Day-tripping from HCMC

The wait

Of the 2 and half days we had in HCMC, we scheduled one entire day for a day trip to Tay Ninh, home of the Cao Dai Cathedral, and the notorious Cu Chi Tunnels.

Our pickup was 15 mins late. We were bussed to the tour agency's main office, where we had to wait almost an hour. Meanwhile, vendors made their way through the crowd, hawking Lonely Planets, toy horses with nodding heads and sunglasses which HB was sure were snatched off unsuspecting tourists' faces.

But we didn't complain - we paid a mere US$5 each for the day-long affair that included a guide. Hotel pickup/dropoff was another US$1 each. Brochures in our hotel room offered the same trip, lunch included, for US$87!!! We were armed with ham, bread and fruits for lunch. (Guidebooks say food out of town was dire.) Our food bill? About $7.

I was quite miffed that our first stop (not mentioned in the itinerary) was a handicraft factory. But it hired handicapped people, so that was alright. And after a while, I was quite fascinated by the work they did.

Here's a craft I could get my nieces to do. Stick eggshells on black paper, use pins to crack them and spread pieces to get shadow gradations. Very nice. The surface of the piece is then lacquered.

I've never been much of a fan of mother-of-pearl inlay. But the process of creating the handiwork is quite fascinating. I think the photos speak for themselves. Watching the sawing, I could feel goose pimples forming - fingernails-on-slateboard torture!

I bought a small version of the left picture in the top right photo - of man casting a net into the water. It's in monochrome so that the way the eggshells are spread are more pronounced.