The Heat is on in Saigon!

My happy, itchy feet brought me next to Ho Chi Minh last May. I went with a different group this time, aside from Christa who is coming with me from Singapore, the rest of my trip buddies were imported from the Philippines. (Thanks to Cebu Pacific offering budget airfares now to HCM!)

My best friend Chantal and her sister Ate Doll brought along my sister Ate Thess and took a night flight from Manila to Vietnam. It was only in the morning of Saturday, May 3rd that Christa and I boarded our Tiger Airways flight from Singapore. Coming straight from the airport, we went to check in at Lac Vien Hotel where the Philippine contingent awaits. There we were joined by Christa's friend, Garry who flew from South Korea to volunteer as our official trip mascot (he, he.. pis).

Save for the lack of pleasant view, Lac Vien Hotel is already a decent place to stay. It is clean, well kept and most importantly has a lift for easy access of the rooms. Located in Pham Ngu Lao, it is within reach of the backpackers district and about 15 minutes walk away from Ben Thanh market. I think it was great that the hotel was nestled in a smaller street so it limits the number of cars that ply along. Hence making the surrounding very quiet and peaceful.

Immediately after checking into the hotel, we went outside of the hotel and found a small travel agency just across the street. I bargained with the lady and got a good price for our day tour. Imagine for 9USD per person, we were able to hire a van who will bring us around HCM City for 10 hours!

Our first stop was in the Reunification Palace. We paid 1USD each for the entrance ticket but we were able to stay only for an hour as we arrived shortly before lunch break. Well, no big deal as there isn't much anything to see anyway. Funny, the lift was even acting up as it closes and opens only at the basement and at the 3rd floor.

With hungry stomachs, we asked our driver to take us to one of the most famous Pho restaurant in HCM. Pho 2000 gained its worldwide recognition after then US President Bill Clinton ordered and ate their signature beef noodles during his official visit to Vietnam. Yep, I could vouch that he's been there as I saw his photo being proudly displayed on one of the walls.

Fortunately, my expectation was met as the chicken noodles I ordered was really mind-blowing! For one, it was boiling hot and another, the chicken meat was very tender. Another unforgettable food was their deep-fried spring rolls. Yum!

After our food-trip, we left for the Museum of Vietnamese History. Another 1USD saying goodbye to my wallet and an additional 1USD as parking ticket for our rented van. Again there wasn't much to see except some maniquins wearing traditional costumes depicting different eras. There was a grand staircase leading to the displays on the second floor. I've already forgotten what was on display there except the mural painting showing HCM's liberation.




We traveled for at least an hour going to Chinatown to see another market. This market is famous for wholesale selling at real cheap price. Since it was raining outside, we decided to buy our Vietnamese woven conehats. I think we bought our hats for 1USD a piece in the market.

Since Vietnam is known for its distinct flavoured coffee (plus it was raining and we were getting tired too fast), all of us voted on looking for a coffee shop. Unfortunately we couldn't find one near the market so we walked past the bus station until we ended up in a "coffee bar". Ha, ha! Where can you find a coffee shop that was barely lit and with patrons drinking beer in the afternoon. It was like a 'hole in the wall' coffee shop just waiting for the strip dancers to show up. Only in HCM probably. (I hope!)

In fairness, the ice coffee that we had was really strong and was very good! It easily will beat Starbucks espresso..

Finally, we boarded our van and headed to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Well it was closed then so we only had a good view from outside. If I would surmise correctly, the church was designed after the real Notre Dame church in Paris since Vietnam has been once a colony of France.

Just across the street is the iconic Central Post Office. Inside was an elaborately decorated building showing the glory days of old Saigon. Just to maximize our rent, we allocated our last hour to visit the Ben Thanh market again. T-shirts were in good bargain as I paid about 2USD for a regular thin cotton shirt.

With the chu-chu-clock a-ticking and our dollars a-wasting, we were brought back to the hotel to rest and freshen up.

Our last stop for the day was to dine in a good, a bit fancy, a little pricey Vietnamese restaurant called Lemon Grass. It lived up to its name as the food we had were absolutely delicious! After dinner we just strolled around to see the night time HCM and headed back to our hotel to rest.