Singapore: I’m A Tourist In My Own Town

Sometimes, it takes a visitor to help you to see a place with new eyes.  These pics were taken by my visiting brother.  I guess we live in a pretty cool place! 

Nostalgia Yasin, Ea. Bintan, Indo. (round 2)

Who?  The 3rdworldwhite-y and her visiting from USA bro, + her kids.

When?  Jan. 29-Feb. 1, 2009.

What?  Chinese New Year Reunion, American-style.

Where?  Nostalgia Yasin Bungalows/Bintan Agro Resort.  Far Eastern Coast of Bintan Island, Indonesia.

Why?  To blow Uncle Mike’s mind!

Noted:  Another outstanding  gig at Yasin.  Gets better every time!  The staff there is great, very accommodating!  The outdoor karaoke night at nearby Agro won’t soon be forgot, especially Mike’s  “Hey , Jude“.  The fishing at Ocean Bay was marginally better than last time, in that this time around, a total of 4 fish were caught instead of none.  Sadly, said fish were more likely candidates for a home aquarium than a dinner plate.  I fear we drank them out of the local Bintang beer, so if you’re heading there, best to hit duty-free first. 

Our Rating:  A 5-star trip for Round 2!  See you there in April!

Ho Chi Minh & Mui Ne, Vietnam: A Boy’s Dream

Who?  Mom & Steve (age 12)

When?  Nov. 2006

What?  This was our first trip to Vietnam.  We prepared for the trip by reading up on Vietnam history, with emphasis on the war with the US, (as I am an American), and he holds a US passport.  I felt it was important to see this part of history from all sides.  We also watched a number of Vietnam war flicks.

Where?  We started out with 2 nights in Ho Chi Minh city (former Saigon), staying at the Saigon Pink II hotel, which is 1/2 block walk from Ben Thanh Market.  An excellent choice…we could walk to all of the main shopping places easily from our hotel.  The Pink II is budget, but clean, and we paid only US$25. per night for a big twin-share.  From Ho Chi Minh, we made a day trip out to the Cu Chi Tunnels area via coach, that we hired through the hotel.  Very cheap.  The guided tour of the tunnels, which included actual Vietcong propaganda films, was informative yet chilling…huge holes in the jungle floor still speak of the power of the B52′s that rained down their fury, the  Vietcong torture machines still snap SMACK! at the touch of a hand.  As he crawled the tunnels, I wondered if my son felt sympathetic to either side?  I wondered if I did, any more.  Our guide made special arrangements for us to go to a nearby firing range, where Steve was able to fire rounds from an actual AK47.  I’m in no-way a gun fanatic, and neither is he, but hey, when your 12…who wouldn’t want to shoot a big gun?  Remember Red Ryder?  The firing range is now a part of the regular tunnel tour, as we found out  when we returned last June.  We ended the day with a stop at the War Museum in HCM.  Next day, we traveled via bus to Mui Ne, which is mid-way up the Eastern coast.  It is a 5-hr. bus ride from HCM.  Not bad, and only cost us $US22. each R/T, but as the return trip was really unpleasant, I suggest you hire a private car & driver if you can swing it, that’s only US$90. each way.  Mui Ne was great…beautiful beach.  We stayed at the Mui Ne Sailing Club, pretty-much the center of action here.  Charlie does surf!

Why?  Why not?  The kid deserved a big treat, after faring well on his Singapore Primary School Leaving Exams!

Noted:  This is a great trip for boys just on the cusp of becoming teenagers.  They’re old enough to understand and appreciate the whole experience, yet young enough to still scamper through the tunnels, playing imaginary war games.

Our Ratings:  Saigon Pink II: 2 stars for room, 4 stars for service.  Mui Ne Sailing Club: 4 Stars.

Pulau Tioman, Malaysia

Who?  3rdworldwhitey, the kids, and Chua Family

When?  March School break,  2007

 

 

 

 

What?  Berjaya Tioman Resort is the largest and most well-established of Tioman’s many beach hotels.   

Where?  Tioman Island is located just off the coast of Eastern Malaysia.  It is renowned for it’s great beaches and superb coral reefs.  Pulau Tioman is famous for being the site of the film, South Pacific.  Take a bus out of Singapore to Mersing, then hop a ferry to the island.  Or fly in, as we did, via Berjaya Air from Singapore’s Seletar air base.

Why?  The main attraction here, folks, are the reefs.  I’ll say this much…the resorts of Malaysia tend to be a bit shabby and time-worn.  But, to the credit of the Malay government, the reefs are being protected and well-maintained.  This is evident in that even the endangered giant clam is thriving here.

Noted:  We spent our time snorkeling around Tioman and nearby islands.  The reefs were beautiful, and the waters clear.  The best time of year is post-monsoon season, or March through September.  Hire a boat to take you around the point to the scenic waterfall area.  We did, but unfortunately the South China Sea was a bit too choppy for us that day, and we couldn’t make it around the headlands.  Close to tossing our chips, the driver dropped my daughter and I off at an abandoned resort to recover, (the above photo shows my kid pointing a sign stating, Members Only).  Meanwhile, my son caught a small fish from the boat just off shore, so we cooked that up at one of the local restaurants for our lunch.

Also not to be missed is “swimming with the fishes”, (not so much like the Godfather, thankfully), off the Tioman jetty.  A large area of sea has been netted-in, and you can jump in and swim with all sorts of large and small tropical fish.  Amazing.

Our overall rating:   5 star reefs!

10 Reasons Why We Like Surin Beach, Phuket, Thailand

“…GO TO THE BEACH”

1)  Excellent chair service.

2)  Clean sand.

3)  Marie the chair lady.

4)  Big waves.

5)  Great BBQ’d chicken.

6)  Shopping from your chair.

7)  Ice-cold Tiger beer.

8)  Coconut milkshakes.

9)  It’s not Patong.

10)  Robert…”livin’ the dream”

Getting Your Kicks in the 3rd World

(row 1)  Crocodile Feeding!  Saigon Binh Chau Hot Springs, Vietnam.  June 2008.

(row 2)  Fishing!  Ocean Bay Resort, Bintan Is., Indonesia.  December 2008

(row 3)  Firing Heavy Artilary!  Cu Chi Tunnels, Vietnam.  2007/2008.

Ho Coc Beach, Southern Vietnam

Who?  3rdworldwhitegirl & family

When?  June 2008

What?  Ho Coc Beach is basically a few shacks/huts on a very nice beach.  If you don’t want to take the 5 hr. trip from Ho Chi Minh up coast to Nha Trang/Mui Ne , then this is an alternative.  However, this is NOT a resort, by any stretch of the imagination.

Where?  About 2 hours drive south of Ho Chi Minh city.  You can get there by bus, or arrange private car from your HCM hotel, (as we did), for a price of US$90/ea. way.

Why?  Well, basically we HAD made the 5hr. bus trip up to Mui Ne on a previous trip to Vietnam, and this time we wanted to see if it was worthwhile to try beaching closer to HCM.  Plus, the price was darn cheap! 

Noted:  This place is really nothing more than a local’s hangout, or would appeal to the backpacking set.  We stayed in the “family” accomodation, (see photo), which was a shack made of…GLASS.  Yes, that’s right, the walls were made of glass sheets.  People who live in glass houses…??  Inside, there was one large pallet bed, (ie; no mattress), and 2 twins.  Very old and shabby. 

Just off the bulkhead in front of the glass managerie, we stepped right on to a very decent sandy beach.  One afternoon, however, while I was sipping a cool one & enjoying my book, a small herd of cattle came running right down the beach in front of me. (see photo)  Even 3rdworldwhitegirl found this surprising.

The main problem for us with this place turned out to be security.  There really isn’t any.  While it was probably  safe, we still worried about our two kids, especially our 16yr. old daughter.  One night, just after we turned in, a group of local men showed up, and sat just outside our door on the porch, drinking booze and chatting loudly.  The glass walls didn’t do much to keep out the noise, and we were concerned that if they had too much to drink, they might try to break in. 

There is a large seafood restaurant there, and the  food is fresh and very good.  Unfortunately, on what turned out to be our last night there, our son was served a steak, (which was later revealed to be “ostrich”, but God only knows what it really was…), and got food poisoning.  We had to go back to HCM early, his vomiting, etc. were so bad.

Conclusion:  Ho Coc Beach is a weekend get-away place for local Vietnamese/expats residing in HCM.  So, I would suggest that if you are just visiting  HCM, and need beach time, go up coast to Nha Trang/Mui Ne…or further.  The saying is, the farther north you go, the better the beaches.

Our Overall Rating:  2 stars for beach, 1/2 star for room, 0 stars for “steak”