Vietnam 2013 [Part 5; Saigon]

Day six: Chinatown, Meetup

(I have 88 photos for day 6 in my camera, compared to 195 for day 5 lol)

We alighted from the train and stepped into the cool air of Ho Chi Minh City. Just like how it felt when we first arrived at Nha Trang. I was still groggy and heavy with sleep, no thanks to the travel sickness pill I'd taken hours before.

We also got rid what was left of the mini bananas because they were all black and gross. (That's such redundant information but I actually remember it)

The sky was beginning to get that little bit brighter, and many many cabs were in sight. But for some unknown reason, we refused to take a cab, and instead chose to freaking walk from the train station to Saigon Youth Hostel at Pham Ngu Lao, our next place of accommodation, for about 3.2km with our baggage. And we did it, oh yeahhhh! *pumps fist into the air*

Pictures from the walk

Vietnam 2013 [Part 4; Nha Trang]

Day four: Rafting, Massage

Rise and shine! Our plan for the day was rafting! We woke up a little late though, and the hotel reception had called us to inform us that the bus had arrived outside to pick us up, at 9am. Whoops. We made them wait a little, bout 10 minutes, but thankfully it was a small bus and there was only one other couple in the bus. Breakfast was some bread bought the night before. No time for com tam; that stall wouldn't have been open so early anyway.

We booked this activity with [horror of horrors, I didn't record this!!], and paid 630,000d per pax for this (S$37.50). Here's the information on the brochure, which does not include the name of the travel company.

9:00 Pick up at your hotel and take you to the starting point. It is 1 hour from Nha Trang city.

10:00 Start rafting down stream about 8kms. The biggest rapids are class 2 & 3 (safety for beginners). 

10:45 Visit the fruit garden, enjoy the tropical fruit. 

12:00 Have lunch with BBQ and Beer.  

13:00 Continue rafting along river 6kms. 

15:00 Finish rafting and return to Nha Trang. 

15:30 Arrive your hotel.  

Included: Transport, guide, dry bags, equipment, food and drinks, insurance.   

We did not visit the fruit garden to have fruit, and honestly, the rafting didn't feel like it was 8 + 6 kilometers. Anyways...

Our only selfie in the bus. 

Sidetrack a little - this was the day I wore my new bikini, hehe. It's a good thing that I found one that looked decent (also thanks to opinions from Ame) or I would be wearing the same cobalt blue bikini set for all three days in Nha Trang -_- I now have two sets, yay, and I'd like to acquire more :P

We travelled for less than an hour to this river, reached at about 10am, and had to take this small, rocky and muddy road in. It made the ride bumpy, but I'd rather take a bumpy minibus ride than motorbike ride.

It was also on this road that we saw how our bus driver and guide help another Vietnamese guy on a motorbike get unstuck from the mud and pushed him along. Simple acts of kindness can be so heartwarming :)

Vietnam 2013 [Part 3; Nha Trang]

Day two

The sky was bright when we arrived at Nha Trang. It was about 7.30am, I think? We were greeted with a gush of cold wind as we sleepily alighted from the bus and retrieved our bags from the storage compartment. I panicked a little then, thinking that it would be this cold throughout the day, but thank God that afternoons were warmer.

We then set off in search of our Blue Star Hotel, which Brice had booked beforehand. Many locals tried to promote their hotels to us as we did so, asking if we need a hotel. We declined by telling them we are going to Blue Star Hotel, and I thought they would just leave us be since we said we're going to their competitor, but some of them gave us directions despite that! First impressions of the Nha Trangese (I'm not sure what to call them) were thus positive, to me at least :)

So we managed to locate our hotel...

I didn't take this photo upon arrival but this would do. Just to show the entrance :)

Vietnam 2013 [Part 2; Saigon > Nha Trang]

Disclaimer: The first half of the trip is going to be more detailed because I have more pictures and hence more cues to memory retrieval.

Day Zero/One

This was when it really started to dawn on me - VIETNAM, BABY!! Spent the night at the airport with my pals. We went to have Popeyes at T3, which was supper for them but dinner for me, then went to some random open space to settle for the night... sorta.

Brice and Ivan tried to sleep but Amelia and I were chatting and making use of my camera's remote function and making fun of them as they slept. Or tried to sleep. I have no idea why we did not feel sleepy. 

Vietnam 2013 [Part 1; A Preface]

Before I begin the post proper, I want to just pen down some reflections and feelings about this trip. This section, the boring part, contains just my thoughts and some events leading to the trip which I feel the need to document them.

How it all begun

It all started with Ivan asking me (and Amelia, separately) out of the blue in October whether we would be free and keen to go to Vietnam after our exams. I was extremely hesitant, because it was so sudden and I wasn’t very well-travelled, so I had my doubts. Ivan wanted the group size to be kept small at four, and wanted it to be an adventurish kind of trip. Furthermore, his male bestie, Brice, was going to be one of the four, I felt uncomfortable with the idea of travelling with someone I barely knew. After thinking long and hard (for about a day), I eventually agreed, and quarreled with my parents about it. Yeah, I know, why quarrel with them about a trip that I wasn’t even that keen on going to begin with, right? I told myself that it was a good opportunity to just try it out with them, just to experience what it’s like to travel as a bagpacker, making plans from scratch.

I would call this my first real overseas adventure without my family. Church camps in Malaysia, Japan with PL in 2004, OVE with Hall 12 in 2011, and Hong Kong with some Kraveners in 2012 aren’t counted because they either had a fixed programme, and/or were just short trips to go shopping and playing. Each trip was unique in its own way, but none was as impactful as this one.

So Ivan set up a whatsapp group for the four of us. It was rather awkward, and Amelia and I exchanged our first greetings with Brice. We then had a long discussion about whether to book Jetstar or Vietnam Airlines, booked the flights, discussed about where to go, and made plans to meet up for dinner. I felt rather useless during those discussions because at that time, I wasn’t exactly excited nor interested about the trip and I had other priorities in mind like getting my assignments cleared, so I didn’t do much research :/

Our first dinner was exciting because Ame and I were finally going to meet Brice after whatsapping in the group. LOL. Minutes before he walked in through the MRT door at Dover, we were like AHHHH AHHHH HE’S COMING! YOU STAND THERE!! And we tried not to be the one standing next to him. It’s all quite hilarious, as though we were young teenage girls meeting a new guy. I think Ivan must have been totally amused seeing us going all anxious about meeting his BFF. That day, we had dinner at Swee Choon and witnessed a fight break out while waiting to be seated, and saw a police van stop by just then, which could not have been more timely. Interestingly enough, while were having fun in Vietnam, a riot broke out at Little India. I couldn't help but make this connection to this particular fight we witnessed. 

Fast forward a month later. Brice and Amelia kept contributing to our itinerary and list of places to visit and things to do in Vietnam. I’m not sure whether Ivan did, but I did not contribute anything at all *guilty*. All I did was to say whether I’m okay with the plans. We wanted to go from HCMC to Da Lat, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, then back to HCMC initially, but scrapped those and settled for HCMC à Nha Trang à HCMC eventually. Again, I didn’t involve myself with the preliminary discussions and I felt really bad about it! With all the assignments, presentations, and assessments approaching, I simply couldn’t spend too much time researching and reading up on Vietnam or the guilt would have been constantly gnawing at me. I decided that the guilt from not contributing here was more bearable than having to shoulder the guilt of not working on my academics and having that translate into shitty grades.

Then hell week got nearer, so did exams. All I could see ahead of me was the Me vs. NTU battle. It was then decided that since Ivan only had one paper (Q!@#$%^&;) and Ame and I had three or four, it would be optimal for him and Brice to just plan the itinerary and we would go along with it. Turned out that the guys managed to plan only for Nha Trang, so the girls continued from there and planned for our remaining days in HCMC. All these, within the few hours after our last paper. Haw haw.

Looking back,

I can confidently say that I've had no regrets agreeing to the trip. I’m honoured to be part of this quartet, with a combination of four unique personalities, each bringing our own essence to the group. I never thought I would say this but I truly cherish my three travel buddies. Enjoyed (almost) every moment we had together, roaming the streets of Vietnam, taking in our surroundings, walking more than 3km with our luggage from the train station to our hostel, getting lost in the streets, sharing all our meals, eating in silence and simply appreciating the food and the presence of one another. It’s always about the company. If given a chance to travel with them again, I would definitely say yes, without hesitation this time. Subject to other commitments of course.

I may not be the best travel companion; I've had my own ridiculously moody moments. There were times where I felt like I could have just disappeared into the crowds and the rest of the group wouldn't notice, for they would be better off without me. There were times where I felt like I didn't understand and couldn't relate to the jokes and conversations at all and I felt left out. These were genuine, although I knew that they were selfish feelings and my friends probably didn't do it intentionally. Such moments made me want to distance myself, even though I knew I couldn't actually do so physically. I just hope that my moodiness for some parts of the 2^nd half of the trip didn't affect the group dynamics too much :/

We've all had our share of ‘battle’ scars this trip – mosquito bites (BANE OF MY LIFE. My legs are scarred so badly now, sigh), bruises, scratches, cuts, suspected bed bugs, and mouth ulcers – which we would carry for the next couple of days.

Finally, let me describe our unluckiness with accommodation. We stayed at four different places, and three out of the four had problems. At Blue Star Hotel in Nha Trang, which we stayed for 3 nights, the guys’ toilet bowl couldn't be flushed properly, which made it difficult for them to take their dumps and they had to come over to the girls’ room to do it. I didn't suggest to get the reception to change our rooms because I didn't want us to end up on different floors. We had no problems with Saigon Youth Hostel, where we stayed for one night before going on our 2-day Mekong Delta tour with homestay. Hung’s Homestay (1 night) wasn't without problems either. There were so many freaking mosquitoes, I got most of my bites from there. And the water supply cut off on me while I was bathing the next morning, leaving me to wipe off my soapy body with the towel. WTH right?!?! Then we stayed at Saigon Mini Hotel for the last two nights. I loved the service and the bouncy, comfy bed, but the shower was a disaster. We had to either shower with acceptable temperature, but have very little water coming out of the shower head, or have acceptable water volume but with BURNING water wtf. Brice used the toilet bowl washer thing to bathe. I don’t know why we didn't ask for a change of room though. Then the next day, the entire stretch of hotels and shops had their electricity cut off, leaving us to pee, shit, and bathe in cold water in the dark, and lug our luggage down the staircase to check out. I understand that the electricity trip isn't the fault of the hotel but still, it didn't make our stay very pleasant.

I think I've more or less typed enough for this preface. I've still got very terrible post-vacation withdrawal symptoms of depression and dwelling of the past. I miss my travel buddies already. I miss Amelia and the entertainment she brings to all of us, miss Ivan and his excellent navigation skills and food ordering skills with the locals, miss Brice who looked out for me all the time whenever we had to cross the disastrous roads. As much as I don’t want to return to reality, I am aware that I cannot live in the past, and I've still got a (hopefully bright) life ahead of me. This was but a small and short escapade.

As I've told Amelia, through this trip, I now see the appeal of travelling, dwelling amongst the locals, immersing ourselves with their culture, and meeting other travelers. I used to be indifferent towards travelling, but now I believe I've changed the way I look at it. It’s a truly refreshing and humbling encounter which has to be personally experienced in order to be fully appreciated.

With that, I shall begin to recall the 10 days we spent in Vietnam. The interesting part.