Moi had been away and that explains the long silence and lack of update of the twinz's blog. *wink* I was at Saigon with Buttercup and Blossom. And you bet!! We had a HEAP LOADS of FUN!!! In fact, i so missed it that I was sms-ing the two gals this morning and even met up with Blossom. Hey hey hey!! kekeke! The 3 of us just wanted a break from our usual life routine especially Blossom and we wanted to go for a really BUDGET one and so.... we booked ourselves onto the cheapest flight and into a really cheap guesthouse...
Day 1 - 5th Dec 2007
It was Moi's first time to travel BUDGET!!! Hahahahaha!! So I was a little bit blur with the checking in and boarding at the budget terminal which fortunately Moi "survived".... Just for info, the boarding notice board below is not the real flights notice board but HANS menu board at the budget terminal. =P
Well, Moi was the first to turn up, followed by Missy Buttercup with her ah mah and Missy Blossom with her bellhop. =P kekeke! These 2 ladies sure TRAVEL "heavy" despite Buttercup sms-ing me the previous night and telling me she is going to travel light. Well... char poh, your definition of "light" is not very the light hor. Well, once we got re-charged, the powerpuff girls are invincible. kekeke! We made a BIG detour to Ben Thanh Market which is actually very close to us. We figured out later that different people gave us different directions as Ben Thanh was located around a circle road and you could either enter through the right or to the left. Getting there through the chaotic traffic was our worst nightmare. The traffic lights seem so redundant. Nobody seems to be following any rules, both pedestrians and motorists. Cars, motorbikes, buses, vans were moving in any possible directions and we could even see big car making a U-turn in the middle of the road amidst the heavy traffic. We took a while to figure that the only way to cross the roads was with your eyes closed. hahahahaha! Amazing, right? You just have to put your faith in the drivers and just walked very slowly from one end of the road to the other end without looking. The motorists will diverge from you miraculously. The fact that the three of us make it home safely, does imply that this is the correct method to cross the HCMC traffic. kekeke! Did much shopping at Ben Thanh market and got nearly 40% of the stuffs that Moi was entrusted to get before my departure. Heehee! All of us got our hands really FULL with things and more things. I especially like the colorful bags that we managed to bargain from US$6.00 to US$4.50. A good technique to shop in vietnam is to go many shops to compare the prices first; bargain first before you request them to take out the goods and once bargained, be sure to take the price that you offered. My personal opinion is the vietnamese are tougher sellers and less friendly. But we still got lots of fun. Just a note that Ben Thanh market opens as early 830am and closes at 6pm. After 6pm, you will find little stalls all set up like pasar malan outside Ben Thanh market selling food, clothes, souvenirs and lacquer related handicrafts. Maybe it was due to our loud chattering and blabbering, we caught the attention of a Singaporean Dude who sat across our table. He came over to say hi and recommended some nice sight-seeing spots in vietnam, and even passed his contact for us to contact him for details. Alas, the 3 pretty lass weren't very much interested in him. Hahahaha!!
Despite being a budget airline, Tiger Airway's service standard was still rather amicable. The flight is not very timely with slight half an hour to an hour late for both our going and returning flights but on flight service and comfort in terms of seats are still rather acceptable. For a budget price, it was reasonable and nice. Buttercup, the sweetie, had gladly "lend" me her arm to "squeeze" during take-off to ease Moi's height phobia. Bwahahahahaha! =P
Moi got a bit of a "surprise" upon arriving at Saigon's aiport as the "budget" terminal was so much newer, nicer, cleaner, more posh than the Tan Son Nhat International Airport that Moi came 2 years ago.... until I discovered upon checking out that both the budget flights and international flights all docked at Tan Son Nhat International Airport and that the airport just got renovated. Hahahaha! What a BIG make-over!! I was utterly surprised.
After hearing all the "unpleasant" experiences about HCMC cabs, the 3 of us decided to pay a little bit more for premium and safety to get the airport taxi at a higher price at US$10 for a 20 minutes ride to our guesthouse. It wasn't much of a big surprise for Moi to be greeted again by the chaotic traffic.
restaurants, cafes, all within walking distance. Service was great and money worth. For 3 nights stay in a 3-pax bedroom, Moi paid US$24 and that includes breakfast, attached bathroom with hot shower, 
fresh towels and room cleaning daily, throw in cable tv, air-conditional, fan and use of a room fridge. Heaven!! hahahaha! Look at the clean toilet and our breakfast. Cool right? Every morning, we got a choice of either bread with omelette or 
bread with butter and jam, together with a choice of either coffee, tea or pineapple juice. Yummy!! There is also free wifi internet servicing on first floor. The only demerit about Luan vu might be the noise in the morning. Though Luan Vu is located in the inner lane and well cut off from the bustling main road. The few hawkers downstairs start their business early morning around 6am. If you are a light sleeper, you will be easily wake up by the chatting, cries of children, etc.
After putting down our barang barang, we wasted no time to go down to Sinh cafe, a travel agency located at the very next street, De Tham, highly recommended online and by A-De, to book for our Day tour tomorrow to Cu Chi Tunnel at US$6.00 per pax excluding lunch and entrance fee. I would say it's very cheap and service was quite ok. Blossoms was famished and her gastric was working against her... so we quickly adjoined for a quick tea break which costs a total of about US$8.00. Food was not too bad, save the bread which was much too dry, such that it was cutting into my mouth. =( GRRRRRRRR!! The sandwich set actually came with a crab meat soup which though nonetheless looked and tasted like one, was quite delicious. Blossom's chap cai peng was a little too blend but Buttercup's seafood noodle tasted quite alright.
Tea break @ Sinh Cafe
With our hands all full, we went over to Pho 2000, a vietnamese noodle shop made famous by a visit by USA Ex-President Bill Clinton. Both myself and Buttercup had the vegetable noodle while Blossom had the spicy seafood noodle. We shared a plate of vietnamese spring rolls and sea coconut jelly for dessert. The noodles were really fine and smooth. Portion was a little small but with a price of US$10 for all, it was still rather worthwhile. A special note that Pho 2000 like some restaurant tends to serve wet tissues and small table snacks like peanuts which are chargeable. So if you don't want the tissues or the small table snacks, be sure to return it to the server, so you won't get charged.
Dinner @ Pho 2000
Proceeded back to our guesthouse for a hot shower and chat till 2am, before we hit slumber... kekekeke! An exhausting day but joyful..... Day 2, starts at 630am....
Luan Vu Guesthouse
35/2 Bui Vien Street, District 1,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Website : http://www.geocities.com/guesthouseluanvu
Sinh cafe
246 - 248 De Tham Street, District 1,
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Tel: (84-8) 836 7338
Fax: (84-8) 836 9322
Website : http://www.sinhcafevn.com/
Pho 2000
1-3 Phan Chu Trinh
Tel 822-2788
open 6am to 10pm daily
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