HCM 14th & 15th Apr 09

During yesterday’s cab ride back from Diamond Plaza (Le Loi Ave), I saw a few shops that we’ve not visited. So today we walked in that direction.

The Thong Xa Tax Market was supposed to be a place of great bargain but all the things there are of fixed price. Hence, we made a fast browse through the centre. We did see the City Opera House. After taking a few pictures, we went looking for Saigon Square. This is similar to the Ben Thanh Market but with less pestering from the vendors.

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We managed to get an hour’s massage after lunch =D

The taxi ride to the airport was slow as the traffic was really bad. During this we saw that we’ve missed a mall called the Zen Plaza! Next time around lah… we breezed through the immigration checking and went around the duty free shops in the airport… the plane was slightly late but we managed to get back to Msia in one piece.

HCM 13th Apr 09

April is a good time to visit HCM as it is not the rainy season. So I was surprised to wake up to a thunderstorm on the very day that I’ve arranged for a tour! With much prayer, the rain stopped after breakfast. So the tour guide walked around nearby hotels to gather tourists who had booked the tour through their respective hotels. The cheapest tour rate found online is 45 usd, but the tour we booked through the hotel costs 6 usd only!!

Around 9 a.m. we started off towards Chu Chi tunnel. The bumpy journey took about 2 hours. An hour into the bus ride, we stopped by the factory where the handicapped produces handicrafts. These workers are those who were handicapped by the war or children of soldiers who fought in the war. The stuff sold here is quoted in usd and are very expensive.

The entrance fee to the Chu Chi tunnel is 80,000 vietnamese dong. We were shown the bomb craters, booby traps, and the tunnel. Tourists get the chance to try out the various guns at the shooting range but we must buy at least 10 bullets. After much walking, we reached the tunnel entrance and we get to ‘crawl’ through the tunnel. It was really narrow and dark. Imagine how hard it was for the ang mo to go through the tunnel, when I, being so petite had such difficulty getting through. After sweating through the tunnel ‘adventure’, we were led to the multimedia shed to watch a 15 minutes clip to learn more about the history of the tunnel.

On the way back, the bus driver dropped us near the War Remnants Museum. Here, there are a lot of exhibits about the wars, photos by war reporters, children’s paintings on war and peace, weapons, planes and tanks used during the wars, and a souvenir shop.

After the museum, we walked to the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Central Post Office. Next, we went to the Diamond Plaza. However, the things here are more suitable for the rich. We didn’t get to buy anything and took a cab back to the hotel. At night we simply walked back to the night market for more bargains.

HCM 12th Apr 09

My sister and I are hard-core shopaholics so we woke up early on our first morning in HCM. Breakfast was provided by the hotel – fried egg with veg, bread, fresh pineapple juice, coffee / tea and bananas.

Right after breakfast we walked to the Ben Thanh Market. This market is where shoppers get to bargain and find everything under one roof. It is crammed with mini stalls that are really closed to each other. There are stalls selling clothes, fabrics, bags, shoes, beddings, souvenirs, food, vegetables, fruits, spices, beauty accessories, antiques, watches, lingerie, coffee / tea, stall for pedicure and manicure, et cetera. One thing that is a total turn-off in this market is the vendors that pull and ‘pester’ each visitor trying to get them to stop by their stalls and hopefully buy their stuff. Prices could be bargained and slashed up to 70% off the price they requested. Walk away and they’ll call you back to close the deal.

This market closes in the evening. In the evening there’s a night market outside Ben Thanh Market. The night market sells similar stuff as the morning market with some dissimilarity.

So we managed to find our way to the Ben Thanh market and walked around the nearby shops before checking the map and find our way back to the hotel on foot. The exhaustion of walking was made worse by the hot and humid weather. Within minutes of stepping out of the hotel, I was drenched in sweat and could literally feel my body being covered with a layer of dust.

Well, the first day was shopping day… of course we tried more phó and the infamous drip coffee.

testing

happy easter everyone!
What a tiring day...been walking around ho chi minh's district 1 for hours..finally located my location on the map and managed to get back to the hotel...am now in the lobby typing this on my mobile...ahh...yes,i've changed to a smartphone..what joy!
Sadly didn't find much bargain today...hoping for better deals later n the days to come...
Over and out...

Saigon

I’ve been itching to travel for months and the long awaited trip to HCM was finally here! Our excitement was trampled when upon arrival at LCCT we found out that the flight was retimed to an hour later. Since we’ve arranged for airport pick-up we tried calling our hotel to inform them of the delay but received an invalid number answer! Thank god there’s free wifi in the airport. So I emailed the hotel with my phone and quite instantly got a response from the hotel. Boarding time came but the plane was no where in sight! As if sensing our exasperation, they announced that the plane was late in arrival, hence, another delay! Yet they proudly declare they’re 92% on-time…

The flight took 1 hour 50 minutes and HCM is an hour behind Malaysia. We got onto the cab, and were instantly appalled by the mad traffic web! There were vehicles everywhere, mostly motorcycles, and it seems they can drive about wherever and whichever way they like… some made u-turns in the middle of the road, some reversed to get back onto the main road, and some just stopped wherever is convenient to them. Amid all these chaos, every vehicle just kept honking, honking and honking… there’s only one word to depict the road condition here… mad!!!

When the cab stopped, our hotel’s manager came to greet and carry our luggage. Then we followed him closely to cross the road! Yup, it takes much courage, tact and ‘ignorance’ to cross the roads here… We were stunned to find we were given the room on the fourth floor! Gosh, we had to climb the steep stairs everyday… there were 84 steps and with each passing day it seems harder to get up or down… The room was spacious, one double bed and one single bed, bathroom with water heater, air-con and fan, fridge, cable tv with lots of channels, towels, wardrobe, free wifi… nice…

Our first meal was of course phó (pronounced pher)… beef noodle and fresh fruit juice for me… a little walking after dinner and it was time to hit the sack…