Ho Chi Minh 17 Jul to 22 Jul

Went to Ho Chi Min recently for 6 days. An interesting trip visiting a developing country.
Visited the war museum which is kind of disturbing as we see how the people suffered during the Vietnam war with the Americans and how they were treated during the war and how the next generation were affected due to the bombs. When you view the pics you will know what I mean by disturbing.

Went to Vung Thau which is like a beach area of a population of around 200k ppl. A number of rich Vietnamese owns a house there as its near to a beach, apparently Disneyland is looking to have a 3rd Disneyland in Asia which will be built there. A plot of land is being reserved for that development. Cimbed up the stairs to see a look alike of the Rio de jenerio’s Jesus Christ. Climbed up around 985 steps to reach and to be inside the head of Jesus. Which took a while to climb up as the steps inside the statue is very narrow and we have to allow ppl to walk down before we slowly made our way up.

Visited the whale temple there as the ppl believed that the whales are the protector of the sea and that the fishermen worshipped them. The bones of the whales that were killed were kept in the temple.

went to ben than market where u can buy lots of stuffs from t-shirts, accessories,bags,hand made table cloths etc.

dvds in vietnam is very cheap.series for around $6 sing and the moveis around $1sing

lots of fruits to buy in vietnam.durians,dragon fruit,logans,rambutans and many more.

went to mekong delta for boat ride and went island hopping there.see the below pics to find out more about the whole trip.

rate :S$1=10,000 dong

view of ho chi minh from the plane
ben than market

louis vuitton

notre dame
post office
address of the post office

interior of the post office
map and the telephone booth
city hall

my beef pho
me and pho

war museum

the famous pic
dioxin from the bombs
twins that were born stuck together but they died very young due to their parents exposed to the dioxin when they were in their mum's stomach or when they were conceived.

americans chopping the heads down and posing-cruelty 1 what were they thinking real sick
another american posing with a dismembered body -cruelty 2

place where the prsioners were being held and totured
some women prisoners wwere being tortured by having snakes let into their virgina.which is really disgusting -cruelty 3
a man held in prison with chinese words behind him

3-D painting of the walkway to see the cells from the top
the 3D painting of the cells

vietnam was supported by russia and china during the war

me and the girl whom i bought the necklance from
a famous coffeeshop

entrance of the cuchi tunnel
a funny looking tree with the flowers growing upwards

how the tunel is like in model.ther eare 3 section. the 1st on the top is 3 m high.2nd part which is the middle one is 6m high and the final one is 10m deep .this shows how water supply and air and how they escape from the americans
the way into the tunnel and how small it is

rice paper
sandals made from tyres
do i look like the wax figurine too?

me inside the hole
in the midst of walking the cuchi tunnel
twinning
in the meeting roon

kitchen of the vietcom
tapioca which was what he vietcom had durign the vietnam war
me having the tapioca and their tea

nostalgic

bridge leading to the resturant
the sign stating quoc le 22 its the route to the border of cambodia where by there is casino at the cambodian border for the vietnamese to go to.2hrs drive

arrived at Vung Tau city
the summer palace

the summer palace from another angle

whale temple in vung tau
bones of the huge whale
love the tree

vung tau beach
the reception hall at sammy hotel

our hotel in vung tau

jesus from afar. piture taken from the hotel
on the left is a plate of cockles which i don't really fancy as I don't really like cockles. the one on the right was clams which were tasty. very fresh and its nice as cooked with garlic, peanuts and spring onion.

our room in vung tau
the bathroom was huge

finally reaching the foot of Jesus. Looks like the one in Rio
me posing
the last supper


the steps we climbed up inside jesus's statue the view of vung tau city

the side view of jesus.

taken from the foot of jesus
holding jesus's feet
having to make our way down the stairs to our coach. this was part of the stairs we had to climb up before reaching the foot of jesus.

mary
goddess of mercy
a budhi tree
the goddess of mercy temple

our dinner
me looking wacky

a man delivering boxes of milos and other stuffs in his small bike
rising bicycle with some funny long woodlike bamboos
binh tay market in chinatown

dried shrimps??

no to drugs
post office in chinatown with a vietnamese lady

decor outside the acousitic bar
the band played well.their drummer is only 11 yrs old
i love this painting on the wall of the famous singers
me and alain
mekong river
the walkway to take the boat for the mekong delta tour

with the boat lady
me with my coconut

my coconut and used the husk as a spoon to scoop the coconut meat

looks like a normal ornament

think again.the coconut is being painted and it is actually used to keep the teapot as this will keep the tea inside the teapot warm.how innovative.

me and the bike

wild geese chase?

bees

me holding the bees
me on my rowing boat

this is the main rower at the back of the boat who is the mother of the gal in the next picture.this is their part time job.they are actually farmers

the gal rowing at the front.she is 13 yrs old

a buffalo

see how the fish is being placed

using wooden ladder to paint

van gouh on right and buddha on the left

vietnamese gals promoting for biore

prawns cooked inside the coconut

saigon river
waiting area at the spa

gigantic menu at the art cafe
the interior of the cafe

cinema

ice cream coconut at this famous ice cream place


coffee beans from this coffee place