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Brief Stopover of Saigon

So I went back to Vietnam. Strictly shopping only. And languishing away.

Actually its more of a shopping trip.. and maybe eating trip. But mind you I didn't eat any of the local dish.. I would love to tho. Me and glorious food. Its a like a great grand ol' love affair. However its pretty hard to find halal food. So mostly its home cooked meals or restaurant that have Malaysian or Singaporean food for me.

Oohhh.. but not forgetting the various breads I had there. Damn it, they have kick ass pastries and breads. I don't know why, probably they used to be a French colonial country (as many explained but macam tak masuk akal cause not all the baker is French eh), but their bread taste so good OK. Even the healthy wholewheat bread, that usually leaves a bad taste in our mouth and soo chewy; tastes great. Sheesshhh... and the croissant. Oh.. the croissannnttt... Even when I burned the croissant in the oven at the hotel dining room ( and with scarlet face I shamefully I scrapped back the burnt croissant from the bread oven) , it still taste magnifique. Now I geddit why the French are so obsessed with bread.

Since the last time I went to Vietnam, there was a whole lot of things I wrote about. Well this time, it didn't differs much. My visit I meant and the places I went. Therefore this post, gonna be much shorter. I think.


I was staying at a different place tho. Norfolk Mansion. Its more like serviced apartmen but have the facilities of a hotel. Free breakfast , pool, and such. Their library is comfy. My niece forget all about her desire to poo when I bring her in there. Haa! Nasib baik tak kena basuh berak. Ehem..

This time my sister and I discover a new shopping place. Well.. not new.. but much much much cheaper. Bin Thanh is overrated and a tad bit overpriced.. Its called ICT Shopping Centre, and you can get the bags there much more cheaper (about half price than the one in Bin Thanh).

However this should not deter you from going to Bin Thanh. This is the place for you to find the abundance of shirts, shoes, bags, ornaments and many more. Didn't went there every day like last time... ( probably because my mom did not follow this time).

The only difference. I ate out a lot more... bought a whole lot thing a lot more.. (but still I didn't feel it was enough. LOL). And this time, I manage to squeeze in a visit to the War Remnants Museum.




This museum, serves as a reminder on how truly cruel war is for all. I still love the Tunnels I went to last year, but this museum its quite ok. Its mostly a photographic museum, with several replicas of the torture instruments, war tanks and planes, pieces of bombs and many remembrances.






Okay. Di mana kah lagi tempat aku melara... Ohhh, I also went to Minh Long.

Don't attempt to ask me the exact location. I am hopeless on things like that. All I know that it is located at the far edge of Ho Chi Minh city. Actually even further than the city since I got headachy from the long bumpy ride and there is sights of village and out of town sceneries. I was expecting some pasar-like building. But I was greeted of a sight of polished looking green building with this teapot fountain at the front. How cute! For a building that is situated in a middle of nowhere, it is surprisingly posh.





I didn't manage to explore much here...since I only went at the back shop there.... blakang wall biru tu. Why ek? Sebab..the only reason I am here pon.. is because of..




Little ceramic miniature thingies stuffs! (Whatisitcalledlaweh?)


Some might go like.. "Huh.." but there's a lot of this these things. And it really kerr-aiii! Rows... and rows.. and rowss.. of them.. I picked myself a lot of miniature food thingies. The love of my life. Then, I also picked up some miniature sheeps and lambs. ehhh... people who knew me best know why..


Ehem.. okay. I think I am out of things to say.. or places of visit to mention.



To finish off this post.. I will recap the things I bought for myself.. arr.. those I can remember ...


  1. Those miniature thingies..

  2. Baju Vietnam 1

  3. Blouse

  4. Bag.. erm.. I think 3.. or maybe 4.. or maybe more....

  5. Terompah (what? what?)

  6. Book ( I left my book at Malaysia. I got so forlorn on the thought that I don't have any book to read that I hunt for bookshops in Ho Chi Minh. The books are really cheap. And yes.. I am a book-a-holic)

  7. An embroidered purse.. I just couldn't resist~

  8. Another baju.... wait.. make it 2 Baju. Not a blouse, more like a shirt.

  9. Embroidered tudung

  10. DVDs. Angel and Medium. (All the frickin seasons too for the price of 1 season in Malaysia. )

Tak ingat lagi dah.. herm.. tadek la banyak sgt pon. Most of the things I bought (that are not mentioned above ) are for my friends or my friends ask me to buy for them.



p/s: Ah... shorter post! see!

p/s 2: hoh.. update pong..

p/s 3: those are crappy camera phone quality like pics .. and i won't apologize for it.


Comments

wow nice.. hey how much does one need to spend for a3 day trip there. i always wanna go on the underground vietnam tour. plus i also heard in those war museum they let tourist shoot real vietnam war weapons.wanna try an dfire a clip of AK 47.. nice nice. i see a Douglas Skyrider in one of ur pic. that is one of fav plane of all time.. NAPALM carriers. gotta love those!
Dils said…
Surprisingly cheap. Checked out the tour package or just the package. Air Asia dh kurangkan tambang tu rm1300-rm1500 (not sure..dgr khabar je) i think. VietAirlines rm1200, everything there is quite cheap. (For now..)

Go for the tunnels. I think its the tunnel museum that allowed visitors to manhandle the weapons. (I remembered manhandling one.. but didn't remember anyone shooting it tho..)
Anonymous said…
So GLAD manage to find some one who has stayed in Norfolk Mansion! We, 4 separate groups comprising elders, adults and SIX young kids (yup, between ages of 4-6 YO) are contemplating staying there. What are your comments on the facilities, cleanliness (both room & aptmt in general)and the surrounding for getting food/groceries. Advice appreciated.
Anonymous said…
So GLAD manage to find some one who has stayed in Norfolk Mansion! We, 4 separate groups comprising elders, adults and SIX young kids (yup, between ages of 4-6 YO) are contemplating staying there. What are your comments on the facilities, cleanliness (both room & aptmt in general)and the surrounding for getting food/groceries. Advice appreciated.
Dils said…
The facilities... the pool and the restaurant is OK. Heard that the room service food is quite good. The apartment (where I stayed is a 2 room apartment) is big. Almost like a live in condo.

The apartment where we stayed in, the rooms are very clean. They came in daily as usual and from my experience they are quite thorough. However you can always request them to clean anything else if you like.

There are a convenience shop below the norfolk mansion, so you can easily buy any food or groceries or toiletries quickly. But it is a bit pricey though ( most imported things are pricier than in Malaysia) .

It is not at the center of town, however it is quite near to the popular shopping destination of Saigon Square and there is a wet market nearby (by walking distance) in the morning.

There are cafes and restaurants nearby (at the end of the road) and you can always ask the reception to call you a taxi or direction to go anywhere.

Hope this help a little.

Nuffnang

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