Here comes my well deserved holiday after a year of hard work, be it work or school. Right from the first quarter of the year until now, I didn't have anytime to rest. Finally I'm done with my exam yesterday and short getaway begins.
Due to some circumstances, I initially thought of forgoing this trip but my buddy, Linda, has spontaneously agree to this impromptu trip with me. She has also been stressed up in her work and we decided to use this trip to rejuvenate ourselves and forget about everything.
Linda ended her D&D at about 11pm last night at Sentosa and she lives very far from HarbourFront. I invited her to my house for a sleepover and headed to airport together.
We arrived at Changi Airport Terminal 2 at about 5am and immediately proceeded to pick up our Changi wifi pocket and check-in thereafter. After which, we went to Straits Food Village for our breakfast.
Having my early breakfast at 5.40am. I usually don't have much appetite when I just woke up so I decided to have something not too heavy. I ordered Kaya Butter Toast (S$1.80), I like the taste of kaya and butter wrapped inside the crispy yet fluffy toast.
Our luggage for 4D3N trip.
I always like to wear something comfy when I board a plane, so I paired a black shorts with a white long top and matched it with a stripe cardigan.
This was our "first" overseas trip together, we have been wanting to go on a overseas trip together for a longest time and finally we fulfilled it. We went on a staycation together in Johor Bahru last year and traveling together this year.
We were getting excited for our trip. Let's forget about all the unhappy things and enjoy the present. Don't let people who do not want to be part of it to ruin this moment.
We took Scoot for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City.
I'm glad that we arrived at the boarding gate early because after clearing the boarding gate, we need to head down to level 1 and take a shuttle bus to our plane as the plane was parked further at remote bay. This was my first time boarding the plane using truck mounted airstairs.
I booked a window seat, I always love taking window seat as I simply just love to gaze at the view out of the window, be it looking at the fluffy cloud or scenery.
We were one of the earliest batch as we boarded the first bus. This was one of the smallest plane that I have boarded with only 6 seats per row, usually the one I took for scoot was 9 seats per row.
We were comfortably seated while waiting for the plane to take off. Shortly after settling on our stuff, Linda has drifted off to her sleep. We didn't have much sleep last night, we slept at 1am and woke up at 4am to prepare.
For me, I can't sleep well on flights so I spent majority of the time looking out at the window.
I managed to capture the sight of rainbow while I was on plane, it was a very faint lining but still it was beautiful. Weather has not been good lately and weather forecast indicated that it will be raining during the 4 days we are at Ho Chi Minh City.
It was a 2 hours flight to Ho Chi Minh City from Singapore, we took off nearly 8am.
We were reaching Ho Chi Minh City, which is formerly known as Saigon. It is also the most visited city in Vietnam. We landed at Tan Son Nhat International Airport at about 8.50am (Vietnam time). Vietnam is one hour behind Singapore. Clearing the custom was a fast one as there wasn't many crowds in the morning, we cleared it in 15 minutes time.
Prior to the trip, I got my money changed at the exchange rate of SGD1 : 16,800VND.
After we came out from the airport, we were at a loss of the mode of transport to take to our hotel. I heard from my cousins about taxi scams where the taxi driver either try to extort money or collect more money from the meter fare (collected one more zero than the the money reflected). I also heard stories from many people that Ho Chi Minh is a dangerous place to visit and people asking why would I want to come.
Therefore, I was a bit worried about taking taxi so we tried to approached the private car which charged a standard rate of 220,000VND. We found it expensive and was trying to negotiate the price. Another man came to interrupt us and quote us a lower price at 175,000VND. I thought they were from the same company and I agreed to the price. On our way to his car in the carpark, Linda pointed that they looked like they were from different company. Upon reaching his car, he put our luggage in the backseat and asked Linda to take the backseat while I took the front seat. I started to find it weird and unease, shouldn't he put our luggage in the car boot instead? Why is he trying to separate us?
After we drove out from the carpark, a toll fee of 10,000VND needs to be paid and the driver tried to collect the money from us. I only have notes in 200,000VND as I have not break into small changes. He did not believe and keep checking the notes we have inside our wallet to check how much we have. In the end, he drove us back to the carpark, I can't catch what he was talking, unsure is it to bring us to change smaller notes or change another car. Another man was waiting outside his car waiting to transfer us over. I can't trust them anymore and used this opportunity to quickly flee away.
We settled on taxi in the end. I googled to check which is the reliable and main taxi companies, and we just went for it. We took Mai Linh Taxi (Green taxi) which brought us safely to our hotel. It was a half an hour ride form airport to our hotel in District 1. The taxi fare was 126,000VND (S$7.50).
We reached Sanouva Saigon Hotel at 10.10am. Though we reached our hotel slightly later, we managed to get away safety from the weird encounter earlier. Feeling relieved because we are not going to take transport again until the last day to airport.
We were unable to check-in to our hotel yet as the official time for check-in was 2pm, so we just left our luggage with the reception and began my adventure.
Sanouva Saigon Hotel is a 9 storey 3 star boutique hotel with 53 well-appointed rooms. I loved the strategic location of our hotel such that most of the tourist attractions in District 1 are within walking distance from each other. Wifi is important when traveling to Ho Chi Minh because I am heavily dependent on the google map to bring me to the various tourist attractions via walking.
Our first stop was Ben Thanh Market which was just 3 minutes walk from our hotel. Ben Thanh Market is a large local marketplace and tourist attraction. I foresee this will be a place we will be coming often for the next 3 days.
Ben Thanh Market in District 1 is a must visit place when looking for cheap shopping in Ho Chi Minh City, especially for people who are looking to buy cheap sport apparels and fake branded goods. Other items that can be found includes local handicrafts, souvenirs, dried food, coffee and tea.
Best time to visit was in the morning where the market was packed with people. With many people around, the shop tenants will not be too focus on hard selling their items. Remember to bargain price as the price they quoted was always higher. Also, only ask for the price if you are interested in buying the item because they can be very persistent in selling their products to you.
We concluded our shopping after 1.5 hours covering the market. I didn't buy anything for myself as the items were not suitable for my liking and were not as cheap too. I ended up buying things for others. I got a Tiger's eye bracelet at 150,000VND (S$8.93) for my mummy and 2 Under Armour t-shirt for my family at at 150,000VND.
It was 12pm and we were famished. We initially wanted to have our lunch at Ben Thanh Street Food Market which was like an international cuisine food court for tourist but we couldn't find our way out. We decided to have lunch inside Ben Thanh market instead to try out their street style local food. We settled for this humble looking stall called Shop 1084.
I have Fried Rice with Sunny Side up for lunch. This was really value for money, it cost only 40,000VND (S$2.38) for a plate of fried rice. The fried rice has enough wok hei and simply tasted fragrant. Perhaps, I was too hungry too.
After the lunch, we walked further down to Shop 1076 for dessert.
We ordered a glass of refreshing dessert at 20,000VND (S$1.19) making up of coconut shreds, coconut milk and mung beans. It was different from the usual chendol we have. It has a sweet taste and aroma of coconut milk, making it a excellent dessert to cool ourselves down. If you find it too sweet, you can add the shaved ice into the glass to dilute the taste.
Feeling satisfied, we were ready to leave Ben Thanh market.
Ben Thanh Market
Chợ, Lê Lợi, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam
Operating hours: 6am to 6pm daily (Night Market will start in the streets surrounding Ben Thanh after 6pm till midnight)
Finally made our way out and we passed by the Street Food Market, we went in and check out the stalls. We were glad that we settled our lunch in Ben Thanh Market instead, because this place is a tourist trap.
We headed back to hotel lobby to drop our shopping bags and toilet break. As the room was still not ready for check in, we continued with our exploration.
Our next destination was Ho Chi Minh City Museum.
This is both our first visit to Ho Chi Minh City, it is a city rich in history with French structure and many historic museums with stories to tell.
The walking distance from our hotel to the museum was about 7 minutes walk. On our way, it started to rain. We seek shelter inside the museum.
The exhibition gave us a glimpse of the culture of Saigon, focusing on introduction of their belief, custom, traditional performance art and education.
I actually planned quite a number of museums to visit during this trip. You might be thinking I am a very historical person, but I'm not. I told Linda my main purpose of visiting a museum is not to look at the ancient artifacts, but is to have closer look at their architecture of the museum and exterior design of the building that is a perfect background for photo opportunities.
Both of us loved this museum the best in term of photo opportunity spots.
The museum combined the architecture with European and Oriental influences where the flooring, staircases and halls were European-styled, while the roof was Oriental-inspired.
It was a small museum with only 2-floored palace building. The entire place can be covered in an hour time. Nevertheless, we still enjoyed our time walking around the museum looking at the stunning architecture.
We headed back indoor to take a look at all the collections.
Enjoying our time together during travel.
In the period 1954 – 1975, technology was introduced to the industrial zones and factories, such as processing food products, mechanics, textile and garment industry.
Time came for the revolution struggle. The establishment of Vietnamese communist party of Saigon leading the city, workers, peasant’s movements struggling for civil and democratic right.
It was nice to finally slow down my pace to immerse myself in the place full of culture and history. I love learning about the local culture whenever I visit a foreign country.
I'm glad Linda enjoyed her time in the museum and let me be her tour guide.
I actually came here with a mixed feeling after hearing so much negative points about Ho Chi Minh City. I have been on high alert throughout the trip after the car incident and especially we are only 2 girls. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed my time here. It was always great to be together in a foreign country, learning about different culture, affordable and delicious food and lots of shopping in the bustling city.
Our OOTD for day 1, both of us were coincidentally in white top. Here's a mirror image of us.
There were war planes being displayed outside the museum for visitors to have a look.
With that, we ended our 1 hour tour of the museum. The time was 2.40pm, I was glad that the rain has stopped so we can continued with our plan. We went on to next shopping destination at Saigon Square which was 8 minutes walk away.
Ho Chi Minh City Museum
65 Ly Tu Trong, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City
Operating hours: 7.30am to 6pm daily
Entrance fee: 30,000VND (or S$1.79)
We passed by Taka Plaza and went in to have a quick shopping before making our way to Saigon Square for more shopping. I got myself a dress from Saigon Square. So happy, finally got something for myself.
Ho Chi Minh City is a buzzing city. At any point of time, the road will always be filled mainly with motorcycles and other vehicles as well. It make me wonder where are all these people heading to?
Here's how their traffic look like, I have never seen so many motorcycles on the road before. Crossing the road was a challenge, especially those without traffic light. The road will never be clear of vehicles so we just have to cross daringly. The motorcyclists will try to avoid you.
After we left Saigon Square, we stopped by to purchase a bag of Crispy Waffles at 30,000 VND from this elderly lady sitting outside. The time was 4.30pm, we were ready to head back hotel for check-in. The journey back to hotel was about 12 minutes walk.
Here's a room tour to our Deluxe Double room.
The hotel made us feel homely. The room was furnished in modern style with queen-size bed and 2 small windows. Overall, it was a comfortable room.
The Double Deluxe room was perfect for couples. The top portion of the sliding wooden door was a see through door which cannot be covered. If you are particular on complete privacy, this room might not be suitable for you.
Initially when Linda suggested buying the waffles, the first thought that came to my mind was the usual waffles we have in the bakery shop. But little did I know it will be something different. It was actually crispy thin crust waffles, something unusual for us where we could hear the crunching sound at every bite. Very crispy indeed.
We were staying at level 3, right besides the lift. The hotel room did not come with any view, it just show the building besides our hotel, so can just put down the straw curtain.
After a long hours out, we just relaxed in our hotel room for 1.5 hours, munching the snacks we bought while watching The Amazing Spider-Man showing on Fox Movie. While I was watching the movie, Linda went for a nap. We headed out at 6.30pm to continue our exploration.
Sanouva Saigon Hotel
177 Ly Tu Trong st, Ben Thanh Ward, District 1, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
The sky has turned night when we headed out as the sun set at 5.30pm here.
We have our dinner at Yummy Chicken that is along the stretch of Ben Thanh Street Food Market. We passed by this restaurant earlier in the day and make a mental note to come back here for dinner.
Yummy Chicken is a Portuguese eatery that serve all kind of grilled and rotisserie chicken dishes. It has a wooden style interior.
We ordered a half rotisserie chicken and 2 bowl of rice for our dinner.Yummy Chicken shared similar concept as Nando's who also offered Peri Peri sauces with up to 13 flavour for consumers to choose from.
The rotisserie chicken was juicy and tasty when dipped with the different peri peri sauces, boosting the aroma out. Our dinner total up to 118,800VND (or $7.07), I definitely cannot find this price in Nando's, not even our hawker centre will have $7 for a half chicken.
Yummy Chicken
16-18-20 Thu Khoa Huan, District 1 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Operating hours: 24 hours daily
Our final stop for the day was to shop at Ben Thanh Night Market. The time was 7.30pm and the stalls were fully set up.
At night, the street stalls were setup outside Ben Thanh market all the way until midnight. The things sold were pretty much similar. I got another bracelet for my mummy and a long wallet for my bro. The wallet was my proud bargain of the trip. From 700,000VND, I bargained the price until 200,000VND (S$11.90). I never thought the shop owner will give it to me as I already have the thought of leaving.
We bought a cup of Sugarcane drink at 15,000VND ($0.89) for sharing. A refreshing drink to go with after our meal.
After shopping, it started to rain again and getting heavier. It was nearing 9pm after 1.5 hours of shopping, we called it a day and head back to our hotel for shower as we were caught in the rain.
After back to our hotel, we continued watching movies with the tibits bought from the Circle K, a convenience store right besides our hotel.
This marked the end of our day 1, good night.
No comments:
Post a Comment