and food to the nun.

 We took our boat again back home but we turned around to pickup some tourist at Cai Rang where the night market as well as early morning floating market was.

 It was nightfall and full moon. It was so romantic riding the boat feeling like you were in Venice. I felt like Romeo and my wife Juliet. Hehehe. We were romantic peeps. It reminded me of Couchsurfer Full Moon Shindig party at Anawangin Beach in Zambales last February 2011. The moon looks same in Philippine. LOL.

 To be continued later…..

 My daugher, Abby, offers interior design services for residential and commercial spaces. Visit and check her porffolio of sample completed projects at  http://definedspace.multiply.com.