Things to do in Saigon

Besides eating, there is plenty to keep you occupied in Saigon. Though Cu Chi tunnel was highly touted as the best tourist attraction, P and I decided to give it a pass as the thought of crawling through a cramped tunnel didn't appeal to us (P is tall and I'm slightly claustrophobic).

Here are some of the highlights of our trip:

1. Visit the Reunification Palace
Before or after your lunch at Quan An Ngon, visit the Reunification Palace. It was the home and workplace of the South Vietnam President during the Vietnam War. Wandering through the building gives you a feeling that time has stood still since the day Saigon fell to North Vietnam in 1975. It is also said that the building has been left largely untouched since that time.

There are free 1 hour tours that happen every 15 minutes (very frequent I must say!).

One of many eerie meeting rooms in the palace.

I love the concrete "curtains" on the building facade!

The main reason why I enjoyed this tour was because of the vintage articles left behind since the War, such as the retro dial phones and wooden mahjong tiles.

2. Visit the War Remnants Museum
This is a 3 storey museum which tells the story of the atrocities committed by the American army during the Vietnam War. It is more of a picture gallery than a history museum, in my opinion. The 1st floor contains photographs and anti-war propaganda posters, 2nd floor a gruesome photographic display of the cruelty imposed on the Vietnamese during the War, as well as the devastating aftermath of a chemical war waged by Agent Orange, and the 3rd floor is a recount of the war by journalists from all over the world.

Only took some pics of the propaganda posters as the rest were too disturbing to me. I could not understand how some people could bear to take pictures of the deformed foetuses in particular.

A rather heart-wrenching poem accompanied this poster:

"When I was a child

I spoke as a child

I understood as a child

I thought as a child

But when I became a man

I put away children things"

3. Impressive landmarks to pause, admire and snap a couple of pics
The Notre Dame Cathedral, a French-built Catholic cathedral in the city centre.

Central Saigon Post Office, just opposite the Cathedral. It was designed and constructed by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel (who also designed the Eiffel Tower).

Saigon Opera House

4. Shop at L'usine
This boutique has quirky, trendy home ware and designer clothes that do not come cheap. P loved shopping there and while he shopped, I hung out at the cafe next door sipping iced coffee.

6. Check out Ben Thanh market and its surrounds
We didn't spend much time in Ben Thanh market as we got there a tad too late. Ben Thanh is a typical market where you will find many shops selling the same iPho t-shirts, lacquerware, wooden knick knacks, men and ladies apparel, shoes, accessories etc etc. It is mandatory to bargain here...and do bargain hard (I think at least 50%-70% as ridiculous as it may sound). Some of the t-shirts we bought with some bargaining could be found cheaper outside the market before any bargaining!

The shops outside the market were still open after we left Ben Thanh and there is also a night market nearby that starts after 8pm. The goods sold were more or less similar though.

7. Reward yourself with a massage
After a long day of walking, nothing beats a foot massage and a good place to do it is Golden Lotus Foot Massage Club smack in town. It costs US$13 for a 60 minute massage, which is pretty decent.  The masseurs did a good job too, though P and I thought they were kinda rough towards the end when they put their hands down our backs to rub our shoulders. I felt like my top was going to be ripped apart!

If one prefers a more upscale massage parlour, L'Apothicaire would be a good choice, although this comes at a higher price. We chose the District 3 main branch as it is housed in a colonial villa and seemed quite lovely from the website. There are also branches in District 1 which on hindsight would have sufficed (the villa was nothing to shout about). I did a 90-min massage and body polish for about US$50?

Saigon, with love

I'm back from my 4D3N trip to Ho Chi Minh city, or Saigon as the locals still prefer to call it. This was my first time to Saigon, although not my first in Vietnam (had visited Hanoi, Danang, Hue and Hoi An previously). Right before the trip, I'd gone round asking friends about their thoughts on Saigon. And almost 99% who had been there proclaimed it to be BORING!

I shared this "feedback" with P and he affirmed our decision to switch from a budget hotel (Tan Hoang Long) to a more luxurious one (Intercontinental Asiana Saigon). Which was fine by me as the 5* hotels in Saigon were still somewhat affordable and we were only staying 3 nights. So off we went, P with zero expectations and me with negative expectations.

Verdict? Saigon managed to surpass my expectations, thus reversing a negative to a positive. It is probably not as exciting as Bangkok, but it has its own charms and quirks, and I would love to go back again!

Firstly, our hotel was awesome. Look at P, totally enjoying himself.

Secondly, the food is Saigon is top-notch. From the impressive breakfast buffet at the hotel, to the affordable and high quality French cuisine, to the local Vietnamese fare done modern, traditional or fusion style, and the quirky cafes serving aromatic coffee, one could just eat his way through this city.

1. Intercontinental Asiana Saigon Hotel
Lovely breakfast with the widest variety of fruit juices (dragonfruit, peach, pineapple, orange, watermelon, just to name a few). 

Enjoying the cakes bought at 50% discount after 7pm.

2. La Carmague

Excellent French restaurant in a beautiful romantic setting. We had pan-fried foie gras, a medium tenderloin with salty roast potatoes and savoury tomato-based vongole fettucine. Everything was cooked to perfection and the service was impeccable. Only downside was the lack of airconditioning so I was kinda sweltering in the heat after some wine.
Recommended: French onion soup and foie gras escalope

3. La Cuisine
A cosy French bistro we ate at on our last night. P ordered the osso buco (braised veal) and I had the seafood lasagne. Serving was huge, and the food tasted wholesome. However, for the same price, I would much rather go to La Camargue.

4. Hoa Tuc
Plenty of opportunities to have Vietnamese food but none with an ambience so delightfully quaint as Hoa Tuc. Set in a corner street together with a couple of other restaurants including The Refinery (another restaurant under the same group), Hoa Tuc is the perfect place for an all-ladies lunch/tea. Food was OK though we did enjoy the starters (fried spring roll and fish cakes) more than the mains.

5. Quan An Ngon
This restaurant opposite the Reunification Palace was recommended by every guidebook I read. So we went there for lunch before our visit to the palace. The restaurant contains a mish-mash of the best stalls serving local food in Vietnam. Somewhat like a food centre, only with table service and a very extensive menu.
The must-haves: Pho bo (thick, fragrant soup) and chilli marinated grilled squid (absolutely divine!)

6. Quan Nuong
Boisterous outdoor BBQ place at the rooftop playing loud retro dance beats. This restaurant shares the same building as Fanny's ice cream parlour (see below) and Temple Club, which we very much wanted to visit but didn't have the time to. The food was average but the experience was quite unusual.

At the end of our dinner, the lights went off and the table behind ours lit sparklers and sang "Happy Birthday" with music blaring in the background. P and I were speechless...we have never observed a birthday celebrated in this way anywhere before (lol).

7. Pho Bo

Ubiquitous comfort food that can be had for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our hotel serves great pho bo for breakfast and there are a couple of pho chains with restaurants dotting the city.

Pho 24 is good but our best pho experience was at Quan An Ngon.

Didn't try out this chain but the slogan is rather amusing. Apparently, Bill Clinton had pho in this restaurant before?

8. L'usine
Our favourite cafe in Saigon. We came back twice! The Vietnamese ice coffee is to-die-for and I had the best red velvet cupcake here! There is also a boutique attached to the cafe which sells rather trendy stuff (more on this later).

9. Fanny's ice cream
If the heat is getting to you and you need a place to cool off, this is the perfect place to rest your legs and have a pretty sundae or ice cream creatively shaped as sushi or dim sum. Highly recommended!

10. Bobby Chinh
Bobby Chinh's restaurant is well-placed right next to our hotel. Though we didn't dine here, we did drop by on our last night to have dessert & drinks. It's a great place to hang out, have a drink or smoke a shisha.

Cheers to Saigon!

You jump I jump?

That was the pact I had with Hay. Initially, I wasn't even keen on bungee jumping for 2 main reasons:

1. I was travelling with my parents and didn't want to freak them out.
2. My guts got smaller as I aged. Somehow, crossing the Big 3 changed my perspective and made me treasure life more.

However, since Hayden wanted to do it, I thought hey, if I don't do it now, I'd probably never do it! Not to mention that when I was younger, I was quite the daredevil / adrenaline junkie. To me, bungee jumping was the epitome of all fears, and I just had to conquer that!

I did some research and found out that there is a bungy site in Taupo, North Island. And it so happened that Taupo was in Dad's itinerary! It seemed like all the stars were pointing us that way and how could we defy destiny? Easier said than done though...the decision to do it or not kept playing itself back and forth in my head and it would have been really easy to make up a silly excuse and use it to back out.

Frankly, the easiest way to make yourself jump is to PAY AND GET ON WITH IT. The jump costs S$150, and you had the option of purchasing the pictures and a video for another S$50. After paying for our jump, filling up the indemnity forms, taking our weights and making a quick stop at the loo, we were ready to go!

Hay and I wanted to scissors-paper-stone to see who would go first, but ultimately, I went first as I was standing closer to the platform. Hay wasn't even allowed to be on the platform with me (he had to wait in line behind a gate). While the 2 attendants were strapping me up, I asked as many questions as I could (partly to alleviate my fears), e.g. what's the best way to jump, how long would it take, etc etc. Once strapped up, I was told to take small steps to the edge of the platform and to give them the thumbs up when I was ready to leap.

So I inched closer and closer...and I have to say that the inching and waiting at the edge was the WORST part of the jump. Not to mention the cord seemed to be dragging me forward as I moved! If I could sum it up, it was really a mind over matter situation that I was forced to face with. At the edge, I procrastinated for a longgg time and screamed adamant "NOoooooo"s when asked if I was ready. Finally, the attendant said in a low, nonchalant voice that the longer I took, the more scared I will be. With that, I mentally closed the door of fears and told him I was ready to go.

And jump I did! I screamed all the way down (ahhhhhhhhhhh!!), and the rebound came before I knew it...I was still screaming my lungs out as the rope jerked me back and forth, up and down. It was exhilarating  and I felt thoroughly stretched, slightly light headed and definitely wobbly legged. When I stopped rebounding, a rubber boat came out to me and one of the guys dragged me onto the boat with a long stick. And that was it! It was over in less than 30 seconds but the entire experience will stay with me for the rest of my life!

I hung around to watch Hay jump and we caught back up at the shop with Stan and out parents. Of course, after the plunge, $50 for some photos and video didn't seem so bad afterall. Hay and I happily paid and left feeling awed and proud of ourselves and of each other.