Food Adventure

At Chợ Bến Thành-Sàigon By Night

  

At Bờ Kè--Mũi Né By Night

     

"Backwater" Trip in Bến Tre

On Wed morning, our two canoe paddlers were waiting for us by 9am at the harbor in front of the hotel! One of them told me later that she awoke at 2am, worrying about the wind and the strong currents...but once she had committed to do something, she wouldn't back out (even I gave her the hotel's phone # to call if there was any changes...) so she prayed for the our safety. So kind of her! I bet they left home at 7am.

We got our wishes: doing the backwater trip without tourists, going into the very small, quiet, peaceful canals for long ride... It was risky crossing the river, but I  conquered my fear on the water! I was wearing a life vest for the whole time, G and I tried to take turns to paddle to help the two ladies out, because 3/4 of the trip they had to go against the current! I am sure they have arms and shoulders of steel to be able to do that task! I paid them double of what they asked once we arrived. That was hard work!

It was an amazing feeling to just float for 2 hours through the canals, seeing some locals setting jumbo shrimps traps, passing a coconuts processing plant, feeling of being shielded by "a curtain" of water coconut trees, just being immersed in nature...If India's Kerala Province deserves the name "God's own country", Ben Tre is more deserving of this title! (G's opinion)

We arrived at our "paradise" for lunch again. The owner asked his daughter to take us around to visit his relatives where we had a chance to set foot inside 3 local homes, 2 of them very basic and primitive. (G was so appreciative to see all that), One of the homes along a jungle canal was a homestay where they offer a bed to sleep with outdoor bathroom, plus breakfast and dinner included in the fee. Even though the offer sounded interesting, we declined.

Well, the plan to return by canoe was changed to motorbike ride instead. It was 35C and we were tired by 5pm when we got back to the hotel, but surely we had another amazing day!

My cousin came from HCM city to spend time with me the next day, took me to get the best coconut/banana candies in Ben Tre, we talked, walked to market, ate... as G went to do his own thing...

We will say goodbye to Ben Tre and return to Saigon this Friday but will miss it. Beach time should be coming soon. We planned to go to Vung Tau, and if we don't like it there, we would go to Mui Ne, Phan Thiet.  Will see.

"This Is Paradise...

... and then God created mosquitoes!"

Our day started with a good breakfast which was included in the room rate. Then we rented a motorbike and had an awesome ride with my dear husband who kept me safe through the countryside route  :)

We had no destination but went back to memory lane as a part of exploring, then the rest we just kept cruising through the most peaceful scenic narrow roads along the many canals, stopped by a Buddhist temple, had a break at a sugarcane juice stand, encountered a Coconut Processing Plant by the river. Got more info from locals...(Knowing the language is the biggest asset when travelling!) We reached a beautiful place for lunch that G and I were in awe of how lucky we were in finding these places where there were few tourists.

Another delicious lunch (Elephant Fish) at a private open hut with hammocks in a total jungle setting, listened to the rustling sound of palm trees leaves, felt the fresh air of the peaceful surroundings...G kept saying:"This is paradise... What did I do to deserve this...no pics or videos could tell how we feel right now...got to be here!..." I said:" This is what we call a real vacation!" Definitely, Ben Tre is one of our favourite places in VN.

We already booked a boat trip with some local people, avoiding the tour agencies.  So tomorrow, two ladies from the village will pick us up via a canoe right in front of the hotel, take 1hr+ canoe ride back to the village, rent a motorbike there to explore more before having another unknown lunch (?) then we will travel back the same way. Gotta put all my important papers in a plastic bag just in case I sink ;)

Another awesome day and it has not ended yet! Hmmm, what's next?

An Awesome Day!

After parting with my cousins on Sunday afternoon, we rested, then took a cab to a restaurant outside Tra Vinh city for dinner. The place looked impressive with individual huts floating on a swamp of different sizes with dining tables. We thought we came to a great place on the last day in Tra Vinh, unfortunately the food we ordered wasn't great. Well, we learned that deluxe did not guarantee good food.

We decided to go to Ben Tre on Mon afternoon, so we took a nice walk through Tra Vinh market for breakfast and leisurely browsed there in the morning.

We each took a 30-min motorbike ride through a beautiful scenic country route to Pha Co Chien to a ferry boat which took us across the river, part of the Mekong. From there we got on a local bus to Ben Tre where we found a very nice hotel facing the river...for $18/night. Had a delicious lunch...  We really enjoyed every type of transportation we took, feeling the new adventure which was smooth sailing all the way! Soaking in each moment!    

We are now settled in Ben Tre for the next 3-4 days. Love being here! This morning we are planning to rent a motorbike to ride around the country side, and a boat ride the next day through some of the thousands of canals in the Mekong Delta, go with the flow to explore...

Visiting My Roots

After a few well-rested days in HCM city, I reunited with my two cousins for the first time after 30+ years since I left VN. There is so much to reminisce that I became very emotional when I got back to the hotel that night.

On Sat morning, my two cousins (one with her daughter), G and I boarded a comfy bus--AC and sleeper seats for a 5-hr ride to Tra Vinh, my Dad's birthplace. The purpose of this trip was to visit my grandparents' graves and their home to pay respect. It has been 50 years since I set foot in Tra Vinh as a little girl at my Grandpa's funeral. I also did this on behalf of my Dad, I wanted to take home some images for his memories since he had no desire to travel to VN.

We found a nice, new hotel right downtown, dropped off the luggage and hired a taxi to the graves in the afternoon.  Luckily, one cousin and my sister from Reno (who was in VN a month ago) already went through the toughest part in searching for the graves, so it was easy this time. At first, I thought we were going to a cemetery, didn't know that my grandparents were well-off people in Tra Vinh in their era. The graves were untouched after all these years on their own big piece of land in the country site, which is now legally owned  by only one grandson. My Dad didn't have the rights to claim it either! Presently there is a poor family (generation passed on) who live there by planting peanuts and selling lottery tickets for a living; who are also responsible to look after the graves occasionally.

During our conversation, I mentioned to my cousins about an aunt who loved and cared for me for 5+years when I was given away for that period of time. Due to circumstances, I completely lost contact with her since my teen, not even had her picture. They were able to lead me to her grave! This was the unexpected blessing!

The whole afternoon was exhausting and emotional for me, feeling like I was re-living my childhood (which wasn't all good) However, it was a closure for me to be able to complete this task and I was finally at peace!

On Sun morning we walked to the temple where the other cousin's mother's resting place (urns of ashes on the shelves), to the market for food... Just simply spending time together as they were happy to see me again:) My cousins returned to HCM city on Sun afternoon, G & I decided to stay in Tra Vinh for another day or two to explore more before heading to Ben Tre (been there last time and love it!)

Return to Vietnam

This is the 4th time--every 2-3 years since 2005. No more "home sick" for G as every winter in Canada he always said: "I am home sick, let go back to VN".

Ready to cross?

We arrived in VN on Mon evening. What a switch from Chennai to Ho Chi Minh City! Of course, with business class flights, our luggages came out first, custom and immigration check was a breeze, the airport was clean and peaceful. It's paid to travel with someone who could speak the language, or better yet marry to one ;) No more culture shock, got to our usual hotel with a pleasant taxi drive, had quick shower then we were on the street to Ben Thanh night market for "real" dinner.

Eating inside Ben Thanh Market

Eating in the ally

Finally we both felt like our vacation had just begun! In the last few days we rested, walked, ate whenever we felt like it, had no definite plan or place to go. I am sure our bodies thank us for our choices. 

As we returned to our "comfort zone", for some new friends who may see or read less interesting stuff for a while, because we would not snap pictures constantly like new tourists. G already felt like to adventure again, but we were taking time to plan our next legs--we have a whole month. For sure, one of the plans will be the visit to my grandparents' graves in Tra Vinh. That will be interesting, for me at least. 

Stay tuned... 

The Last Leg In India

Feb 14
- enjoyed the camel ride!
- while waiting for our train to go back to Kochi from Alleppy (Alappuzha), we accepted an offer for a 2hr taxi ride with AC directly to the Kochi airport for $20US (he took care of the train tickets refund with small commission--fair enough :)
- had uneventful 1.5 hrs flight to Chennai.
- got culture shock once we were out of the airport! Had no clue where we were going to stay.
- endured a horrendous non-AC taxi ride for 1hr+ on highway which was down to two lanes, traffic jams, breathing in exhaust fumes...
- got to an area where it should be full of tourists as we asked. Hmmm, not a soul!
- grabbed a nice hotel just to get in regardless of the price $45/day, no restaurant, just room service (we didn't know where the food come from) Wifi charge was 2$ /100MB,  uploading pics was draining my pocket so fast so I stopped.

- ate street food with fingers while standing late at night.
Feb 15
- didn't feel well, got a chest cold  but agreed to go for a walk with G to find a money exchange. Still couldn't find a proper restaurant for breakfast. We bought a samosa and a pastry to keep walking on dirty streets (Chennai is the 4th largest city in India???)
-The hotel only accepted cash so I desperately needed US$ exchanged. Took a while to find a bank but it was not authorized to do the task!  People are still nice here even they look, act, speak differently than in Kerala. The bank had to call another bank and they promised to deliver money in 1/2 hr but it turned out to be almost 2hrs! For the whole time I stayed in the most dirty bank I have ever seen, a bank of India Branch. G went out finding food and came back with a small apple which I had no desire to eat. I was getting sick without realizing it.
- That was it! I hit the bed for the afternoon. Ordered room service for a bowl of soup which  made me even sicker that night!
Feb 16
- in my condition, we had to stay put. Couldn't plan to see places like Mamalapuram 60km from Chennai. G was very supportive, wandered around close to the hotel to check on me. That was when he felt he had enough of Chennai (and India as a whole): no good food, had to get beer illegally. dirty streets...so he agreed to get out at any price.
- I was in bed on the hunt for airline ticket to VN and the earliest we could get out for the price "I" would pay was Mon Feb 18 at 3am! $200/each more than planned.
- we were content to stay another day because we knew the end of our India trip was near.
Feb 17
- to our surprise, I was feeling better in the morning! We decided to take a short day trip to a closer temple & beach. Boy! This beach was the worst compared to any  beaches we had been to. It was so dirty along the shore! But the temple was nice. The locals began to come around 3pm. On the way back unexpectedly we saw another nice temple. (Please see temples and beach  pics on slideshow on the right)
- we ended the day by eating in the room a takeout half roasted chicken. The first time in two days I felt hungry.

-checkout at 10pm and to airport by 11pm. The autorickshaw driver tried to get more money from us with his children story up to the point of begging. Even I had been tipping generously, we didn't like his behavior, no good tip for him.

- Chennai didn't give us any good impression including its airport, my pic said it all. BUT the great thing we found out was we were flying in business class. I couldn't explain how it happened because I was sure I booked economy class???
-we missed the Lounge Invitation so only me turned around to use it and went through the security check twice. G didn't want to do it, but understood that I needed to do so--my first time ever to enjoy the business class service.

The Noodles Bar

-We both were so happy getting out of India AND getting in business class cabin on both flights  to Vietnam without knowing whatever the germs we got from Chennai was following us onto the plane!
-Augh! I was feeling sick again on the first flight, and G felt the same the minute we landed on Hong Kong airport. We both decided to take antibiotic pills!  Gladly we had 6hrs to rest and recover at another Cathay Pacific's Lounge where we had forgo all the good free foods  they served and settled with soup and light drinks only. It paid off, we felt much better by the time we boarded the second flight to VN.

What all the Yo-Yo experiences we both have in the two weeks in India after my one-month ashram life! Hmmm, reflection on this trip will come later when we get home!

VN here we come!