Ho Chi Minh - Day 3

We spent the whole day shopping in the city... Cho Ben Thanh, Ipa Nima, Saigon Square etc. After lunch our friend brought us to Suoi Tilam (don't know the spelling!). Here all the shops sell accessories like beads, ribbons, crystals etc ... however they sell in bulks. Then we went to another area where they sell all types of cloths .... from cotton to chiffon,silk and wool. They sell chiffon for 45 dong per metre (rm 9) but we can get cheaper if we buy more than 10 metres (who wants to be 'boria'?)!

So Day 3 ended with shopping as the next day we would be leaving early for Chu Chi Tunnel trip. See you there!

Ho Chi Minh - Day 2

We had our breakfast in the room as we brought some bread and a sandwich maker. It's difficult to find halal food here. Then we started our exploration to Cho Ben Thanh. The market is crowded - just like Pasar Siti Khadijah in Kelantan. The people are quite friendly, some can even speak Malay! Their favourite phrases are : Madam, mari-mari, murah-murah! We didn't miss the chance to buy some Vietnamese silk, beaded shoes and bags to bring home.

Then we headed to Parkson for lunch. We didn't take a taxi because we wanted to explore the city. On the way, we passed by the Opera House, the famous Cathedral, Reunification Palace and hmm ... I couldn't stop myself from entering the Louis Vuiton boutique! The weather was nice ... not too hot but the environment is so much polluted with the smoke from motorcycles. I have never seen so many motorcycles like in this city... and we also noticed that the traffic was not systematic like in our country. I don't think I can drive in this busy city .... motorcycles come from everywhere and they can make a turn at anytime! All the motorcyclists wear helmets but they are not for safety ... you should see their fancy helmets! However we were more interested in their fancy masks with colourful designs. My daughter bought one for 10000 dong ( about rm2 ) as a souvenir.

After lunch at Parkson, we went to pray at the mosque. We were told that this mosque was used to be a temple.

At night we went to Saigon River. There are a few floating restaurants there, however we just had a stroll before going to our friend's house for dinner. She cooked pizza and spaghetti for us.

Trip To Ho Chi Minh City

Day 1
Arrived at the international airport at 3.40 pm (local time) - 1 hour behind our time. Aman (a friend's son), was waiting for us. He has been here for 5 months but his parents have been staying here for 3 years.
We were lucky coz Aman had booked 2 rooms for us at Hai Nam Hotel. It's located at Le Than Ton, 5 minute walk from Cho Ben Thanh, the famous shopping centre. I think it's a 3 star hotel, has 5 storeys, with 4 rooms per level ... so you can imagine how it looks. I noticed that most of the budget hotels look alike, they are small but tall! The room was not bad ... it was clean and complete with fridge, tv, aircond and hot shower. Service was so-so as we had to call for many times before they sent us the hot water. After we checked-in at Hai Nam Hotel, we went to Parkson, where Aman's stall is located. Actually his mother runs a stall, named D'Anjung at the food court. We were proud to see malay food is sold in Vietnam, in fact the Vietnamese have started to like the nasi lemak sold there!

We had our dinner there and on the way back to the hotel, we 'browsed thru' the night market. It is like the night market at our place, mostly selling handbags, shoes, t-shirts and souvenirs. According to Aman, we have to bargain up to 50%. None of us bought anything, maybe we were still confused with the currency! By the way, they accept both dong and dollar - that's why it's confusing .... So that's how the first day in Ho Chi Minh City ended. ( to be continued ..... )