Good Friday marks our fourth day in Saigon. Today has been planned as Free and Easy where we plan to roam the nearby landmarks at our own pace. The day started with heavier breakfast as we need the energy to walk the city.
After crossing many 'mountain' and the many challenging roads under the hot sun, we went into a 7-11 just to enjoy some air-con while at the same time, look for items that perhaps we could bring back to Malaysia. On a side note, i think 7-11 in Malaysia should just have more choices and be more well stocked with choices. They should have the required funds since they have recently been listed as such high PE. As we walk along the road and asking for directions from the Army, we reached the first destination, City Hall. There wasn't much of a crowd so we manage to take several clean shots of the scenery from various angles using the 3rd party. We continued along the road and came to Parkson, and decided to see what they have and how different are their shopping malls with the malls we have down south.
We then continue walking along, and followed people to walk down a street, and it brought us to the Notre Dame cathedral Saigon. We manage to take some self shots with the 3rd party, but unfortunately could go into the pews area as they was close after 11am til afternoon. We cross the road to the Post office which is also a landmark in the city. It was filled with people that are buying souvenir and writing post cards to their friends around the world. We selected 3 different postcards to be send back to Malaysia. One was for my Sister, sending to my hometown; One is for xiao hui (whom never receive it due to missing Taman, area) and we send one to ourselves as it was something unique since only by postage we could get the stamp chopped. After posting the post cards, where the rate is standard base on the region of the country, for example, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand would all be classified as South East Asia and use the same amount of stamp.
We continue our journey to the Reunification Palace, which we only took photo from the outside as it was closed for lunch and there isn't much to see and do inside apart from the garden compound. We wanted to find a restaurant that i saw when the bus passed through one of the street near the War Museum, but we didn't see it when we walk the 4 row of streets. There is few high-end restaurant around that area, and it was way beyond our budget, so we decided to have late lunch after visiting the War Museum when it opens as 1.30pm (they are close for lunch). As we was waiting for it to reopen, some uncle approach us and tried to sell us coconut for 30,000 dong, but we didn't want as it's more expensive than we have had the past days in the restaurant, therefore under the hot sun and street walk, it should cost lesser. As we walk away, he say we can have it for 20,000 dong (or less than RM4) and proceed to cut it for us. I guess he also wanted to rest awhile therefore letting us have it at a reduced price.
When the gates for War Museum is open, we was among the first to pay the entrance fee. The gate is wide open, and the ticket counter is to the left of the gate, nobody even check the ticket and i believe there are people that would just visit without purchasing a ticket. One of the display we took selfie is with a helicopter as there still wasn't a crowd during the first 10 minutes or so. The interesting area of the War museum is on the second and third floor. It's heartbreaking to see what the Americans have done, and it's really a good place to share and document it as part of history without getting the facts twist and turn where it's happening in some countries. The history and textbook that is used in schools are just stories that is to their advantage, but the wrongdoings are covered up and turn into fiction. The next area we walk pass is the rebuild torture chamber, it's basically like prison cells.
As we are exhausted and tired from walking the many streets, we decided to just take a taxi back to our hotel. We opted for the Green Toyota Innova taxi where it runs by the meter. Isn't it sad that in countries like Thailand and Vietnam, they use Toyota Altis and Toyota Innova as normal (budget) taxi, whereas in bolehland, those are considered luxury car, even for taxi it's considered luxury taxi and price at a premium (dark blue).
While walking back to the hotel, we saw that a restaurant still had many customer and decided to eat there, the food was just normal and we finish it very quickly as we was very hungry. Along the streets in restaurant, there would be people who come around selling items or provided service. One of it that we saw is a boy that helps to mend or polish shoes. According to an expatriate who was at the next table, he said that they will ask you if you want them to mend or polish your shoe, and when they try to get near your shoe, you must be quick as they might ripe it off to make it broken then they will really fix it (of course, you will have to pay).
We rested awhile before going to Ben Thanh market as it's our last night in the city. The market was having their evening crowd and i notice that when there are westerners, they will rarely attend to the Asian, perhaps due to the fairer people having better purchasing power. There was some items that we wanted to buy, but most of the stores open at very high price, some are willing to give discount and negotiate the price downwards, while there was stores that call us crazy, some say we ask and don't buy. We was interesting in printed art pieces (single piece or set of 4). The general opening price is between 400k to 750k dong depending on the design and size. There was a set of 4 that offered us 700k dong and manage to get the price down to 320k dong, but in the end we didn't buy. We asked a few stores, which we was called crazy because they open the price at 850k and we only offer them 300k as our opening offer. You will see many different characters at the market, don't take to heart what they say, if you don't like their attitude, just walk away. There was also a clothing store which is situated near the exit, i ask for the price and cut it into half the price, and i got said i was crazy, but i felt it was just right (using the fixed price store as benchmark and after surveying other stores) as he ask me for my price anyway. There is an area where the price is fixed, therefore we use those as benchmark against the other stores. Some of the items there are reasonable as their price is lower or similar to those outside the market or at other areas in the city. I felt that shopping there isn't as comforting and happy as when you shop in Bangkok's Chatuchak market. The people at Chatuchak is much more friendly and is willing to negotiate the price, also i feel that inflation or cost of living is much higher. Fed up with the service in Ben Thanh market, we headed to the stores around that area. We manage to buy one pair of shoes each within a reasonable price, although not as low as the price i had in mind.
We went back to the massage shop in the allay that we saw yesterday. Today it wasn't as packed perhaps it was still early and people was having their dinner or just got back from trips. I opted for Foot Massage (50k dong), which my gf did Manicure (50k dong) and Pedicure (50k dong) including nail polish for fingers and toes (40k). Seeing that the haircut was also cheap (50k dong) and i also needed one soon, so might as well just cut my hair too with the balance of dong that we have changed. We went back to the hotel to wash up before dinner.
The final night dinner was at a better restaurant where we was given a table facing the street. We had all prawn seafood dinner, which consist of Coconut soup steam with prawn in the coconut shell (the soup is made from coconut juice), second dish was starch base with prawn, and third dish was mini pancakes with prawn on top. The dinner was overall satisfactory at the price we paid.
We shopped in a few art shop and the opening price was around US$30 to US$50 for the paintings that we ask about. I later found out when back in Malaysia that the retail value in Kuala Lumpur is anything RM250-300 and above, which the retailer said they have source from Vietnam, Thailand or Indonesia. We was attracted to a bag outlet which was located just outside the hotel, where they was having sale for some of their bag. We decided to just KIV first pending the final calculation of how much dong we are left with. We didn't want to bring much back as the exchange rate for dong is pretty weak and the spread is wide.
After crossing many 'mountain' and the many challenging roads under the hot sun, we went into a 7-11 just to enjoy some air-con while at the same time, look for items that perhaps we could bring back to Malaysia. On a side note, i think 7-11 in Malaysia should just have more choices and be more well stocked with choices. They should have the required funds since they have recently been listed as such high PE. As we walk along the road and asking for directions from the Army, we reached the first destination, City Hall. There wasn't much of a crowd so we manage to take several clean shots of the scenery from various angles using the 3rd party. We continued along the road and came to Parkson, and decided to see what they have and how different are their shopping malls with the malls we have down south.
We then continue walking along, and followed people to walk down a street, and it brought us to the Notre Dame cathedral Saigon. We manage to take some self shots with the 3rd party, but unfortunately could go into the pews area as they was close after 11am til afternoon. We cross the road to the Post office which is also a landmark in the city. It was filled with people that are buying souvenir and writing post cards to their friends around the world. We selected 3 different postcards to be send back to Malaysia. One was for my Sister, sending to my hometown; One is for xiao hui (whom never receive it due to missing Taman, area) and we send one to ourselves as it was something unique since only by postage we could get the stamp chopped. After posting the post cards, where the rate is standard base on the region of the country, for example, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand would all be classified as South East Asia and use the same amount of stamp.
We continue our journey to the Reunification Palace, which we only took photo from the outside as it was closed for lunch and there isn't much to see and do inside apart from the garden compound. We wanted to find a restaurant that i saw when the bus passed through one of the street near the War Museum, but we didn't see it when we walk the 4 row of streets. There is few high-end restaurant around that area, and it was way beyond our budget, so we decided to have late lunch after visiting the War Museum when it opens as 1.30pm (they are close for lunch). As we was waiting for it to reopen, some uncle approach us and tried to sell us coconut for 30,000 dong, but we didn't want as it's more expensive than we have had the past days in the restaurant, therefore under the hot sun and street walk, it should cost lesser. As we walk away, he say we can have it for 20,000 dong (or less than RM4) and proceed to cut it for us. I guess he also wanted to rest awhile therefore letting us have it at a reduced price.
When the gates for War Museum is open, we was among the first to pay the entrance fee. The gate is wide open, and the ticket counter is to the left of the gate, nobody even check the ticket and i believe there are people that would just visit without purchasing a ticket. One of the display we took selfie is with a helicopter as there still wasn't a crowd during the first 10 minutes or so. The interesting area of the War museum is on the second and third floor. It's heartbreaking to see what the Americans have done, and it's really a good place to share and document it as part of history without getting the facts twist and turn where it's happening in some countries. The history and textbook that is used in schools are just stories that is to their advantage, but the wrongdoings are covered up and turn into fiction. The next area we walk pass is the rebuild torture chamber, it's basically like prison cells.
As we are exhausted and tired from walking the many streets, we decided to just take a taxi back to our hotel. We opted for the Green Toyota Innova taxi where it runs by the meter. Isn't it sad that in countries like Thailand and Vietnam, they use Toyota Altis and Toyota Innova as normal (budget) taxi, whereas in bolehland, those are considered luxury car, even for taxi it's considered luxury taxi and price at a premium (dark blue).
While walking back to the hotel, we saw that a restaurant still had many customer and decided to eat there, the food was just normal and we finish it very quickly as we was very hungry. Along the streets in restaurant, there would be people who come around selling items or provided service. One of it that we saw is a boy that helps to mend or polish shoes. According to an expatriate who was at the next table, he said that they will ask you if you want them to mend or polish your shoe, and when they try to get near your shoe, you must be quick as they might ripe it off to make it broken then they will really fix it (of course, you will have to pay).
We rested awhile before going to Ben Thanh market as it's our last night in the city. The market was having their evening crowd and i notice that when there are westerners, they will rarely attend to the Asian, perhaps due to the fairer people having better purchasing power. There was some items that we wanted to buy, but most of the stores open at very high price, some are willing to give discount and negotiate the price downwards, while there was stores that call us crazy, some say we ask and don't buy. We was interesting in printed art pieces (single piece or set of 4). The general opening price is between 400k to 750k dong depending on the design and size. There was a set of 4 that offered us 700k dong and manage to get the price down to 320k dong, but in the end we didn't buy. We asked a few stores, which we was called crazy because they open the price at 850k and we only offer them 300k as our opening offer. You will see many different characters at the market, don't take to heart what they say, if you don't like their attitude, just walk away. There was also a clothing store which is situated near the exit, i ask for the price and cut it into half the price, and i got said i was crazy, but i felt it was just right (using the fixed price store as benchmark and after surveying other stores) as he ask me for my price anyway. There is an area where the price is fixed, therefore we use those as benchmark against the other stores. Some of the items there are reasonable as their price is lower or similar to those outside the market or at other areas in the city. I felt that shopping there isn't as comforting and happy as when you shop in Bangkok's Chatuchak market. The people at Chatuchak is much more friendly and is willing to negotiate the price, also i feel that inflation or cost of living is much higher. Fed up with the service in Ben Thanh market, we headed to the stores around that area. We manage to buy one pair of shoes each within a reasonable price, although not as low as the price i had in mind.
We went back to the massage shop in the allay that we saw yesterday. Today it wasn't as packed perhaps it was still early and people was having their dinner or just got back from trips. I opted for Foot Massage (50k dong), which my gf did Manicure (50k dong) and Pedicure (50k dong) including nail polish for fingers and toes (40k). Seeing that the haircut was also cheap (50k dong) and i also needed one soon, so might as well just cut my hair too with the balance of dong that we have changed. We went back to the hotel to wash up before dinner.
The final night dinner was at a better restaurant where we was given a table facing the street. We had all prawn seafood dinner, which consist of Coconut soup steam with prawn in the coconut shell (the soup is made from coconut juice), second dish was starch base with prawn, and third dish was mini pancakes with prawn on top. The dinner was overall satisfactory at the price we paid.
We shopped in a few art shop and the opening price was around US$30 to US$50 for the paintings that we ask about. I later found out when back in Malaysia that the retail value in Kuala Lumpur is anything RM250-300 and above, which the retailer said they have source from Vietnam, Thailand or Indonesia. We was attracted to a bag outlet which was located just outside the hotel, where they was having sale for some of their bag. We decided to just KIV first pending the final calculation of how much dong we are left with. We didn't want to bring much back as the exchange rate for dong is pretty weak and the spread is wide.
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