The third day holds our second trip venturing out of Saigon city, to Mekong Delta. Our day started with breakfast at the lobby and it was full house, thus they open another table for us (the small wooden table that we usually see during outings). The choice of food was still the same as previous days, the standard toast bread or noodles. There was this waiter, whom my gf feel act like a 5 star hotel waiter with his politeness and overall, quite funny as well. After finishing the breakfast, we waited awhile for the tour guide, and as usual they would go to the hotels along the street to round people who have sign up for their tour package.
In the bus, we saw the 4 Malaysian lady and the solo guy from Malaysia (whom is a Filipino) who joined yesterday’s Chu chi Tunnel trip. They had made similar arrangements as us. The bus ride didn't take very long before we stopped briefly for a toilet break. While there, we saw that the shop was selling the Vietnamise coffee strainer (bought for sovienier). After an hour or so, we finally reached the jetty where we had to board a boat and it took us on the lake cruise.
First stop is the honey factory, where they let you try the fresh honey and Royal Jelly. I had planned to buy, but it was too expensive (as i felt other outlets in the city would be cheaper). After the 'honey tasting', we was urshered to the canal, where we had a 'Gondola Ride' in groups of 4 person along the stream before ending it at another jetty where we board back the boat. The Gondola ride was slow and allow you to take picture and enjoying the hot sun. It is really hardwork for those aunties who roll the boat, but i guess that is a way of life for them.
We then had to transfer boat in the middle of the lake due to the depth of the lake being too shallow for the first boat that we came by. We was transfered into smaller boat and went on yet another Gondola ride (but this is motorised) and ended at the Coconut candy factory. We was shown the candy making process from the start till how it's packed. It was fragrant and i felt that it would make a good item for sharing with the people in the office, as there is quantity to it. I bought 6 packed for around RM28 (buy 5 free 1).
Next station was finally lunch. It has been set and is included in the tour package, except if additional dishes is ordered. Since it's paid for, we couldn't expect too much, and to our surprise it was really small. The rice was barely few spoonful, the soup was a small bowl and the main dish was little, there was only 2 slice of pork and the tofu was barely few pieces (Pork and Tofu is 2 different set). They would prefer that you add additional dish so that they could earn extra on top of what has been ordered by the tour guide.
The next station after lunch is the most ridiculous thing ever. It was a visit to the tropical fruit (farm??). Nope, it was more like give you few slices of fruits, sing few lines of song, and put a basket on the table and ask for contribution. Among the group, there wasn't many people who contributed as we felt they didn't do much. If they was to sell tropical fruits, it would have been much better.
The return trip to the city took another 2 hours or so, and it dropped us back at the backpacker area once again. We rested awhile, freshen up and went for dinner.
We had dinner at 'Hoa Don Thanh Toan', where we had fried spring roll, 1 seafood (prawn and squid), 1 clay pot pork together with rice. After the dinner, we decided to roam around and explore the other street while looking for massage shop. There was a lot of shops having their promotion and of course we look for those that have many customers so we can be quite sure it's clean. We found one shop in an ally which had many customer and price was very 'reasonable' or should i say 'cheap'. From the many pamphlets that we was given, most places are charging around 100,000 dong (or around RM18) for foot massage. But since there was so many people, we just bookmarked the place and went on scrolling the street. We stopped by a cake shop where they had cute tiny birthday cakes. I think the tiny 4 inch cake cost us about 38,000 dong (less than RM10), now you feel the inflationary pressure, it's not much cheaper than Malaysia or Singapore. We ate the cake when the clock strike twelve, marking Good Friday and my birthday.
In the bus, we saw the 4 Malaysian lady and the solo guy from Malaysia (whom is a Filipino) who joined yesterday’s Chu chi Tunnel trip. They had made similar arrangements as us. The bus ride didn't take very long before we stopped briefly for a toilet break. While there, we saw that the shop was selling the Vietnamise coffee strainer (bought for sovienier). After an hour or so, we finally reached the jetty where we had to board a boat and it took us on the lake cruise.
First stop is the honey factory, where they let you try the fresh honey and Royal Jelly. I had planned to buy, but it was too expensive (as i felt other outlets in the city would be cheaper). After the 'honey tasting', we was urshered to the canal, where we had a 'Gondola Ride' in groups of 4 person along the stream before ending it at another jetty where we board back the boat. The Gondola ride was slow and allow you to take picture and enjoying the hot sun. It is really hardwork for those aunties who roll the boat, but i guess that is a way of life for them.
We then had to transfer boat in the middle of the lake due to the depth of the lake being too shallow for the first boat that we came by. We was transfered into smaller boat and went on yet another Gondola ride (but this is motorised) and ended at the Coconut candy factory. We was shown the candy making process from the start till how it's packed. It was fragrant and i felt that it would make a good item for sharing with the people in the office, as there is quantity to it. I bought 6 packed for around RM28 (buy 5 free 1).
Next station was finally lunch. It has been set and is included in the tour package, except if additional dishes is ordered. Since it's paid for, we couldn't expect too much, and to our surprise it was really small. The rice was barely few spoonful, the soup was a small bowl and the main dish was little, there was only 2 slice of pork and the tofu was barely few pieces (Pork and Tofu is 2 different set). They would prefer that you add additional dish so that they could earn extra on top of what has been ordered by the tour guide.
The next station after lunch is the most ridiculous thing ever. It was a visit to the tropical fruit (farm??). Nope, it was more like give you few slices of fruits, sing few lines of song, and put a basket on the table and ask for contribution. Among the group, there wasn't many people who contributed as we felt they didn't do much. If they was to sell tropical fruits, it would have been much better.
The return trip to the city took another 2 hours or so, and it dropped us back at the backpacker area once again. We rested awhile, freshen up and went for dinner.
We had dinner at 'Hoa Don Thanh Toan', where we had fried spring roll, 1 seafood (prawn and squid), 1 clay pot pork together with rice. After the dinner, we decided to roam around and explore the other street while looking for massage shop. There was a lot of shops having their promotion and of course we look for those that have many customers so we can be quite sure it's clean. We found one shop in an ally which had many customer and price was very 'reasonable' or should i say 'cheap'. From the many pamphlets that we was given, most places are charging around 100,000 dong (or around RM18) for foot massage. But since there was so many people, we just bookmarked the place and went on scrolling the street. We stopped by a cake shop where they had cute tiny birthday cakes. I think the tiny 4 inch cake cost us about 38,000 dong (less than RM10), now you feel the inflationary pressure, it's not much cheaper than Malaysia or Singapore. We ate the cake when the clock strike twelve, marking Good Friday and my birthday.
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