Day 1: Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (D)
Transfer via: International Flight on your own arrangement
Accommodations: Sapphire Hotel Ho Chi Minh City
Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City you will be greeted and transferred to our hotel. Then be free and at our own leisure until dinner time. We will meet our guide again and go to a local restaurant for our welcome dinner.
Day 2: Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) tour (B, L)
Accommodations: Sapphire Hotel Ho Chi Minh City
Sites Visited: Reunification Palace, War Remnants Museum, Notre Dame Cathedral, General Post office, Ben Thanh market, China town, Giac Lam pagoda
We depart from our hotel for the Reunification Palace, the former Presidential Palace for the president of the South of Vietnam. Afterwards visit the War Remnants Museum, where we can see countless artifacts, photographs and pictures documenting the second Indochina war. Before lunch we will stop at Notre Dame Cathedral and the Old Post office where we can get some good shots of the biggest city in Vietnam. A delicious lunch will be served at a nice restaurant in the central city.
In the afternoon we will visit Ben Thanh market and China town, which has its own unique Binh Tay market. Here we can experience our Southern Vietnamese daily life. Return to our hotel after visiting Giac Lam pagoda, one of the oldest and finest pagodas in Ho Chi Minh City. It is very relaxing here. After that we will be back to our hotel.
Day 3: Ho Chi Minh City - Cu Chi and Cao Dai Temple (B, L)
Accommodations: Sapphire Hotel Ho Chi Minh City
In the morning, we will leave Saigon for the Cu Chi tunnels. On the way there, we will drive through pleasant countryside, rubber plantations and rice paddies. Before entering the tunnels, see a short introductory video showing how they were constructed, followed by an exploration of the maze of tunnels, some of which have been widened to allow tourist access. Also on display are various mantraps and the remains of an American tank as well as numerous bomb craters made by B52 bombers.
Next we drive to Tay Ninh town near the Cambodian border to visit the Cao Dai temple and join Cao Dai worshippers for their daily noontide ceremony where hundreds of worshipers attired in lively red, yellow blue and white, chant religious hymns. This is followed by lunch on our way return to Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 4: Mekong - Day trip (B, L)
Accommodations: Sapphire Hotel Ho Chi Minh City
We leave Saigon behind and head to Vietnam's rice basket, the Mekong Delta. Passing through idyllic, rural scenery until we arrive at My Tho, a peaceful town on the bank of the Mekong River, we will have a boat ride on the Mekong, visit local homes and orchards, a coconut candy workshop, a honeybee farm, take a sampan ride on palm-shaded creeks, try a taste of seasonal fruit and honey tea and enjoy a performance of traditional Southern singing. Our lunch will be severed on an orchard garden. After lunch we will visit the Vinh Trang Pagoda going back to Ho Chi Minh City.
Day 5 Departure (B)
Transfer via: International Flight on your own arrangement
We will transfer to the airport to take the flight home. Trip concludes.
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