Ho Chi Minh Is My Tag

Hey bloggers.. is this the season of TAGS?

Not that I am not in favor, in fact, I do welcome them, it coincides with my "blankness" of what to post actually... Good that it comes at the right timing!

These tag came from two bloggers, one is FoongPC and Ghostly Nana.. both also have something in common, one likes to talk about ghost stories at times and Nana has a ghost nick on her... wonder why.. Ok, now the intructions that I need to do... they are as follows:- 1. Go to your photo files, select the 8th photo folder 2. Select the 8th photo in that folder 3. Post that photo along with the story behind it 4. Then challenge 8 blogging friends to do the same! So when I searched for my 8th Folder and the 8th Photo, I found this... Story line? Here goes...

This was taken in HO CHI MINH city, er... two years back... Went there with a few frens, (westerners and asians, guess which group I belong to?)

I love the traffic there.. :p

I just closed my eyes and screamed..
and then let myself be led through the traffic..


phew!!! I am Safe!
the traffic in HCM was super!
very expert drivers!!

And now.. 8 bloggers I need to tag... sigh... I know some of you do not like doing tags and a few others like to.... anyway, I will not impose, take it or leave it!!! hahahaa... ok , on a softer tone, can you please do it if you like to... or ignore it completely... I will not mind.

Here are the Super 8 men I like to tag.... Chris Au, Eugene, Fishing Guy, Pete, Kevin, Gabriel, Aaron & Andy...

Ho Chi Minh (conclusion)

OUR LAST NIGHT in Ho Chi Minh was spent on the ship cruise along Saigon River. When we arrived at the riverbank, there were 3 big ships awaiting with red carpets and beautiful vietnamese ladies were standing by to welcome guests to their ship. All of us were fascinated by the charms and the colourful lights around the surrounding.

Dinner was served on the ship, ala carte style, seafood was abundant there... unfortunately, my pictures didnt turn out well ... I hope my frens' cameras do better than mine...I have yet to see them... Anyway, I would say, the experience being there on the ship while it 'sailed' along the Saigon River was indeed special and spectacular...

the entrance to the ship...red carpet all the way...

scenery from the ship above..

relaxing to the music and a performance after the dinner..

one of the dishes we ordered...

steamboat vietnamese style...

The next day, it was time to say sayonara to Ho Chi Minh City. Before we left, I snapped a picture of the hotel which we had stayed for 3 nights.

Duc Vuong Hotel... 24 hour security at night..

the room where 3 of us have spent our nights... snoring away....haha..

A very cheap affordable tour
Air Ticket RM350.00
Hotel RM100.00 (3 nites)
Ground tour RM60.00 (2 days)
Food less than RM80.00
Shopping expenses?? (shh...shh..)

Ho Chi Minh (Part 4)

SECOND MORNING was spent touring Mekong River. This day cruise started at 8am till 5pm in the evening, we stopped at certain islands to look see, look see, I guess coming here once will be enoughfor me cos I dont like water so much, especially the sampan rowing one.. (water phobia)..... actually not so much to see in the village...perhaps it is a common sight over here in Malaysia...

the ferry that took us over to the islands..

wanna know what this is? its coconut candy fresh from the kuali..

wanna try one? I did...

the girls doing the packaging...their salary is 150usd per month, so it seems..

the candies on sale...bought 2 packets..20000dong each

this is another island, horse ride thru the village...

poor horse.. 6 of us.. hope we didnt wear him down..

Final Destination... (not the movie one, of course)

the ultimate boat ride...scary..i kept clinging to my fren's handbag strap..haha..

any crocodile around??

our lunch...this fish cost us 95000dong...almost 20rm..not cheap leh..

see the lady in red? she is the singer...entertaining the tourists...

.... last chapter tomorrow...(roundup)

Ho Chi Minh (Part 3)

THE NEXT MORNING, WE VENTURED OUT TO CU CHI TUNNELS, about 70 km from our hotel in Saigon... started our journey around 8am, the bus came to pick us up and these are the passengers that it 'accumulated' here and there... I was at the very front, just behind the driver, top seat some more.. so can take some 'nice traffic' from that position... :)

passengers are from all over..singaporeans, british, americans n of course, malaysians..

nice hot weather..can see the sun shining??

busy narrow street leading to town...

how the driver manuvoer... i dare not look at times..

ok, we reached Cu Chi...now walking into the jungle where the NLF hid (Viet soldiers)

one of the booby traps once upon a time..

for enemies to fall in....yucks.. sure die one..

tour guide explaining how it works...

this fella trying out a trap door...

this lady also got guts...oops..hope she didnt get stuck...

an 'abandoned' tank...real one.. really..

what is this? topiaco dipped with nuts and sugar... eaten by viets those days in the jungle..

but on that day, it was our turn to eat... see the donation box? we donated a bit after eating...

Oh, the most interesting part is going into the tunnel..sorry, no pictures, i tried taking, it turned out nothing..just dark images cos it was really very dark inside... I was the first one to go in, I thought I would be very safe crawling just behind one military man in front, but little did I know, once in, he was nowhere to be seen... haizzz... so I was more or less leading the others through the narrow dark tunnel with only one or 2 dim dim lights at certain corners.. quite frightening actually cos we need to bend and not knowing what was in front...phew.. but a very very interesting experience... do try it out when you are there... you wont regret going..

Ho Chi Minh (Part 2)

AFTER SEVERAL HOURS SHOPPING in the Ben Than Market, it was already evening... time to walk back to the hotel to rest for awhile and then adjourned for dinner... While walking back, all of us started to snap pictures about the traffic jam over there... I really must salute the drivers in Vietnam, really must honour them...

There are 3 million motorcylists 300,000 cars in Ho Chi Minh City, so it seems....cant imagine how they drive round the city.. we being the pedestrians do not get abused by them when we crossed the roads, no doubt they keep horning at each other but then no flying fingers or abusive words come out from them... fantastic drivers...

see our treasures?? haha..very happy lot ...

now i wonder how we managed to cross all those roads... anyway, peace unto u all..

to be continued...

Ho Chi Minh (Part 1)

THE MAIN ATTRACTION going to Ho Chi Minh City for ladies like me is the Ben Than Market... It is one of the main tourist attraction and that is why we make sure that we stayed somewhere near to that place.. (*smile*) Dont believe the hotel's website so much, it says it takes only 10 minutes walk but we ladies ended up taking 20 minutes to reach there, perhaps our footsteps are smaller?? Anyway, it is beneficial to us to 'kill' the calories walking up and down to the market at least once a day..never ending shopping ma...

flowers displaying at one of the main entrances

tropical fruits everywhere...

at one of the 'eating' stalls in the market

CB ordered this, i tasted a bit of that & I ran off to the next stall...
noodles with types of meat...30,000 dong

i prefer this bowl of chicken soup noodles 25,000 dong = RM5.60.. not cheap though..

after food, we shopped and shopped...beautiful colourful wall deco on display but I didnt buy any of that..

hhmmm..i love these though, bought 2 of those...100,000 dong-22rm..

many many types of stalls...

many many clog sandals too, dont know what to choose actually...

ended up with these 2 pairs...price is 3usd each, not advisable to buy too many..why? its too heavy..(my friend bought 7 pairs and thought of selling them back to the stall the next day.....haha)

Part 11... to be continued tomorrow?