Day 3 in Ho Chi Minh City

On the 3rd morning in Ho Chi Minh City, we woke up with painful butts. It was another early morning, because again, we were going to travel to another place 2 hours away from the city.

Then you would ask, did I tour around the city? haha.. well, not exactly. A lot of places or significant buildings were just merely a glimpse away from the motorcycle. I did not even get to go to the Reunification Palace (which I've asterisked in my travel log cum itinerary planner).

That may be a reason valid enough to make me go back to Ho Chi Minh City again.

Anyway, yar, breakfast was slightly more filling, as we had noodles.


Don't they look nice together? =D

I hardly eat such a heavy meal for breakfast, so I couldn't finish the noodles, even though it came in the smallest bowl. I couldn't remember what it was called, but it was nice. A refreshing way to start the day. :)



So again, another 2 hours on the bike, sun-tanning and butt-hurting.

Until we finally reached Vuon Xoai (pronounced as Vuon Suai) Resort Park. With another kiss from the motorcycle's exhaust pipe. Ouch.


No, they are not selling Wacoal there. It just so happened that the company was having their family day there. What's happening to my company's staff welfare??

Highly recommended by Hai, it is a resort park that has all sorts of activities there. They even have a mini-zoo and horse wagon rides.



You can even ride an ostrich. :)



Too bad we didn't have enough time for that.

After deciding what to do, we rented bicycles and cycled around the park, and came to a large patch of grassland.



What were we going to do?


Look at the excited monkey!

Grass ski-ing!

It was fun, minus the pain factor. It was like learning how to roller-skate or ice-skate, and falling down is inevitable. I have forgotten how many times I had fallen down, and landed on my butts and knees. I just remembered that it was super painful after that, and the pain lasted for days.



It was kinda scary too, because once you lift the sticks off the ground, you would just start rolling until you reach the end of the slope, or you fall down, whichever comes first.

On average, I would fall at least once or twice before I could finally get to the end of the slope. Not bad for a beginner. =D


Monkey climbing back up the slope in the transformers' bulky shoes

I think we spent slightly more than an hour there, with half the time trying to catch our breaths when we got to rest.

After that, we decided to make our way back to the city, to have our lunch and to do some shopping. But I guessed all of us were just too exhausted, because we all kept yawning. hahah..

Well, there wasn't anything much to shop for in Vietnam. When it comes to fashion, either they are not of my taste, or the nice ones are expensive. The prices of branded items are around 1.5 times that in Singapore, I might as well have my own shopping spree back here.


Saigon Square, that looks like a mini-Chatuchak in Bangkok

Food wise, nothing in particular that I miss. I still miss more of Filipino food (Bongbong's! Chicken inasal!). Huiyan, however, went on a spree buying Vietnamese coffee and instant noodles.

The highlight of the day came when we were dining in a Japanese restaurant in Zen Plaza. It was supposed to be a nice treat for our two friends who had been bringing us around Ho Chi Minh City, but it turned out to be an unpleasant experience. Imagine, I had to call for the restaurant's manager to complain how unhappy we all were, and how bad the services were provided. Our two dear friends were just amazed at how we lashed out on the manager. haha..


Old grandma, the caretaker of the hotel

Back to the hotel, we waited for a massage session nearby. Also another once-in-a-lifetime experience. Enough said.


Caught on camera!

After the massage session, Hai, Huiyan and I went back to the hotel, and Hai wanted to have a discussion so as to work on his project on improving the school's system. I'm terribly sorry, that I fell asleep while discussing, although I said I could stay awake the whole night. haha.. getting old.

The next day, we left early for breakfast (bread-and-egg again) and then to the airport. It was indeed a very short trip (considering that my recent trips range from 5 days to a month), but every journey has its own adventure, and I must say that this trip is rewarding, in terms of experience rather than materially.

If given another opportunity, I would like to explore Vietnam again. But for now, my next destination will still be the Philippines! Mabuhay!