Saigon, Vietnam - An Unlikely Holiday Destination

Again, Cebu Pacific Piso Sale, and with all of the folks booking Singapore and Hong Kong which gets sold out in a blink of an eye, we decided to book in one of the most unlikely destinations to visit, Saigon.

Saigon, or now known as Ho Chi Minh City was just more than an hour's away with the plane just crossing South China Sea. Before coming to Vietnam, it is best to print out your hotel address in English, Viet and Chinese languages so that when you arrive in Saigon just present it to the taxi driver. Taxi is the BEST option when commuting around the city.

Busy side streets of Saigon.  Be prepared with a LOT of scooters.

Things to bring:

• Light clothes, since Saigon is has a tropical climate like Manila
• Extra money, that is if you intent to shop at Ben Thanh Market
• Camera
• Raincoat or jacket if you intent to visit June onwards

Upon arrival you would notice how interesting the traffic situation is in Saigon. The motorcycles really outnumber the cars. So if you think Manila's traffic is bad, think again. You will have a hard time crossing the street. The technique in crossing the street would just to put forwardas motorcyles would just avoid you by swerving onto the opposite direction.

Whenever I go to Singapore, Seoul or Hong Kong, I normally create my itineraries and avoid the group tour. But in this case, I would suggest that you set up a tour with an agency because this is more convenient here in Saigon. Here are some interesting places to visit before you exhaust all your money in shopping at Ben Thanh Market. Here's a preffered agenda

Day 1 (Whole day): Mekong Delta Tour

We opted to take the Ben Tre Tour since this is the most inexpensive of all tours. We are fetched by a van at 8:00am with an English-speaking tour guide. While passing along the busy streets of Saigon and towards Ben Tre, the tour guide was explaining the recent history of Saigon, the war and how the city came back to life.

The drive would take about 2 hours from Ho Chi Minh to the Mekong Delta which is known as the rice bowl of Vietnam. Upon arrival, we took a boat cruise around islets and tropical orchards through the canal of Vam Xep and reached a small islet, followed by a relaxing walk along shady and palm fringed trails passing by local villages where we saw their peaceful daily life. We also vistied a bee farm along the way and had a special tea with honey and sample fruits with a local family and share their stories of life in the Mekong Delta. We also had a chance to ride a horse-drawn cart that took us to a handicraft village, a coconut candy factory. After that we took a gondola and rowed through the tree-lined canals of Mekong River before returning to My Tho by motorized boat.

The we had our lunch at local restaurant on before heading back Saigon

For more details on this tour, you may refer to this website (below) or just make reservations at the hotel.

http://www.vietnamstay.com/tour/mekongdelta.htm

Day 2 (Whole day) Cu Chi Tunnel Tour

A trip to Saigon would never be complete if you have not experienced the Cu Chi Tunnel. Just like the Mekong Delta River Tour, this trip would almost take an entire day.

Visiting the Cu Chi Tunnel was the highlight of my trip in Saigon

Entering one of the tunnels

Cu Chi is about 40 km northwest of Ho Chi Minh City in Southern Vietnam and the trip would take abut 2 hours, so its better to join on guided tours rather than commuting by a bus.

A Tank of display in Cu Chi Tunnels

Some traps made by the Vietcong

The entrance fee in the complex is 80000 VND. Upon entering the complex you will be briefed at one of the make shift bunkers on how the Cu Chi Tunnels were built and what the purpose of the tunnels were. You get to experiencing squeezing in those narrow tunnels as if you were oart of Vietcong Army during the Vietnamese War.

For this trip, better bring some bottled water and extra clothes because crawling through the tunnels will be very dirty - but that is what you paid for basically.

  

There's also a rifle range at one stop of the tunnel tour, and you can try it out as well.

Day 3 City Tour

Reunification Palace

This is a very symbolic place in Vietnam's modern history.  The Reunification Palace was the seat of government of South Vietnam before it surrendered to the Vietcong and North Vietnamese Army.  This is now houses great memorabilias of the Vietnam War.

Reunification Palace

Status of Ho Chi Minh

Front of the Reunification Palace

Conference Room

One of the tanks that came inside Reunification Palace during the fall of Saigon

War Remnants Museum

They say that whoever wins the war tells the story, and no other way to cement that statement by going to the War Remnants Musuem.  Be warned, there are a lot of graphic images in the museum showing US war crimes.  But this is the side of the Vietnamese People and how they perceived the war to be.

War Remnants Museum

War Remnants Museum

Notre Dame Cathedral

Just within walking distance in the central city area, Notre Dame Cathedral stands as a reminder of the French Colony in Indochina.  When we went there, several couples were doing pre-nuptial photoshoots.  It was just fascinating to see that even in a Communist country, you are still free to choose what religion you believe in (unlike in North Korea).

Visiting the tourist center across Notre Dame would be a good starting point if you want to avail of different tour packages and any other helpful information with regard to this city.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame Cathedral

Train Station across Notre Dame which is now converted into a Tourist Center

Tourist center in Saigon

Shopping at Ben Thanh Market

Great souvenirs in Ben Thanh Market

Souvenirs at Ben Thanh Market

  

Ben Thanh Market has a wide array of products that you can shop for, from knock-off bags to great souvenirs.  It's like Greenhills in Saigon!

During our spare time, we also had a chance to explore the nightlife of Saigon.

Interestingly, we also found a lot of Jollibee stores around the city. So if you miss the "Langhap Sarap" food, you can drop by in any of the Jollibee stores withon Saigon.

Overall, a visit to Saigon or Hi Chi Minh City was worth the experience.  The city has reincarnated from the ashes of the war a few decades ago.

Seoul, South Korea Through the Lens of GE X500

Seoul Through The Lens of GE X500

Seoul, South Korea has been the best Asian trip so far. It beats my previous Hong Kong and Singapore trip by a mile. It has than modern facet we all look up to with a developed country, but there's also a lots of culture and personality that you can learn from this city. Of course, during my travels, I have always brought GE X5 and now GE X500 to capture places of interests. Below are some of the photos I took using my camera. I also created some clips using GE X500 and they were edited using Windows Live Movie Maker.

Videos using GE X500.

Weekend Trip to Seoul, South Korea Through GE X500

Our Thanksgiving Weekend Trip to Seoul, South Korea

Seoul, South Korea was my final Asian destination this year. And what a way to end a travel-filled trip this year than to go to this famous Asian City!!! We booked our flight through one of Cebu Pacific Air's ridiculous seat sales early this year. The good thing about following US Holidays even if you work here in Manila is that all of their holidays are usually long weekends. I booked online via www.cebupacificair.com, and our travel date was set - November 24-27.

If you are a Filipino citizen, you still need to apply for a Korean Tourist visa. For more information about the requirements, visit Korean embassy's website or drop by their office at McKinley Hill. We went to the embassy last October to submit our requirements. If you have a US Visa or any visa from the OECD countries with arrival stamps, processing time is much faster - only 3 days. Anyway, all of our visa's were approved on time, so we book a hotel.

As usual, I went to www.agoda.com and www.asiarooms.com to book for a hotel, and we chose Western Co-op, located across Dongdaemun Shopping district.

One of the things that you need to be aware of is that when you plan to visit Korea during the last quarter of the year, it's already autumn-winter season so be sure to pack the right clothes or else you won't enjoy your trip to there.

We arrived in Seoul, South Korea pass 8pm (local time), and as soon as we went to the bus stop we immediately felt the chills of cold winter breeze. It was -4 deg. Celcius that night. We purchased a ticket for KRW14,000 each and boarded bus 6001. Good thing Western Coop is one of the bus stops. So all we just dropped off and checked in - it was very convenient.

Western Co-op is a very nice hotel, packed with basic amenities and they even have wifi in every room. The reception area is very cozy. I have also noticed that they have kitchen utensils were you can cook. Be sure to bring a plug adaptor as their power outlets are different than the ones we have here in the Philippines. There's also a convenience store right beside and is also a walking distance to famous Dongdaemun Shopping District. Overall, for the price that we paid, which is KRW150,000/night, this was already reasonable.

The next morning we decided to go to Namsangol Hanok Village. We just took the subway and with two stops we were already there. There's no entrance fee and it's a nice place where you would see locals both young and old stroll. This place also features traditional Korean Houses called "Hanok" and you also get to wear costumes and experience local stuff for a cheap price. We wore costumes for KRW3000 each and took some photos as well. Unfortunately, we were not able to catch a staged wedding ceremony which normally happens after lunch. Overall, this was a good introduction to the early culture of Korea.

After that, we ate at a local Korean restaurant and tried Bulgogi. The good thing about local Korean restaurants is that they have unlimited side dishes - so you can have all the Kimchi you want! Then we headed to Gyeokbokgung Palace. We were able to catch a glimpse of "Changing the Guards" Ceremony. The palace is a big complex where you can see the main throne room, other big structures, folk museum and some Hanoks as well.

Then we headed at Mt. Namsan and drove our way to N Seoul Tower. It is best to go to this place during early evening so you can appreciate the night lights of Seoul. There is a revolving restaurant, museum, gift shops and observation deck. A lot of couples go to this place to lock their padlocks at the railing of the observation deck - cheesy act, but a lot really do it!

We went back at the hotel around 9pm, so there's still time to roam around Dongdaemun Market. The night is very alive here! Even until 2am, the malls, department stores, and flea market is still alive and a lot of people are still flocking even at the wee hours of the morning! You can get good bargain on clothes and accessories here in Dongdaemun. You can definitely bargain here. Be sure to check out APM Mall, Doota, MaxStyle.

The following day we went to Everland, which is a theme park outside Seoul. The resort complex also houses a Water Park, which was closed during our visit because of the Winter Season. Entrance fee for groups was KRW24000. The theme park has a zoo, runs a regular parade show and houses dozens of rides including the tallest and steepest wooden roller coaster in the world, which is T-express. When we visited, Everland celebrated their first day of Winter Season so we caught the first Christmas Parade!

Around 4pm, we visited Korean Folk Village. This is the place where they shot "Jewel in the Palace". It's a whole complex featuring early Korean communities with Hanoks. There's also a river where you can experience riding their traditional boats. This is park, just like Namsangol Hanok Village, is all about knowing the early culture of Korea. This is a good place to stroll and immerse yourself with the traditional Korean culture.

Of course, the last night is all about shopping - so we dropped by MyeongDong and Dongdaemun until 3am and went straight to the airport!

We had a lot of good times in Seoul. I still missed a lot of places like Stars Avenue, Lotte World, Nanta Theatre and more, which means another trip to Seoul is warranted.