Cu Chi by river boat to see Great Grandma / Future of Cu Chi

On Sunday I took Chi on a surprise visit to Cu Chi. The real surprise was that we were going by boat thanks to Saigon River Express. Their tour leaves the wharf in D1 on the Saigon River and heads upstream taking you through Binh Thanh, under the Saigon Bridge, through D2 past Thanh Da and then snakes up the north east of the city, passing Thu Dau Mot. The whole journey takes around 1 hour 20 minutes (quicker coming back) and ends at Ben Dinh restaurant, on location at the Cu Chi tunnels. Instead of visiting the tunnels during the two hours onshore we went over to Grandma's house for a short visit, just a few kilometers away. I also got a chance to see our plot of land in the this area too. I have jackfruit (more on that later).

Cruising the river

Leaving D1, a nice perspective on the skyline

Saigon Pearl

Uncle's house in Cu Chi. Waiting for the big bad wolf

Lou with her great-grandmother

Collecting fresh veg to take back to the city

Uncle collecting milk from rubber trees to sell

Uncle's mini rubber tree plantation in the back yard

  Uncle shows Lou and I how to get coconuts out of the tree  

Now I don't own very much that I feel is worth owning, but one thing I do have that I am very happy about is a tree. Not only is it a tree, of a commendable size, but it is a fruit bearing tree. Not only is it a fruit bearing tree, it is one of my favorite fruits, the jack fruit. 

In all its glory. My jackfruit tree

Our land in Cu Chi, back end, An Nhon Tay.

We hitched a ride back to the boat and devoured lunch at the riverside restaurant, left just before 12 and were back in our apartment in Phu My Hung before 1.30. D7-Cu Chi is a standard 2.5/3 hour journey in a car usually requiring a trip through the heart of the city. Cruising there by boat is definitely the way forward. Surely in the future there will be public river transport up to Cu Chi. For now, its limited to this $69++ per person tour.

I'm excited about the future of Cu Chi. Obviously, its in a good location - by the river, near the Saigon/Phnom Penh highway, and within (relatively) easy reach of the city. The Saigon Safari Park project will be very close by to the land above, in the An Nhon Tay/Phu My Hung wards of Cu Chi District. The best map I could find online was here. I love finding a .gov.vn site that has such a crap green arrow drawn in MS Paint. The image is not very good.

I took the liberty out of my own interest of creating a Google Map of the location of the Safari Park. https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=205534455282465890907.0004ce57132e88e2ef47e&msa=0&ll=11.115075,106.475973&spn=0.049943,0.055189

Mel of Antidote to Burnout provided the following map for me as he had been involved in a project for the development of Cu Chi new town - a 1000 hectare area with 1/3 of it devoted to green space.  Don't expect this to come to fruition for another 10-15 years. All this is on the other side of Highway 22 which runs from Saigon through Cu Chi district. 

A few pics from Vung Tau

Here are a few pics from Vung Tau for a long time reader...

Front Beach at dusk





Giant crane thingy on a boat



Sun beating down on the Vung Tau promenade:

Jungle Beach June 2010

After finishing my current job for the summer (and for good before changing schools) Chi, Louisa and I took an overnight train to Nha Trang. Presenting the Shinkansen of Vietnam.


Nice cosy compartments with only two bunks, decent enough mattresses, curtains, small reading lights and wall paneling. Still slow but comfortable. Tickets cost between 400,000 - 500,000 dong. With the hours of slow rocking and trundling Lou certainly had no problems getting a good sleep.


Where were we heading? Jungle Beach to be exact. I have written about it before. Around 60km north of Nha Trang - that's 40km down the Highway and then turning at the Hyundai sign which leads down past the shipyard and onto a relatively untouched peninsula where JB sits on probably the best beach in Vietnam (definitely the best that I've been to). Upon arrival we chose our accommodation, a bamboo house with en suite for $35pp (all food inclusive). Most of the rooms use a shared toilet block and cost $25pp.




The beach is perfect, especially at this time of year where during the summer months the sea is like a millpond. At all times of day the water is shallow for a good 50 meters making it perfect for kids, and late afternoon the tide goes out leaving an expanse of wet sand and inch high waves lapping the beach.

Bamboo shades to protect from the hot summer sun.


Looking back at JB




Late afternoon






Lou loves the sand!

We then went to Diamond Bay for a night. Still clinging on to its hosting of Miss Universe as a claim to fame, we found this place a poor 4 Star compared to the 'no star' qualities of JB. JB is basic, no air-con, simple bamboo rooms and furniture, communal mealtimes, free lemon juice, a few steps from an amazing beach and swimming. Diamond Bay is small 'Garden Superior' rooms for rack rate of $160++, bathrooms with a hole drilled in the floor because the drain doesn't drain, a buffet breakfast that was tasteless. It is one of those resorts where everything is miles away and guest are whisked around by golf buggies. By far my biggest gripe though has to be the pool area - great if you are a couple, the pool is huge, one of the biggest I've seen probably bar VinPearland. But no kids pool. Just a vast pool for swimming but nowhere for kids (toddlers at least) to safely splash around. After having spent 4 days at JB with Lou running and splashing around on the beach it was tiresome.



Diamond Bay has it's own private bay, with name of the resort in big tacky letters painted on a concrete wall.


One of the private beaches, the other you need to go to in a golf buggy.

The comparison is symbolic and for myself as a traveller I am always looking for value balanced with authenticity. JB has both, the beach is isolated and remote, quiet and exotic. It's the kind of place that reminds me I am in South East Asia and floods me with nostalgia remembering similar such experiences when I was backpacking many years ago. Diamond Bay is overpriced, thoughtlessly designed and reeks of artificiality.

My choice will always be the 'Jungle Beach' of resorts when on the road - if lucky enough to find it.

Hot Christmas + Vietnam is a building site.

Christmas was spent on holiday with mum, dad, sister and of course Chi and Louisa here in Vietnam. To start, we visited Hoi An via Da Nang airport, Chi and I returning for the first time since our honeymoon back in November 2006, where I posted the pictures here (some of my favourites from Vietnam). The old town, as you'd expect, hasn't changed much.





Even the restaurants seemed to be the same bar an additional posh wine bar. What really struck me was the development on the coast road from Da Nang heading south. From leaving Da Nang city until Marble Mountain there are numerous big name resort developments under way. Kilometre after Kilometre of fenced off beach front, earth movers and concrete foundations strutting out of the ground splaying steel cable everywhere give a sense of awe at the sheer scale of what is going on down there. The weather by the way, was miserable - rained constantly.

Moving south to Nha Trang, again a first visit there for what must be two years, not a lot changed really. A nice new terminal at the Cam Ranh airport making baggage collection a non-stressful experience. The only other thing of mention would be, again, the development along Tran Phu. The new Sheraton building, I have to say, looks awesome. I love the design. It stands with unobstructed views, and the 360 degree shaped thing on the top has to be bar...what a view that place will have.





It's not such good news for the Yasaka, which has a huge shopping/office center being built right next to it which has blatantly obstructed the view from some of it's rooms at the back...!



The old concrete shell/pillar has finally been replaced (it was an unfinished something standing on the edge of the public square on the beach front) - replaced with a..flower or a mosque - I'm not sure which.



One thing about Nha Trang never changes...walks along a beautiful beach!



Heading south again now, a 3.5 hour car journey to Mui Ne. The kite-surfing season is really getting going now but the winds remain calm until mid-morning. 7.00 am on the beach with sun already high, no wind and a gorgeous ocean convinced me that Mui Ne really is the place to be. Sun, sand, swimming and plenty of restaurants to choose from.







An interesting sidenote, possibly, I picked up a very old copy of Huck Finn from a second hand book store. The book has a stamp entitled 'Vietnamese American ****** (can't read), 55 Mac Dinh Chi, Saigon. BOOK SHOP For Students, Teachers, Members'. It has a name written in biro in the top, Pham Van But, and a date, 08-12-70. Obviously this book shop was there during the war years and stocked English language literature.

A fantastic trip overall, and Vietnam just keeps developing.

Phu Quoc

A recent half-term, and a short trip to Phu Quoc, a third visit to the Island in Kien Giang Province.

We stayed at the SeaStar resort, a place I stayed over New Year in 2005. Back then it was a little less developed and certainly less busy, and I seem to remember getting the bungalows on the beach for $30. One thing that hasn't changed is the road. Despite this beach (Long Beach) being the main beach for tourists on the whole island, it is still unsealed and at one point just past the Saigon tourist resort is horrifically pot-holed (is that a hidden message?). Beach bungalows now go for $60 per night here, a fairly standard price along the beach for such accommodation. The Garden Bungalows, set a little further back, are $45 per night. Some pictures of the resort.

Garden Bungalows



Our Beach Bungalow





View from the restaurant:



The beach



I don't intend to advertise for SeaStar, but it is fairly typical of the accommodation on Long Beach, which is a 10 minute drive from the airport. This beach is also a short motorbike journey to town and it's selection of restaurants, the nightmarket and the collection of dive shops. Other recommended stays are Cassia Cottage and Mai House.

Alternatively, Ong Lang beach is about a 20 minute drive from town along in places a very bumpy road. We visited Mango Bay one afternoon to check the place out. It boasts secluded bungalows built with an eye on sustainability , and most are lofted up into the foilage, set back in a garden, with views out over the private bay the resort is situated on. Mango Bay raises too many questions in my mind for a comfortable stay. No where else to eat without a long journey by bike or taxi. Very isolated and quiet. But of course, this is what some people crave, and sitting on the decking at one of the two resort restaurants supping a cocktail and watching the sun go down in absolute tranquillity wasn't that bad...

Chen La is another posh alternative nearby this part of the island. Chi and I also stayed at Thang Loi on our first trip to Phu Quoc, much cheaper but the same isolation. - this resort is just the other side of Mango Bay.

As for our own holiday, Louisa decided to develop a bizarre rash which made her miserable and spread from head to toe over three days, finally clearing up on the last couple of days. Whilst other tourists spent their time posturing on their hired automatic bikes and really trying to look like they weren't possibly going to crash, visiting pearl farms, snorkelling and diving, sampling seafood cuisine and getting lost on inland island dirt tracks, Chi and I were back in the bungalow battling with a raucous, unhappy and uncooperative 11 month old baby. Finally, we settled on a solution that everyone was happy with.