ASEAN Trip Log 1: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
I've been wanting to use that icon for some times, since about 1/3 portion of this trip was pretty much spent with me getting stranded on the road. Haha
Okay, bb. I'm back home in Indonesia now and starting with this post, I'm going to track back the ASEANtrip I've undergone. Also, since the contents are quite long, I will break down the trip logs to several journal entries according to each country I've visited.
Now, let's start with:
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Before we proceed though, I have to warn you that I really sucks at photography, bb. So please bear the lack of beauty from the photos. ^ ^;
The Arrival
14.01.11
To be honest, this is the first time I travel overseas alone without the company of my family or my friends, and in backpacker style too nonetheless, but I can tell you now, it felt terrific! ^ ^ I definitely want to do it again next time.
Thank God for the abundant low cost airlines nowadays, we can travel at more ease with less budget. Especially when there's airfares promo. Ooh ya.
And yes bb, I do need more vacation.
I arrived at Tan So Nhat Airport at about 8pm, and with the true spirit of budget traveler, I opted to use the airport bus (VND15.000) to my hostel area rather than airport taxi (VND100.000) - only to find out that the bus service was ended at 7pm. T_T Luckily, the Indonesian couple I met at the flight was kind enough to let me join their taxi ride, and they even told me not to pay my share afterward! Nice people do exists, I wish you guys a happy marriage in the future. Definitely!!
The taxi ride ended just in front of the couple's hotel, which means I have to continue my journey to my sleeping place by myself. Since the area was in the same district, I figure it wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, I already got a decent map from the hotel, what ever could possibly go wrong with it?
And that's when I experienced my first getting lost in the whole trip.
I forgot that I'm a direction disoriented person and can't read map really well (give me five, Austria!), plus it was quite dark in the night and I was in an unfamiliar surrounding. So, after more or less 30 minutes going round and round in what seemed like endless labyrinth, I rested my case and decided to hop on one of those xe om (fyi: Vietnam's motor taxi, in Indonesia it's called ojek) to my hostel for VND20.000. And once again, I felt lucky to get a xe om driver who's excel in English - quite a rare gem in Vietnam as I would soon discover. Anyway, that made communication a lot easier for this lost girl.
The xe om ride only took less than 5 minutes to get me to Nga Hoang Hotel - the place I was staying the whole time in Ho Chi Minh - lololol I felt quite ashamed. ^///^
By the way, about the hostel, some travelers said that the owner was kind of unorganized or something, but thank God I haven't got any serious problem with her. The building was old and a little shabby indeed, but it's clean enough, and the hot shower was totally satisfying! Also, it's cheap and there's free breakfast every morning. Big plus.
After checking in process done, I went out to observe the area around the hostel and ended up buying snacks and warm lemon soy milk from nearby street vendors. It tasted good. God, life is awesome! Then I got back to crash out on my hard-as-rock dorm mattress.
Interesting Sights
In this section, I will not write on accurate chronological order since it will be too much tl;dr if I recount it one by one.
The first place I've visited was:
Ho Chi Minh National Museum
It was under renovation when I came there, but they got a decent collection of Vietnam's historical relics from prehistoric until the war against US era.
prehistoric section
Also, photographing was actually prohibited, but I already took some pics before one of the guards approached me. And that's when I knew about the rules.
Learning about Vietnam's history at the time of Lý Dynasty and Mongol invasion was fun. But the main pleasure for me was when I reached the relics from Kingdom of Champa section.
apsd'l;jfsgj'gjldjjf!!!1!1
Well, you see, I'm totally gay for anything Hindu-Buddhist Southeast Asian kingdoms related, since I pretty much grew up surrounded by tales of ancient kingdoms, Mahabharata legends and all those Hindu mythologies - even though I'm not a Hindu myself. So this section was a major eye candy for me. ;D
A bunch of very graphic linggas.
Those got me totally amused due to the very undisguised form of the um, phallic figures (most I've seen were usually looked like polished round rocks). Heh heh.
Especially this one:
I'm sorry, not meant to be rude, but I can't help to think it looked so much like a funky pierced *eh-hem*.
By the way, lingga is an ancient symbol of Shiva, which symbolize his fertility energy.
the carving of a lion, with Garuda at the back
Champa era's sculptures have stockier build and tend to have 'rounder' shape than sculptures from the rest of Southeast Asia region. Like this one for example:
Garuda and the merry band of Nagas
They looked so happy together. Garuda seemed as if he'd eaten too much pho and spring rolls, but buhyoooo~~~ so cute!! ^q^ Nowhere in the rest of the region you'd find Garuda as adorable as this one.
But while I was busy fangirling over chubby Garuda and other mythology figures, suddenly the light came off and some guards were busy locking up the doors. It turned out that the museum has a time-off during their operating hours so that the staffs could have some rest.
As much as I love those Hindu-Buddhist relics, I certainly didn't want to spend my time being locked up alone in the museum building for hours, so I went out and decided to proceed to another place. I already got what I need in the bag anyway.
Right in front of the museum, there's a pagoda.........which name I forgot.
the architecture was cool, btw
The distance between one tourist attraction to another is not really far in Ho Chi Minh, so you could cover them all just by mere walking. Or taking xe om when you're desperately lost.
Oh yeah, about this xe om. Contrary on popular beliefs, riding with xe om was actually not that terrifying, just remember to agree on the payment upfront first (it usually take about VND10.000 to 30.000 for a round in the city). Wearing safety helmet is now compulsory by Vietnam's law and your xe om driver will provide one for you. They also drive pretty carefully - except that one time when suddenly my xe om driver made a sudden turn and begun to drive on the pedestrian walk against the traffic flow, zig-zaging between pedestrians and street vendors skillfully. My kneecap was brushing one of the electricity poles, but it barely even hurt and it didn't leave any single scratch so it's cool. Other than that, my experiences with xe om were excellent so far!
Now back to the trip log. Walk a bit further from the pagoda and you will find.....
Ho Chi Minh Main Post Office
Complete with a group of tourists who just got off from the tour bus. Man, look at those ornaments and the grandeur of the building! So pretty.
And it's fully functioning too! Jakarta's main post office building looked more communist in comparison, like totally.
Across the street from the post office, stand the infamous Notre Dame Cathedral of Ho Chi Minh City (come to think of it, how many cathedrals built by the French that were named 'Notre Dame', exactly?)
Notre Dame Cathedral #n
On Sunday, I went to the mass service there (English service at 09.30, weekly) and I think it's lasted for only less than an hour. @_@ Wow, clearly the shortest mass I've ever attended.
Btw, the sisters who helped the service were all wearing Áo Dài, Vietnam's traditional clothes, combined with the usual hair capes. Aaaa so cute!
They were so kind and willing to answer my numerous questions patiently. Apparently the sisters were from the Fransiscan community, which sure brought back memories since my past elementary school was also run by Fransiscan sisters.
Man, good times. ^ ^
Okay. Move along.
Reunification Palace
To be honest, this place was kinda boring (every bit of the place screamed "'80s government building" to me), although it seems the architecture used to be more interesting in the past.......
.......until it's bombed by the US, that is.
Bummer :/
Saigon Opera House
And a peculiar social ad that I found on the side wall of the opera building.
I think it wants to tell us to be more diligent in sweeping the garbage and not to open the window while the air conditioner is on. (I have no clue whatsoever about tiếng Việt so this is just a wild guess).
BUT!
+
Why the heck the subject who did the sweeping was illustrated like a hobgoblin made from matchsticks and what was the idea behind the choice of the figure....oh, sorry. This was an old habit from my university days XDD I used to observing many ads on the street since my professors love to occasionally throw quizzes about it. (Visual Analysis course umm-humm!)
Anyway, I found that ad really amusing. ^ ^
Obligatory touristic photo:
People's Committee Building
Well, it was really cloudy when I took the picture, hence the underexposure quality.
Bitexco Financial Tower
The new landmark of Ho Chi Minh City. The plate thing that stuck out from the building was actually a helipad, in case of emergency or if they want to shoot Jackie Chan's new action movie. You can go see the entire 360o scenery of Ho Chi Minh City from there - after you purchase the VND200.000 ticket first, but I'm not interested, thank you. I don't like being on high.
Fine Arts Museum
It was rather hard finding the museum, and I got stranded for about an hour before I finally reached this place. Sore feet, but happy nonetheless.
I love this building <3
It got art collections from the ancient till modern Vietnam. Mostly were okay, but these ones totally got my extra attention:
A dancing princess in spring
I wish I've had photographed the information cards, now I forgot who made all these stuffs and at what time they were produced. T_T Anyway, the picture above was really huge in actual size and looked so shiny with all the gold gilding. Truly a masterpiece.
Brother & Sister
Notice the difference between the weapons they're holding.
A perplexed looking chihuahua
Which turned out the chihuahua was actually a unicorn, people! LOLOLOL what's wrong, bb? Weren't you happy to see me? ^q^ if I'm not mistaken, it's made on Lý Dynasty era.
Ben Thanh Market
Ahh, shopping place, finally! This is the infamous Ben Thanh Market, and inside you will find.....
....Bringharjo Market. LOL just kidding XD but it got the same vibes ^ ^
Tips: Bargain hard, bb. REALLY HARD. Because the sellers are totally fierce (I think I lost the game when I bought that oversize and overpriced tourist T-shirt, goddamn, just wait for my revenge!). Plus the fact that it was heavily filled with foreigners so they tend to raise the price to about threefold the actual price.
A group of youngsters playing ....?
By the time I came out from Ben Thanh Market, it was already dusk, but I could still see a lot of locals hanging around at the park in front of the market. Like the youngsters above, playing...umm I'm not sure about the name of the game, pétanque? It involved a feather-cock-like ball and they kick it to one another inside a circle. Apparently it's really popular in mainland Southeast Asia and as far as I know, it's also a popular traditional game in South Korea.
Hustle and Bustle of Saigon Streets
Again, contrary on popular beliefs, I didn't find the street of Ho Chi Minh to be that horrifying (haven't try Hanoi, though). It's just the same with any Southeast Asian street I've ever crossed, although the number of motorcycles on the road were kinda alarming ^ ^; And at one night, I saw three cargo trucks tried to outpace each other. Now, that's dangerous.
But most of the time, it's safe.
||
De Tham street, near my hostel
hordes of motorcycles!!
One thing that astonished me the most was the abundant amount of communist marks in every part of the city, even the taxis were usually displaying the communist flags instead of the national one. Well ya, I know this is Socialist Republic of Vietnam so I shouldn't be surprised, but still, I'm amazed. If you're walking around in Indonesia wearing that hammer and sickle attributes, you will be arrested by Kopassus faster than you could say, "Karl Marx".
reds everywhere
||
Dong Khoi Street
Dong Khoi street is where all the hip cafes and the high-end boutiques (as well as hotels) gathered.
aahhh I missed the "L" and the "N" -__-;
souvenir vendor, note that the 'Rolex' watches are definitely knockoff products.
Food & Beverages
I love Vietnamese foods! The dishes I've eaten in Ho Chi Minh were superb ♥♥♥ (some were so-so, but most of it were satisfying) ^ ^
One of the bar near my hostel, wow remang-remang! ^ ^
seafood rice noodles and 333 beer
I was craving for some traditional Vietnamese noodles and stumbled upon this restobar, it looked interesting from the outside and when I saw the menu it was decently priced too, so why not?
The menu was all written in Vietnamese, so I picked one that looked the most tempting, and that '333' Beer to accompany me. ^p^ There are several local beers in Vietnam, but this brand piqued my interest because of the name. The taste? Well...it's okay lah. Also, it turned out the rice noodles taste no different from the usual bihun kuah back home - kinda disappointing - but the portion was really big!
Fanny's Ice Cream Parlor
My friends were totally all about this ice cream cafe when I told them I will go to Ho Chi Minh City for my holiday. Interesting. Hence, I planned to drop by this place after Sunday mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral. It really was an interesting place, and the decor was kinda cute too! It has about 35 home-made ice cream flavors you could chose from the menu, and I decided to choose....
two scoops of Baileys and Durian flavored ice cream
With additional melted chocolate in a small cup. Yes, I do have a good sense of taste, don't I? Even the waitress was laughing at my choice of ice cream combination.
Anyway, the durian ice cream was so creamy and full and hell yes, it's definitely "punching in" so I gave it a thumb up! The baileys ice cream was.....well, I was expecting more actually. I couldn't barely sense the alcohol in it but it taste okay, I guess.
The free flow cold fresh water was totally appreciated. ^ ^ Overall I have a nice experience with this cafe.
clam stirred in cinnamon leaves
Whoa, wait. What's with the sudden appearance of seafood here? Oh, right. It was at my last night in Ho Chi Minh, I was searching for a certain Vietnamese restaurant for my last culinary journo in the city, only to find out the restaurant was already closed for good. Tch! So I walked around nearby restaurants in searching for a worthy substitute to appease my hungry stomach, and that's when I stumbled upon this neat place: New Pearl Restaurant at De Tham street. It specializes in seafood but also provides several local dishes, the prices were also kind enough to budget travelers such as moi.
Since I was in the mood on anything which involved clam product, I choose the dish pictured above, hoping it would taste as good as it's depicted on the menu book. And when it finally arrived on my table, oh my......
WHAT. AN. ORGASMIC. FEELING.
Definitely the best clam I've ever had in my life so far!!! My expression was probably showing it off since the French gentleman next to my seat turned to me and said: "Having a good time with your meal?" *wink wink*
LOLOLOL totally recommended, monsieur!! d(^///^)b
Such a suitable food to end my days in Ho Chi Minh City.
Coffee
Yeah, it deserved a sub-category of its own. Vietnam is currently the second largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil, with most of the beans produced being Robusta. This, combined to the fact that Ho Chi Minh citizens are mostly cafe-goers society gave rise to the considerable amount of cafes in every part of the city - something that I ♥! The most significant presences are the 'Trung Nguyen Cafe' and 'Highland Coffee' chains. Man, they are all over the city, it was like local version of Starbucks Coffee. You could find either of those chains in every block and corner of Ho Chi Minh.
interior of a Trung Nguyen Cafe
That was a Trung Nguyen Cafe which became my sanctuary when I was getting lost for the umpteenth times. Truth to be told, I personally think the taste of their coffees were so-so, or maybe that's because I'm not a big fan of Robusta coffee beans. But I do have one favorite coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh, it's called 'Bobby Brewers' and located in Pham Ngu Lao area, their coffees were nice and the atmosphere was also good. Recommended (^ ^)b
One thing that I regret for not being able to do when I was in Vietnam is to try their caphe cut chon aka fox-dung coffee, Vietnam's contender of Indonesia's Kopi Luwak. I haven't got the time to search for a coffee brewer that provides authentic caphe cut chon to drink (and no, I don't believe Ben Thanh Market is the right place for the sellers are renown for selling the fake coffee chon). I hope I could have a try of it next time.
Palm civets are quite cute actually, I'm so tempted to have one. Also it seems that Vietnam's palm civets are generally brownish pale in color while Indonesia's tend to be in darker color (some species are even down right black).
Btw, Philippines was also reported to have its own version of Kopi Luwak. Interesting, I'll have to try that one too!
-----------------------------------------------------
Well, I think that's all I can tell for my days in Ho Chi Minh City, so I'll end this journal entry right now. Hope you're not bored with all the stuffs I've written here, bb!
ZOMG it's already 4 am *__* what the heck Imma go to sleep now. I'll reply to comments after I wake up, kk 0/
Next Stop IS:
Stay tuned for the next journal! ;D
Okay, bb. I'm back home in Indonesia now and starting with this post, I'm going to track back the ASEANtrip I've undergone. Also, since the contents are quite long, I will break down the trip logs to several journal entries according to each country I've visited.
Now, let's start with:
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Before we proceed though, I have to warn you that I really sucks at photography, bb. So please bear the lack of beauty from the photos. ^ ^;
The Arrival
14.01.11
To be honest, this is the first time I travel overseas alone without the company of my family or my friends, and in backpacker style too nonetheless, but I can tell you now, it felt terrific! ^ ^ I definitely want to do it again next time.
Thank God for the abundant low cost airlines nowadays, we can travel at more ease with less budget. Especially when there's airfares promo. Ooh ya.
And yes bb, I do need more vacation.
I arrived at Tan So Nhat Airport at about 8pm, and with the true spirit of budget traveler, I opted to use the airport bus (VND15.000) to my hostel area rather than airport taxi (VND100.000) - only to find out that the bus service was ended at 7pm. T_T Luckily, the Indonesian couple I met at the flight was kind enough to let me join their taxi ride, and they even told me not to pay my share afterward! Nice people do exists, I wish you guys a happy marriage in the future. Definitely!!
The taxi ride ended just in front of the couple's hotel, which means I have to continue my journey to my sleeping place by myself. Since the area was in the same district, I figure it wasn't that big of a deal. Besides, I already got a decent map from the hotel, what ever could possibly go wrong with it?
And that's when I experienced my first getting lost in the whole trip.
I forgot that I'm a direction disoriented person and can't read map really well (give me five, Austria!), plus it was quite dark in the night and I was in an unfamiliar surrounding. So, after more or less 30 minutes going round and round in what seemed like endless labyrinth, I rested my case and decided to hop on one of those xe om (fyi: Vietnam's motor taxi, in Indonesia it's called ojek) to my hostel for VND20.000. And once again, I felt lucky to get a xe om driver who's excel in English - quite a rare gem in Vietnam as I would soon discover. Anyway, that made communication a lot easier for this lost girl.
The xe om ride only took less than 5 minutes to get me to Nga Hoang Hotel - the place I was staying the whole time in Ho Chi Minh - lololol I felt quite ashamed. ^///^
By the way, about the hostel, some travelers said that the owner was kind of unorganized or something, but thank God I haven't got any serious problem with her. The building was old and a little shabby indeed, but it's clean enough, and the hot shower was totally satisfying! Also, it's cheap and there's free breakfast every morning. Big plus.
After checking in process done, I went out to observe the area around the hostel and ended up buying snacks and warm lemon soy milk from nearby street vendors. It tasted good. God, life is awesome! Then I got back to crash out on my hard-as-rock dorm mattress.
Interesting Sights
In this section, I will not write on accurate chronological order since it will be too much tl;dr if I recount it one by one.
The first place I've visited was:
Ho Chi Minh National Museum
It was under renovation when I came there, but they got a decent collection of Vietnam's historical relics from prehistoric until the war against US era.
prehistoric section
Also, photographing was actually prohibited, but I already took some pics before one of the guards approached me. And that's when I knew about the rules.
Learning about Vietnam's history at the time of Lý Dynasty and Mongol invasion was fun. But the main pleasure for me was when I reached the relics from Kingdom of Champa section.
apsd'l;jfsgj'gjldjjf!!!1!1
Well, you see, I'm totally gay for anything Hindu-Buddhist Southeast Asian kingdoms related, since I pretty much grew up surrounded by tales of ancient kingdoms, Mahabharata legends and all those Hindu mythologies - even though I'm not a Hindu myself. So this section was a major eye candy for me. ;D
A bunch of very graphic linggas.
Those got me totally amused due to the very undisguised form of the um, phallic figures (most I've seen were usually looked like polished round rocks). Heh heh.
Especially this one:
I'm sorry, not meant to be rude, but I can't help to think it looked so much like a funky pierced *eh-hem*.
By the way, lingga is an ancient symbol of Shiva, which symbolize his fertility energy.
the carving of a lion, with Garuda at the back
Champa era's sculptures have stockier build and tend to have 'rounder' shape than sculptures from the rest of Southeast Asia region. Like this one for example:
Garuda and the merry band of Nagas
They looked so happy together. Garuda seemed as if he'd eaten too much pho and spring rolls, but buhyoooo~~~ so cute!! ^q^ Nowhere in the rest of the region you'd find Garuda as adorable as this one.
But while I was busy fangirling over chubby Garuda and other mythology figures, suddenly the light came off and some guards were busy locking up the doors. It turned out that the museum has a time-off during their operating hours so that the staffs could have some rest.
As much as I love those Hindu-Buddhist relics, I certainly didn't want to spend my time being locked up alone in the museum building for hours, so I went out and decided to proceed to another place. I already got what I need in the bag anyway.
Right in front of the museum, there's a pagoda.........which name I forgot.
the architecture was cool, btw
The distance between one tourist attraction to another is not really far in Ho Chi Minh, so you could cover them all just by mere walking. Or taking xe om when you're desperately lost.
Oh yeah, about this xe om. Contrary on popular beliefs, riding with xe om was actually not that terrifying, just remember to agree on the payment upfront first (it usually take about VND10.000 to 30.000 for a round in the city). Wearing safety helmet is now compulsory by Vietnam's law and your xe om driver will provide one for you. They also drive pretty carefully - except that one time when suddenly my xe om driver made a sudden turn and begun to drive on the pedestrian walk against the traffic flow, zig-zaging between pedestrians and street vendors skillfully. My kneecap was brushing one of the electricity poles, but it barely even hurt and it didn't leave any single scratch so it's cool. Other than that, my experiences with xe om were excellent so far!
Now back to the trip log. Walk a bit further from the pagoda and you will find.....
Ho Chi Minh Main Post Office
Complete with a group of tourists who just got off from the tour bus. Man, look at those ornaments and the grandeur of the building! So pretty.
And it's fully functioning too! Jakarta's main post office building looked more communist in comparison, like totally.
Across the street from the post office, stand the infamous Notre Dame Cathedral of Ho Chi Minh City (come to think of it, how many cathedrals built by the French that were named 'Notre Dame', exactly?)
Notre Dame Cathedral #n
On Sunday, I went to the mass service there (English service at 09.30, weekly) and I think it's lasted for only less than an hour. @_@ Wow, clearly the shortest mass I've ever attended.
Btw, the sisters who helped the service were all wearing Áo Dài, Vietnam's traditional clothes, combined with the usual hair capes. Aaaa so cute!
They were so kind and willing to answer my numerous questions patiently. Apparently the sisters were from the Fransiscan community, which sure brought back memories since my past elementary school was also run by Fransiscan sisters.
Man, good times. ^ ^
Okay. Move along.
Reunification Palace
To be honest, this place was kinda boring (every bit of the place screamed "'80s government building" to me), although it seems the architecture used to be more interesting in the past.......
.......until it's bombed by the US, that is.
Bummer :/
Saigon Opera House
And a peculiar social ad that I found on the side wall of the opera building.
I think it wants to tell us to be more diligent in sweeping the garbage and not to open the window while the air conditioner is on. (I have no clue whatsoever about tiếng Việt so this is just a wild guess).
BUT!
+
Why the heck the subject who did the sweeping was illustrated like a hobgoblin made from matchsticks and what was the idea behind the choice of the figure....oh, sorry. This was an old habit from my university days XDD I used to observing many ads on the street since my professors love to occasionally throw quizzes about it. (Visual Analysis course umm-humm!)
Anyway, I found that ad really amusing. ^ ^
Obligatory touristic photo:
People's Committee Building
Well, it was really cloudy when I took the picture, hence the underexposure quality.
Bitexco Financial Tower
The new landmark of Ho Chi Minh City. The plate thing that stuck out from the building was actually a helipad, in case of emergency or if they want to shoot Jackie Chan's new action movie. You can go see the entire 360o scenery of Ho Chi Minh City from there - after you purchase the VND200.000 ticket first, but I'm not interested, thank you. I don't like being on high.
Fine Arts Museum
It was rather hard finding the museum, and I got stranded for about an hour before I finally reached this place. Sore feet, but happy nonetheless.
I love this building <3
It got art collections from the ancient till modern Vietnam. Mostly were okay, but these ones totally got my extra attention:
A dancing princess in spring
I wish I've had photographed the information cards, now I forgot who made all these stuffs and at what time they were produced. T_T Anyway, the picture above was really huge in actual size and looked so shiny with all the gold gilding. Truly a masterpiece.
Brother & Sister
Notice the difference between the weapons they're holding.
A perplexed looking chihuahua
Which turned out the chihuahua was actually a unicorn, people! LOLOLOL what's wrong, bb? Weren't you happy to see me? ^q^ if I'm not mistaken, it's made on Lý Dynasty era.
Ben Thanh Market
Ahh, shopping place, finally! This is the infamous Ben Thanh Market, and inside you will find.....
....Bringharjo Market. LOL just kidding XD but it got the same vibes ^ ^
Tips: Bargain hard, bb. REALLY HARD. Because the sellers are totally fierce (I think I lost the game when I bought that oversize and overpriced tourist T-shirt, goddamn, just wait for my revenge!). Plus the fact that it was heavily filled with foreigners so they tend to raise the price to about threefold the actual price.
A group of youngsters playing ....?
By the time I came out from Ben Thanh Market, it was already dusk, but I could still see a lot of locals hanging around at the park in front of the market. Like the youngsters above, playing...umm I'm not sure about the name of the game, pétanque? It involved a feather-cock-like ball and they kick it to one another inside a circle. Apparently it's really popular in mainland Southeast Asia and as far as I know, it's also a popular traditional game in South Korea.
Hustle and Bustle of Saigon Streets
Again, contrary on popular beliefs, I didn't find the street of Ho Chi Minh to be that horrifying (haven't try Hanoi, though). It's just the same with any Southeast Asian street I've ever crossed, although the number of motorcycles on the road were kinda alarming ^ ^; And at one night, I saw three cargo trucks tried to outpace each other. Now, that's dangerous.
But most of the time, it's safe.
||
De Tham street, near my hostel
hordes of motorcycles!!
One thing that astonished me the most was the abundant amount of communist marks in every part of the city, even the taxis were usually displaying the communist flags instead of the national one. Well ya, I know this is Socialist Republic of Vietnam so I shouldn't be surprised, but still, I'm amazed. If you're walking around in Indonesia wearing that hammer and sickle attributes, you will be arrested by Kopassus faster than you could say, "Karl Marx".
reds everywhere
||
Dong Khoi Street
Dong Khoi street is where all the hip cafes and the high-end boutiques (as well as hotels) gathered.
aahhh I missed the "L" and the "N" -__-;
souvenir vendor, note that the 'Rolex' watches are definitely knockoff products.
Food & Beverages
I love Vietnamese foods! The dishes I've eaten in Ho Chi Minh were superb ♥♥♥ (some were so-so, but most of it were satisfying) ^ ^
One of the bar near my hostel, wow remang-remang! ^ ^
seafood rice noodles and 333 beer
I was craving for some traditional Vietnamese noodles and stumbled upon this restobar, it looked interesting from the outside and when I saw the menu it was decently priced too, so why not?
The menu was all written in Vietnamese, so I picked one that looked the most tempting, and that '333' Beer to accompany me. ^p^ There are several local beers in Vietnam, but this brand piqued my interest because of the name. The taste? Well...it's okay lah. Also, it turned out the rice noodles taste no different from the usual bihun kuah back home - kinda disappointing - but the portion was really big!
Fanny's Ice Cream Parlor
My friends were totally all about this ice cream cafe when I told them I will go to Ho Chi Minh City for my holiday. Interesting. Hence, I planned to drop by this place after Sunday mass at the Notre Dame Cathedral. It really was an interesting place, and the decor was kinda cute too! It has about 35 home-made ice cream flavors you could chose from the menu, and I decided to choose....
two scoops of Baileys and Durian flavored ice cream
With additional melted chocolate in a small cup. Yes, I do have a good sense of taste, don't I? Even the waitress was laughing at my choice of ice cream combination.
Anyway, the durian ice cream was so creamy and full and hell yes, it's definitely "punching in" so I gave it a thumb up! The baileys ice cream was.....well, I was expecting more actually. I couldn't barely sense the alcohol in it but it taste okay, I guess.
The free flow cold fresh water was totally appreciated. ^ ^ Overall I have a nice experience with this cafe.
clam stirred in cinnamon leaves
Whoa, wait. What's with the sudden appearance of seafood here? Oh, right. It was at my last night in Ho Chi Minh, I was searching for a certain Vietnamese restaurant for my last culinary journo in the city, only to find out the restaurant was already closed for good. Tch! So I walked around nearby restaurants in searching for a worthy substitute to appease my hungry stomach, and that's when I stumbled upon this neat place: New Pearl Restaurant at De Tham street. It specializes in seafood but also provides several local dishes, the prices were also kind enough to budget travelers such as moi.
Since I was in the mood on anything which involved clam product, I choose the dish pictured above, hoping it would taste as good as it's depicted on the menu book. And when it finally arrived on my table, oh my......
WHAT. AN. ORGASMIC. FEELING.
Definitely the best clam I've ever had in my life so far!!! My expression was probably showing it off since the French gentleman next to my seat turned to me and said: "Having a good time with your meal?" *wink wink*
LOLOLOL totally recommended, monsieur!! d(^///^)b
Such a suitable food to end my days in Ho Chi Minh City.
Coffee
Yeah, it deserved a sub-category of its own. Vietnam is currently the second largest coffee producer in the world after Brazil, with most of the beans produced being Robusta. This, combined to the fact that Ho Chi Minh citizens are mostly cafe-goers society gave rise to the considerable amount of cafes in every part of the city - something that I ♥! The most significant presences are the 'Trung Nguyen Cafe' and 'Highland Coffee' chains. Man, they are all over the city, it was like local version of Starbucks Coffee. You could find either of those chains in every block and corner of Ho Chi Minh.
interior of a Trung Nguyen Cafe
That was a Trung Nguyen Cafe which became my sanctuary when I was getting lost for the umpteenth times. Truth to be told, I personally think the taste of their coffees were so-so, or maybe that's because I'm not a big fan of Robusta coffee beans. But I do have one favorite coffee shop in Ho Chi Minh, it's called 'Bobby Brewers' and located in Pham Ngu Lao area, their coffees were nice and the atmosphere was also good. Recommended (^ ^)b
One thing that I regret for not being able to do when I was in Vietnam is to try their caphe cut chon aka fox-dung coffee, Vietnam's contender of Indonesia's Kopi Luwak. I haven't got the time to search for a coffee brewer that provides authentic caphe cut chon to drink (and no, I don't believe Ben Thanh Market is the right place for the sellers are renown for selling the fake coffee chon). I hope I could have a try of it next time.
Palm civets are quite cute actually, I'm so tempted to have one. Also it seems that Vietnam's palm civets are generally brownish pale in color while Indonesia's tend to be in darker color (some species are even down right black).
Btw, Philippines was also reported to have its own version of Kopi Luwak. Interesting, I'll have to try that one too!
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Well, I think that's all I can tell for my days in Ho Chi Minh City, so I'll end this journal entry right now. Hope you're not bored with all the stuffs I've written here, bb!
ZOMG it's already 4 am *__* what the heck Imma go to sleep now. I'll reply to comments after I wake up, kk 0/
Next Stop IS:
Stay tuned for the next journal! ;D