The Blice Report

“After breakfast at hotel, today we take a special one day Mekong Delta with homemade meal” : the modest one liner in our itinerary, for Day 8.

I suppose if you don’t say too much, you can disappoint?

The Mekong River Delta is some 200km south west of Ho Chi Minh City and around the halfway mark is a tourist trap (same type of concept we experienced en-route to Ha Long Bay – only smaller. Guess the Mekong Delta is not yet as popular with tourists).

With no specific expectations, we boarded a wooden boat with a Toyota steering wheel and started crossing a rather large body of utterly dirty looking brown water – the type that you know conceal enough exotic diseases that it will warrant an expensive medical evacuation, should this thing sink on us today. Luckily our super energetic tour guide got us focused on the greenery on the other side.

This is agricultural land and as we walk, one noticed the complete absence of borders or fences to distinguish the divide between farms. Yet another sign that one can live in peace and harmony with one’s neighbours. The humidity is taking its toll and thus time for a refreshing drink. The recipe is super easy: squeeze sugar cane through a shiny mechanical device along with some lime, serve with ice, sit next to road and drink it, get stuck in their silly small chairs.

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Visually Vietnamese people fall into only four age categories:

• obviously children,
• very young – possibly looks under aged (yet working),
• middle aged
• historic, how come you are still alive?

We visited a fruit farmer, in the historic category. Fun tip: if you add a touch of salt to fruit, it tastes better. Turns also out fresh coconut water is overrated.

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The whole area we visited is littered with canals everywhere. No desire really to travel on any of them, yet here we are, with no elegant way to board the little boat which is just waiting to capsize. With no nearby space for a helicopter to land, a medical evacuation is out of the question – better do this slowly then.

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Hallelujah. Land! And time for lunch. We ate a lot of Vietnamese Springrolls, it is like regular springrolls, only fresh and not deep fried. The lunch spot lady gave us an impromptu demonstration.

We are having lunch in the jungle, in the middle of nowhere. I mean, this is the view …

… so as a joke, we asked our guide “what is the wifi password?”. She had such a wonderful sense of humour, we were expecting a cute joke or something. Nope. This place actually had internet and fast! A bit unexpected, but hey we will seize the opportunity to press a few random likes on Facebook. We found out later, that this whole area has fibre internet. Go figure.

On each of our international holidays we try to work in an excursion away from the normal tourist spots and try to peep around the curtain as to how the people of the country really live. In the Mekong Delta the people do not speak English at all (have a guide with you!) and think that all tourists are rich. Thus, if you do not tip them, they think you are cheap. We tend to agree. 10% minimum. Do not travel (or dine out for that matter) if you cannot afford the complete expense, inclusive of the tip.

On the way back to Ho Chi Minh City, we had a very interesting conversation with our guide. Vietnam is struggling to understand why most tourist visit them only once, yet Thailand gets repeat visits.

Despite my constant yearning to be medically airlifted, this day trip was remarkably peaceful (and safe) and a good way to say goodbye to Vietnam.

Next stop: Siem Reap, Cambodia.

This was the third stop in our Vietnam/Cambodia holiday of 2017. Originally called Saigon, the city’s name was changed in July 1976, at the end of the last civil war in honour of the northern communist leader Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh City (“HCMC”) is the largest city (with 3.46 million people in 2018, according to World Population Review) and also the economic hub of the country. As such, it does not have the same charm as Hanoi. The name change is still a discussion point among locals, as the North and South seems to tolerate each other, but the love for each other is amiss. The media will use Saigon when referring to crime, drugs or anything negative, but switch to HCMC to celebrate any achievements or successes. Subtle meddling by the government perhaps? Residents prefer the romantically sounding Saigon when they reminisce about the glorious good old days. Both guides we had (as supplied by our tour company: Odynovo) up North and down here, made a point to talk (unprompted) about North-vs-South. Hang up much?  A more pressing matter to rather discuss is “What’s up with this relentless humidity?” Give a tourist a break … we are trying to explore, but get constantly distracted by the alluring hum of air conditioning! Even this lady – outside the Notre Dame Cathedral – is looking to the sky for some relief.

We stayed in the centrally located Alagon D’antique Hotel & Spa. The Alagon Group has an unnatural large selection of hotels in this part of the city to choose from. On the roof one can have drinks at the pool, or walk around the corner and have drinks at the sister hotel’s jacuzzi … on your room’s account. Neat. On the ground floor, three sisters shared a communal breakfast area. Clever usage of space. At least our room was slightly bigger than the postage stamp we had in Hanoi.

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The Vietnam war – or the ‘American War’, as some locals prefer to call it – not only shaped public opinion, but also the landscape. Unlike the South Vietnamese forces who had backing from the well equipped American army, the Viet Cong had not much luck in the form of a sugar daddy. The only way to outsmart the South was to go guerilla, and go under ground. Literally. Underneath the Cu Chi district northwest of Saigon, they dug an extensive network of tunnels – known today as the Cu Chi Tunnels – which played an important role in the fall of Saigon, that ended the war. The area is preserved and presented as a living museum. It is lush and gives one a glimpse into what it must have felt like operating in the area, a mere few decades ago … minus the well demarcated footpaths of course. Below, a refreshing pond, with the compliments of a B52 bomb.

Although safe (nowadays!), this place is also somewhat scary. There are nasty booby traps all over and then those tiny trap doors that connect the tunnels below with the surface. They built it just big enough for their tiny frames, which renders it too small for the average western invader. We had a very happy and cheerful lad demonstrating it to us. Not. The disappearing act, however, was not bad.

It is a known fact that the Asian frame is more efficient and compact than the Western version, but these access points are ridiculously small, compared to my shoe. Elsewhere on the internet one can find various photos of tourist doing this disappearing trick themselves. We were happy with the demo on its own – no need to get stuck.

“War is always the choice of the chosen, who will not have to fight”
– lyrics from Pavarotti and Bono’s 2003 Ave Maria. (1:27 mark)

As the tour of the tunnel complex continues, one starts to feel sorry for the people who had to live and work here and what the American troops did to them with their fancy (for the time) bombs, agent orange and tactics. But wait. Over here is a display of all the booby traps the Viet Cong built. Simple yet effective structures designed to inflict pain and torture. Shame, now you feel sorry for the Americans. Somewhat conflicted we pressed forth. It is highly recommended to have a guide with you when you visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. Most displays are done in duplicate and your guide will route you to a less crowded exhibition, on your request.

Some of the tunnels were widened to fit Western tourists and the brave are spoiled for choice on length of tunnel to be experienced: 50m, 20m … I was holding out for the 2 meter tunnel, but pension fund accepted the 10m offer. Sucker!

Glad I stayed above ground. Turns out to be a bit of a huddled crawl situation down there.

Random other learning from this outing:

• At one point the Americans used sniffer dogs to find entry/exit points into the tunnels. The people then started to steal American clothing and kept it close to the entrance, to tricks the dogs
• Cooking happened once a day only so that the smoke can disperse in the morning mist and not disclose the location of kitchens
• The leaves around the kitchen ventilation outlets were replaced daily, as the wilted leaves are a give away of heated activity in the area
• Most of the booby traps were built from scrap metal liberated from the Americans or the South Vietnamese Army. Talk about recycling!
• They manufactured their own shoes, with the soles turned around so that when they walk the print points to the direction they came from and not the direction they are walking in. Thus when the enemy encounter the foot prints they go in the opposite direction than that of which the person is actually walking

If you have more money than common sense, you can at the shooting range fire some of the ammunition used during the war.  This is a good money spinner for the museum, but a nuisance noise pollutant. Each to their own what they want to spend money on while on vacation: personally I favour aircon and cocktails.

The War Remnants Museum has some confiscated US Army property on display in their front yard and inside the curators are blunt and frank – as one should be about the cruelty of any war. A visit here is not recommended if you are sensitive and fragile.

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The Reunification Palace is really a beautiful building. Pity it is not really used for anything specific, other than a building of historic significance.

Inside there are stunning preserved period rooms. It is a bit eerie though. It is almost as if the people that are supposed to be there quickly (all!) went to the toilet. In the basement is a fully functional military bunker and although the equipment was probably state-of-the-art at the time, it kinda aged quickly. The row of rainbow telephones are a nice touch … clearly there was someone with a sense of humour.

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The old Saigon Post Office is another tourist spot, which seems to feature on everyone’s must-see list, visiting HCMC. I am not sure why. OK, the building is kinda cute, but to get a spot to pose in front of it, reminded me of our visit to the Taj Mahal – you have to wait your turn and eventually just photo bomb your way in.

(By now you probably wonder why all the photos with me and pension fund are in black-and-white? The photos on this blog is about the location, experience or uniqueness of a country or culture, not a celebration of what we look like.)

In essence it is a working post office, with Uncle Ho keeping a watchful eye. There are lots of souvenir buy opportunities here: naturally at ‘tourist pricing’. Fight your urge to buy a conical hat. In the heat of the moment (mind the pun), one can easily fall prey to the simplicity of the structure, but ultimately it becomes a travel item nightmare: you either are stuck with hand luggage, or a flattened tangled mess if you slipped it into your check-in luggage.

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We do not travel with umbrellas, but when the weather demands, we support local shop owners. In a land of “compact people”, trying to find a proper one to do the job was fruitless.

As spotted from our hotel’s roof: this guy might have a hot water fetish.

Next stop: Mekong Delta

It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Who knows, your country could be on the list as well.) It is a popular tourist destination in the Vietnam province of Quang Ninh. The Bay is known for its calm emerald waters and of course the characteristic limestone islets. Some of the bigger islands might have a beach, but most resemble mesmerising rock formations sticking straight out of the water. Nearly all the visuals one can find online has clear skies, thus you can imagine our excitement that it rained during our visit, which makes our experience different – something we like. Sadly the weather did not reduce the crowd levels, an attribute we prefer, if given a choice.

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Our story however, started earlier. Let me rewind a bit.

The distance from our hotel in Hanoi to Ha Long Bay is only 179km, but it took us more than 3.5 hours to travel there by private tour (courtesy of our service provider for this holiday: Odynovo Tours). The driving style is the same as in India: everything is happening at a slow pace (due to traffic and general road conditions). There is absolutely no gearing down (to gain power) to over take. Nope. This occurs at the same as cruising speed. 4th and 5th gear is exclusive for a racing driver then? Roughly on the 2 hour mark, we stopped for a comfort break … at a slick tourist trap of note!

It is roughly a rectangular building. Your driver drops you off at one end and pick you up on the other side. What they don’t tell you, is that they receive a free meal from the establishment – hence the endless stream of tourists being dropped at the front door. Whether they have a burning desire to buy frivolous nonsense or not. Outside is an equally massive sculpture garden with ugly for sale, some copies of classical pieces, but mostly tasteless. Overly endowed David, however, was worth a giggle.

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Close to the City of Ha Long, we took a right turn, over a long bridge to the island from where we will launch for the overnight experience in the bay, on-board Emeraude Cruises‘ “steamboat”. We drove past some beautiful boats, what with private balconies and all and I was getting ready to climb out of our vehicle. Fear not. The more we drove along the road, the worst (at least in my mind) the boats got. Until we get to this one and I thought tonight is the night we die. It looks like a fishing trawler – doesn’t exactly scream glamorous and it seems I will have to make do without a balcony.

The seemingly old rust bucket still floats, so maybe it would not be that bad. We still have time to tap out, as the harbour master is worried about the weather and as such has not given the all clear for any boat to leave the harbour. We had a quick word with our guide not to leave until we are definitely cleared to sail. He (the guide) and the driver will overnight nearby, as it does not make logical sense to drive back to Hanoi, only to collect us again tomorrow morning after breakfast. Oh well, crisis seemingly under control, time to have more delicious Vietnamese coffee with the silly tin percolating contraption.

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The dark clouds could not hold back any longer and it started to rain. We suspect the harbour master got blackmailed and issued the ‘all clear’ under duress. We boarded somewhat wet. Still have a lingering thought that we are going to die. Oh well too late, there goes our guide and driver. Please can someone speak English on this floating disaster. I found a crew member and rapid fire a string of questions, especially where I can smoke. If we are going to our demise, best it be with a cigarette. “No need to be alarmed, we make alousemense soon”, said the guy. Sorry? “Alousement, wait for alousement.” Turns out, one should not judge Emeraude Cruise on appearance, they are exceptionally well organised and an announcement was made in due course. This specific crew member however just scored himself a nickname – Alousement.

With a full programme ahead, this is today:
12:20 – 12:25 Captain raises anchor
12:25 – 14:30 Cruising Ha Long Bay
12:45 – 14:00 Lunch
14:00 – 15:00 Free & Easy (code for do the hell what you like)
15:00 – 16:00 Guided shore excursion to Sung Sot Grotto and Floating Village
16:00 – 16:30 Crêpe station on Sundeck and cruising to Pearl Farm
16:30 – 17:30 Kayaking or swimming at Pearl Farm
18:00 – 18:30 Vietnamese fresh springroll cooking class (Sundeck)
18:30 – 19:30 Complimentary canapés (Sundeck)
19:30 – 21:00 Dinner
20:00 – 22:00 Squid fishing
20:30 – 23:00 Screening of movie “Indochine”

Tomorrow:
06:00 – 07:00 Coffee on the Sundeck
06:30 – 07:00 Learn the ancient art of Tai Chi (Sundeck)
07:00 – 08:00 Leave luggage outside cabin
07:30 – 09:30 Cruising Ha Long Bay
07:00 – 08:30 Breakfast
08:30 – 09:00 Check-out
09:30 – 10:00 Disembarkation

There is a rather large group from Myanmar with us and they are boisterous. Anne (from the Philippines, here for better job opportunities) has a warm personality and is a seasoned hostess. She placed them in a separate room, because “Western tourists don’t like the noisy Asian habits” she told us with a wink of the eye. Fair enough, I did compliment her on separating us, hence she told me the reason. Not that the noise is a bother any more, because look, food is here. Pension Fund saw the gap to advise her about his “seafood allergy” and in a nick of time he ended up with a custom menu. Spoiled much? It is his preference, not a medical necessity. From this point onward during our time abroad I sometimes all of a sudden developed an allergy too. I don’t mind seafood, but is not a great fan. We are on holiday, please can we eat stuff we like. The food – on and off the menu – was really great and tasty. Below is everything in one serving.

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By now we are too far from land and thus – by default – committed to this overnight excursion. Thanks to the harbour master  we are running late on the crazy schedule and there was just enough time to pop into our cabin.

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Whoha, this is even smaller than our hotel room in Hanoi! But then again, it is only for one night and with foresight, we brought only a small suitcase (the rest we left with our guide). The big boats drag a smaller boat along – called a tender – for shore excursions. Our boat had two tenders. In the middle of seemingly nowhere, we saw this tuck-shop woman zipping past. I suppose with such a bounty of tourists around, she is guaranteed a few sales. She even stocks wine. No time however, to support the local economic efforts, as we need to contort ourselves into teeny tiny life vests. This bikini top will not save me from drowning, but it is the thought that counts, right?

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We are actually en-route to the Sung Sot Grotto. With a good measure of luck we are alone on the tender, except for a crew member and of course the dude driving the thing. The crew guy is trying to tell us the history of the cave and its significance. Who cares, with such beautiful surroundings he is just adding unsolicited noise.

What a mess. The Vietnam government allows 250 boats to overnight in the Bay. Judged by the amount of people, one would swear there is a close down sale here. Luckily dealing with the steep staircase is a breeze, as one can barely move one foot at a time. Speaking of a breeze; nowhere to be found. The humidity is hectic and thus the slow pace of ascending, welcomed. How can I describe the grotto … it is a cave, complete with stalactites and stalagmites as one would expect. Except it is crowded with not much ventilation and it sounds like a united nations picnic, with visitors from all over.

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When you exit the cave, you are also on the highest point and the view kinda cool! It started to rain. Wet descending steps. Wet walkway. Avoid puddles. Hairdo long gone. Sorry no photos. A few Hollywood worthy stunts and eventually safe (?) back on tender.

And I introduce to you the SUNDECK! It is on the roof of the boat with a hardcover canopy. Comfy chairs, smoke friendly, staff behind the bar who are eager to please and there is a slight breeze to accompany the gentle rocking of the boat. I have arrived. To the left of me I witnessed the preparation and cleanup of crêpes, springrolls and canapés. Was supposed to visit a Pearl Farm and kayak and swimming in the famous emerald water, but why would you? The bar had a buy-one-get-one cocktail special.

The next morning (with a slightly heavy head) I stumbled upstairs in search for coffee and walked into Alousement’s Tai Chi class.

Pension Fund – who was more sensible with the cocktail special – got up earlier for a shore excursion, with our neighbours. There is something to be said about Europeans and their lack of modesty. No sooner have they reached the landing in front of their cabin and dropped their wet clothing to dry themselves in the cool morning air. Naked.

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On our return to land, the clouds gave us whatever they have left in them.

Cheers to Emeraude and Ha Long Bay! OK, let me come clean. My fears about this experience and a premature water death turned out to be completely fictional, if not pure fantasy. This truly felt like a holiday within a holiday!

Four hours later, we were back in Hanoi. Next stop: Ho Chi Minh City.

 When we visited the capital city of Vietnam in October 2017, we stayed in the Old Quarter. It is near Hoan Kiem Lake and the area is characteristic for its Chinese and French influences (due to historic occupation and rule). The streets used to be roughly laid out by trade, but nowadays it is a cacophonic symphony of scooters (see our take on it here), bicycles, motors and pedestrians, with trading opportunities on the sidewalks and shops.

Reunification Day is a national holiday and celebrated annually on 30 April, yet the unification of Vietnam took actually place on 2 July (1976). It is this latter date which also saw the most populous city change names from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City … named after the revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh.

We stayed at the La Siesta Trendy Hotel, in a Trendy Deluxe (I swear it is code for ‘super small’) room. Not that it bothered us much. This was our first hotel room for the holiday and as such the excitement of being abroad overrides a lot, like the fact that one constantly bumps into your suitcases. But let’s be fair as well, we are giants compared to the locals. Every time we saw the bellboys, we couldn’t contain a smile for their “resort wear” uniforms – consisting of chino shorts, loose fitting blue shirt and matching sneakers with white socks – as if we are on some exotic island.

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In a land where space comes at a premium, the luxury of driveways and gardens seems reserved for national monuments and public spaces. From the hotel’s front door to the street was exactly the length of a scooter! This also explains the extreme narrow, but tall buildings. Usually some retail occur on street level, with living quarters above – I guess the bigger the family, the higher you need to build?

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These peculiarly narrow but tall buildings were not just limited to the city. We saw these in the countryside (en route to Halong Bay) as well.

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This is the view across our hotel. A seafood shop. No need for a sign really, as the lingering whiff is quite sufficient as to what is on offer. Daily, after their morning deliveries, the family / friends / customers / staff (who knows?) sit outside on the sidewalk to process the stock for the day.

Breakfast is just another name for a meal, right? It remains interesting to see that Asian nations view this literally. Olives and sushi – although I eat both – is a bit advanced so early in the morning. On holiday we tend to be eggs-and-bacon type of guys.

We experience the people of Vietnam to be generally friendly and helpful. Our hotel gave us a map of the surroundings and we decided to take a stroll. As the Old Quarter does not follow a typical horizontal/vertical block layout, we lost our place on the map after a while. As we were trying to find a cross reference of street names (to find our spot on the map again), an elderly lady on a scooter stopped to ask if she can help us. It took her no time to look around and point on the map, as to where we are. This random act of kindness is rather humbling, as I have hardly assisted a lost tourist back home in my life before. As such, I now owe the universe to return the favour.

We used China Odyssey Tours (nowadays called Odynovo) for this holiday. We had such a pleasant experience with them in 2015, that we employed their services again in 2017. However when it comes to Hanoi, I secretly suspect everyone is using the same recipe: we bumped into a couple from our hotel three times on the same day and they used a local one-day-only guide!

Despite Uncle Ho‘s wish to be cremated, his country stuffed his embalmed body in a square concrete building, opposite a typical communist square: unnecessarily vast to let one feel small and insignificant.

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LOL. Stupid tourists taking photos of old cars that allegedly once had an important passenger. Why these cars qualify for air conditioning remains a mystery though.

After all things Ho Chi Minh and a short stroll through a tourist trap gauntlet with typical knick-knacks and then behold … the One Pillar Pagoda. No disrespect to Buddhism, as this is actually regarded as one of Vietnam’s most iconic temples, but seriously, fix that wall!

I looked forward to the Museum of Ethnology. It is hot and humid outside. Indoors should be bliss, right? No. It is hot and stuffy inside too. Absolutely no aircon. There are endless posters with words and exhibitions that would have been way more interesting to stand and study and ponder, if the air was welcoming and COOL. What was supposed to be a 90 minute itinerary item, we power walked in 20 minutes. Around the last corner a group of children slowed us down. Turned out their English teacher brings them here to practise casual conversation with tourists. Remember I felt guilty about the random act of kindness on day one, so we stopped and spoke to them for a while. It was mainly a “hello how are you?”, “I am doing fine, how are you?”, followed by giggles type-of-conversation, we ran out of time to talk about the blatant exploitation of cheap labour in the local clothing manufacturing sector or the long term downside of communism and freedom of expression. We had time for a quick group photo though. There is a clown in every group – check out the jester with the red backpack in the front row.

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Random sighting on street level: fan repair shop, museum or art installation?

On our travels, we usually seek out something cultural and what makes a nation or culture different from our own. The Water Puppet Show ticked the boxes nicely. It dates back a few centuries to a time when the country was at peace with its neighbours and citizens had time to entertain one another. During the show, puppets seem to float on water and are masterfully manipulated by 10 people hidden behind screens. It is skillfully accompanied by traditional Vietnamese folk music produced on drums, horns, cymbals, wooden bells, bamboo flutes among other, plus vocals. In our show the lead singer looked healthy, but sounded in pain. I suppose it would have helped if we noticed the free pamphlets outside the theater, to explain the various acts to us … but no. We have managed to ignore the guttural agony from stage left as we were trying to figure out how on earth the puppeteers pull off the visuals in front of us. Sadly during our show no photography was allowed, but if you want to get a quick feel for what water puppets are about, click here, or if you are interested to see what is happening backstage, click here. The puppet show is rather popular and the performers barely get a smoke break between shows. This was the crowd greeting us outside the Thang Long Puppet Theatre, eagerly awaiting their turn to aircon.

Pho (pronounced “faaaa”) is traditional Vietnamese street food and looks and smells just plain yummy. The only fat people we saw were tourists, so one can safely assume pho is healthy too. As you might have surmised from the photos, my body is clearly a temple and I might be a fussy eater. LOL. Thing is, the opportunity cost on holiday is so high and the schedule so tight that it is just not worth the risk of an upset stomach, to want to sample all and sundry. Having said that, the wicked lady below had her way with us – still not sure exactly what type of panda, donkey or domestic cat species it was, but it went down very well and stayed down.

Street food is also about socialising and any relative level piece of sidewalk can be turned into a restaurant. (Note the petite chairs!)

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And speaking of sidewalks: come on, admit it, who doesn’t like an al fresco haircut?

I do not really wish to labour this point, but the humidity of Vietnam in October is taxing. Thus between an ice cream or a fan, the latter was more practical and once closed, doubled as an useful “pointing device”. Notice the nerd on holiday with his notebook.

Another great way to experience Hanoi’s Old Quarter and submerge yourself in the sights and sounds, is by means of a bicycle rickshaw. The locals are scrawny and one temporarily feels guilty that they are about to propel your much larger frame around, but then you remember: oh wait, job creation and a promise of a tip at the end of the journey. Right then, back at attempting to capture the moment.

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Free range, or a single mother trying to make it in the city?

If you ever find yourself in Hanoi, do not pass on the opportunity to try Egg Coffee. It stems from a time in history when milk was scarce and eggs were used instead. Click here, for a quick hipster recipe, but in essence it is whisked egg yolk with sugar-and-cream, or condensed milk. At less swanky places we noticed that they simply add custard on top of the coffee. Different but tasty!

As Pension Fund is a non-smoker, we usually start the holiday in non-smoking hotel rooms and end with a smoking room. Thus, in Hanoi, I would venture down to street level with coffee, for my morning cough and nicotine fix. One morning there was simply no space in front of our hotel (taken up by scooters!) and I walked across the street to sit behind a tree on a raised cement slab …

 As I was minding my own business, from behind that pristine pearl white security gate stormed a sinewy old lady with anger issues, screaming at me “no smoking, no smoking”. Gheez lady, calm your tits. My intention was not to devalue your building any further. It is just a cigarette, not graffiti on your newly painted walls. When last have you stood across the street to take in the beauty of your castle? But I said none of these – at least not out loud. In silence I crossed the street again and smoked another one. Who am I to judge? As you are clearly a proud home owner, may I suggest you perhaps sweep once in a while the sidewalk in front of your luxe villa?

Uncle Ho feature on all the denominations. (500 000 Dong = 22 US Dollars)

In the mood for an overnight excursion to Ha Long Bay?