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.
No comments:
Post a Comment