HCMC, VIETNAM

11- 14 December, 2009

The trip was more for Nina. It was her first time in Vietnam and my 11th. HCMC remains as one of my favourite places in South East Asia.

On the way to Ben Thanh Market for some crazy shopping.

Ice Cream Break by the Sidewalk

Cu Chi TunnelInside Cu Chi Tunnel

Tapioca Break with Nguyen, our guide. I believe half of the people in the country are called Nguyen.
Tunnel Entrance. This was the same post found on Cu Chi tour brochures. Somehow, the tunnel was enlarged to accommodate the bigger size tourists especially from the western world. But crawling inside still took some efforts.

Night Time in HCMC. Our hotel, Bong Sen is at the far end. HCMC was heavily decorated for the coming Christmas. The picture was taken in front of the mosque and a new halal restaurant called halal@saigon. I strongly recommend the restaurant. It has many Vietnamese dishes, unlike other halal places with mostly Indian or Malaysian foods.

Notre Dame. One of the popular tourist spots in HCMC.

Inside Notre Dame. My first time inside a church. It was during a mass on Sunday. Amen.

Post Office. Another popular attraction. This colonial building houses the real post office. The interior was worth a visit.

Inside Post Office

Reunification Palace

War Remnants Museum

Reluctant Tourist. Anas complained of coming to HCMC too many times. It was his 3rd. trip. HCMC is still Daddy's favourite place.

It had been a long day for this tired soul!

Mt. Bromo, Surabaya, INDONESIA

November 21 - 23, 2009

The trip was planned much earlier. We were sending our maid back for holidays and after that climbed Mount Bromo. Unfortunately, Ton's mom passed away 2 days before our trip. After the funeral, we left for KL to catch our flight to Surabaya.

After reaching Surabaya airport and saying good bye to Sutin, our maid, we made our ways to Mount Bromo. First, we stopped at House of Sampoerna, a museum depicting the life of its founder from rags to riches.

House of Sampoerna

Then we stopped at a salt factory in a fishing village called Pasuaran. It wasn't much of a factory and more of a repacking place for salts coming from outside.

The fishing village of Pasuaran

After Pasuaran, it was a long drive on winding road to Tosari, the place we stopped before going up the mountain. It was cold and wet. We came during the rainy season. We woke up at 3am to begin the climb at 4am. It was by the jeep all the way to Mt. Tengger to observe the sunrise.

Familiar Faces in the crowd

With my favourite son.

Coming Down from the observation point

Ton shopping on horseback.

Bromo National Park is listed as one of the most beautiful places on earth. I agree.

As far as she goes

So I made it to the top.....

After the climb we went back to the hotel. We had breakfast and left Tosari for Surabaya. It was mango season. We stopped along the way for some of the biggest and sweetest harumanis we had ever tried.