Ho Chi Minh & Mui Ne - Part 1

I had never been to Vietnam before and didn't plan to do so until the damn AirAsia had their promotion last year. Damn! It was irresistible and I just went ahead to book Ho Chi Minh and Guilin straight away. The return ticket for Ho Chi Minh was just RM 158 per person and RM 219 per person for Guilin. The trip to Guilin was taken in January and Ho Chi Minh was in March 2010. I didn't know what to expect from Saigon (fondly called by the locals) but cleverly booked ourselves a 5-day-trip without doing any "studies" on the city first. When I started to do the "studies", only then I realized that 5 days were too long for just Ho Chi Minh City alone. The advices from the forumers of Tripadvisor were either spending 2 days doing the Mekong Delta Tour or 2 days relaxing at their beach resorts in Mui Ne. I Chose the later.

Ho Chi Minh City... here I come.

Sanouva Hotel

I booked this 3 star hotel was because it had good reviews from Agoda and Tripadvisor. The location was perfect and the room was clean but small. It was walking distance to all the attractions in HCMC. The Ben Ten Thanh Market was just a 5-min-walk!

The Lobby... small.

Outside of the hotel... busy.

The Toilet... clean.

The Shower... no bathtub!

Only 1 room was ready when we checked-in. 4 of us were squeezed in this small room when these photos were taken, so it was inconvenient to take the bed shot. Anyway it was a queen size bed and one side of the bed was placed against the wall. Only left one side for you to get up and down... quite inconvenient during the night when you wanna go toilet. The another room that given to us later was OK though. Well, for 55USD a night can't really complain, can I?

One of the many war museums in Ho Chi Minh City which was near to our hotel. Spent less than 10 mins inside the museum. Well, the weather was extremely hot during our visit there in March. It was easily more the 36 degree C! That really made my life miserable and less "motivated". Therefore didn't spend much time on each attractions and not so many photos were taken during this trip as well.

Check out their cables...

The Notre Dame Cathedral...

The Post Office...

Inside the post office...

The Reunification Palace...

The park outside The Reunification Palace...

The street vendor...

Didn't know what was she selling and didn't dare to try...

But we confidently walked into Pho 24. This was recommended by lots of people. This is a chain restaurant for beef noodle which you can find quite a number around the city.

The standard ingredients for a bowl of good beef noodle...

The beef noodle... sorry, a bit messy. (was hungry and only remembered to take this photo after half way trough the meal) Not sure if I had too high expectation on the noodle as so many people recommended it, to find that it was just OK only. I also had the chance to try out another pho restaurant, Pho 2000 which was frequented by former president Bill Clinton on his last visit to Vietnam. Unfortunately I didn't find it something extraordinary as well.

The spring rolls... quite good but damn small. Just compare its size to the small sauce plate beside.

The Vietnamese coffee... quite good and turned out to be our "official" drink for everyday's breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Tour to The Cu Chi Tunnel...

The tunnel was located 70 km northwest of Saigon and about 90 mins drive from the city. The tunnel network stretches over 250km in total length that comprises kitchen, shelters, sleeping chambers, hospital and etc. Quite an interesting place to visit when you are in Saigon.

The way to make yourself disappear...

The B52 bomb crater...
The booby trap...
The small tunnel... we were made to crawl 10 meter of the tunnel like a Vietcong... damn chialat man!

The destroyed US tank.

* Tips 1 - Only change VND when you reach there or you can change USD to bring it there. The different is huge! I changed 2,000,000 VND at local money changer for RM420.00. But when I changed it there, it was 19,000 VND for 1USD. So for 2,000,000 VND was only 105.26 USD which was equal to RM336.80! (1 USD= 3.20RM)

* Tips 2 - Cu Chi Tunnel Tour can be booked at Shin Tourist Corp at De Tham Street at Pham Ngu Lao, backpacker place. About RM 35.00 for bus and entrance fee. The hotel can also do the booking for you, if 25 USD per person is not a problem to you.

Mui Ne coming up next...

Munich Gastro Bierhaus @ IOI Puchong

This was recommended by a friend and we had the opportunity to check them out one weekend. Munich Gastro Bierhaus is just located at IOI Boulevard Puchong (if you wonder where the hell is the boulevard, just opposite the Jusco/IOI Mall)

They also have "alfresco" dining but the boulevard is actually a covered one. So don't have to worry about rain and sun. But it could be quite warm on the sunny day.

So we chose to dine inside... it's a small place but cozy. When we reached there at 7 p.m, most of the tables have been taken up and we had to settle with a small table. It could be uncomfortable when you have more than 2 persons dining together.

The menu... quite a comprehensive one for German beers and foods.

Franzi Dunkel 1 pint @RM28.00 - Quite pricey but at least you get the chance to try the German Beer.

Pork Knuckle @ RM43.90 - You don't go to German restaurant and not ordering their pork knuckle! So we ordered ours... it was huge! The above photo didn't really do the justice about its size. Well, it was at least a foot long! The skin was damn crispy while the meat was tender. Trust me you could go no wrong with this one. I actually saw the table next to us, a family of 3 ( parents and a daughter) that ordered 2 pork knuckles and plate of pasta. Either the pork knuckle was so damn good or they had already starved for a period of time... either way I had to salute them!

Pork Ribs with BBQ sauce @ RM23.90 - Came in 4 pcs of ribs, which was just nice for 4 of us to share. It was quite good and worth a try.

Lamb Cutlet @ RM39.90 - Came in 4 pcs also... but smaller piece. It tasted quite OK but the price was a bit on the high side for its size and portion.

The total bill came to RM149.25 inclusive of 10% service charge. Overall I would say it was reasonable and definitely worth a come back. However my only complaint would be their small table. We literally had to swallow our food ( a bit exaggerated though) so that the plate could be cleared before the next dish came. This made our dining experience less enjoyable. From the time we ordered our food and paid the bill was less than an hour... It's good when you are in a rush but it was not in the case here.

Munich Gastro Bierhaus

C-GF-46, IOI Boulevard

Jalan Kenari 5

Bandar Puchong Jaya

47170 Puchong