South Vietnam – A highlight destination

HO CHI MINH, Viet Nam - July 16, 2015 - PRLog -- Our flight from France landed at Hochiminh city early morning, at around 00:30AM; so tired after a long journey. We were welcomed by a young man from a visa company (http://www.vietnamvisa.org.vn) who supported us the visa stamping at Tan Son Nhat airport. It took us around 30 minutes for all procedures in the airport and then transferred to hotel.

The first day started in afternoon since we needed to recharge our energy with a deep sleep. After having lunch at a local restaurant which has been famous since 2000 when President Clinton had Pho noodles there in 2000, we took a city tour with cyclo. These were tricycles with a single seat in the front  and were pushed by a bicycle rider. Our first impression about Saigon streets was very hectic. And it was true with Hanoi where we visited later. In these cities, crossing the road likes an adventure tour that you might not find anywhere else  J

We stopped at War Remnants Museum, opera house and Reunification Museum for afternoon trip.

We did enjoy cocktails at the historic Majestic Hotel's rooftop bar, with panoramic views of Saigon night lights. Then we were back to Signature hotel which was one of the best hotels during our trip. We booked hotel rooms with Eviva Tour Vietnam (http://www.evivatour.com) which was introduced by my Vietnamese friends. Although we ordered a deluxe room but they offered us free upgrade to a small suite in this low season. We were so comfortable with this arrangement.

In the second day, we took a full day to Mekong Delta. Taking a boat on Tien River to participate in the Cai Be floating market, we saw the real life of local people on the boat. So interesting to see how they exchanged goods together. I tried to bargain some special local products on the river with local vendors. Some tropical fruits that we had never seen or eaten before, such as: dragon - a medium sized fruit (about the size of 1 big apple), with sweet white flesh dotted with black seeds. We also tried local honey, coconut candy, and Thibaud even tried Snake wine, held a snake and held a hive!!

We could not miss one of the famous destinations of the south – Cu Chi tunnel. It is an elaborate tunnel system built by the local people to use as hiding places and a means to support the war for freedom. Local people used small shovels and woven to dug the land to create the two tunnel systems in the Cu Chi area. These tunnels twisted and turned underground for more than 125 miles. One of special factors of tunnel is that they are tiny enough for small Vietnamese stature to accommodate, making it impossible for most Americans to enter, even if they were able to locate the trap doors led inside. Our group was very impressive by the experience and wise thinking of Vietnamese in the war to protect their country’s freedom.

We ended our tour in the south and prepared stuff to continue our Vietnam tour in the central and the south in the 3^rd day. Really miss and want to back Saigon someday.