Friday 5 December 2008

Vietnam


We spent the last 5 days in Vietnam. Planned a pretty different trip for the family this time round. Made the boys take budget airline for the very first time and they were complaining so much. The next 'adventure' was a 1hr flight on a propeller plane fm HCMC to Phu Quoc Island, south of Vietnam.

The island is about 600sq km, with a population of around 100,000. Fishing being one of the main livelihood, fresh seafood was readily available. The island is also the biggest fish sauce producer in Vietnam. Pepper is also widely farmed on the island.

As tourism is quite new to the island, the few 'resorts' available are not those 5-star standard. But we find the rooms, facilities and beach quite clean and nice. The boys love the beach and clear sea water. They spent so much time lazing on the beach and 'snorkelling' in the water.


We also had a one-day tour around the island and visited the local wet market, fishing village, pepper plantation and fish sauce factory. It was an experience for the kids as they've never been on such guided tour.













We had a Mekong River Delta tour arranged upon our return to HCMC. It took a 3hr drive fm HCMC airport to the Mekong river delta. Luckily I gave the kids motion sickness medicine in advance. Our tour guide was throwing up like crazy on the way!!

The sight of the Mekong river delta was nothing to boast about. River was murky and there's nothing interesting to see except for lots of fishing and cargo boats/vessels. But it is interesting to know that the river has provided so much resources to the people of 4(or was it 5?) countries before 'retiring' into the ocean. We had a very authentic Vietnamese lunch by the river bank which included the famous 'elephant's ear fish'! We also visited a small fruit plantation, handmade coconut candy factory, and a local village. The kids had their very first horse-cart and sampan boat ride here too. Overall, it was an interesting experience for them.












As for me, my biggest joy on this trip was the opportunity to try out my new toy, the Canon SX10IS. Have snapped easily 700+ pictures, but still learning to 'tweak' the functions and all. Here's sharing a picture of the beautiful sunset taken on Phu Quoc Island.

1 comment:

Rachel said...

Nice to see your family having so much fun! We are also headed for Vietnam - supposedly over Christmas but got postponed..