Places to go (in Ho Chin Minh)

Just when you thought that I was done talking about Vietnam, I come back with a video to share! Hahahaha ok to wrap up Ho Chin Minh, here's a video Shairah made! I wasn't aware she took so many clips during that short five days. And... I wasn't drunk in the video. Just tired. Shut up.

In summary,

The best pho we ever had: Pho Hoa Pasteur, 260c Pasteur (District 3)

The best street food: Pham Ngu Lau (D1) and Turtle Lake (D1). Pham Ngu Lau is the backpacker's district of HCM and it is absolutely teeming with life. This is the scene in Pham Ngu Lau at night. Rows and rows of chairs are lined up, facing the road. Everyone sits elbow to elbow with a beer in one hand, chatting incessantly to the traveler next to them. The food is cheap and the beer is even cheaper. 

Turtle Lake is the hang-out place of choice of a lot of the youths in HCM. Go there in the evening with an empty stomach and get adventurous with the wide variety of street food stands dotted around the "lake". I've put the word 'lake' in inverted commas because... it really isn't a lake. It is in fact, way more of a fountain than anything else. 

The S$6 seafood dinner that Shairah and I went to is located in District 4 but I wouldn't recommend anyone going there unless they have locals with them. It's located quite deep in a maze of alleys and District 4 is known to be one of the more dangerous areas. Therefore, I'll suggest sticking to District 1. It's where majority of the good food and shopping is located anyway!

Best shopping haunt: Saigon Square (not pictured) and An Dong Plaza. The selection at Saigon Square is, in my opinion, much better than An Dong Plaza but you have to be more wary about con-men/ women there. I had mentioned in an earlier post about how a woman pretended to be from Singapore and brought us to several shops to "haggle" for us when she was really trying to make a sale and collect commission from it. So buyers beware! Also, please, for the love of God, haggle! You should cut the price they quote you by at least half before trying to find a price you two agree on. Shairah and I were so bad at this aspect. I think we got cheated like 23728327 times. :(

Best organised tour: If you only have two days in HCM and would have to choose between the Mekong River tour or the Cu Chi Tunnels tour, I'd say pick the Mekong River tour. It's much more activity-loaded with a Vietnamese musical performance, rice-paper and coconut candy demonstations (SO YUMMY I polished off two packs by myself), getting to row a sampan down the river yourself (as pictured above by Shairah), ride in a horse carriage (even though I was ridiculously devastated by that) etc. 

Cu Chi Tunnels was interesting as all historical war stories are. But it wasn't as activity-loaded as Mekong was so I got bored rather quickly.

Best coffee we ever had: You simply cannot leave Vietnam without trying their oh-so-famous Vietnamese coffee which Shairah and I did. But the one we kept going back to buy every single day was this. It tasted like a beautiful combination of kahlua and bailey's. Quite, quite heavenly.

Best in-city tourist hotspot: The Reunification Palace or the War Remnants Museum? If you are in HCM and only have enough time to make it to one tourist hotspot, let it be the War Remnants Museum. I would only suggest you check out the Reunification Palace if you have a guide to bring you around and explain the purpose of each room. Otherwise it'll just be another extra large housewarming while the host is busy in the kitchen. The War Remnants Museum was both an eye-opener and a heart-breaker. 

Word of caution, brace yourself for the Agent Orange exhibit.

And lastly, if you like a good party, I can vouch that Lush is not bad. The drinks are dirt cheap and the music is pretty good! And their DJs actually MIX their music instead of playing one song after another like of of the DJs we have in Singapore. I shall not name names but... I'm sure you all know who I'm talking about. Besides, the Lush DJ played a couple of Korean songs much to Shairah's disapproval and disdain but to Dom's and my delight. TEEHEE!

Meh. I can't believe that that trip was at the start of my semester. Now it's a month more to the end of it. I can hardly wait!

TTFN~