Sunday, June 21, 2015

Travelogue: Snippets of my 18 days working in Vietnam

20 days ago, I packed my bag and headed off for Vietnam all on my own. You probably would think nothing of what I'm going to pen down but I'm still going to share my thoughts and experience with you.

This is the first time I'm gone from home, from my comfort zone for 18 days in a foreign land. Technically not alone but mentally am. I'm not here for play but for business instead. Some would say I found my dream job, I don't disagree but I won't entirely agree because dream jobs are suppose to make you really happy.

Though I have new found colleagues here in Vietnam, and I basically see them 8 hours a day, other than the sleeping of 8 hours a day, I'm alone and awake for 8 hours on my own. Some would say, 'what's wrong with that?' - well, that's for you not for me. I am someone who can't dine alone, can't go out alone, can't shop alone and don't say watching movie or sing KTV alone. I couldn't do any of it - alone. Don't ask me why but I just don't like it, and don't feel comfortable/happy with that.

The number one fear for me on this trip? Sleeping all alone in a quiet studio apartment. It took me 2 weeks, to be able to sleep with minimal lights on. Still, when it rains heavily at night, I curl up in the blanket and try and sleep. With awesome imagination it always make things harder then it already is. Some nights I just lie awake on my bed with my arms below my pillow and think about my family, my friends and what could they be doing or have done today. Mostly I would drift off to sleep eventually after 30 minutes or so but it was especially harder on the first 3 nights here.

Thanks to Internet, I still don't feel THAT lonely because I'm constantly connected with my family and friends over the net. I see feeds on Facebook, I chat with them using various social media platforms. Yeah, it felt kinda of o-kay. But still, a little emptiness will linger in my heart somehow.

I once wanted to explore the option of flying (even though I don't think I would get in) but I never had the courage to. Thank you, for stopping me and I guess I'm glad I didn't garner the guts to do it. I would be bawling my eyes out every time I had to leave and be all alone.

Having said that, I still love my current job and loving traveling. It feels better when I can at the least do the #countdownthing to come back. And plus, I don't have to fly every month, I just have to fly whenever it's required. Maybe it's a little long but it's okay, I've survived this 18 days, done things I thought I could never have achieved myself and I'm happy to have done it. Another upcoming 12 days would not bring me down though yeah, I guess I will start my count down shit again.

I have traveled in 4s, in 2s for 10 days but none felt like what I have experience in this 18 days. I guess, being alone without your loved ones really makes a hugeass difference.

Enough with my 'emotional foreword' here's the 'real-shit' you want to read. Here's where I've covered for the short 18 days stay here. Basically I work on Mondays to Fridays so I barely get to go out unless for dinners on weekdays or weekends. I am really fortunate that one of my colleague brought me out on a Saturday - sacrificing her own time and showing me around Vietnam. And also I managed to travel for a Saturday out on my own exploring a few places I wanted to see. Not alot, but I guess good for first-timers like me.

Oh and just a disclaimer, I stayed in District 12 (I know, hunger games hahahahah), and that's like a fucking good 1 hour drive from Dong Khoi to my place. 250,000dong for an ride home. Very expensive because cabs here start from 11,000 or 12,000 when you hop on.


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Places that I visited in this trip:

*Note: If you're traveling for the first time to Vietnam, this is a good to know. Only take cabs from Vinasun and another entirely green coloured cab, but I always, and only go with Vinasun cabs because their meters are more accurate then the others. So remember this by heart! Only Vinasun!

Another thing to note, crossing roads in Vietnam requires some guts and skills. They barely have any traffic lights and all you got to do is man up and cross. Well, the trick I was told is to walk slowly, and do not stop or change your pace suddenly. Just keep walking straight slowly while looking out for big vehicles (ignore the bikes) and you'd eventually get to the other side of the road. The bikes and cars will either slow down or swirl around you to avoid you.

Du Mien Garden Cafe
Thai House Restaurant
Trung Nguyen Coffee
Phuc Long
Pho Hoa (Quite famous because I see quite abit of tourist around)
Ben Thnah Market (Daytime)
Saigon Sqaure
Ho Chi Minh Statue (near REX Hotel)
Ganh Vietnamese Restaurant (Union square)
Petshop (Union Square) 
Halal Seafood 136
Lusine Le Loi (Cafe)
Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica
Saigon Central Post Office
Myspa (Manicure & Pedicure)

Specials - Chinese Vietnamese breakfast from my office cafeteria

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Du Mien Garden Cafe

Address:
7 Phan Văn Trị Phường 10, Quận Gò Vấp, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Prices for the drinks ranges about 30,000 to about 50,0000 depending on what you order. Main dishes go from 35,000 onwards till about 65,000 (thereabout) and the desserts are 20,000. Think they are very cheap? Not really, it's because they are the size of those sample cakes you eat at buffets. I recommend 1 person to have 1 or even 2 if you're a cake person. The bill was about SGD22 for 3 pax, so of course you can say it's really affordable comparing to Singapore's Cafes.

The food is mediocre but the ambience is worth going. You'd know why when you see the photographs below.

Ice Chocolate which was decent.


If I am not wrong, this is the traditional way enjoying Vietnamese Coffee.


Looks very small portion but it was pretty filling.


Super tiny cakes, luckily we each ordered one.


This is the entrance.

Panoramic view.






So have the pictures enticed you to make a trip here the next time you're in Vietnam?

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Thai House Restaurant


Address:
21B Hậu Giang, tân bình, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

So they say if the Thai people visits a Thai restaurant in a foreign land, you can be sure it's good or the 'locals' won't go. One of my colleague is from Thai and have been staying in Vietnam for bout 10 years. He brought us over for a Friday night dinner at Thai House! And man, it was really good and I had a hearty meal!

The total bill was about SGD29 for everything you see below. Really affordable since it's for 3 pax and we ate until we almost exploded.





This is some pork stick is was really, really good.


I was never a fan of mango salad but this was so good, I couldn't stop eating it.

Missing some Thai food? You could come here for a good Thai craving fixed.

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Trung Nguyen Coffee


Address:
They are located almost everywhere you in Vietnam, it's not hard to find them. Just like Phuc Long, it's also commonly seen around Ho Chi Minh City.

I was never a hard core coffee fan until I was in Vietnam for 18 days where my colleagues live by drinking coffee. So usually after the main dinner, we'd hop by the nearest Trung Nguyen/Phuc Long or random coffee place to chill and have a coffee to end the night.

On average each coffee cost you about SGD3-4 at Trung Nguyen. They have Starbucks too, which I visited too. It's slightly cheaper than Singapore but the pastries aren't as good.






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Phuc Long


Address:
Same like Trung Nguyen, you get to see them everywhere.


Ice blended at about SGD3 a cup. 

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Pho Hoa


Address:
260 Pasteur, 8 Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

This authentic Vietnamese Pho store should be pretty famous because we saw quite a bit of tourist while lunching there. Verdict for this place? Awesome. The soup looks very plain but that's a completely wrong impression you should have. The soup was really flavourful and delicious! I wouldn't mind having that again when I go back to Vietnam!



Veggies are free-flow.



Some dessert we had, but this kind is you eat how many, they will deduct accordingly.

Some coconut dessert.



Want to try some authentic and good Pho? Here's the place! 

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Cho Ben Thanh Market


Address:
It's located at District 1, and it's a tourist spot so most taxi drivers would know where is that. Just tell the driver the name and he will bring you there.

Basically this is like a mini Jatuchak to me. They have local snacks, local fashion and some local food/fruits stall within this pavilion. It took me 30-45 minutes to walk finish the entire place and went out empty handed. But I made a second trip back on the following weekends as I wanted to get some souvenirs for my friends and relatives.

If you're looking for some local snacks to buy home for friends and family, get the lotus seeds. They are supposedly known to be what people relate Vietnam to. Per kg their stated price was 480,000dong. Which actually they could so as low as 320,000 per kg. The trick to bargaining there is always cut by 50% straight. I didn't know it was so bad (I mean the bargaining portion) until one of the retailers actually admitted that the tagged prices are fake. It's because too many people bargain when they put the 'honest' prices so in the end they all decided to put fake price tags. A bag that I took interest in was about 1,000,000dong. Of course, I refuse to pay for such quality and furthermore just a market, how can you be selling something so expensive? Guess what, he pulled me back and said, "look, I give you honest price, 600,000dong". I haven't even bargained you know. I just looked, smiled and left after hearing the price because I was only willing to pay what, 200,000dong? Well, so now you know even snacks also can cut cut cut, everything also cut! 

I got my cashew nuts at about 280,000dong per kg, but their stated price was 350,000dong. And some peanuts that I totally love in red and gold packaging, they were 150,000 per kg and I eventually got it at 120,000dong per kg. 

I heard it becomes a night market at night but I wasn't there to witness it. Then again, coming to Ben Thanh only served me one single sole purpose. To get the local snacks - that's all.



Like peanuts like me? Grab some of these! :D

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Saigon Square


Address:
77 - 89, Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

I would say this place sells better clothes then Ben Thanh Market but still don't keep your hopes too high. Shopping is still best done in Bangkok. Hahahahahaha. Partially air-conditioned, light shopping here for me. Got myself a dress at 150,000dong, which is also after a bargain. 


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Ho Chi Minh Statue


Address:
It's nearby Rex Hotel and anyway there's nothing much just a tourist spot for you to take a photo to say "been here, done that" and that's all!


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Ganh Vietnamese Restaurant

I think I had mine at Union Square. I can't recall where did I ate it but it was good. Also about SGD40 for 3 pax, which is really reasonable dinner for 3 pax. I love the spring roll and the squids. Not so much of that salad, I preferred the Thai House one.








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Pet Shop


Address:
Union Square, Basement 2

If you get these from Singapore, they are damn costly. If you get them in Vietnam, they are actually pretty affordable. I got myself a iPad pouch for just SGD8 and it was terribly cute. I couldn't resist it. So if you're going there, check this place out!


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Halal Seafood 136


Address:
136A Cach Mang Thang 8, P.10 Q.3

Because we had a muslim colleague, so he brought us to this Halal Seafood place for dinner. Really good seafood with beers at SGD1.80 per bottle hahahahhahahaha. Feast up for the night! All these for about SGD40.







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Luisine Le Loi Cafe


Address:
70 Lê Lợi, Bến Thành, Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

One and only cafe that I managed to hop due to my residential inconvenience. Great ambience, mediocre food and bad coffee. Oh well, prices here are slightly expensive but of course still way cheaper than Singapore. Their mains are like SGD9 while drinks are about the same, SGD5 for a glass of Ice Matcha. 











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Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica


I stumbled upon this right beside Saigon Central Post Office. You could probably visit these 2 places together. It looks really beautiful but I didn't go in to see.




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Saigon Central Post Office


As much as I wanted to post out postcards for my friends, I was lugging 5kg worth of goodies and was alone so it was rather inconvenient and I rushed out and forgot to bring enough cash so... Oh well.








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Myspa


Address:
15C4 Thi Sách Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

And to wrap up my day out, I went to a nail parlour that I googled online and man... I really regret. A classic that cost me SGD14 felt like an express service in Singapore. No scrub, no soak, nothing and what's the best part? They cut my nails until it bleed AND DID NOT admit it. They just pretended my finger mysteriously bled. Asshole, really. Never. NEVER COME TO THIS PLACE. 


They didn't help me dry up and then after like 15 minutes, they just 'chased' me out indirectly by offing the lights and etc. So, in the end by night time my nails weren't in the best condition. Oh well.



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And that sums up my little adventure of 18 days. Not a lot to share, just bits and pieces of it. Overall, Vietnam is a decent place but not really for shopping. If you're in for historical sites and buildings, then alright you've come to the right place but for fashion, I guess I still prefer Bangkok. Then again I'm just happy to have came here once in my life thanks to my job.

Next, I'd be adventuring to Manila, Philippines in another about 50 days to go. For now, I'd just enjoy being home to the fullest.