chengmohtravelblog: Backpacking in Southern Vietnam (8/6-14/6/2010)

Day 1
Arrived in Tan San Nhat airport at 3.45pm on 8/6/2010. Boarded a bus (No 152, ticket costs 5000vnd) at the entrance of the airport and showed the bus driver this: "Vui long cho toi suong tram De Than, doi Sinh cafe', cam on", which means 'I want to get off De Tham stop (opp Sinh cafe') thank you', so as to get to Long Guesthouse.

Mr., Mrs Long and their niece, Ngoc are fantastic, friendly and warm hosts.The room is very clean and cozy with aircon, attached bathroom and TV for a very cheap price (below USD 20 for 2 including breakfast). Mrs. Long recommended us local tours which are cheap and good. After checking in, we took a 10 min walk to Ben Thanh market and enjoyed a local meal of deep fried elephant ear fish, vegetable salad, fried rice and a can of beer all for only USD12 for 2 person just outside the market.

A stall outside Ben Thanh market

Deep fried Elephant ear fish

Ben Thanh market is the largest old-style market in the central district, with several hundred small stalls stuffed with goods on almost impassably narrow aisles. Due to its popularity with tourists, the market is now divided between tourist goods (jeans, T-shirts, smaller souvenirs in abundance) and regular items (fruit and vegetables, rice, kitchen wares, flowers, meat, fast food and local-style pickled fruits and candies). Most items are not price-marked, and vendors always quote a 50-100% higher price to tourists, so the fortitude to haggle will save you some money.

Ben Thanh market

Day 2

Cao Dai cathedral

Noon worship service

After a delicious breakfast in guesthouse, we started a fascinating day trip to Tay Ninh, the center of the Cao Dai religion, which has perhaps two million followers in Vietnam. Cao Dai is a 1920’s invention which took the best of Catholocism and Asia’s great religions. (The sect has bestowed sainthood on Victor Hugo and Winston Churchill, among others.) Visiting the ostentatious but breathtaking cathedral is the highlight of the trip to Tay Ninh. The noon worship service is open to visitors has been compared to a scene from Disney’s Fantasia.

After lunch, we continued our trip to Cu Chi, an incredible underground network constructed by Vietnamese fighters during the long struggle for independence. The tunnels contained hospitals, plus accommodation and schools, and were used as a military base for the Vietcong in the American war. A section of the tunnels is open to visitors. If you are small enough, you can try to wiggle through some of the narrow passageways.