Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) Day 2: Independence Palace + Highlands Coffee

Good morning, we woke up at 8.20am to a bad weather as we prepared ourselves for breakfast. I have opt in for breakfast when booking this hotel as I was afraid not getting use to their local food, so international cuisine will be a safe choice. Breakfast begins from 7.30am and end at 10am. We headed down at around 9.10am.

We went down to hotel’s lobby where Sanouva restaurant was located. It was a small and cozy area just like the hotel. While I sat down, I noticed it was raining heavily outside. Why do I always encounter rain whenever I travel?

The breakfast buffer consists of cuisines from international choices. The food was regularly replenished and freshly made. Though the selection was not a wide array, the buffet spread was more than enough to satisfy my tummy with their sweet and savoury selection. 

A morning selfie, ready to start our day.

Here's my selection: fried rice, ham, fried dumpling, waffle and pancake.

Other than the food on display, we can also order eggs from the staff. I requested scrambled egg while Linda opt for sunny side up. We also have yogurt to end off the meal. The fresh made yogurt has a soft and smooth texture, we enjoyed our 50 minutes breakfast and our tummy were filled to the brim. I really enjoyed the breakfast. We felt so full that we think we can skip lunch later on.

We went back to our room and rest for another 2 hours. The movies on Fox Movie were repeated, it was showing the movies we watched yesterday, but it was okay for us as we didn't catch that part yesterday. We rested until 12pm before decided to head out for our plans today. At 12pm, it was still raining heavily and did not show sign of stopping. Luckily, both of us brought umbrella for this trip.

Due to the rain, we slowed down our pace and took 20 minutes to walk to our first destination, Independence Palace. Little did we know that the palace was closed for lunch break and will open only at 1pm, we have half an hour of buffering time which we just loiter at the souvenir shops.

Independence Palace is formally known as Reunification Palace, it was home and workplace to the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

The Banquet Chamber in the Independence Hall.

Everything in the palace was a sight preserved from 1975. The palace housed a lush gardens, secret rooms, antique furniture, and a command bunker. 

I wore this 2 piece outfit out where the top and shorts come in a set. Whether tucked in or let out, the outfit looked chic.

Taking a look at the different function rooms in the palace from Ministers' cabinet room, dinging room to game room.

If you are looking to visit Independence Palace, do remember to plan your time properly to avoid long waiting time.

The Presidential Office.

Behind this story of Independence Palace is a tragic past, It was the site of the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through its gates. I didn't have a chance to go out to take a look at the replica of the army tank due to the heavy rain.

One hour was sufficient for touring around the palace. It was 2pm and it was still heavy downpour, we have to scrap away my initial plan of visiting other places near the palace and come back again tomorrow. We were dragging to get ourselves drenched again, hence we decided to spend our afternoon lazing in a cafe right outside the palace.

Independence Palace

135 Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh 700000, Vietnam

Operating hours: 7.30 to 11am, 1-4pm daily

Entrance fee: 40,000VND (or S$2.38)

With lots of spare time, we walked in to Highlands Coffee for cafe hopping. There are many outlets available in Ho Chi Minh City so you can find them anywhere.

Highlands Coffee has a lovely interior and it was a two storey cafe. We went up to level 2 and tucked ourselves comfortably in a quiet area. We just chilled inside the cafe over a drink and dessert. We immediately felt relaxed and happy.

Checked out the dress Linda was wearing, this was the dress she bought from the mall yesterday. It was lovely.

There was a set promotion going on where a drink and a cake combo set cost only 49,000VND (or S$2.92). We were so in loved with the food here, it was really delicious and cheap.

I have Green Tea with Red Bean and Peach Mousse Cake. 

The Green Tea has a slight bitter taste, it was added with red bean to add slight sweetness and combat the bitterness of the green tea. I was slowly getting used to the taste after a few sips.

With all the hectic schedules I was experiencing, when was the last time I have luxury time just chilling out and enjoying companionship over a meal? 

I was glad this trip allowed me the chance to do so. I am the type of person who enjoy spending quality time with the right company and a quiet place to unwind ourselves.

The Peach Mousse Cake was moist and rich in flavour. It was a perfect pastry to go with my drinks. The sweetness level was just nice for me.

Highlands Coffee is a nice and cozy place to spend our afternoon chilling over the tea break and heart to heart talk. I felt stress free when I was with Linda, she was a very nice and straight forward person, someone who will always share with you her thoughts.

Time seemed to stop when we were in our heart to heart talk that we didn't realized 3 hours have passed. It was already 5pm, we need to make our way back to hotel before the sky turned dark as the sky set early at 5.30pm here.

Highlands Coffee

135 Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa, Phường Bến Thành, Quận 1, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

Operating hours: 7am to 10pm daily

The rain seemed to get even heavier, we braved the rain and make our way back to hotel. We took a longer route back as we lost our way, resulting in us taking nearly half an hour to reach. We were so happy when we saw the familiar street of our hotel, we were drenched even with our umbrellas and we need a shelter place. 

Linda suggested to have cup noodle for dinner so we went to the convenience store, Circle K, which was located right besides our hotel to purchase the cup noodles and snack.

While waiting for the water to boil, we snacked on the tidbit we bought. The chicken flavour snack cost only 6,000VND (S$0.36) and it was addictive, we finished it in no time. I going to get another pack if we go to Circle K again.

To prevent ourselves from catching a cold, we make hot tea to warm ourselves up. 

What we didn't predict when we left our hotel today was that the rain will last the entire day, but so glad we made it back.

We were back in hotel since 6pm, nothing beats snuggling in hotel room on a rainy evening. We even made our dinner in the room. Having our cup noodles while watching Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol.

We are true Singaporean, even the cup noodle we choose implied so. We picked on Nissin Singapore Chilli Crab Noodle at 15,000VND (S$0.89). The hot and spicy cup noodle was the best comforting food to have in such a cool weather, we enjoying slurping the noodles.

I kept hearing water dripping sound so I went to check out what happen. The rain was so heavy that it sipped in to our room through the small window and there was a patch of water on the floor. We quickly took spare towel from the bathroom to cover it.

The staff has shortly came to check our room. They seemed to know we were facing the water sipping problem and replenished our towel, they were probably checking every room.

It was 8pm and Linda suggested to head down to the massage parlour that was just few shops away from our hotel. The massage parlour was supposedly to close at 9pm but they closed early that night due to the heavy rain. It was raining non-stop since yesterday, I never expect the weather to be so bad. We dropped by at Circle K again to purchase some snacks and chips to bring back home, I spent another 25,000VND (or S$1.49) on the items.

We headed back to hotel wanting a hot shower. However, the heater was not working and we got the staff to come and fix it. Halfway fixing the pipe, the television connection was gone, it got cut away by the terrible storm. It was just not our day, our only entertainment was gone.

Unable to fix the heater, the staff upgraded us to Sanouva Deluxe room and we moved our belonging to level 5.

The room was spacious and beautiful, it boosts a cozy ambience and well-equipped with all the necessary items. We loved this room so much because it was so comfortable that we wish we have longer stay at the hotel.

The free upgrade to the Deluxe room (29sqm) has make up for the bad weather we experienced, ending our day with a smile. After setting ourselves down, the first thing I did was to shower. 

Finally there was some views from our hotel room but it was not very visible due to the heavy rain.

After reading news, we discovered that Southern Vietnam was affected by Typhoon Usagi resulting in the heavy storm and flooding in Ho Chi Minh City. This explained why the weather was so bad today.

Our night didn't stop here, we have a mask session to rejuvenate our skin to prevent dryness caused by long hours spent in aircon room. And also more chit-chat until our eyes felt tired since the television was down.

We loved this room, it made our stay felt even more comfortable. 

Good night.

Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam) Day 1: Ben Thanh Market + Ho Chi Minh City Museum + Sanouva Saigon Hotel

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.