1st day Vietnam
Exactly at 1pm, bus arrived in Saigon. As my
host instructed me, I took Vina Sun taxi and gave my hostel address. The place
is in the center of Ho Chi Minh City. I booked my room 2weeks before my trip
and Ms Yang Homestay immediately responded which is a plus point. Ms Yang
Homestay has an astonishing part. MY ROOM. It was far different in the photo I
saw though it looks nice. But it was really huge in actual for only one person.
Spotless from any dirt and so feminine! If I could have some days to stay, I
would love to stay the wholeday in my room. Anyways, the room cost me only
$17/night (111,250 Dong).
So
again, no time to kill, Ms yang gave me a city map and she marked the tourist
attraction. And I saw there’s a lane of motorbike in her yard and then asked
her if those are for rent and viola! I have bike for $5/wholeday.
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| The Palace |
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| First time in my life to pay 39,000 for a piece of cake and a coffee :) |
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| It was a pleasure to see inside of the Cathedral |
According to wikipedia:
Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon (Vietnamese: Vương cung thánh đường Chính tòa Đức Bà Sài Gòn or Nhà thờ Đức Bà Sài Gòn; French: Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Saigon), officially Cathedral
Basilica of Our Lady of The Immaculate Conception (Vietnamese: Vương cung thánh đường Chính tòa Đức Mẹ Vô nhiễm Nguyên tội; French: Basilique-Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l'Immaculée Conception) is
a cathedral located
in the downtown of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Established by French colonists who initially named it Cathédrale
Notre-Dame de Saïgon, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It
has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters (190 feet).
2nd day Vietnam
Cu Chi Tunnel
I booked a half day tour from Remnant War Museum for
556,250 Dong or $25. The van picked me in my hostel at 8:30 am. The journey
from Saigon to Cu-Chi Tunnel is 1 ½ hour.
It’s the only destination that I thought I must visit during my stay in Ho Chi Minh. I heard about it before and often saw the photos where people’s head coming out from a small underground hole. I was wondering how small the hole inside the tunnels look like, whether I could fit into it, or whether I dared enough to go through it, etc.
The Cu Chi tunnels were the location of the Vietnam War and the Viet Cong’s base back in 1968. It was about 120km long and as deep as 12 meter underground. The original size was about 60cm width and 80cm height. However, they’ve resized it into 80cm width and 150cm height so that it’s accessible for Western tourist to experience it. They used it as hiding spots, as well as communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon storage, and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters to resist from their enemies. Once we entered into the location, we were brought to a place to sit and watch the black and white propaganda movie.
There was a shooting range too where you could have a chance to fire number of assault rifles and light machine gun by paying some additional money (around US$1.20/bullet). Therefore, you could hear some gun shots while you were there, which made the war environment seemed to be alive! :)
Aaaand that was I ended up my day!
i went back to my hostel and waited until night for my flight back to Manila..
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| My very accommodating host.. Ms.Yang |
