nivleM | Melvin : Both Sides Of Me

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Quick facts on Ho Chi Minh City trip

One return air ticket and 3 nights hotel stay : SGD$417.80

Great shopping and exotic food : USD$200 or VND$3.4million

Photos taken during the trip : Priceless (And I mean it, especially with 870 photos = 3.49GB)

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam - 4 Days 3 Nights Tour

During the first day, we were all exciting and at the same time, wondering what's outside the Ho Chi Minh airport. The taxi took us for almost an hour trip to our hotel (Dai Nam Hotel - 3 stars), and it cost us VND$500,000 which is equivalent to SGD$45. Later we then realised that we were being overcharged. Haha. We took short walks around our hotel to familarise ourselves with the area. And gosh, the traffic condition everywhere was bad. But bad in an unique way that:

1. Almost every traffic junctions and pedestrian crossings do not have traffic lights.
2. The ratio of motorcycles to saloon cars / buses / vans is about 50 is to 1.
3. Challenge of the day (everyday) is to take a deep breathe and cross the streets to pass through countless motorcycles around you.
4. Never ending honkings from the vehicles until night comes.

Second day was our trip down to the Mekong River, which is also known as the Mekong Delta to the locals. It was a one day trip with a tour guide bringing us through the river on small rocky sampans, showing us the process of making coconut candies which is their local product, having lunch and local fruits while enjoying their live traditional Vietnamese song and dance.

Third day was our free & easy day. We visited the famous Ben Thanh Market which opens from 6am to 10pm. The market is quite the same as Bangkok's Chatukchat Weekend Market, although the layout of Ben Thanh Market is more organised and the prices there are cheaper. We also visited places like the War Remanent Museum, Central Post Office and Notre Dame Cathedral. Dinner on the last night was a challenge for some of us, but not for me. Haha. I like their food there actually, although the food can be VERY spicy at times.

We kept the last day simple, with a quick lunch at Eddy's favourite Lotteria (KFC version) and finally reach airport with a taxi fare of VND$50,000.

Food in Ho Chi Minh City is not Halal in general. You can see pork items in every menu, unless vegetarian or Halal cerified restaurants. They do not have McDonald's or Starbucks Coffee, however they have fastfood restaurants like KFC, Lotteria (KFC version), Ya Kun Kaya Bread, Gloria Jeans.

Transportation is quite well covered, with taxis, buses and trishaw-like transport everywhere but you have to take note of which type of taxi to take. DO take only Taxi Vinasun which charges passengers by meter while the rest are by negotiation, unless you know how much does your trip cost.

Public Health is generally quite well covered, with hospitals and pharmacies around. However if you think Hong Kong's air is polluted enough, please bring a face mask if you plan to visit HCMC.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Attention Please~

All photos of big file sizes shall be posted in the following blog to avoid long scrolling of this page. =)

http://treegerhappy.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Something new

How time passes by so fast that I've already went for my second facial appointment.

As one who doesn't use facial wash at home since young, this is something which I did out of the norm. Well, at least I did pampered myself once a month and found a way to relax from work... Haha!