Short trip to Ho Chi Minh - Day 5

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5


Last day at Ho Chi Minh.

I start to get used to the car and motorcycle here.
Start to love the Vietnamese Coffee that I had one everyday.
And of course I notice lots of pretty, cute vietnamese lady in Ho Chi Minh.
It is not surprise that many wealthy guy visit Vietnam looking for bride.

My colleague bring me to try another local restaurant before I leave.
This restaurant have a more food court style. With each stall selling different local food.

Snail. (=__=!!)
And I ate. I can't taste any special of the meat as lemon grass and other ingredient has covered the taste.

And that conclude my last meal in Ho Chi Minh.
Next is boarding the airplane and fly back to Malaysia.
The view is magnificent on the way back and I took some nice photo.

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5

Short trip to Ho Chi Minh - Day 3 & 4

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5

Day 3 & 4 is weekend and is my personal time.
I visited some local tourist agency and look for some 1 day tour.
There is 2 choice. The Cu Chi Tunnel and the Mekong river. Both is one day tour and will cost about USD 30 - 40.

Cu Chi Tunnel is a network of underground tunnel that is dug during the Vietnam war and play vital role in ensuring the victory for Viet Cong. I skip this location as I am afraid to see any remains of war. Especially in a place that the causalities of dead people is unknown but confirmed a large number.

Mekong river is the main source of economy in Vietnam. The farmer, fisherman rely on Mekong river for their source of income. Most Vietnamese used the river as a method of transportation.
The river also connect to the inner IndoChina. It sound nice but I have to pass on this as the weather during my visit is not that good. On both Thursday and Friday, rains heavily in the evening. Reports of typhoon hitting the Hanoi city too.

So in the end, I do not have much choice but to visit the HCM and spend most of my time in Sheraton Hotel Casino.

There is only one Starbucks Coffee in Vietnam. (I notice there is a new branch but the Starbuck Vietnam Facebook say that branch is still renovating. Not operating yet)

The colonial style building with a mix of more modernize style building.

The government palace.

The post office of Saigon. Use to be center of communication back when telegraph and letter is more common. And telephone or mobile phone is not invented yet.

French Cathedral of Notre Dame. I do not have any tourist guide to tell me the story or history of this building. But fromt he look, a lot of work is done to maintain the building as it is still standing after World War II and Vietnam War.

A great place to hold wedding. Dang ~ Dang ~ Dang Dang ~!!! 

Vietnam style Chinese word is so weird.......

Omg... I wonder how they differentiate which cable goes to where.

The food stall at Bent Tranh Market.

The Market is open 24 hours. So if you are tourist and won't sleep at night, you can consider hotel near this market to stay.

But take note though, the people in here is so used to tourist looking for bargain here.
They usually overcharged the tourist for cheap souvenir.
For example, you can find those 3D greeting cards here. And the seller try to sell to me for 180,000 Viet Dong for one card. I manage to purchase the same card for 20,000 dong at a road side peddler near my hotel.

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5

Short trip to Ho Chi Minh - Day 2

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5


Wake up in the middle of 5am morning. And I notice the sky is almost fully bright, but very fast a stormy rain start. I forget how it happen, I just continue my sleep.

Wake up again when my alarm clock ring. Took a photo of view from my room and then need to rush to work. (><)

The hotel is behind the famous post office. And is very near to the French Cathedral Notre Dame.

There is a lot of choice for breakfast but I am in a rush. So just a simple American style breakfast.

For lunch, my colleague bring me to a French restaurant at my request.
Another nice meal. (^___^)

Some history class, French colonize Vietnam for a long time. Unlike Malaysia that is colonize by the British. Lots of building left at Saigon have the French style of architecture. Also the normal meal that Vietnamese have is Baguette, or French Bread. You can see road side stall that looks like Malaysia Burger Ramly stall but they sell French Bread with local vege instead of salad and ham. I did not try any of it though....

The steak cut is a bit thin compare to usual Malaysia style. My colleague tell me this is because Vietnamese usually eat their steak 100% cooked. And not Medium Well like in Malaysia.
A thinner slice will ensure shorter cook time and the beef is cooked

The sauce is well prepared with a scent of herb and the beef is so juicy and tender. I do not have a hard time to eat or chew it.

Free dessert to go with the meal.

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5

Short trip to Ho Chi Minh - Day 1 - Reaching Hotel

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5

After finish work, my colleague give me a ride to the Hotel. Traffic in Vietnam is very scary. The number of motorcycle is so much more compare to the car. So it is a habit for everyone on the street to press horn so that other people will know that they are behind or next to them. A way for them to be safe. But for Foreigner like me, I can't get used to this on my first day. It feels so annoying to hear the horn all the way.

Also they love to rushing around and taking turn when even the traffic light is Red for them and green for pedestrian crossing. So tips for any tourist, take taxi. It is cheap to most location and your safety is much more guaranteed. Google the location address and show to the taxi driver before you board. Some location may not known to them but don't worry, it is not hard to find another taxi.

Finally reaching the Hotel and this is certainly one of the best hotel I ever stay before.
I like the room feels. I stay at Intercontinental Makati, Manila Philippines before but it is not as good as this hotel.

The room is not spacious but clever sliding door that is next to the bath tub help to add more space to the room. The bed and pillow is very soft. A bit too soft for my preference as I need to sleep on 2 pillow and feel my neck pain the next day. The Ipod/Iphone docker is a nice touch. It can also be used as radio or alarm clock.

And finally, the night view of Saigon.

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5

Short trip to Ho Chi Minh - Day 1

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5

Ho Chi Minh City, or perhaps more widely known as Saigon.

It is certainly not in my list of country or places I wish to visit before I die.
But I am glad to come here for a short trip. Suppose to be a business trip but I have the weekend to explore the city on my own.

A little background of this city and country. Although not that clear, Vietnam is a Communist country. Ruling party have huge power to decide a lot of things. And the country itself is in rapid transformation and modernization after years of civil war. Now Vietnam is one of the highest growing country in the world.

So that means lot of business opportunity for Foreign Investor.
It is a surprise to me as I find more foreign traveller in the same flight with me going to Vietnam. And even more when I reach the Vietnam Airport.

The Airport itself is not that huge. Unlike other major Airport such as our own KLIA.

Vietnam is the first country that I visit without need to fill up any immigration card or apply visa.
I just answer a few question on what is my purpose of the trip and where will I be staying and they grant me to enter the country. But once I am out of the airport I start to feel the passion of the Vietnamese, at least 5 guys look at me and then come forward to me to offer carry my luggage and send me to Hotel.

Being first time to HCM, I got cheated. The guy charge me Vietnam Dong 300,000 (About RM45/USD 13) for the ride on a lousy no air-cond car. And later I find out a normal taxi with air-cond is only Vietnam Dong 180,000 (Less than RM30/USD 10).

Reach my company office, around 11am. After settling down, my colleague suggest to go for Lunch Meal. They inform me in Vietnam, it is best you go punctual or very hard to get place and nice food anymore. First meal at Vietnam and they bring me to a very authentic local Vietnam restaurant.

The Restaurant is at the RoofTop of a building and it is call SH Garden. A very nice ambience and I like the lift that take me to the top. It is old antique kind of lift that you can only see this in a movie.
Classic

The Restaurant is called SH Garden, and as you can see it is very traditional style with cane type of table. The table is very low and make me feel like kneeling to eat. I guess it is common in Vietnam people to do so.

A few different type of way to prepare the famous Vietnam Spring roll. Fried version, Rice Paper version and the soft rice dumpling type. I find the rice paper a bit hard. It really feel like you are chewing on paper. My colleague say they make it a bit hard today. Usually it is not that hard. But it is not real paper but made of rice. So 100% can eat it.

My favourite dish. Catfish(鲶鱼) cook in clayport. This is a very common dish in Vietnam Household. In Malaysia, we normally call this fish as 塘虱.

The Vege soup with minced meat. I am sure this is just minced meat as I have tell my colleague not to order weird things such as dog meat, frog meat etc.

The restaurant did not provide a bowl of rice for each person but a claypot of rice is left on the desk. You can take the portion you want and this pot is shared.

The only dish of the day that I hate. Coz I don't eat any liver or inside of animal things. Like the chicken liver. Plus the vegetable is also another type that I won't eat.

Day 1 | Day 1 - Hotel | Day 2 | Day 3 & 4 | Day 5