Saigon - Handicapped Handicraft Tour

“Wake up…wake up…”We took our bath and get ready for today’s tour, Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnel, which we booked directly from the hotel reception. The price was more or less the same as Internet charges (always do comparison, check tour itinerary and rate before you confirmed any tour package). We paid 12USD=444,000VND=RM88 for two, which considered the cheapest of all. It was a group tour (cheaper than private tour that offered private car and tour guide) and we were transported by an air-conditioned medium-sized tour bus.We waited for more than 20minutes from the arranged time, but the bus arrived just before the hotel reception made a call. With camo scarf and short pants (but hubby wore long pants coz he said, we need to crawl inside the tunnel and prepared to get dirty…hmmm, I don’t bring any long pants la ayang…hehe…) we hopped onto the bus.

There were 8 tourists who already occupied the front and the middle seats. Hubby and I, both sat separately (left and right), for we wanted to ‘cover’ (photo hunting) on both sides of the Saigon roads.On the way, we saw Saigon River that was not up to our expectation (it wasn’t Mekong River anyway, so never expect much). Full of construction materials and improper drainage, it was not look great to our eyes. Alongside of the roads, there were shops and hawkers, but having motorcycles blocking almost 90% of your view, you couldn’t see what behind them. Haha! Lucky they nowadays use alphabets compared to what they have back then, where all wordings were written in characters.About an hour, we came to this one un-tarred road, filled with mud and holes, and covered with water. The tour guide informed that we have reached at one medium-sized industrial unit, where we can shop for souvenirs. Yeay! Right after we jumped off from the bus, we saw a signboard stated “Handicapped Handicraft”. Oooo…this is the place where government employs the handicapped to do crafting. Hmm…at least, Vietnam government did something for them to survive kan?There were also other tourists from other package tours, so we have to walk along with them, for we were only allowed to have a one way in and a one way out. Not to worry of the room to walk and browse, as the place can cater enough tourists at one time.
As I walked from one to another disabled people, I felt sympathy…with no feet or no hands, and hardly performed their duty, they still did it for a bowl of rice. But believe me, the outcomes were marvelous and beyond description! Fantastic! From egg shells, oyster shells, I-don’t-know-what shells, they made almost all goods looked pretty damn good! Some did the gluing, some did the carving, some did the polishing, some did the cleaning, everyone has his/her own specialty.The price? Don’t ever dream to get one (not even a piece of bowl or lagi kejam, not even a piece of pebble!) Drop dead expensive! (Aren’t factory supposed to sell cheaper???) Come to think of it, well, it was made by disabled people…so it should be special and unique la kot. We didn’t get anything except for few pictures with the goods. Hehe!Suddenly we didn’t see any tour members left. On the way out, our tour guide came to approach us and asked “Anything that you would like to buy?” and we replied “No…” with displeased-smile (mahal kan…) He later escorted us to the bus and at that point of time, we noticed that everyone was waiting for us. Hehe! Sorry ar kan…gua pun bayar gak…kihkih!