I never thought I'd be in Vietnam. Ahhhhh!
I have a list of remote destinations, and Vietnam is not on that list. Don't ask me why. Because I don't know why, it just never comes up.... Until Ms. Travels said, let's go to Vietnam for Thanksgiving. Funny enough, one of our friends answered: why?
Oh well, in a blink of eye, we are here - Ho Chi Minh City.
It was not a really good idea to go to a tropical city right after spending 3 weeks in late fall and 1 week in snowy winter (Japan! Read out Japan posts.) My mind liked the tropical idea but my body was totally confused. This made street-crossing more stressful in this traffic-doesn't-stop-for-pedestrian city.
Dinner with beer on the rooftop seemed to be a logical idea then. BA BA BA (3 3 3)!
This place has The BEST rolls!!! And peanut sauce, haha!
The following day we went to the national museum and war museum. The pictures and stories were overwhelming and depressing at the same time, and we truly hope no more wars in this world.
On the way to Independent Palace, we ran into a hospitable local dude with dozens of fresh coconut on his shoulder. After a cheerful and interesting conversation about HCMC, he sold us two coconut for 150k ($6). Later I found out you could get them for 30k-50k in a sit-down restaurant. So.... did we get ripped off by the kind guy? It's all about perspective.
In front of Independent Palace, a group of students were chatting and drawing, seemed to have a great time.
Ms. Travels had quite some Vietnamese coffee - strong and dense coffee poured over ice with condense milk. You are supposed to wait until ice melts in this hot and humid weather, which loosens up condense milk; otherwise the drink is so sweet.
Seconds after I snipped this picture, the coffee shop staff stopped me from taking pictures. Hmmm... seiously?
Moving on.
The following day, we took a private day tour to Mekong Delta and Cu Chi Tunnels. Water was not what you expected, but it's the mud that has been nurturing the islands, and farming around the area.
The boat took us to an island that we toured a coconut candy factory.
Then we've got the freshest selection of tropical fruit! Here we tried the milky apple (top left). It tasted like a mushy apple but the juice coming out of the fruit was literally creamy, white and sweet. So now you know how it is named.
Cu Chi Tunnels was fun. Ms. Travels didn't go down to the tunnel, but I was like a monkey jumping up and down through the tunnel, of course in my green tank and white sneakers. The snack we got after tunnels was steamed tapioca. Yes, they looked like this, instead of the black round little balls that you find in your bubble team. This is the original form of tapioca and the traditional way of eating it. It tasted like steamed potato, with a sticky texture.
Our tour guide said it used to feed people throughout the war as it was cheap and filling. While she's telling more stories about the war, I devoured all of these.
A rowing boat on the river was so magical - narrow river below you, blue skye above you, and you were surrounded by all the greens. It was such a pleasant feel.
More evening plaza, and more food.
Glad we went. :)