Giong Trom, (Ben Tre Province), Vietnam - June 2023

 Giong Trom, here we come! Giong Trom is a rural district located in Ben Tre province in the Mekong Delta region of South Vietnam.  Even though it's a capital of the province, Giong Trom (still) remains an off beaten path from tourists. In addtion to the natural beauty and fertile orchards, Giong Trom is well known for being the "coconut country" of  the delta region.

We reached Mango Home resort early afternoon where we stayed for the night in Giong Trom. The resort is very lovely and peaceful. The four of us were the only guests in the resort!

Entrance to the resort

Mango Home ground

Pool - view from our room

Lotus pond in fornt of our room.

The room's (en-suite) outdoor facility 

The "outdoor" bathroom

The resort by the riverside, a perfect place to watch sunset
 

Coconut boat.

Riverboat bringing coconuts to the floating market from the river/canal across Mango Home resort.

  

Dinner at Mango Home.

Relaxing in the orchard.

Breakfast at the resort. It started out slowly with a few simple dishes. And it kept coming... 

 Pho, tea, milk and coffee included. 

Beautifully displayed breakfast items.

Banh su se

Bank khot

A stroll under coconut trees after the huge breakfast. 

Other fruits in the orchards besides coconut.

Coconut trees loaded with fruits

Beautiful lotus pond.

And more coconut trees lining up the path.

Enjoying our leisure walk through the neigborhood. 

Picking the coconut.

Water coconut's flowers

A perfect morning in Giong Trom, My Thanh!

On the way back to Saigon, we made a stop at the road side to buy the local products like: milk rice paper, coconut rice paper, durian candies etc...

Variety of local products at the roadside shop.
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Assembly lines at the shop.

What a beautiful way to spend two days in my beloved Mekong Delta of the South Vietnam!. Thank you, Nam and Nguyen for taking us to this wonderful and newly discovered place! We shall come back for another visit in the near future.

Saigon - Go Cong Town, (Tien Giang Province), Vietnam - June 2023

 It was wonderful to get a homecoming welcome from our long time friend, Nguyen at Tan Son Nhut airport. So good to see Nguyen, and later Nam, Nguen's wife at their home in Phu Nhuan. We stay with them almost everytime we came to Saigon. They are great hosts and we always feel like "home" while visiting them. These days, Nam and Nguyen are retired and love to travel any chance they get. They have made some travel plans for us soon after we settled in Saigon. The four of us embarked on a two day trip to visit Go Cong, a town district of Tien Giang province in the Mekong Delta.

Before leaving Saigon, we did not forget to stop by "Banh mi 101" to buy banh mi for the road.

Our favorite "banh mi" restaurant in Saigon

Along the way, we visitd a few interesting attractions such as the Royal Mausoleums in Go Cong Town and the former Governor Nguyen Van Hai's Palace nearby. 

Main gate to the Royal Mausoleums

The Royal Mausoleums, a complex of ancients tombs of members of the famous Pham Dang Family from the 18th - 19th centuries in South Vietnam.

The mausoleum complex consists of the tomb of Grand Duke Pham Dang Hung, maternal grandfather of the wife of King Tu Duc.

The mausoleum's wall decorated with sophiscicate and delicate patterns of dragons, tirgers, carps etc..

A few miles away, we visited a beautiful mansion with modern French architecture and ancient feudal times. It was a former residence of Governor Hai.

Former residence of Tien Giang Governor Hai 

Governor's Palace - contains beautiful decorative sea molds, mother-of-pearl mosaics.

The main entrance 

One of the rooms inside the Governor's Palace

East Go Cong - Tan Dong

A temple ruin in East Go Cong

A temple ruin 
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Sea food on sale at Tan Thanh Beach market.  

Tan Thanh Beach in East Go Cong. View from the restaurant where we had a delicious sea food lunch. 

We continued traveling toward Mango Home in Giong Trom, Ben Tre for an overnight stay. The countryside scenery was exquisite and serene. The fertile agricultural land of the Mekong Delta seems to go on forever under the sultry sun. 

Fertile fields 

Busy farmers at work 

 

Tokyo, Japan - May 2023

 We left for a June trip to Vietnam on the last day of May. Japan was supposed to be a quick layover, about one and a half hour before catching our last flight to Saigon. At first, we were concerned whether or not we would make the connection at Haneda airport in Tokyo with less than 2 hour.. However, when we found out our flight to Tokyo from Dulles was delayed for at least three hours, we knew we would not be able to make the connection per original itinerary. United made the decision for us. We would fly to Tokyo and stay at a hotel in Haneda airport overnight. We will fly to Vietnam the next day on the same flight as scheduled the day before. At the end,  we will arrive in Saigon one day late.

The Royal Park Hotel Tokyo is conveniently located in the International Terminal. We had a decent overnight rest and ready for some sightseeings in Tokyo the next day, Friday June 2nd. We took a train/monorails from the airport terminal to the Gotokuji Temple in the beautiful park of Setagaya city where we could see the Tokyo Eiffel Tower...Except for the rains and stormy weather later in the day, we had a nice time playing tourist in Tokyo.

 

TokyoAt the airport

Walking toward the Tokyo Tower from the train station

Tokyo Metropolitan Shiba Park, one of Japan's oldest public park.

Shiba Park

The Bell Garden in Shiba Park

The tower in background

A rainy day

The Zojoji Temple Complex

The temple ground

The temple complex

Offering flowers displayed on rows in the temple garden.

A baptismal in the sanctuary

Back to the airport, we had some time to check-in and had dinner before our flight to Saigon. The flight was delayed for about 2 hours because of the stormy weather. But finally, we were able to take off for Vietnam that evening.

A hearty four course meal at the airport restaurant.