ZARA BAHARIM: Vietnam Trip

Last month on 23rd May, me and a few bunch of my office mate went on a vacation to Vietnam for 5 days and 4 nights. At first macam tak nak pergi sebab punya nak jimat duit nak memang tak ada mood nak pergi vacation pun. Tapi disebabkan this would be my last time vacation dengan bebudak office i decided to join them. Memang excited nak pergi tapi tak sedap hati sikit nak pergi sebab mak wasnt in a very good shape.Tapi mak suruh gak pergi and siap pancing bagi duit belanje.

2 days before, nak pergi office memang da tak ade mood langsung. Tengok drawing dekat monitor pun teringat Vietnam. Flight kita orang dalam pukul 7.40pm. So kita orang semua naik bus from office around 4.00pm terus kt LCCT. Da settle check in luggage, aku dan cik puan Siti pergi la alas perut. So berpusu la kami ke Starbucks yang super pack.

Alas perut dengan penuh bergaya.

Lepas melepak dan meng "check-in" kan diri kt Facebook, kita orang terus boarding...Mak dekat 5 kali call tanya da boarding ke belum. Mak suka buat orang susah hati. Rasa macam nak balik je. T.T

Cik Puan Siti..Sempat lagi..

It took us around 1 and a half hours to reach Ho Chi Minh City. Dalam flight, aku tak ada selera nak makan.Mamat sebelah aku makan ape tah , bau dia sangat la disgusting. So i slept the entire flight. Touch down around 8.30 local time. Sampai aja , ambil luggage, kastam then terus naik bus which has been provided by the tour guide.Naik aje bus, terus terlelap. Punya la ngantok and penat.Apa yang tour guide tu membebel aku pun tak tahu.Yang aku dok pikir, bile nak sampai hotel.

Our hotel. The best part is, everywhere got free wifi.

Pic taken by Danny.

Naik aje bilik, terus mandi and melantak Meggi.Yes! Aku bawak Meggi cup dari Malaysia.Orang lain dah start merayau ke Night market but the both of us decided to stay in our room and melepak. Penat okay?

DAY 1.
The next day, pergi visit the a few museum dalam bandar Ho Chi Minh. First kita orang pergi Reunification Palace (Hoi Truong Thong Nhat). This place is actually a government building.It's a great retro-style palace, considering it's a relatively young country. The palace and its surroundings were well taken care of, very clean. Good to know that the palace area is not only for exhibition. Some levels in the palace are open for the public (exhibitions, parties, etc).4 levels to walk around and would easily take a couple of hours or more to cover this well maintained attraction. A lot of history is in here and good for adults and kids to visit this place. Opens quite early around 8 am and closed for lunch around 11:30.

The tanks

Panas yang amats :p

Sit and our Tour Guide, Mr.Long.

Our group

View from Upper level overlooking the main road

Here you can find alot more abour Vietnam history.

Disebabkan cuasa yang amat panas, masing - masing tetiba jadi super jakun bila nampak air cond.

Selesai merayau and ambil gambar, he headed to the next place which is War Remnants Museum.Bila masuk kat tempat ni, aku teringat dekat abah. His a history junkie especially when it comes to war stuff.Memang dia minat. One day memang kene bawak abah datang sini.They have dungeons, bombs, graphic pictures of the Vietnam war.Another person yang aku ingat bila sampai aje kt sini is, Forrest Gump. One of my favorite movies ALL TIME.

Loved the settings in the galleries. They seemed to have almost everything about the Vietnam War documented. The pictures of the killings by the US army were all sickening. Really not for the faint-hearted.It offers an insight into the Vietnamese perspective and shock value aside, showed the utter devastation inflicted on the country's people and infrastructure and the contrast of present day and how Vietnam has recovered and dealt with such hardship. Although very confronting, it was not at all propagandist and is a must see in order to truly see the country and its people (especially the older people who have lived through the war) in perspective.

According to Mr. Long, this is an actual aircraft.

Pictures below are all the after effect of the Vietnam War. Its pretty graphic. Sickening apparently..

This people have my highest respect.Even though dia orang ni cacat, tapi dia orang gigih nak baiki hidup dia orang. Kat Malaysia?... Pikir sendiri!

Budak ni super comel. At first aku tak perasan yang dia ni kudung.

Siti dan En. Baha

This place is scary.Rasa nak termuntah,pening bila tengok gambar - gambar tentera, bombs, after effects. Tempat ni memang best.Then selesai ambil gambar, kita orang headed to Cuchi Tunnel.Its about 2 hours drive to kawasan perkampungan. On the way there, most of us tidur. The weather is hot, bila naik bus masing - masing kena air cond, memang sah la membute kan?

Cu chi Tunnel terletak afew km dari bandar Saigon. Kerowong ni dibina by local people to escaped anf berlindung dari musuh. Kerowong ni sangat sempit, and sangat panjang.Sebelum kami masuk Cu chi Tunnel, kita orang berhenti makan di kedai makan halal. Food die sedap. Tak ingat lauk ape tapi tak jauh beza dengan our local food. Makanan dia sedikit mahal sebab rempah, serbuk kari and segala benda ni di import dari Malaysia. hahaha..

This is the place.

The food memang sedap.

So lepas makan, berangkat la kami ke Cu Chi Tunnel.Tak berapa jauh dari tempat makan pun. Ingat dapat la nk lelap sekejap, haremmmssss!

Entering kawasan Cu Chi Tunnel

Briefing on the tunnel by Mr.Long

ni la salah satu contoh tunnel die. The actual size. Tapi skang size da dibesarkan sedikit untuk pelancong.

Size orang Vietnam ni memang kerempeng.

Ni adalah salah satu contoh ~~Boobie~~ Boogie Trap made untuk tumbangkan askar US.Benda yang tajam tu bamboo stick kalau tak salah aku. Wasnt pay attention sangat sebab aku dok nengok Ulat Gonggok banyak gile..

Ni la rupenya..

Demonstration . Tengok betapa sempit lagi sesak nya lobang tu.Kalau aku memang meraung aku. Sesape yang Claustrophobic tidak digalakkan.

Lee mencuba nasib.

This is what call air ventilation uuntuk supply air untuk orang vietnam yang duduk didalam terowong tu.

Salah satu lubang masuk terowong

Please abaikan kebuncitan perut. Itu semua adalah ilusi semata - mata. Disebabkan tembuk tu rendah dan disuruh menimpa M16 tu dekat tembuk tu, aku pun membongkokkan diri. Gitu la kisah nya. Kalau tak percaye tembuk tu tinggi, sila compared gamba ni dengan gambar di bawah

Siti is about my below shoulder height. See.. i told u right? Lol

Then Mr.Long cakap kita suma akan masuk terowong and crawl for afew meters just untuk merasa duduk dalam tunnel. Aku tengok keluasan terowong tu, aku rasa baik tak payah. Even aku teringin sangat nak merasa tapi aku perlu sedar diri yang aku ni tinggi and besar. Kalau aku sangkot dalam terowong tu memang mati aku tak dapat balik.All that memang menarik tempat ni. Kita orang literally berjalan dalam hutan.

Lepas tu, kami sampai kat shooting range. Depa sume ni excited la nak try tembak pakai senapang. Aku tengok harga peluru. mahal! Baik aku simpan tuk beli barang2. Tapi En. Din kasi duit and aku decided to share dengan Askar Wataniah kita, Puan Siti. Kita orang try out M 16.Even aku biasa shoot guna Paintball marker, tapi this feeling is totully different. Memang syok. Rasa nak lagi tapi .... hehehe..

Lepas pada tu, kami semua terus balik kt Ho Chi Minh City untuk dinner. Dah tak ingat nama kedai and da tak ingat nak ambil gambar sebab kebuluq gile.Tapi food kali ni paling sedap. Ada asam pedas ayam., First time rasa and super sedap. Balik Malaysia kena try buat.

Lepas makan,kami sume balik hotel.

DAY 2.

Day 2 kami ke Mekong Delta. Kat sini kami ramai-ramai naik boat along Mekong River and tengok kehidupan orang Vietnam di sepanjang Mekong River.Cuaca as usually sangat la panas.

On the way to Mekong Delta. Kat sini banyak motor dari kereta sebab harga kereta mahal. So sapa yang mampu beli kereta means orang kaya.

Kat jati nak naik boat

Mekong River

Ni sarang lebah.

Tak tahu apa nama nya.Tapi orang tu buat mixture ni depan2. Campur dengan Royal Jelly, air limau nipis and ape tah. Rasa sangat sedap.

At first memang tak perasan contained dalam tu. Then bila one of my officemate bgtau, geli gelaman jugak aku. This is a bottle of alcohol with Cobra in it. Yes!! It believes to enhanced the male "reproductive" organ.Konon nya ada la orang tu nak belikan ni untuk wedding present aku. =)

This thing is scary. Bila tengok condition sungai ni, aku teringat buaya. Tapi pikir kan orang ramai, im surebuaya pun lari.

No words can describe this picture. This just something.Even tak pakai camera mahal, tapi turn out lawa gila.

Kami berempat atas sampan.

Traffic jem tengah-tengah sungai..Risau gak aku time nih

Lepas naik sampai, kita orang naik balik boat lg satu tu ke Jetty balik. Then tetibe nampak ni..

Rasa dia lain dari air kelapa yg biase. Semua orang dapat. Nasib tak ada sudu. Nak je aku kaut isi dia.Ish.. terasa lagi kesedapan air dia..

Then kami naik bus balik ke bandar.Naik bilik, lepak, nap and bersiap nak pegi dinner.Ada satu food tu sedap gila. Dia macam kerabu isi ayam. Ada kacang, kelapa, masam-masam.. Sedap nya...

This is the one im talking about.. Tak tahu apa nama nya tapi super awesome.

This one tak boleh blah. Kacang botol is Che Mats favorite. Everytime aku ada peluang nak masak untuk Che Mat, kacang botol adalah bende wajib dalam menu.So bila tengok lauk ni, rasa nak menitik air mata. Rindu punya pasal. Lol

Hands down the best Sweet sour fish i had in my entire life.

Aksi terlampau dari Siti and Paman yang kebuluran.

Lepas dari makan, kita orang start our operating our main reason ke Vietnam.. SHOPPING!!!. Tapi malam tu just survey-survey barang.Because esok nya kami ada 1 hari untuk shopping sakan before kami balik.Aku, Siti, Paman, and afew other berjalan la ke tempat tu. Paling horror adalah time nak cross the road. Memang horror tapi syok.hahaha

Ban Then Market.

Ban Then Market is like Petaling Street.

Aku pun mula kan operasi survey barang dan bertanya kan harga. To my surprised, harga barang memang murah. Geram betul. Aku beli T-shirt untuk adik-adik ipar aku, ayah in law , Haziq and abah. T-shirt yang quality nya elok and design lawa - lawa, you can easily get around 50,000- 70,000 Dong. Around RM 5-7. Serious. Mula plan nak belikan dia orang sehelai, end up to 2 pasang sorang.

Aku ada buat survey kat internet saying that Vietnam has one of the best coffee. So since im a coffee lover,so aku pun survey mencarik the best coffee. So sampai this one place, masyallah bau coffee.. Awesome. Aku memang da aim kedai tu. So mintak pertolongan dari Siti since she;s very good in negotiating skills, aku suruh Siti nego harga. Nega punya nego, dapat half price. Yeay! So aku beli 2 kotak 3in1 coffee and 6 box of fresly brewed coffee...

Memang syok gila tengok.. Bau menusuk kalbu.

Tapi good news is aku dapat filter coffee 2 for free.. Sangat best. At first pelik gak memikir macam mana nak guna. Tapi mamat yang jual tu tunjuk kan.Aku tak ada ambil gambar filter tu, but macam ni la rupanya.