a More of a Historical Trip to Vietnam

Hi guyssss, did you miss us already? *we certainly do hope so*

The travel story for this time is about my (it's me Frankaaa) story trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam for 5 days. Vietnam is well known as a more traditional tourist-y kind of tourist destination, unlike my previous trip to Bali, a more relaxing/honeymoon kind-of tourist destination. Well here is the full detail of my Vietnam trip itinerary:

Hotel: Hoang Phu Gia

Address: Bến Thành, Quận 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Mode of transportation: Air Asia & Private Tour (Philoan TBus
Length of stay: 5 days
Price: $50-70/night
Rating: 3.5/5

Please enjoy my review on my whole South Vietnam trip, and feel free to give us some recommendation on the places that we should've visited instead or recommendation on the future traveling destination!

Activities:

Day 1: Arrival, Night market Pham Ngu Lao street here we go!

After arriving in Ho Chi Minh city of Vietnam at approximately 7pm by AirAsia, we went straight away to the Hoang Phu Gia hotel to drop off our luggage and bags, and have a quick rest. We went to Vietnam using a tour cos we don't have any relatives there. During our first night, it was our free night out, where we can do our own sightseeing activities on the local area around the hotel. We were so new and unfamiliar with the area, so we decided to stay close to the hotel to prevent getting lost TT__TT *sad much? I know*. Well these are some pictures on the nearby local night market.

me and the cute mommy during Christmas day at Đường Lê Lợi

Us in front of the Đường hoa Nguyễn Huệ

Day 2: This is where the real journey began
My second day is basically the whole excitement build up. Finally and at last we can do some touristy activities. First destination is the famous Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica Cathedral.The tour guide was nice enough to take a family picture of the 5 of us in front of the Cathedral and Saint Mary statue. And after the church visit, we went to the tourist attraction of Mekong River. There we undergo a 30 mins boat trip and also enjoyed light refreshments and entertainments from the local people. *It was a good and relaxing trip for today i gueess*

in front of the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica

boat trip at Mekong River, very unique feel to it

anyone dare to hold this thing too? CAUTION! DO NOT DROP!

look at the amount of motorcycles on that street compared to Sydney

Day 3: Vũng Tàu Beach (boat) & Christ of Vũng Tàu
Vung tao beach is South Vietnam's most famous beach. It took us approximately 20-30 mins to reach the destination, and another 30 mins for the top of the hill. A huge statue of Christ and a famous cathedral is also located there, and yes, there are sooooo many steps needed to be taken to reach the very top of the statue *think about all the calories you've lost from all those exercise :')*. And after we've reached the very important part of this trip, we took our shoes off (only people with a certain dress attire are allowed to enter), we prayed and we enjoyed every single one of the view. It was a pretty memorable trip in my opinion. And I am so thankful to my beautiful parents for this wonderful opportunities.

This is where the magic happens *a.k.a the losing weight time

Christ of Vũng Tàu

I went there during Christmas time, Merry early Christmas to you all~

Day 4:- Chu Chi tunnels

If you all want to experience how difficult life was back then during those war time in Vietnam, this is a must go place for you all. Unfortunately, my whole family weren't small enough to be able to enter the tunnel. So my dad could only try to enter the entrance, and gave up halfway *luckily he wasn't stuck at all, which is amazing*. This whole activity lasted for around 2-3 hours, and from all struggles, comes a great reward at the very end. And here is my reward for losing all those calories for the past 4 days! Say yeayyyy to that!

dad pretending to be the soldier

Their most famous dessert

Day 5: Let's Rewatch Their History Live
War Remnants Museum is one of the most popular museums where Vietnamese people store their 'bitter' past. North Vietnamese and Americans was in a war for 21 years (1954-1975), and this is the place where they 'buried' their past at, and it also acts as a reminder to all Vietnamese that this great sorrow happened to their people, and this is how their people fought for their own freedom too. These are some pictures that i took during the trip. As much as I did enjoy the historical stories behind each and every objects there, I can't help but to feel very frightened to see the extent of pain that each and every one of the victims felt during those times. Great respect to every single one of the soldiers and innocent people died during that time :')

The entrance to the museum

the Japanese's journalists camera

Learning something new everyday ;)

POSTED BY: FRANKA