Wrap up of Saigon

I am currently really psyched because it is finally sinking into the depths of my blood cells that I am flying on Friday! Holiday! Yay!!!

I've been pretty nose-deep in work lately so I haven't had much time to think about this trip. Hence here I am at home looking up things to eat in.. Taiwan! 

We'll be spending Christmas and New Year's in Taiwan this year. It'll be our first time in Taiwan :D

I still have plenty to blog about my last trip to Saigon, but I guess I will let the pictures do most of the talking now :)

On our trip, we visited a lot of historic and religious buildings and sites (exactly my kinda itinerary!)

Ho Chi Minh Central Post Office

Normally, you wouldn't expect a Post Office to be a tourist site.. But in Saigon, that is exactly what the Ho Chi Minh Central Post Office is! Beautifully preserved from the French colonial era, the Post Office has been around since the 19th century. The post office is a functioning one- meaning you can send letters or parcels there. I bought a couple of post cards there and had them mailed to some friends!

I was paranoid that the baby-doll dress made me look pregnant.. Hahaha

 Such beautiful, intricate details! For many a split seconds in Saigon, I felt like I wasn't in Asia.. But here, the large portrait of Ho Chi Minh made sure that I don't even for a split second think I wasn't in Vietnam!

Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon

Conveniently right opposite the Central Post Office is the Notre Dame Cathedrals. If you know me or follow my blog (which I would be so surprised but so honored to know such a person exists, say hi!), you would know that I am a HUGE cathedral/ temple enthusiast because I LOVE the details and I always feel a sort of calamity and a washing-machine kind of whirl that I cannot explain when I am in a place of worship. It is a kind of rush that I am still trying to figure out.

Anyway.

The Cathedral was unfortunately under renovation when we were there, meaning that we could not enter the premises. /cries 

We could only admire the cathedral from the outside and view the statue of Virgin Mary, which is infamous for apparently shedding tears back in 2005.

Does make me look pregnant doesn't it?!

OK random photos now I took while walking. Here is the Saigon Opera House, built in 1897 and still functions as a theatre showcasing cultural performances, bamboo cirque, contemporary dance, orchestra concerts and government events to up to 800 people at a time:

 Broken rice :9

A cuppa latte before we hit the road early in the morning

On our last full day in Saigon, we had no plans so I suggested we leave District 1 for District 5, where Chinatown (Cho Lon) was. We took a Grab and it was a 15 minute ride.

We got dropped at the Binh Tay Market.. At least that's where I think it was. We never really found out because it was quite hectic and crowded in District 5 and we got slightly flustered.

We learned that District 5 was not exactly a tourist spot and it was more of a local area, and the Binh Tay Market catered mostly to locals.

I remember Cho Lon particularly (fondly) well because a random man walked pass, did a double take and exclaimed "wah, hou leng ah!!" (wow, so pretty!!) I have repeated this incident multiple times and I think I will pass on this story to my grand kids one day.. Hahaha

We visited 2 temples and a cathedral in District 5:

The St. Francis Xavier's Catholic Church

 One thing that particularly struck me was that it was right where I sat (pic above), was where the South Vietnam President Ngo Din Diem and his brother were captured by the North. They were later executed and Vietnam was "unified".

Shot in the heads and stabbed 15-20 times, while being tied up.

I wonder what were their last thoughts while they were seated there at the pew.

Random stall for Pho! It was good! My BF was anticipating a tummy ache but he was FINE! lol nobody could speak any English so we just kept pointing at the "PHO" and nodding. Our food came with only beef balls and no beef slices, oh well :(

This last cathedral was nearer to our hotel but I cannot remember the name.. Still such a gorgeous place..

Down into the Cu Chi Tunnels we go, hey ho!

One of the things I was most looking forward to about going to Vietnam was to find out more about the Vietnam War. Going to Saigon and not going to the historical Cu Chi Tunnel would've been unacceptable. As advised by my friends and reviews online, we bought our tour (A Travel Mate) at our hotel lobby. There should be tours you can easily book at your hotel, and if you do not see one, I am pretty sure the hotel staff can help you arrange something. We booked the half-day tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels, equipped with transport to and back from our hotel.

Bought this cute hat somewhere in the Bến Thành Market opposite our hotel!

We got picked up at our hotel right on time at around 8 in the morning. Our tour guide, Mervin (real name Thành) was very vocal and funny, if you appreciate dry humor. He was also very obviously pro-communist, which I believe is quite common. My friend said she had a tour guide who wasn't, as his grandfather or some other family member used to fight for the North back in the Vietnam War.

We took a van there and the journey took roughly about an hour and a half.

We were quite worried because when we were there back in the forth week of September, it kept raining almost everyday and it was drizzling when we were on the way to the Cu Chi Tunnels..

Our van. There were maybe around 10 of us in the tour group, with people from Italy, America (who were the unfortunate receivers of some VERY dry humor from our tour guide....) England, and even Sabah, Kota Kinabalu where I am from. Mervin made the effort to get to know all of us and told us lots of interesting history about the Cu Chi Tunnels and Vietnam on our way to our destination. It was all very serious but he made it a little less with his many jokes, which my BF seemed to appreciate the most out of the whole bunch lol

On the way there, we stopped somewhere to look at handicrafts and ceramics made by the locals for sale.

They were fascinating to watch and the ceramics would make lovely souvenirs to bring back home!

After around 1.5 hours, we finally reached our destination and yay to the fact that it stopped raining!

We got to see the booby traps that were created by the Viet Congs. This one, the Punji Trap, was a disguised grass door which spun open to reveal sharp spears deep into the ground that will pierce through anything, or anyone that steps on it.

This was one of the holes that the Viet Congs would crawl into to get to the tunnels

One of the tourists climbing into the tunnel. It was really small, but the Viet Congs, being Vietnamese, being Asians were really small, not to mention their lack of healthy and nourishing food, all fit into these hidden holes easily.

We didn't enter the Cu Chi Tunnels through this hole.

It was really quite the eye-opener to learn about how the Viet Congs survived back in the Vietnam War. They lived in the tunnels for such long periods of time that whenever they got to come out, they would cherish it; the fresh air, the sun and even the sound of crickets!

If you are unfamiliar with the history of the Viet Congs, the South and the Americans during the Vietnam War, I highly recommend that you check it out, or try to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam because its hella interesting. I do not marvel war, but I really feel sad for the people who were involved and the countless lives that were lost. Its baffling how many have to die to get unity.

We also could try out the shooting range (at a separate charge) but nobody in the tour did it because there was a long queue and there was only one in operation.

Oh, just a lady doing her thing and making spring roll rice paper...

OK- the good part. We got into the Cu Chi Tunnels!

As you can KINDA see from the videos, the tunnels were pitch black, tiny (even for me and I'm only 5ft tall) and very narrow. It is also 15 feet deep into the ground. The good thing was there were exits for you to bail at almost every turn in the tunnel if you felt too claustrophobic. We didn't go all the way because in all honesty, I felt really hot and it was pretty scary in there!! I cannot imagine how the VC used to sleep, move and eat and basically LIVE down in those tunnels back in the War. It must've been so difficult.

It was way smaller than the tunnels we went to in the DMZ in South Korea, that is for sure.

If you were wondering, the tunnels opened for tourists have been well-preserved and managed by the government especially for tourist purposes, so it was safe and well-managed. When a tourist on our tour asked Mervin if Vietnam still had secret tunnels, Mervin said he wasn't allowed to say and that he has a chip implanted on his neck which beeps when he isn't supposed to say something, and it was beeping. lol.

After that, we went back to our hotel. But not without getting a taste of the tapioca that the VC used to eat back in the War. It was bland but with salt, it filled the tummy!

I personally really enjoyed the tour so much, and it really did damn well fuel my historic geekiness!

I highly recommend you take the Cu Chi Tunnels tour, even if you hate history, because hey... you never know, one day you might need to crawl into a tunnel yourself, what with Trump as president now.. Damn.