THE WAHBIANG BLOG

A Surprise Adventure for Felicia and Elkan – Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (11th – 14th Sept)

It was September School Holiday, Felicia and Elkan were in town for 10 days. I was clueless where to bring them around Hong Kong. For the first 5 days, Elkan was lazing at home playing console games. I decided to give both of them a small surprise – their maiden trip to Vietnam!

As usual, I planned this trip at the very last minute. I am always seen as an impulse traveler. More than 65% of my travels were decided and departed within 48 hours. Let me correct my critics here, I am not an impulse person. I don’t like planning a trip many months ahead (unless it is a long difficult journey). Planning is for those who take a long to decide something. A long wait can develop different types of expectation that may leads to disappointment. When I want to travel, I just pack my bags and go. I like the feeling of freedom and instant gratification. There’s no need to plan, just do it. I like to discover as I go along. It feels more like an adventure.

Elkan was very excited when I told him that we would be exploring the underground-forested tunnels and swampy waterways. He likes adventure but he remains a very timid and careful boy. As much as possible, I would want to expose him to different parts of the world so he get to experience life outside his little shoebox universe in Singapore.

Day 1 – It was a short 2.5 hour flight from Hong Kong to Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived and checked into our hotel at 11:30am. By noon, we ventured out and I gave them a quick 4-hour city tour. I brought them to the city’s most popular tourist spots – The Central Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral, Saigon Opera House, Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee City Hall, Reunification Palace, Ben Thanh Market and Dong Khoi shopping street. (Felicia and Elkan managed to recognise the location where Harshad shot his infamous conference video 2 years ago.) All the tourist attractions were located within walking distance from our hotel, it was very easy to explore the city center on foot.

Our last stop for the day – We visited the War Remnants Museum. Through the rich war history of Vietnam, Elkan learnt the important lesson of peace and harmony.  There, we saw many disturbing war photographs. This is my second visit to the War Remnants Museum and it still evokes a deep sense of grief and anger in me. These war stories reminded us the true value of peace and the pain of wars. For a country that went through 2,000 years of war (first against the Chinese, the Mongolian, then the French, the Japanese  and finally the American), Vietnam underwent many generations of untold and unimaginable sufferings. The last war may have ended more than 20 years ago but the aftermath of the chemical war crimes continue to haunt its victims and their next generations. It is a lesson that Syria must heed from Bosnia and Vietnam. War is simply senseless and victory-less. No one wins – except those merchants of wars.

Day 2 – We woke up at 6:30am and went on a half-day tour to the Cu Chi Tunnels. Along the way, the travel guide brought us to a Vietnamese lacquer-ware factory where handicapped war victims work. There, we were given a brief introduction of lacquer-ware making. Despite the emotionally story of supporting the war-victims through purchasing these products, I didn’t buy anything from this factory. The prices of these handicrafts weren’t cheap. All the items were priced 300% more than the ones in the city. Clearly, this was a “tourist-shopping-trap”.

We had lots of fun at the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Viet Cong built these tunnels as a defence network against the offensive American troops. During the war, the tunnels served as a communication and supply-routes for the Viet Cong. The tunnels housed soldiers and their families. Some of these tunnels extended over 200km long and 10m deep. Presently, many of these tunnels were lit with lights and made wider and taller to house the bigger-sized tourists.

Both Felicia and Elkan successfully descended into the original A4-size ground hole. I didn’t bother to attempt, as I know my chubby body won’t fit into the small entrance. Tunnel walking was a breeze for Elkan but not for the adults. Almost all the adults came out of the narrow 40m long tunnel with tiring perspired expressions, except for Elkan. He was the only one who wanted to go for a second round. Elkan was bursting with energy. Instead of doing 1 underground tunnel crawl, he managed to persuade the tour guide to let him explore more underground tunnels.

The weather was unpredictably hot, humid and stormy, I was too tired to go anywhere else. After Cu Chi Tunnels, we headed back to our hotel where I took a short nap. Later in the evening, I met up with a good Singaporean friend, Kelvin for dinner. He brought us to a very cozy and beautifully decorated shop house for authentic Vietnamese food.

Day 3 – We joined a group of Australian and Singaporean tourists to Mekong River. It was a full day tour. We started the day at 8am and returned at 6pm.

We had an excellent English-speaking local guide. The trip to Mekong River took 2 hours. Along the way, we saw many rice paddy plantations and old towns. We stopped by at a temple of giant Buddha and Goddess statues and a bus depot where I saw a kind tourist guide entered a lotus lake to retrieve a young girl’s watch.

All was well until Elkan broke down in tears at Mekong River. He was having a really bad stomachache. His frantic cries made everyone worried. The Australians and Singaporeans travelers were very kind and offered medicines and ointment oil. Even the local drink stall owners made hot ginger tea for him.

Elkan struggled the pains throughout the Mekong tour. His cries frightened the boatmen. Imagine this, we were the only one with a crying boy along the peaceful, scenic Mekong River. Every passing boat gave us that strange look. Elkan was screaming and crying on the boat.  We had an extraordinary express tour, the boatmen sensed the urgency of his condition and rowed the boat super fast. We reached the jetty ahead of everyone else. There, Elkan vomited and made a couple of “emergency toilet breaks”. It was so bad that we have to make an instant “temporary toilet shelter” for him out on the jetty. Fortunately, we were in this village where there were stalls selling t-shirts. We bought him a new t-shirt (as he vomited on the one he was wearing). This is certainly one painful and unforgettable trip for Elkan and his poor parents. Thankfully, the whole group of travelers was very understanding and kind towards our plight.

Just when we decided to cut short our tour and head back to the city, Elkan’s tummy wasn’t painful anymore. He was back to his old self – noisy, jumpy and naughty. My son is indeed a big joker. He certainly got everyone’s attention. He is one big chaotic charmer.

On our last night in Vietnam, we met up with my primary school friend, Rosline Heng. Her husband and her were stationed in Vietnam for many years. We missed an opportunity to meet up with her last month when they visited Hong Kong. Guess fate gave us a second chance to meet.

Tomorrow is the last day of our short adventure. We will be packing and heading back to Hong Kong for one more night. On Sunday, Felicia and Elkan will be flying back to Singapore and I will be heading north to Shanghai for a short business trip.

Guess I will be missing them for another 2 months before their next return in November. By then, I will be making another impromptu trip. Surely up north where northern lights glitter – the only questions are which country, with who and when.

A Surprise Treat for Elkan in Jakarta – Blog by Felicia

BLOG BY FELICIA (11th Aug 2013)

A week before when I told Elkan, I need to go Jakarta for a 4-day work trip, he was reluctant to me go. He asked several times if he could come along as he didn’t want to be lonely during the long National Day holiday break. Unfortunately, I turned him down.

On Wed morning, I planned for my mum and Elkan to send me off at the airport first, before my mum fetch Elkan to school. At the check-in counter, after the usual procedures, the airline stuff called out Elkan and my name and passed him our passports. He took them, held my hand and was ready to go. I asked him to check the passports for me. He opened the first passport and read out the seat and gate number, read my name…. he opened the second passport, read out the seat and gate number and he slows down, read his name…. gave me a blank look…. frowned, smiled, frowned again and looked worried…. “Mummy, I’m going to school right? Why the boarding pass has my name? Why you have two passports?” I gave him a big eye look with a smile. “Ooooh….. I’m going to Jakarta with you!!!!” he exclaimed.

I was expecting a big hug from him, but instead, he started to cry and buried his face in my tummy! Confused, I asked him why. He said he will miss his friends in school and will have no chance to get his trophy for this year… He explained he was participating in the school’s sports event celebrating National Day. I didn’t realize that I’ve spoilt his day…. I felt really bad about it. This is one surprise that surprised me! But there was no turning back. So he walked in with me to the departure gate and waved a teary goodbye to his Poh Poh.

I tried to cheered him up saying he could watch a movie on board the plane and eat nice food. I’m glad he quickly became excited about the trip and was looking forward to it. In a short one and half hour flight, we arrived at Jakarta! Shin brought us out for brunch and some shopping.

This was a trip for me to take a look at the design and decor, and display of food in the cafe. And I get to sample lots of nice food too. Sounds all fun and eat non stop. Yes it is. While I was busy taking pictures and checking out the display at the cafe, Elkan warmed up in no time and made friends with the waiters. They helped him put on an apron and started to compete with one another to see who could give out more flyers! The most happy moment came when he gets to order any food he liked. He tried all the nasi dishes at Blacklisted on the first day. And his final verdict, the Nasi Campur (Steamed rice with Beef Redang, peanuts and sunny side up egg) is the best! He even liked the plain croissant which was an unlikely choice of his food.

Thanks to Dendy and Shin‘s hospitality, they brought us to different malls in town and we were cafe hopping. Elkan most enjoyed his morning motor scooting with Dendy and Wii time with Edward (Dendy’s brother). 4 days trip came to and end so quickly with our busy schedules. On the last day, Elkan was reluctant to return to Singapore. He played till the last minute on the motor scooter until the cab arrived to pick us up to the airport. It was a foodfulling trip! Enjoy the tasty pictures!