Saturday, June 25, 2011

Vietnam: Mekong Coconut Factory, Horse Ride and Night Life



Ho Chi Minh or Saigon is such a dynamic city. It is always buzzing with people from different cultures and heritages, plus, there's always a lot of places to see and things to do.

Like most tourists who visit Saigon, we toured the city by bus and saw the seemingly familiar structures of their buildings (in fact, the way they build their residential and commercial buildings is similar to the way our townhouse back home was built); we found out that there's a couple of Jollibee branches in the city; we must've walked a couple of kilometers just to shop at Ben Thanh market; we joined a pick up tour and explored the Cu Chi tunnels; we took a river cruise at the Mekong Delta followed by a tour of the spots surrounding the river --- got to play with a beehive, carry a snake and drink a cup of pollen juice.

It was our second day in Vietnam. Jem and I wanted to make the most of it. Luckily, the Mekong River tour included a few more surprises than we expected.
Isn't it nice when it feels like you're getting more than you paid for? Yeah... we're sensible chicks that way. ^_^



As for me, I had my carabao ride... well, not exactly on top of the carabao's back as I'd hoped but on a cart attached to its back. Jem is one of those gals who hates any form of cruelty done to animals so she walked instead.

The activities we did that day were quite tiring. We needed to take a break and so it was quite timely when our tourist guide announced that lunch was about to be served.

There were fruits like dragon fruit, pineapple and chico and for our main dish, we were served with pork, fish, rice and vegetables.


While everyone was enjoying lunch, native music was playing followed by a song number by some of the locals. The presentation was quite enchanting!




After our enchanting lunch, we were given time to rest. Jem and I just stayed on the hammock and enjoyed each other's company.


But the tour was not yet over.

After lunch, the guide brought us to the Coconut Factory where they turn coconut into all sorts of fantastic products like candies, oil, vinegar, wine, etc.


Jem and I bought a couple of candy bags which lasted us until Kuala Lumpur and even back to Singapore and Manila. They were delish!

That night, back in Ho Chi Minh city, Jem and I just walked around and enjoyed the sights.

I'm still amazed at the huge number of motorcycles that ply the main streets of Saigon. It's also a bit scary! It made me not want to cross the streets as much as I would have wanted to.

We then headed to a Muslim restaurant. Jem was a vegetarian (she's now vegan) and it's one of those places that serve food she could eat. We had chicken jalfrezi, cheese naan and daal. I was surprised to find out they were yummy! ^_^


When dinner was over, we headed to Allez Boo, the noisiest bar near our street. We were tempted to order San Miguel beer as it caught our attention on the menu.


But then, we just decided to cap the night with coffee and tea. Excited to continue our tour the following morning! ^_^


To be continued...

Read here the rest of our Saigon / Vietnam / Ho Chi Minh adventures.

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