Ho Chi Minh - Tra Vinh

This trip is so special to me as this is my first overseas charity trip I ever done in my life. In partnership with Saigon Children Charity, 38 staffs of our company went to Tra Vinh to help in their building upgrade project. It was indeed a tiring but fulfilling experience and this marked the first step in my philanthropic journey.

25 Oct
After changing our flight times several times, finally Tiger Airways fixed our flight to Ho Chi Minh City at 03:35pm. 4 of us who wanted to explore Ho Chi Minh City before going to Tra Vinh left. We booked single room at Vy Khanh Guesthouse. The hostel is nice and clean and Ms.Vy, the owner of the guesthouse is very friendly and helpful to us. It is a family-run business. Ms. Vy and the family are staying in the same building.

Vy Khanh Guesthouse room

Ben Thanh Night Market

After checking in and booking tour for the next day, we went out for dinner at the place suggested by Ms. Vy. We went to Ben Thanh market that night. It's only 10 minutes walk down. Ben Thanh night market sells various things at bargain-able price. It looks very touristic to me and they tried to sell as expensive as possible. Some of the stuffs there are of good quality though. Hence, the key is you need to know how to bargain and understand the quality of the stuffs you are buying.

26 Oct
The second day we left pretty early in the morning to join the tour group to Mekong Delta. It was indeed irritating when we needed to wait for around 15 minutes because some people were late. We went to the jetty and took 2 hours boat to Mekong Delta. We visited their bee farm, coconut plantation and tasted their tropical fruits which were nothing but papaya, mango, pineapple etc. There was a boat rowing session in between.

The tour was a bit disappointing to me. There is nothing really great to be seen. Lunch was included in the tour, but it was only rice, a piece of chicken and some overcooked veggie. The rest of the stuffs we needed to buy including drink. It was raining near the end of the trip.

Mekong Delta View

Boat Rowing

After the tour, again we went to Ben Thanh market, we managed to catch a glimpse of their day market before closing and strolled down in the night market again.

27 Oct
We met the rest of the group in the airport in the morning and ride the bus to Tra Vinh. The journey took around 5 hours and we reached the school in the late afternoon. The students welcomed us and we distributed some gifts for them. They looked so excited in welcoming us even though we hardly could communicate with them.

Sunset at Tra Vinh

The students welcomed us

After dinner at Cuu Long Hotel, we walked around Tra Vinh city. It's a small and quiet town, we bought grilled sweet potato on the street. And it was really nice.

28 Oct
OK, the hard work began now. We went to school early in the morning and the students welcomed us at the gate by marching band. We were divided into 4 groups and each were assigned a room to whitewash and paint. I realized that painting is not an easy job. It is really back breaking and tiring. The teachers cooked authentic Vietnamese food for our lunch. Our group managed to finish the painting by the end of the day.

Welcomed by Marching Band

29 Oct
Another half day of hard work. Our focus today was to clean the floor from paint drops. It was a tedious work too. We needed to scrub the floor basically. During lunchtime, we gave talk on hygiene to the students too. The whole event was closed by performance given by the students and teacher.

They performed for us

We left Tra Vinh after lunch. I was very tired and slept almost the whole journey. We reached Ho Chi Minh around dinner time and straightaway went to Ben Thanh market AGAIN for dinner and shopping. I bought two sets of adidas training attire.

30 Oct
Today is free and easy program. We went to War Remnant Museum first. Seeing the pictures of Vietnam War's victims made me so sad. How can be human beings so cruel to each other. Next we went to Independence Palace. Nothing much to see here, it's a pretty modern palace. The design is impressive though. We tried to go to Notre Dame Cathedral but we didn't go in. I had my lunch in a traditional market, thanks to Jac, my Vietnamese friend. It was the best food I had in this trip. After lunch, I went back to airport to fly back to Singapore.

War Remnant Museum

Independence Palace

Notre Dame Cathedral

Best Food for the trip

Hanoi, Vietnam

We reached back Hanoi at 5 am in the morning and we were picked up to Hanoi Boutique Hotel. They gave us a room for bath and rest. When I booked the tour, I thought the city tour is optional, and I won't join it as there is no point joining tour to go around a city. However, it's part of the whole tour. So we think why don't we give it a try as we paid for it already and we regretted it.

10 Aug
The van picked us up at 8 am in the morning, go around half of the central Hanoi to pick up other guests, there were 13 people in the group, way too big for me. Once we got into the van, there is a fuzzy auntie there already. There were 4 local people who don't speak English at all, I don't know why they arrange non-English speaking people to English speaking tour, and when the last one got into the van, oh God, another noisy auntie. I directly had a bad feeling already.

The first site we visited was Tran Quoc Pagoda, which is located near the West Lake of Hanoi. The pagoda looks very Chinese, with all the Chinese characters on the wall. While the tour guide explained about the pagoda, the 4 locals who don't know English started giving furious faces. We didn't have much time in Tran Quoc Pagoda as we needed to rush to Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum which will close at 11 am.

Hanoi West Lake (Ho Tay)

Tran Quoc Pagoda

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum is kind of sacred place in Hanoi, lots of guards patroling around, no camera and bags are allowed inside. There is surprisingly a very long queue to go in. Beside the mausoleum, there are some places to see as well, like Presidential Palace and Old Residence of Ho Chi Minh. He is really a great leader of Vietnamese people. When the tour guide explained about Ho Chi Minh, again those people made noises, then the noisy auntie wanted to buy T-shirts etc etc.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

Lotus Temple

After Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the tour brought us to a shopping place, oh God, I'm fed up! The itinerary of the tour doesn't include Hua Lo Prison, the place that attract us the most. So we decided to drop out of the tour, we took a cab to Hua Lo Prison and get another friend of mine, Linh, who happened to be in Hanoi that day to join us.

We had our first Vietnamese street food for the trip, it was glass noodle and very tasty. Only when a local accompany you, you can have the real street food. Hua Lo Prison is interesting, that is where the French lock up Vietnamese people and also where Vietnamese people lock up US pilots during Vietnam war. The cold walls are the witness for all the inhumane cruelty of the past.

Hua Lo Prison (Hanoi Hilton)

Temple of Literature is a nice place as well, and I found that Vietnamese culture are quite similar to Chinese. We end our trip in Hoan Kiem Lake and again we bumped into the tour group. I really pity the tour guide, he was like squeezed in between.

Temple of Literature

Hoan Kiem Lake with Ngoc Son Temple

The trip was really good, Sachini is a very nice travel companion, we had lots lots of fun together. Vietnam is nice country, the people there are friendly, except for the motorbikes everywhere. Crossing the road in Vietnam is like a struggle, motorbikes can come from any direction, even from a stair!I met lots of new people and all left a trace in my memory...

Sapa, Vietnam

The second leg of National Day long weekend getaway, Sapa, a remote mountainous area in the north of Vietnam, close to the border to China. The 3D2N tour was booked again from First Choice Travel

7 Aug
At 8 pm, we were picked up and sent to Hanoi Train Station. The train station reminds me of train stations in Indonesia. It looks similar with lots of people around and the noise as well. We were catching overnight train to Lao Cai, the nearest city to Sapa. The train left around 9 pm and reached Lao Cai at 5 am.

The cabin was shared by 4 people, there are a Spanish tour leader who was leading a group of tour from Spain accompanied by a local tour guide. Both of them made a perfect combination and they are so funny and friendly. We had a nice chat with them.

Train Compartment

8 Aug
The train reached Lao Cai at around 5 am, the officer knocked all compartment's doors around 15 minutes before it reached to wake everybody up. We stayed in Royal Sapa Hotel and they gave us free pick up at the train station. It's another 40km ride from Lao Cai to Sapa.

After taking bath in the hotel, we had breakfast and our tour guide picked us up at 9.30am for a hard trek to Ta Van village and Lao Chai village. We are in a group of 7 people. The trek was all the way down but there is no proper road for it and it was raining the night before to make the soil very slippery. It was the hardest trek I ever done in my life. I almost fell a few times. A local tribe lady helped me throughout the trek. However, the view along the trek was really really awesome, worth all the effort to walk. We had our lunch at Lao Chai village, the village that lady is staying. She asked me to buy something from her, but I can't bring too many things with me, so I just gave her VND150000 as tips.

Sapa

Another view of Sapa

The trek after lunch was much better, it's quite hot under the sun. We ended the trek around 3 pm in the afternoon and all the time after that are free.

After having proper bath and a bit of rest in the hotel, we came out again. Yes, we feel guilty to just stay in hotel. We went around Sapa town, had traditional Vietnamese coffee in a local shop, and visited Sapa market. Sapa is a small town. We got back to the hotel by dinner time, we tried the famous Hanoi beer as well. At night, we really ran out of energy and slept very nicely.

Royal Sapa Hotel Room

Sapa Church

Sapa Market

9 Aug
The rooster woke us up in the morning, the morning air in Sapa felt so fresh. We started an easy trek to Cat Cat village after breakfast. It was supposed to be 5 people in the group this time, but two people were missing. So yeah, it was only 2 of us and an Australian old man plus our tour guide.

View behind our hotel

Cat Cat village is home for the Black Hmong people. The trek is very easy, it's a properly built road and stairs. The view is nice althought not as nice as the day before. We visited their shops selling all the handcrafts and leaf paintings, but we didn't buy anything. There is a waterfall at the valley where we stopped to have rest and take some photos. On the way back, we stop again at a small stall where we saw a group of French tourists quarrelling over photographs. It's a pity to quarrel in such a beautiful and tranquil place.

Black Hmong People

Waterfall

Afternoon after lunch is also free time. We decided to go to Ham Rong mountain nearby, just 5 minutes walk from our hotel. It's a nice garden although most of them are man-made. The entrance ticket is VND30000. There are Orchid garden, European garden, Stone Forest, etc. to see. We sat there, had the most expensive instant coffee in my life for VND30000 while enjoying the view of Sapa town.

Ham Rong Mountain

We were picked up to Lao Cai train station at around 6pm, it's a hard bumpy journey that will be enough to make you feel dizzy. The train left at 9.10 pm. This time we shared the compartment with 2 ladies, looks like a mother and a daughter, very quiet ones.

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

National Day long weekend, and I went to visit North Vietnam with Sachini. The trip was awesome, we met lots of people and now I miss the trip already. We booked the tour from First Choice Travel as we planned to visit some of the remote areas in North Vietnam. We took 2D1N trip to Halong Bay and 3D2N trip to Sapa.

5 Aug
We took flight to Hanoi by Tiger Airways and it was delayed for one hour. When we landed in Hanoi, it is 10 pm plus already and after Sachini's visa procedure is done, the airport pickup driver was waiting for us at the gate. We stayed in Hanoi Boutique Hotel 2. The hotel is good, it's clean and nice, better than we expected before.

Hanoi Boutique Hotel 2 Room

6 Aug
After having Vietnamese noodle or pho as breakfast, we were picked up for transfer to Ha Long Bay. The journey took like 4 hours and we reached the boat by lunch time. We stayed on Ha Long Dragon Cruise 18, the room on the boat is good, smaller than then hotel in Hanoi, but still better than I expected before. There are 15 people on the boat. I feel a bit cheated by the travel agent in the sense, they provided meals during the tour in Ha Long Bay, but they did not provide any drink, we had to buy mineral water at inflated price of VND20000 for 600 ml, which is sold for VND8000 in city. The tour guide is not a type of person suitable to be tour guide, he's not friendly at all and keeps rushing people all the way.

Halong Dragon Cruise

Room on the Cruise

Lunch was shared for 5 people in a table, we have an American lady and a Dutch couple sharing with us. After lunch, we went for a 45-minute-kayaking trip, and it was disaster for Sachini and me as we don't know how to do kayaking. In the end we gave up and didn't follow the kayaking group. The next stop after kayaking was a huge cave. At the entrance of the cave, we could see a very beautiful view of Ha Long Bay.

Halong Bay from the Cave

The Cave

The last stop for the day was Titop Island, there is a mountain there where we can climb. Sachini and I climbed to the top of the mountain and an awesome view of Ha Long Bay is waiting for us there. We almost gave up half way, but the French guy in our tour group told us far or not is in our mind only, keep climbing and you will make it. The view worths the effort.

Halong Bay from Top of the Mountain

We had free time before dinner. Some people went swimming and we just lied on the long chair on the upper deck, enjoying the view and the breeze while having chit chat with other people in the group. Dinner was again shared on table. We had a good mix on dinner and nice chat over it.

7 Aug
The weather was a bit cloudy and it was drizzling a few times. Normal breakfast was served on the boat, to my disappointment that they didn't really serve authentic vietnamese food. We had a couple of hour sailing though before reaching back Ha Long City. A van picked us up to transfer us back to Hanoi. Hanoi Boutique Hotel 2 was very kind to lend us bathroom to take a good shower before heading to our next destination, Sapa.

Halong Bay