17 January 2008 Saigon, Vietnam

I travel by car from Selayang to KLIA via Sg Buluh toll and highway. Me and wife left the house at 0630hrs and reached KLIA covered parking building at 0715 and parked at level 3, ideally should park at level 2 where the connecting bridge to main terminal was located. Went to check-in at Counter C and got seat 8E and 8F. Went to the Airport lounge (Enrich Card) for a quick snack and boarded the plane on time. For this trip I used my ENRICH points to travel and debited 50,000 points for the trip and paid RM 786 for airport tax and administration for 2 persons.

We reached Saigon at 1055 or 0955 local time and waited for our friend Mr Saimon Lim. He called me and arrived after 30 minutes. Saigon is now saturated with cars, MPV and SUV, besides motorbikes, scooters and bicycles. I was in Saigon in 2002, it wasn’t this bad. Saigon has a new airport, very much better from the old one, immigration formalities was swift but luggage came out slow, almost 20 minutes after immigration clearance when the first bag came out. There was a big crowd outside the airport, relatives and friends waiting or bid good-byes to their loved ones. If you are meeting someone, be sure to specify the exact location, use the airport pillar as each pillar has a number, I was at LG 11. Then at last my dear friend Mr. Saimon Lim arrived with our transport and we drove to city center, to a hotel in District 1 near the Van Thenh Market. The Hotel was called Thanh Long Tan Hotel or THANH LONG. T@n Hotel. At 19 - 21- 23 Truong Dinh St., Dist. 1, HCM City, Viet Nam. Tel : (848) 8.248.767. 8. 248.768 - 8.248.769. Fax : (848) 8.298.576 .. http://www.thanhlongtanhotel.com/ the rate was USD 25 including simple breakfast. I paid USD 35 for a larger room, the bathroom was clean and room tiled.

After a quick shower, both of us rushed downstairs as our host Mr Vanh was waiting at a nearby restaurant. Both of us have vegetarian noodle while the others enjoyed the famous Vietnamese beef noodle…Mr Vanh and I have been friends for almost 5 years and this would be my third visit to Saigon city.

Then my wife and I went to the Van Thenh market, very crowded as always and full of tourists looking for handbags, wallets, t-shirts, jeans, shirts, textiles, imitation bags etc.


18 January – Saigon walk,

Today we moved to a more upmarket hotel called the Palace Saigon Hotel, the rate was USD 115++ including buffet breakfast. While the former hotel was more like Petaling Street environment, this hotel feels more like Bukit Bintang area…

Vietnam was famous for its beef-noodle and the noodle franchise shop was called PLO 24, you can find them everywhere. The noodle was served with fresh vegetables. Our host Mr. Vanh (Vietnamese) accompanies us during lunch. The afternoon was spent shopping, at nearby Van Thenh Market. This place is a heaven for shoppers, go for it…bargain and bargain until you get a fair price i.e. in your opinion of course. Shoes, handbags, luggage and textiles were the main attraction. So first outing spent about USD 50 or VND 800,000. Vietnam Silk material were sold at USD 12 for 4 meter piece for the baju kurung. Buying was easy as many shop assistants spoke Bahasa Melayu…the salesgirls called you Sir..Madam baju kurung… cantik…murah etc. Well..one shopping session could last 2-3 hours and walked 1-2 kilometers inside the market. There were so many shops…I was pulled up by a salesgirl when we visited her shop for the third time and she shouted...Aku Cinta Kamu !


Currency in Vietnam is the Dong, the common exchange rate was 1 USD to VND 16,000 and RM 1 to VND 4,000. So USD 100 was VND 1.600 million, in Ringgit USD 100 was RM 330 and VND 1.320 million. So it was better in USD, right?
My wife and I both purchased the local pre-paid phone card at VND 100,000 each or RM 25. Just in case we got lost or separated in the crowded market, then the local line would be handy…mine was called MobiCard SuperSim 64K and valid until May 2008.
For dinner, we have French fries and fish burger and we roamed the Saigon District 1 roads until 11 pm, no problem, very safe to walk at night. The night scenery was beautiful…and plenty of people.

19-20 January 2008

The next two days were the same, sight seeing and shopping. We went to a local Muslim restaurant called Quan An Sulaiman at TK 25/40 Tran Hung Dao, P.Cau Kho District 1 (Tel. 8385332), taxi fare about VND 20,000 (RM 5) from Van Thenh Market. We have Nasi Putih, Tom Yam fish ball, Telur Dadar and Udang Goreng kunyit and fruit juices, all for VND 84,000 or RM 21. Along the main road near the restaurant, was the Thanh Duong Jamiul Islamiah Mosque at 459b Tran Hung District 1, tel. 9203325. My wife bought a Telekung for VND 120,000 or RM 30!

There was another Muslim restaurant, a bit upmarket a bit near Sheraton Hotel called Four Season Restaurant or Restoran Empat Musim located at SO 2 Thi Sach Street in District 1, (Tel. 8257186) at the junction of Dong du and Thi Sach. The lady who served us spoke Malay fluently and suggested Kepala Ikan Asam Pedas. It was tasty, however the price was a bit steep as we paid about VND 484,000 or RM120 for lunch….

All in all, it was a tiring and memorable holiday for us…Saigon is definitely worth a re-visit someday!