Food hunting around Ho Chi Minh

*sorry for not updating this blog since May... this post was pending for months and this will be the last post for Vietnam trip*

I really enjoy having the food during days in Vietnam, especially the street food at Pham Ngu Lao…*drooling* We spent a few nights here, get to know new people and their way of living.

Pho is the first food I have in Vietnam. Pho is glass noodle with broth. The broth is clear and sweet. You have to eat together with lots of vegetables, add some lime juice, pickled chilli and chilli sauce. There you get the delicious Pho. I prefer Pho with pork. PORKKKKK! (30000-35000Dong)

 

 

We also tried some snails and seafood. cheap but large portion. Saigon beer is just too cheap to be my daily must-drink beverage. Only 10000-15000 Dong, approximately RM2 per bottle. Green one is milder than the red one and I love the red one. It helps me to sleep hahaha.

 

 

It’s fun to drink really cheap beer, eat light food, and sit on the street on small stools like kindergarten students.

 

This is my staple snack on the street, Banh Mi, a Vietnamese sandwich/burger made of crispy baguette, filled with meats (pork/beef/chicken), pickled radishes, cucumber and drizzled with delicious sauces…

Ahh, the best baguette sandwiches I ever had and I miss it so much. PORKKKK!!! (15000Dong).

 
This sugarcane juice from a street vendor near to Ben Thanh market is one of the heavenly drink. TASTY to the MAX and so refreshing.

 

The secret recipe = sugarcane + pineapple + lime

How can I missed Trung Nguyen Coffee in Vietnam?

These are some street food which I don’t know their name.

Deep-fried roll with glutinous rice and to eat with coconut milk and sago.

 

Colourful glutinous rice and shredded coconut flesh makes very colourful and delicious food
 

 
 

 

Lotteria, the fast food restaurant in Vietnam. It’s the combination of KFC and McDonald.

 

chicken burger with rice

 
Instant noodles I had for 2 days as my breakfast. Cook by the dorm owner. I noticed the owner buy eggs to cook for us every morning. Hehe, very fresh eggs huh...no comment

 

Very highly recommended must visit restaurant Onha Hang Ngon. Also called the new Quan An Ngon. you can have all the Vietnamese food here.

 

 

 

 

Lastly to recommend this StarMoon Café.

We have a story in this Café. The story goes like this.

We wander around the street. We want to have some coffee. We saw StarMoon Café and it looks like Starbucks. So we enter the café and unexpectedly, the owner speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. I feel so glad to find someone who can understand and speak Mandarin in this foreign land where I couldnt read and understand a single word of the Vietnamese. She introduces a guy from China (her brother’s friend) to us. Then we give each other a hearty handshake and become friends. Another surprise is we all were born in the same year. All are Dragon’s babies. She is a Vietnam Chinese. He is a pure Chinese. We are Malaysia Chinese. We all are Chinese and fated to meet.

drink, joke and play cards

 

In summary, I like the food, people and lifestyle in Vietnam. :)

 

Wandering around Vietnam – HCMC & Mekong Delta

Not going to talk more about Mekong Delta 1 day trip as it was quite bored actually. Went along the river, pass by some island, walked around some village, row boat along the canal, taste honey, taste coconut, taste fruit, listen folk music…Here’s some photos for you.

 

 

It’s already 4 months after my Vietnam trip but I still have a few posts to write to share with you…gosh...how busy am I nowadays, until I almost forget I actually like to write.

Well now I am preparing for my another vacation next week... Oh no, more posts to queue...

Ok. Let’s go wandering around Ho Chi Minh city.

We visit several tourist spot.
 

The first must-visit place is The War Remnants Museum. A lot of photos and posters showing the distressing horrors that happen during the war. Every of us is in a depressed mood during the visit. World peace, why war? And if world is not peace, why war?

 

There is also aircraft and war tanks collection outside the museum.

 

 

This is another attraction to check out. The Reunification Palace is one of the historical site marks the end of the Vietnamese War. This building used to be the Presidential Palace during the war. You can see banquet room, meeting room, mini cinema, office room and more rooms.

Next is the General Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

 

 

I like this French architectural building.

I have no idea why I visit a post office when travel to a foreign country. But this General Post Office is one of the major tourist spot in this city and it is big. Anyway, I like the architectural design and I sent myself a postcard :)
 

 

 

Ben Thanh Market in HCMC is like Chatuchak in Bangkok, you can find almost everything here. From key chains to clothes and accessories, from coffee to groceries, it is like a big market. For me, it is a tourist trap. Things are not cheap here. Do remember to ask for CHEAP CHEAP price and compare among a few stalls before you decide which one to buy from.

 

All in all, I could say that my trip to HCMC was a memorable one.

I have so much to share and I really enjoy it.

I will come back again, Hanoi and Danang are already in my list :)


 

Wandering around Vietnam - Getting to the Dunes and Canyon

I started the warm sunny day with fried rice in nice plating and Vietnamese black coffee prepared by the guesthouse owner.

We hop into a jeep and head to the famous white and red sand dunes, yay!

 

See our jeep, kena "bullet" before!

 

The beautiful Mui Ne coast with a bright blue sky and deep blue sea.

 

 

See…cows!!

                                                                                                                         

After a right turn at one of the junction, we were in a middle of untarred road. There gone all my favourite blue blue world and the white dunes came into my eyes.

 

 

You can either walk to the dune, or ride the ATV. And I choose to take off my slippers and start walking. The sand was soft and warm, it felt great. 

 

The vast white sand dunes area looked like the Arabian desert. Somewhere in the middle I had to stop walking as the wind was blowing hard and sand enter my eyes. I am wondering if I accidentally travel to the desert and how I cross the desert with a camel. How am I going to survive in the sand area with limited water and the hot and dry weather? Hahaha…  *daydreaming queen*

 
At the higher point of the sand dunes, surprisingly there is a lotus lake ringed by pine trees in the middle of the white sand dune. It's like an oasis.

We spent time at the dunes taking photos in various poses and angles, jumping here and there. And we plank on the dune too. Woohooo~ it's not good to plank in the desert as you will end up eating plenty of sand.
 

Then we stopped at the red canyon. Nothing to do there, but seeing all the "graffiti" on the rockstone.

 

We then drove back to the red sand dunes. Same as the white dunes, very sandy. It looks more red under my purple sunglasses :)

Disaster come when the local kids coming with blue plastic thin board offering to slide down the mountains of dunes. We were surrounded by about 10 of them, asking us to rent from them (which I really dislike...thumbs down).  And the one with better English is the king to get the business. I cannot remember the price as I am not the one who bargain. You know I’m not good in bargaining and I don’t know how

 

Sliding down the dune is a must. The kid brought us to very far away for a better slope to slide down. Very...very far away.

I was so happy to see such huge hills of sand at first, but I was not happy when realize how much effort would it take to climb those hills. I'm really exhausted already to walk across the hills. If I could travel deeper into the dunes by a camel.............hahahaha :)

 

Anyway, I still able to walk to the sliding site. The view from the top of the red sand dunes is magnificent. From the red sand dunes, I can see the ocean. It's a different view from the white sand dunes.

 

The sandsliding was fun. but not when you have to climb up the soft sand dune again for a second slide. I slid once and I’m already happy with it. Feel like dying to climb up to the top again and I don’t want to feel like dying for another time. No energy anymore.

 

Mission accomplished

 

We should have go to the Fairy Stream but we cancel it (actually is the jeep driver cancel for us..bad guy!) due to our delay and we were actually need to rush for a bus to back to HCM. What a miss.

The trip back to the guesthouse was quiet. I guess everyone was tired. But I am thinking, trying to recall all the good memory in Mui Ne.

Okay, I conclude, the fishing village and the sand dunes together make an excellent Mui Ne trip.