My first holiday this year! A very lacked-research trip cos of a last min decision to tag along with my 4th auntie's friend Jacky who was acting guide to his old friends of over 30 years. :) Met lots of nice and interesting people.. and most unexpectedly, a group of Singaporeans while doing hair and nails in a small inconspicous hair salon in a tiny shop space along an unpopulated street! And who would have thought we sat right next to each other in the plane when returning to Singapore! woohoo! This is real coindence huh!
*~ Day 1 - Ho Chi Minh City (18th Jun 2009) ~*
Excitedly getting out my faithful Samsung NV3, i started my snapping on the plane at first sight of Vietnam. From sparse settlements and agriculture to an overcrowded looking city..
Looking over Ho chi minh city from the plane...
*~ First impressions... ~*
Not sure if its good fortune or bad but it was a little drizzly when we arrived. Wet weather is always dampening on the spirits.. traffic jams and wet feet :P But the weather was cool~
*~ Bus surrounded by motorbikes ~*
*~ A lonely busstop ~*
Driving along the crowded roads with lots and lots of motorbikes, it was a real culture shock. The mini van we'd gotten on was weaving through the roads, overtaking by driving onto the oncoming lane. Hmm.. there are usually 2 lanes and since one is mostly PACKED with bikes, the cars decide to drive onto the other side..
*~ Korean fast food spotted in HCMC! ~*
Stopping near the Cho Ben Thanh market to get our money changed. So USD to Vietnam Dong appears to have a much better rate than SGD to Dong in Singapore!! Do take note~
Immediately when the van stopped by the road, lots of beggars lurked around while one was persistently standing at the door.
*~ Looking at the other side of the van ~*
Finally reaching our hotel Saigon MINI Hotel 5 (the uncles and aunties kept joking about 5*!) Actually it was no stars.. its just a mini hotel which u can hardly notice..
*~ Saigon MINI Hotel 5 ~*
Our first blackout in the day time took place just shortly after we checked in and were about to leave for dinner.
*~ hmm whats wrong ah?? ~*
Uncle Jacky brought us to a place for dinner where he was meeting his friend whom married a vietnamese-chinese lady and had moved to Vietnam.
*~ Me & Mom ~*
Noodles was good and of HUGE portions..
*~ Oldish looking coffeeshop like eating place ~*
We started our sightseeing cum shopping immediately after dinner. Walking along you'll always see many shops selling paintings.
*~ Paintings paintings on the wall ~*
Didn't get to find out what this was.. hmm wasn't really on a real tour so I never got my question answered.. :P
*~ Some parliament building? ~*
Was too dark and rainy so couldn't manage a photo of the post office from the outside :( but took one on the inside to show how well preserved this old building was and pretty big for a post office. That's Mr Ho Chi Minh on the picture above the clock.
*~ a famous post office apparently in HCMC ~*
During the same night, we had ANOTHER BLACKOUT at 3am which lasted about an hour.. crossing my fingers that it was just a bad day~ We checked with the hotel staff the next day and she assured us it was a RARE coincidence~ *phew*
*~ Day 2 ~ HCMC to Vung Tau (19th Jun 2009)~*
Getting up early in the morning was tough after the rough night in the mini hotel... :( Uncles and aunties like to joke about the hotel being called "Saigon Mini Hotel 5 Stars.. '5' was to indicate its the 5th of the chain of mini hotels..
Today we go to Vung Tau, an island about 1.5 hours boat ride from Ho Chi Minh City. Due to a little mis-communication, we left the hotel slightly later than planned. Fortunately we made it for the boat by 2 min. If we had missed it at 10.30am, we would have to wait till 12.30pm for the next!! So take note of the boat ride timings when planning your trip~
*~ Getting on the vessel ~*
Me & mom had what you would call a small "water disaster". Had put our hand carry luggage on the floor of the vessel and we realised it got soaked as we were getting off the boat. Some of our stuff got wet.. dun wanna think about where the water came from.. eeek..
*~ Vung Tau jetty ~*
We went straight to Sammy Hotel (a 3-star) to put down our luggages... and where me and mom had to start doing some laundry :P
*~ Sammy Hotel ~*
Met with the group to have lunch at a nearby food court in a shopping mall just beside the hotel.
*~ Enjoying my super sour Passion Fruit juice ~*
Wanted some proper vietnamese food and since we all decided on having rice, i got myself some vietnamese style pork ribs rice. :)
*~ Pork ribs with rice (vietnamese style) ~*
After lunch was time for some real physical activities! We were going "hiking"~ to get to the top of the hill where they had a big statue of Jesus Christ.
*~ Not sure what this says.. :P ~*
*~ Endless flights of stairs... ~*
Mom gave up halfway and i promised to take photos along the climb for her. Almost getting to the top, feeling proud, hot and sweaty, i had to take a shot of myself~
*~ Almost there! One more flight~ ~*
*~ Impressive huh! ~*
*~ A view from the top ~*
*~ Looking across at the beaches to show how much i climbed! ~*
Next stop, Bach Dinh relic area. Previously known as the Phuoc Thang fort before being pulled down to build the Bach Dinh, a resort for the French Governor Paul Doumer and other high ranking officials of later regimes. From 1906 to 1917, the patrotic King Thanh Thai was forced to reside there.
*~ Bach Dinh (Villa blanche, White Palace) ~*
Nowadays the Bach Dinh is used to display a number of local cultural artifacts.
*~ Looks really chinese right?? ~*
*~ A 2-winged fan?? ~*
The rooms looked all pretty much the same. Not much preservation work was done.. and in fact still going on when were visited.
*~ One of the rooms ~*
*~ Canons outside the palace ~*
The taxi drivers were very kind and agreed to drive us up another hill which we saw looked even higher than the hill we climbed to see Jesus.
*~ Me & Mom ~*
After a long tiring day, we headed back down the hill to have some seafood.
*~ A popular spot for locals to enjoy some seafood ~*
A little freaked out at how they handle the live seafood..
*~ hammering away.. :( ~*
*~ baby squids ~*
*~ steamed crabs! ~*
*~ oooo vietnamese packaged Bird's Nest drink ~*
After dinner we drove along the beaches to get back to the hotel. woah.. its packed with people, so this is what they do in the evenings. Kinda like East coast park?
*~ Food & drinks for the park-goers ~*
Ended the day with a nice cup of Cafe Latte at the famous Vietnamese cafe chain "Highland Coffee".
*~ Day 3 ~ Vung Tau to HCMC (20th Jun 2009)~*
Mom woke me up at like 6am to see that the sun had already risen.. the beaches were crowded with people and it was already super hot.. :P We still went out to take a walk at about 6.30am..
*~ Good morning sunshine! ~*
*~ People getting ready for a day at the beach ~*
Nothing much in the program that morning so me and mom headed back after breakfast for a nap.. *yawn* Getting back to HCMC, Uncle Jacky decided to bring us to have Singaporean Hainanese Chicken Rice. He said it is different... hmm.. but i guess he just wanted to meet some friends there.
*~ Hidden behind the cables ~*
*~ yup, the food looked familiar ~*
After a late lunch, we went shopping for dried foodstuff, coffee, snacks.. Hmm.. and it would be a common sight to see some exotic dried animals for sale too... eeek~~
*~ what is this?? pls don't tell me... ~*
*~ snakes? ~*
*~ This was good stuff, huge mushrooms!! ~*
We never get a shop selling only rice in Singapore and after watching the HK serial about rice, seeing this shop was pretty exciting for me~ heee~
*~ Nice rice ~*
*~ Day 4 - Mekong River Tour (21st Jun 2009) ~*
We signed up a One-Day MEKONG Tour [My Tho - Ben Tre (The Upper Mekong River)] for just 10 USD per person which included an English-speaking tour guide, boat ride, lunch, tea and fresh fruits. Cool!
It was almost a 2 hour bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City along the National Highway to My Tho where we got on a boat to a coconut candy mill.
*~ On the boat with life jackets ~*
*~ Family living on this river ~*
Using the coconut husk as fuel, there is really no waste to any part of the coconut!
*~ Making the coconut syrup ~*
After adding flavours and leaving the candy to cool, they cut the strips into pieces to be packed into packs of 40.
*~ Cutting the candy strips into smaller pieces ~*
We got to taste some nice warm coconut candy that were just made and also cheered with some banana wine. :) Looking around the counters and saw some different types of wines for sale..
*~ Scorpion & snake wine.. for men to *ah hem* boost their manhood ~*
Next, we got back onto the boat to get to Tortoise Island for lunch, 1 of the 4 famous islands named after the sacred animals (Dragon, Phoenix, Tortoise and Unicorn). It was a cool walk through the orchards! And excitedly snapping away seeing my favourite Pomelo on trees!
*~ Pomelo tree! ~*
*~ Longan tree! ~*
*~ Fresh Dragon Fruit! ~*
We were seated for lunch as the guide recommended some Elephant ear fish because they were huge like elephant ears obviously :D
*~ Tour guide with the elephant ear fish ~*
This guy sat beside our table knowing uncle will give him some food. hehee~ cute, i like his fringe all over his face~
*~ Doggy with an attitude ~*
They started running away when they saw me pulling out my camera and looking in their direction...
*~ More "wildlife"! ~*
After lunch we returned to the boats back onto our Mekong river cruise.
*~ Living along the river ~*
Was a little surprised when we saw all these row boats at one side of the river. Turned out it was part of the itinerary to take a relaxing rowing boat ride along a small canal in the shade of the water coconut trees~ :D
*~ Row boats ~*
*~ Me sneaking a shot of our boat man ~*
Arriving on Unicorn island..
Auntie was very friendly trying to get the little girl to say "hi" but looks like she was a little scared...
*~ Say "hello" ~*
We sat down again to enjoy some fresh fruits and tea to the accompaniment of traditional Vietnamese folk music.
*~ A young songbird ~*
After the fruits, we walked down a little and were again sitting down to enjoy a cup of refreshing honey tea! The Japanese tour guide brought out a huge python and invited us to take photos~
I had been training to be a docent at the Singapore Zoo.. but i was still really nervous about reptiles. Still had to get my hands on this guy.. A nice caucasian woman was encouraging me to SMILE at the camera.. *sob*
*~ Hmm scaly python ~*
We returned to the boat after the honey tea got arrived back at My Tho. The rest point was very scenic, with a restaurant and some souvenir shops.
*~ Painting in the song of nature ~*
*~ Giant ATAP CHEE!! Also what they call water coconut ~*
Back in HCMC and near our hotel, we decided to look for some local roadside food to try. :) Nightlife at our hotel area is not something u can miss~
*~ Crazy Buffalo - a new "landmark" ~*
We found a small wanton noodles stall in a dark alley.. a little wet after the rain but still a popular place for dinner.
*~ wanton noodle stall ~*
*~ me & mom & our noodles ~*
After dinner we went again to Cho Ben Thanh for some more shopping..
*~ Night market Cho Ben Thanh ~*
*~ and we custom-made our shoes ~*
*~ my design! ~*
*~ Saigon Beer! ~*
We totally missed dinner.. but had some seafood noodles and beer before returning to the hotel. Not bad, saigon beer probably tastes better than Tiger.. hmm..
*~ Day 5 - Cuchi Tunnel (22nd Jun 2009) ~*
Our 5th day in Vietnam was another cool experience~ Signed up a half-day Cu Chi Tunnel tour again with TNK Travel for just 5USD (exclusive of the 80,000 VND we had to pay for admission to the tunnels)
Another scenic drive for about 2 hours, the Cu Chi area is located 60km from HCMC. It is famous for its role in the anti-American war in Vietnam during the 1960s and early 1970s, and is legendary for its complex system of tunnels that stretched for over 220km.
*~ what the vietnamese used to dig the tunnels ~*
The tunnels are narrow and the entrances small and inconspicuous, and posed a certain amount of difficulty for Americans to enter. Didn't manage to get a good photo of myself stepping in but it was too easy for me to get in.. heehee :)
*~ its just shoulder-width wide! ~*
Iron was not affordable but fortunately for the Vietnamese guerillas, they had an abundance of it when they captured American tanks.
*~ spikey traps all over the forest ~*
The distinct 2 halves of the badge with different colours represented the division of the country to Northern and Southern Vietnam.
*~ used by the Guerillas ~*
With a sophisticated system, the kitchen remained hidden from enemies. Smoke was directed to escape the kitchen from a spot about 5 to 10 meters away from the kitchen itself.
*~ the famous underground Hoang Cam kitchen ~*
I'd always been a little claustrophobic, but this was really an experience not to be missed. Just some 40m of tunnel to experience, we crawled in one after another. Got this photo from a nice Swedish tour-mate walking behind me. As u can see the height of the tunnels is about 1m? I was practically squat-walking the whole route cos i forgot to put my bag down -_-
*~ my claustrophobic experience ~*
Survival techniques...
*~ Making shoes from tyres left behind by the enemy ~*
*~ Washing up for some snacks ~*
*~ Some refreshing tapioca and pandan tea ~*
After the tour at the Cu chi tunnel, our guide managed to squeeze in some time to bring us to a Handicraft factory where the items were all made by handicapped people.
Some of the beautiful craftwork were made using eggshells..
*~ fitting in some eggshells onto the plate ~*
*~ a friendly worker posed for a photo showing his accomplishment ~*
*~ these eggshell pictures really amazed me.. ~*
*~ a real masterpiece with eggshells!! ~*
After the half-day tour, we got back to the hotel and went to a nearby vietnamese restaurant for lunch.
*~ PAO ~*
*~ Our set lunches at just 35,000 VND ~*
It was getting late in the afternoon and we rushed to Chinatown, about 25 min away by taxi. Taxi-fare probably cost us about 5 SGD??
*~ Chinatown ~*
*~ The market ~*
Always very impressed how many motorbikes were on the road. If i remember correctly, the tour guide said there are about 4 million in HCMC alone?
*~ Motorbike mob!! ~*
Shops closed at about 5.30pm.. later i learnt from David that the night market in Chinatown is the better deal which starts about 7pm.. gee.. we missed that and left for a chinese dinner.. humph~
*~ Mom was impressed by the cleanliness ~*
*~ we met up my auntie's god-daughter ~*
After dinner, the group decided to go to Cho Ben Thanh for the 3rd time.. i was a little disappointed. 3rd time at the same night market?? huh... luckily mom was understanding and we decided we were going back to the hotel and finding a place for us to satisfy our vanity~ Opposite a very classy looking hairdressing salon, mom spotted a small and inconspicuous shop near our hotel on Bui Vien Street.
*~ the small hair salon ~*
I'm still really impressed we walked in~ and the experience is pretty unforgettable.
The shop owner could speak English, later i learnt from her that her daughter was a teacher. :) For just 50,000 VND (less than 5 SGD) i got a shampoo, head and neck massage, face scrub and a hair cut! Mom did a hair dye and cut for just 150,000 VND (less than 15 SGD)
Coincidentally, a vietnamese lady brought her 2 Singaporean visitors to the same salon~ heee~ tempted by them, i also decided to do my nails~ for just 50,000 i had a full manicure plus nail art!
*~ my pretty nails~ ~*
*~ Day 6 - Going home~ (23rd Jun 2009) ~*
Breakfast in our hotel at 7.30am~ Nice place right? Still newly furnished~
*~ Me & mom ~*
*~ A vietnamese style coffee maker/filter? ~*
*~ my Vietnamese Pho with chicken ~*
*~ View from the 10th floor at the streets ~*
*~ "good morning! grrrrr" ~*
After breakfast, we made a short trip to Cho Ben Thanh to check out the day market~ Turned out to be pretty much like the night market except it was indoors. Funny cos they kept speaking Japanese to me & mom. ;) Its amazing how good people can be with languages~
*~ Cho Ben Thanh in the day ~*
We went back to the hotel and had lunch at PAO again, the restaurant near to the hotel.
*~ the group ~*
*~ spotting a genuine roadside food on the way to the airport ~*
*~ Arriving at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport ~*
*~ Tan Son Nhat International Airport ~*
... and then we head home!
Excitedly getting out my faithful Samsung NV3, i started my snapping on the plane at first sight of Vietnam. From sparse settlements and agriculture to an overcrowded looking city..
Looking over Ho chi minh city from the plane...
Not sure if its good fortune or bad but it was a little drizzly when we arrived. Wet weather is always dampening on the spirits.. traffic jams and wet feet :P But the weather was cool~
Driving along the crowded roads with lots and lots of motorbikes, it was a real culture shock. The mini van we'd gotten on was weaving through the roads, overtaking by driving onto the oncoming lane. Hmm.. there are usually 2 lanes and since one is mostly PACKED with bikes, the cars decide to drive onto the other side..
Stopping near the Cho Ben Thanh market to get our money changed. So USD to Vietnam Dong appears to have a much better rate than SGD to Dong in Singapore!! Do take note~
Immediately when the van stopped by the road, lots of beggars lurked around while one was persistently standing at the door.
Finally reaching our hotel Saigon MINI Hotel 5 (the uncles and aunties kept joking about 5*!) Actually it was no stars.. its just a mini hotel which u can hardly notice..
Our first blackout in the day time took place just shortly after we checked in and were about to leave for dinner.
Uncle Jacky brought us to a place for dinner where he was meeting his friend whom married a vietnamese-chinese lady and had moved to Vietnam.
Noodles was good and of HUGE portions..
We started our sightseeing cum shopping immediately after dinner. Walking along you'll always see many shops selling paintings.
Didn't get to find out what this was.. hmm wasn't really on a real tour so I never got my question answered.. :P
Was too dark and rainy so couldn't manage a photo of the post office from the outside :( but took one on the inside to show how well preserved this old building was and pretty big for a post office. That's Mr Ho Chi Minh on the picture above the clock.
During the same night, we had ANOTHER BLACKOUT at 3am which lasted about an hour.. crossing my fingers that it was just a bad day~ We checked with the hotel staff the next day and she assured us it was a RARE coincidence~ *phew*
Getting up early in the morning was tough after the rough night in the mini hotel... :( Uncles and aunties like to joke about the hotel being called "Saigon Mini Hotel 5 Stars.. '5' was to indicate its the 5th of the chain of mini hotels..
Today we go to Vung Tau, an island about 1.5 hours boat ride from Ho Chi Minh City. Due to a little mis-communication, we left the hotel slightly later than planned. Fortunately we made it for the boat by 2 min. If we had missed it at 10.30am, we would have to wait till 12.30pm for the next!! So take note of the boat ride timings when planning your trip~
Me & mom had what you would call a small "water disaster". Had put our hand carry luggage on the floor of the vessel and we realised it got soaked as we were getting off the boat. Some of our stuff got wet.. dun wanna think about where the water came from.. eeek..
We went straight to Sammy Hotel (a 3-star) to put down our luggages... and where me and mom had to start doing some laundry :P
Met with the group to have lunch at a nearby food court in a shopping mall just beside the hotel.
Wanted some proper vietnamese food and since we all decided on having rice, i got myself some vietnamese style pork ribs rice. :)
After lunch was time for some real physical activities! We were going "hiking"~ to get to the top of the hill where they had a big statue of Jesus Christ.
Mom gave up halfway and i promised to take photos along the climb for her. Almost getting to the top, feeling proud, hot and sweaty, i had to take a shot of myself~
Next stop, Bach Dinh relic area. Previously known as the Phuoc Thang fort before being pulled down to build the Bach Dinh, a resort for the French Governor Paul Doumer and other high ranking officials of later regimes. From 1906 to 1917, the patrotic King Thanh Thai was forced to reside there.
Nowadays the Bach Dinh is used to display a number of local cultural artifacts.
The rooms looked all pretty much the same. Not much preservation work was done.. and in fact still going on when were visited.
The taxi drivers were very kind and agreed to drive us up another hill which we saw looked even higher than the hill we climbed to see Jesus.
After a long tiring day, we headed back down the hill to have some seafood.
A little freaked out at how they handle the live seafood..
After dinner we drove along the beaches to get back to the hotel. woah.. its packed with people, so this is what they do in the evenings. Kinda like East coast park?
Ended the day with a nice cup of Cafe Latte at the famous Vietnamese cafe chain "Highland Coffee".
Mom woke me up at like 6am to see that the sun had already risen.. the beaches were crowded with people and it was already super hot.. :P We still went out to take a walk at about 6.30am..
Nothing much in the program that morning so me and mom headed back after breakfast for a nap.. *yawn* Getting back to HCMC, Uncle Jacky decided to bring us to have Singaporean Hainanese Chicken Rice. He said it is different... hmm.. but i guess he just wanted to meet some friends there.
After a late lunch, we went shopping for dried foodstuff, coffee, snacks.. Hmm.. and it would be a common sight to see some exotic dried animals for sale too... eeek~~
We never get a shop selling only rice in Singapore and after watching the HK serial about rice, seeing this shop was pretty exciting for me~ heee~
We signed up a One-Day MEKONG Tour [My Tho - Ben Tre (The Upper Mekong River)] for just 10 USD per person which included an English-speaking tour guide, boat ride, lunch, tea and fresh fruits. Cool!
It was almost a 2 hour bus ride from Ho Chi Minh City along the National Highway to My Tho where we got on a boat to a coconut candy mill.
Using the coconut husk as fuel, there is really no waste to any part of the coconut!
After adding flavours and leaving the candy to cool, they cut the strips into pieces to be packed into packs of 40.
We got to taste some nice warm coconut candy that were just made and also cheered with some banana wine. :) Looking around the counters and saw some different types of wines for sale..
Next, we got back onto the boat to get to Tortoise Island for lunch, 1 of the 4 famous islands named after the sacred animals (Dragon, Phoenix, Tortoise and Unicorn). It was a cool walk through the orchards! And excitedly snapping away seeing my favourite Pomelo on trees!
We were seated for lunch as the guide recommended some Elephant ear fish because they were huge like elephant ears obviously :D
This guy sat beside our table knowing uncle will give him some food. hehee~ cute, i like his fringe all over his face~
They started running away when they saw me pulling out my camera and looking in their direction...
After lunch we returned to the boats back onto our Mekong river cruise.
Was a little surprised when we saw all these row boats at one side of the river. Turned out it was part of the itinerary to take a relaxing rowing boat ride along a small canal in the shade of the water coconut trees~ :D
Arriving on Unicorn island..
Auntie was very friendly trying to get the little girl to say "hi" but looks like she was a little scared...
We sat down again to enjoy some fresh fruits and tea to the accompaniment of traditional Vietnamese folk music.
After the fruits, we walked down a little and were again sitting down to enjoy a cup of refreshing honey tea! The Japanese tour guide brought out a huge python and invited us to take photos~
I had been training to be a docent at the Singapore Zoo.. but i was still really nervous about reptiles. Still had to get my hands on this guy.. A nice caucasian woman was encouraging me to SMILE at the camera.. *sob*
We returned to the boat after the honey tea got arrived back at My Tho. The rest point was very scenic, with a restaurant and some souvenir shops.
Back in HCMC and near our hotel, we decided to look for some local roadside food to try. :) Nightlife at our hotel area is not something u can miss~
We found a small wanton noodles stall in a dark alley.. a little wet after the rain but still a popular place for dinner.
After dinner we went again to Cho Ben Thanh for some more shopping..
We totally missed dinner.. but had some seafood noodles and beer before returning to the hotel. Not bad, saigon beer probably tastes better than Tiger.. hmm..
Our 5th day in Vietnam was another cool experience~ Signed up a half-day Cu Chi Tunnel tour again with TNK Travel for just 5USD (exclusive of the 80,000 VND we had to pay for admission to the tunnels)
Another scenic drive for about 2 hours, the Cu Chi area is located 60km from HCMC. It is famous for its role in the anti-American war in Vietnam during the 1960s and early 1970s, and is legendary for its complex system of tunnels that stretched for over 220km.
The tunnels are narrow and the entrances small and inconspicuous, and posed a certain amount of difficulty for Americans to enter. Didn't manage to get a good photo of myself stepping in but it was too easy for me to get in.. heehee :)
Iron was not affordable but fortunately for the Vietnamese guerillas, they had an abundance of it when they captured American tanks.
The distinct 2 halves of the badge with different colours represented the division of the country to Northern and Southern Vietnam.
With a sophisticated system, the kitchen remained hidden from enemies. Smoke was directed to escape the kitchen from a spot about 5 to 10 meters away from the kitchen itself.
I'd always been a little claustrophobic, but this was really an experience not to be missed. Just some 40m of tunnel to experience, we crawled in one after another. Got this photo from a nice Swedish tour-mate walking behind me. As u can see the height of the tunnels is about 1m? I was practically squat-walking the whole route cos i forgot to put my bag down -_-
Survival techniques...
After the tour at the Cu chi tunnel, our guide managed to squeeze in some time to bring us to a Handicraft factory where the items were all made by handicapped people.
Some of the beautiful craftwork were made using eggshells..
After the half-day tour, we got back to the hotel and went to a nearby vietnamese restaurant for lunch.
It was getting late in the afternoon and we rushed to Chinatown, about 25 min away by taxi. Taxi-fare probably cost us about 5 SGD??
Always very impressed how many motorbikes were on the road. If i remember correctly, the tour guide said there are about 4 million in HCMC alone?
Shops closed at about 5.30pm.. later i learnt from David that the night market in Chinatown is the better deal which starts about 7pm.. gee.. we missed that and left for a chinese dinner.. humph~
After dinner, the group decided to go to Cho Ben Thanh for the 3rd time.. i was a little disappointed. 3rd time at the same night market?? huh... luckily mom was understanding and we decided we were going back to the hotel and finding a place for us to satisfy our vanity~ Opposite a very classy looking hairdressing salon, mom spotted a small and inconspicuous shop near our hotel on Bui Vien Street.
I'm still really impressed we walked in~ and the experience is pretty unforgettable.
The shop owner could speak English, later i learnt from her that her daughter was a teacher. :) For just 50,000 VND (less than 5 SGD) i got a shampoo, head and neck massage, face scrub and a hair cut! Mom did a hair dye and cut for just 150,000 VND (less than 15 SGD)
Coincidentally, a vietnamese lady brought her 2 Singaporean visitors to the same salon~ heee~ tempted by them, i also decided to do my nails~ for just 50,000 i had a full manicure plus nail art!
Breakfast in our hotel at 7.30am~ Nice place right? Still newly furnished~
After breakfast, we made a short trip to Cho Ben Thanh to check out the day market~ Turned out to be pretty much like the night market except it was indoors. Funny cos they kept speaking Japanese to me & mom. ;) Its amazing how good people can be with languages~
We went back to the hotel and had lunch at PAO again, the restaurant near to the hotel.
... and then we head home!
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