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.

GE G100 Camera Review and Sample Shots

"The newest and the youngest of the Power Series"

GE has successfully entered into serious camera business when they introduced GE X5 back in 2010. It has all the bells and whistles you could wish for a bridge camera that competes with the likes of Canon SX and G series. This camera was hugely successful since they introduced this at a VERY reasonable price. They brought high level functionality into a small SLR-like body at a very affordable price range. And this was the reason I sold my Canon 1000D (Rebel) and bought this one, and this has been my companion during my out of town/country trips. And GE never turned back!

In fact, in 2011, they released GE X500. The look and feel is the same with GE X5 but GE X500 had incremental upgrades on the Zoom and Megapixel counts. They also added a more Scenes and made the menu system more intuitive. And they released this even at a cheaper than the X5.

During the last quarter of 2011, GE also released a model lower than the GE X500 - The GE G100. It has a slimmer body that gives it a point-and-shoot feel, but inherited the almost all the same functionality of GE X500 and X500 making it a "bridge" of a "bridge camera" and a "point-and-shoot camera". This is now a whole new category called "Prosumer" cameras. This now directly competes with Canon's SX130. Of course, I have to see how this unit performs and provide a user review and feedback. Again, just like my GE X5 and X500 reviews, I will avoid photography terminologies and focus as an end user.

First, let's look at the spec sheet and see what this camera is capable of on paper:

• 14-megapixel CMOS image sensor
• Aptina A-Pix CMOS pixel technology
• 28mm Wide Angel lens
• 15x optical zoom
• 3.0" LCD screen (slightly larger than GE X5 and X500)
• high-speed photos (10 frames per second) - G100 uses CMOS sensor as opposed to GE X5 and X500's CCD sensor)
• 1080p HD video recording - (which is higher than GE X5 and X500, since they only capture VGA)
• Built-in HDMI port
• Optical Image Stabilization
• 3200 ISO
• Multi-Exposure
• Object Tracking
• HDR+
• 30 Shooting Modes

GE G100 comes in three colors: Black, White and Red.  Our test unit came in red and it looked really good.  The retail package in the Philippines would normally include a 4GB memory card, camera case and gorilla tripod.  But again, this may vary from shop to shop.  The overall look and feel is really neat and feels like a premium device.  The front houses GE's Aspheric All-Glass Lens.  The bottom houses the lithium battery, memory card compartments and the tripod screw.  The top of the camera has the shutter button, power button, mode selection, pop-up flash.  The rear of the camera is where you will find the 3" viewfinder, video-toggle button, directional button, functional menu, preview button and display menu.  It fits right in the palm when held and the point and shoot camera size fits almost all camera cases.

GE G100 Box

GE G100 Unit (Red)

GE G100

Box contents

Comparing this with X5 and X500, GE G100 uses a lithium battery.  While this provides a more reliable and longer batter life, you will have to go to a GE service center to purchase a lithium battery after a couple of years of use.  But looking at 2015 when your battery is no good anymore, will GE still supply spare batteries for this unit at that time?  So there are some advantages of lithium over regular AA but there are some cons as well.  Also, the GE G100 does not have an electronic viewer, this creates a debate among camera enthusiasts if this unit can be considered a bridge camera without this vital feature.  But IMO, as long as there are manual controls, you have the freedom to change your exposure levels, ISO, shutter speed and aperture - it's good enough to consider this unit a bridge camera.  But the best thing about this camera over its 2 elder brothers, is that it uses a CMOS sensor while the latter uses CCD.  If you want to know about these two sensors, here's a reference site you can read: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cameras-photography/digital/question362.htm

Now let's go over some photos.  I went to the mall to take some photos using artificial sunlight.  I was fortunate to catch an animal roadshow in the activity area of SM Sucat.  The animals were a perfect subject for my test photos, so here we go.

Auto (Macro), F5.10, 1/86, 800 ISO

Auto (Macro), F5.10, 1/119, Auto ISO

Auto (Macro), F5.10, 1/85, 800 ISO

Auto (Macro), F5.0, 1/59, AutoISO

Auto (macro on), F5.10, 1/59, 800 ISO

Notice how vivid the colors were with the parrot, and how detailed the skin patters were with the turtle.  I should say that for natural indoor light conditions such as a mall, the GE G100 was able to handle it very well on it's automatic settings.  By the way the photo of the parrot was zoomed in from 2 meters away.

The unit performs exceptionally good for macro.  Here is a shot of a plant at high noon.  Great detail and color composition. :)

Auto (Macro), F9.30, 1/61, Auto ISO

As a point of comparison, here is a similar photo I have taken before using GE X5.  Now I am using GE G100 and the result is quite better! :)  This is on low light condition.  The other photo with the turtle also shows how the camera handles low light conditions.

Auto (Macro), F3.9, 1/9, 400 ISO

Auto, F5.10, 1/503, 100 ISO

To show how the camera handles manual control, I have two sample photos wherein I have set-up the aperture and shutter speed to have a 0.0 EV and then the other one with a -2.0 EV.  See how the 2nd photo darkened.  The same manual control can let you take creative shots.

Now let's take a look at some night shots.  Overall GE G100 had average performance on night shots.  I think, just based on the output, X500 still handles night shots fairly better than GE G100.  You still have the same freedom to adjust your exposure levels though.

These are photos taken using a tripod:

Night Scene (Auto) - F3.9, 1/2, 100 ISO

Manual F9.30, 7.9 sec, 800 ISO

Manual, F9.3, 7.9 secs, 400 ISO

Manual, F3.9, 7.9 sec, 200 ISO

The next set of night photos were taken without using a tripod

Manual, F3.9, 1/4, 400 ISO

Manual, F3.9, 2.0 sec, AutoISO

Manual, F3.9, 3 sec, 100 ISO

GE G100 also captured great videos with 1080p HD Resolution.  Here are some sample videos I took.  The zoom of course is one of my pet peeves it zooms in or out to fast.   But overall quality is really good with great stereo sound.

With a similarly armed features of it's older brothers at a very competitive price point, this camera will surely create it's own fans.  A very capable CMOS senser and a great zoom lens inside a body that looks more like a point and shoot camera, can be very handy - especially if you are more of an outdoors person.  But if you are still choosing between GE X500 and GE G100 consider the following:

• Similar price point
• X500 has an electronic view finder over G100
• G100 is more handy than X500 (but hey, comparing X500 with other bridge cameras, GE X500 is also a handy camera)
• Lithium Battery over AA Batteries
• CMOS sensor on G100 (the sensor used by DSLRs) over X500's CCD sensor (mostly used on regular digicams and mobile phones)

Again, it all boils down to how you would use the camera.  But overall, GE G100 is also worth looking at.

For more details about this camera, you can check out the website of the official distributor of GE cameras in the Philippines:

http://reddotimaging.com/

Phone (632) 247-6195

Fax (632)247-6318