South of Vietnam, 2013 trip

Originally, our travel to Vietnam was just meant to be a side trip en route to Cambodia. Upon reading about it in Tripadvisor, we realized there's actually many places in the country worth visiting. We bought our tickets October last year when Cebu Pacific had a promo, the price was just Php3,300. Given that the price was just cheap and we would have received our 13th month pay when the credit card bill would be due, we instantly decided to give it a go.

Seven months later, May 2013, during the first week, we still didn't have an itinerary, because we could not get a consortium of the places we really intend to visit. Some just wanted a city tour, some wanted to go to Sand dunes, some wanted to go to Mekong Delta, but it was impossible because the agency we knew could not get these places roll into one trip, some would offer but the price is quite expensive. So what we did is we looked up in Google and tried to find if there are Agencies that could cater on what we really wanted, an agency that could specialized the tour for us. Luckily we found it:

KT ADVENTURE - VIVUTRAVEL
Head Office: Suite 405, B13 Building, Sai Dong, Long Bien,
Hanoi, Vietnam
Ph: +84-4- 36740486
Fx: +84-4- 36740487
Hotline: +84-976094514
Website: www.vivutravel.com
Email: management@vivutravel.com, tuan@vivutravel.com

The whole tour with the inclusion of two overnight stay in hotels (one in Mui Ne and one in Ho Chi Minh) , only costs us $1,656 usd or Php 67,896 ( Php7,544/person).

Here is the actual itinerary from the agency:


TOUR NAME: HO CHI MINH & MUI NE TOUR ON MAY
GUEST’S NAME: MS NICA MENDOZA
NUMBER OF PERSON: 9
ACCOMMODATION IN 2 STAR HOTELS
ROOM TYPE: 3 DOUBLE ROOMS & 1 TRIPLE ROOM
TOUR PRICE IN USD PER PERSON: $180 USD
TOTAL EXTRA COST FOR HOTEL IN SAIGON: $36 USD
TOTAL AMOUNT: $1656 USD
ITINERARY:
18th May Ho Chi Minh arrival at 01AM - Mui Ne
Meals: None
+ Guide
Upon your arrival at Ho Chi Minh airport (01AM), pick up and transfer to Phan Thiet (5 hours drive, a
perfect place to end your Vietnam Holiday) – Once a part of the Cham Kingdom, it’s now a perfect stop for
beach holidays, an unremarkable town with a reasonable beach, some decent hotels, and a very good golf
course. In a nice setting with white sand beaches and coconut trees, the beach resort of Phan Thiet is also
endowed with amazing spots such as sand dunes, natural lakes and astonishing red canyons. Phan Thiet
still has sizeable populations of Cham and Raglai ethnic minority groups. The former are a part of the area’s
Cham heritage.
06AM: Arrive at your resort, you are free at leisure to swim and discover the beach (Early check-in is not
included).
Overnight in Mui Ne.
Accommodation: Apricot Resort / Standard Seaside
http://www.apricotresort.com/
19th May Mui Ne – Cu Chi – City
Meals: Breakfast, Lunch
+ Guide
04AM: Continue drive back to Cu Chi tunnels for visiting. Upon arrival in Cu Chi at around 09AM, we visit
the incredible underground tunnel network of approximately 200 kilometres hand-constructed by
Vietnamese guerillas during the long struggle for independence where you will understand more about the
Vietnam War or American War, a must see Vietnam Tour for any tourists to learn about Vietnam past and
present days.
After having lunch, drive back to Ho Chi Minh city for visiting the War Remnants Museum, formerly the
Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes and unquestionably the most-visited museum in Ho Chi Minh.

 Upon our arrival at the airport at around 1:00 am, we were a bit frustrated as there was no sign of our tourist guide. We noticed a lot of placards showing names of tourists but we couldn't find ours. We also tried to look for payphones but since it was already late, none was available for our use. Good thing, there was a good samaritan who allowed us to use his phone to call the agency. HA! To our surprise, due to the time differences, the agent tought that the trip would be the following morning, we then thought we were doomed until he said he could pick us up in ten minutes time. Yaay!! =) The shuttle was a 22 seater mini bus, air conditioned, clean and very comfotable.
After a 5 hr ride, we arrived at the hotel called Bau Mai. The place was peaceful, not crowded, clean and quiet.  The beach (although not comparable to our white beaches here in the Philippines) has a beauty of its own.

For our first day, the tour around Mui Ne is not covered but upon negotitiation, the guide agreed to take us to the tourist destinations for just Php1,440.00 including payment for gas.

After sleeping in the bus for another two hours we arrived at Cham Temples in Bin Thuan. If you are the kind of person who likes history and old places, this is one of the must see in Vietnam. It is believed to be constructed in the middle of the 18th century to worship Shiva God. How it was constucted is still puzzling to the modern minds of today and a lot of studies have been done to figure out how the ancient people was able to build this kind of monument. To read more about the temple, please clink this link: http://dulich.baobinhthuan.com.vn/en-us/810-landscapes/5071-po-sah-inu-cham-tower-heritagebr.html

Our next stop was the Sand Dunes of Mui Ne, it's sort of a mini dessert when we looked at it from afar, when we came closer and we took our first step on the sand, we realized why it's tagged as one of the top tourist destinations of Vietnam. The sand is so fine and pure and it's quite a picturesque. When we got to the top we were surrounded by these beautiful dunes and we couldn't help but admire this Earth's wonder.

After the sand dunes, came my favorite part of the travel : The Fairy Stream of Mui Ne. They call it the red canyon of Vietnam and it's a splendid sight to see. In the fairy stream, we were allowed to walk in waters, we just had to take off our footwears. Not to worry, as the sand is very smooth and soft, we enjoyed walking and climbing.

Hello readers!

Hello readers! This blog is created because we want to share the places we've been to in the Philippines and outside the country. The title came to mind because when you read our entries, we want you to think  "we should totally go there" as the world is full of wonderful places to explore and discover.


My friends and I will be sharing our experiences related to our travels and of course sometimes a little about ourselves and our loved ones.

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