Finally had time to start blogging about my Vietnam trip. I have been caught up with work, department retreat and whatnots that my biological clock is wrecked not even one week back from leave. Aiyah, what to do?
When I planned my Vietnam trip, I pretty much kept the itinerary open. I just bought an air ticket to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and another out of Hanoi. In between, where to stay, what to do, how long in each city/town and the internal flights are decided as and when I’m there and ready to move on to keep things flexible.
I took Tiger Airways, which means I had the opportunity to board from the Budget Terminal. It was nothing fantastic to yodel about. In fact, you would have probably screamed about the nothing and empty feeling, possibly due to the lack of contents and high ceiling. There is just so much empty space you could park two Boeings in there and still not feel crowded.
When I planned my Vietnam trip, I pretty much kept the itinerary open. I just bought an air ticket to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and another out of Hanoi. In between, where to stay, what to do, how long in each city/town and the internal flights are decided as and when I’m there and ready to move on to keep things flexible.
I took Tiger Airways, which means I had the opportunity to board from the Budget Terminal. It was nothing fantastic to yodel about. In fact, you would have probably screamed about the nothing and empty feeling, possibly due to the lack of contents and high ceiling. There is just so much empty space you could park two Boeings in there and still not feel crowded.
Budget Terminal - Departure Hall
Feeling reverse claustrophobia, I believed I spent more time in the toilet than out of it.
The time finally came for boarding. Since it was free seating, 5 minutes before boarding time, everyone’s practically jostling around the various display television to wait for the boarding gate number to show.
*Ding* Gate 9.
The minute, no make than nanosecond, the gate number showed up, everybody rushed towards it faster than the word ‘FREE’ can attract the aunties during the Great Singapore Sale. I was no exception. To be among the firsts in the queue so I could get my desired window seat, I had to trample an old lady, bully little nuisances called children and kick several nobodies out of my way.
I got my desired seat alright, but I’d my retribution as well. Instead of getting chio young ladies sitting beside me, I got two old unchio Vietnamese ladies (UVLs). The moment after we took off, these one of the UVLs whipped off her shoes and put her legs on the hand rest of the seat in front of her. Ewww…. Thank goodness a Tigress (what I call the stewardess) came by and requested proper sitting.
An hour into my flight, I felt my bladder about to burst. I looked towards my left and both UVLs were asleep. Damn. That’s one of the downsides of sitting at a window seat. I had no rubber band, no bottles and the window couldn’t be open. I could only wait. Thankfully, less than an hour later, we landed with no flooding disaster. No points for guessing where I headed to first.
The minute I walked out of the airport at HCMC, I was already marked as a walking dollar sign and got ripped off by the taxi driver. I had no doubts about it and confirmation with the friendly proprietor of Madam Cuc 64 (where I stayed) sealed the fact.
The traffic from the airport to Pham Ngu Lao, the backpackers area, is not for the faint hearted. As a matter of fact, I came to discover it is true for traffic in whole of Vietnam, with HCMC being the worst. A well tanned complexion can become stunningly pale in seconds if you can’t take the traffic conditions.
The time finally came for boarding. Since it was free seating, 5 minutes before boarding time, everyone’s practically jostling around the various display television to wait for the boarding gate number to show.
*Ding* Gate 9.
The minute, no make than nanosecond, the gate number showed up, everybody rushed towards it faster than the word ‘FREE’ can attract the aunties during the Great Singapore Sale. I was no exception. To be among the firsts in the queue so I could get my desired window seat, I had to trample an old lady, bully little nuisances called children and kick several nobodies out of my way.
I got my desired seat alright, but I’d my retribution as well. Instead of getting chio young ladies sitting beside me, I got two old unchio Vietnamese ladies (UVLs). The moment after we took off, these one of the UVLs whipped off her shoes and put her legs on the hand rest of the seat in front of her. Ewww…. Thank goodness a Tigress (what I call the stewardess) came by and requested proper sitting.
An hour into my flight, I felt my bladder about to burst. I looked towards my left and both UVLs were asleep. Damn. That’s one of the downsides of sitting at a window seat. I had no rubber band, no bottles and the window couldn’t be open. I could only wait. Thankfully, less than an hour later, we landed with no flooding disaster. No points for guessing where I headed to first.
The minute I walked out of the airport at HCMC, I was already marked as a walking dollar sign and got ripped off by the taxi driver. I had no doubts about it and confirmation with the friendly proprietor of Madam Cuc 64 (where I stayed) sealed the fact.
The traffic from the airport to Pham Ngu Lao, the backpackers area, is not for the faint hearted. As a matter of fact, I came to discover it is true for traffic in whole of Vietnam, with HCMC being the worst. A well tanned complexion can become stunningly pale in seconds if you can’t take the traffic conditions.
If can go, go
There are almost like no traffic rules exist. Rather, there is only one rule – if you can go, go. It doesn’t matter if it’s red light or there are people crossing the roads or someone’s sleeping in the middle of the road (not that there was any). Cutting lanes dangerously seems to be the norm. Honking seems to be the rule rather than the exception. The horn is not used for warning or alerting, but to tell fellow drivers or motorcyclists to get lost.
The entire trip from the airport to Pham Ngu Lao, my taxi driver had his hand permanently glued to the horn and pressing it perpetually. The cacophony of honking seemed to be telling me ‘Welcome to Vietnam. Hope you brought an extra pair of ear drums’.
While there are more motorcycles on the roads than there are cars, at rate the drivers and motorcyclists are utilising their horns, one could probably make a fortune out of just replacing them.
After finding and checking into the highly recommended Madam Cuc 64 (there’re two more Madam Cuc branches nearby), with half day more to go, I decided upon going to Cholon (Chinatown). To avoid getting ripped off again, I asked for the prices of going to Cholon by taxi and motorcycle from the lady proprietor. Taxi cost 30,000VND (approx SGD3) and motorcycle cost 15,000VND. However, she recommended me to take the local bus which only cost 3,000VND. 3,000VND? Wah lau, so cheap! The last time I paid that amount on a SBS bus ride was probably in the early nineties.
There wasn’t any hesitation on deciding which transport to take, especially having already been ripped off once, I needed to make sure my money went a longer way. The only problem with taking the local bus was where do I stop? Luckily for me, the way to Cholon ended up at the Cholon bus interchange, so there wasn’t an issue.
The entire trip from the airport to Pham Ngu Lao, my taxi driver had his hand permanently glued to the horn and pressing it perpetually. The cacophony of honking seemed to be telling me ‘Welcome to Vietnam. Hope you brought an extra pair of ear drums’.
While there are more motorcycles on the roads than there are cars, at rate the drivers and motorcyclists are utilising their horns, one could probably make a fortune out of just replacing them.
After finding and checking into the highly recommended Madam Cuc 64 (there’re two more Madam Cuc branches nearby), with half day more to go, I decided upon going to Cholon (Chinatown). To avoid getting ripped off again, I asked for the prices of going to Cholon by taxi and motorcycle from the lady proprietor. Taxi cost 30,000VND (approx SGD3) and motorcycle cost 15,000VND. However, she recommended me to take the local bus which only cost 3,000VND. 3,000VND? Wah lau, so cheap! The last time I paid that amount on a SBS bus ride was probably in the early nineties.
There wasn’t any hesitation on deciding which transport to take, especially having already been ripped off once, I needed to make sure my money went a longer way. The only problem with taking the local bus was where do I stop? Luckily for me, the way to Cholon ended up at the Cholon bus interchange, so there wasn’t an issue.
Cholon Bus Interchange
Again in Cholon, I had to deal with the hazardous traffic. I was on foot, which meant roads to cross. The popular pedestrian crossing, even on major roads, is the zebra crossing (but jaywalking, if such word exists in Vietnam traffic laws, is the norm). There is no point in waiting for the vehicles to stop for me. I could have waited until Armageddon and the vehicles would still zoom past me. The trick was to just cross and hope not to get hit. Every time I crossed the road, it’s like Moses parting the Red Sea. The vehicles wouldn’t stop, but they’ld go around the invisible force field around me. For that, I kissed the ground every time I reached safely on the other side.
Shops in Cholon are basically clustered along streets by what they sell. There’re entire street selling nothing but cloth, streets of shops wholesaling Chinese medical products, streets selling canvas and nylon products, street selling sports products (near a school) etc. Of course, there are the usual temples and churches which my Lonely Planet Guide classified as sights.
Shops in Cholon are basically clustered along streets by what they sell. There’re entire street selling nothing but cloth, streets of shops wholesaling Chinese medical products, streets selling canvas and nylon products, street selling sports products (near a school) etc. Of course, there are the usual temples and churches which my Lonely Planet Guide classified as sights.
Streets selling herbs, cloth and canvas products
Climbing 8 floors to room was no fun after a tiring day
posted by Cylee at
12:34 pm I