Vietnam 2013 [Part 5; Saigon]

Day six: Chinatown, Meetup

(I have 88 photos for day 6 in my camera, compared to 195 for day 5 lol)

We alighted from the train and stepped into the cool air of Ho Chi Minh City. Just like how it felt when we first arrived at Nha Trang. I was still groggy and heavy with sleep, no thanks to the travel sickness pill I'd taken hours before.

We also got rid what was left of the mini bananas because they were all black and gross. (That's such redundant information but I actually remember it)

The sky was beginning to get that little bit brighter, and many many cabs were in sight. But for some unknown reason, we refused to take a cab, and instead chose to freaking walk from the train station to Saigon Youth Hostel at Pham Ngu Lao, our next place of accommodation, for about 3.2km with our baggage. And we did it, oh yeahhhh! *pumps fist into the air*

Pictures from the walk

They really can just sit anywhere and people-watch

Random cathedral, I have no idea what this is

Healthy lifestyle there :)

If you're wondering why they have shoes hanging there, well they're from the day we went for rafting. We all wore shoes, but I brought my slippers just in case. I ended up putting on my slippers instead of shoes because of the wet conditions. Their shoes hadn't dried by the time we left Nha Trang for Ho Chi Minh, which explains why they're hanging by their bags. Looking like true bagpackers there lol.

Took us awhile to locate our hostel, with some help from the locals. We arrived there at 7 plus, and were greeted by stone-faced staff which we attributed to the time of the day. They allowed us to put all our bags in the kitchen while we went out and roamed around.

Part of our itinerary included Chinatown, in District 5. It's good to go there in the morning to see all the locals in action! We took bus #1 from the bus station near Ben Thanh Market and it cost us 5,000d each.

Bought some coffee before this. Andddd, we were really hungry after the long morning walk, so this was therapeutic:

There were a number of other sides we could add, but chose to stick to the usual pork and egg :) Simple meal. 

hahahahhaa how cute

Credits: Ivan

Walked through and around the place for a bit before stopping by for some dessert.

We got some red bean stuff and the tapioca with coconut milk (I think?). Just two portions to share. The place is quite small, and space constraints didn't permit us to sit there for too long. So Ivan and Brice were holding the two bowls and feeding the rest of us. It looked quite funny like that, and the the stall owners (another lady who's not in the photo) were laughing at us! They were also very thoughtful, offered tissue paper when some of the coconut milk dripped down my chin :)

We continued exploring the area, which is really a market where different types of meat and vegetables were sold, and with random cooked food stalls appearing now and then for people to sit and eat. I didn't take a lot of photos, just these!

Walked over to this market, Cho Binh Tay, not far off from where we were. Ame had included this in our itinerary; it's one of the biggest markets around.

Headed upstairs upon entering. Ivan said those were fake escalators cos' they were blocked and weren't moving lol. 

Glimpse into the inside

There's something similar about these markets, in terms of how they are laid out. Side by side, cramped walkways, with LOADS of clothes displayed. I remember commenting that they'll be in trouble if all those goods caught fire. It's like clothes haven for the locals though. They have a whole section dedicated to children's clothes, another for women, yet another for lingerie (I've never seen so many bras before in my life), and another for men. We weren't in the mood for shopping at that time, so we just walked round the area once before heading downstairs, where the footwear, bags, and food were.

MORE FOOD!!!!!!! It was like, POOF. Food, food everywhere! So we settled at another dessert stall for more desserts!

Credits: Ivan

We tried some of this

and this - it's like tang yuan, made from glutinous rice flour. 

Walked out of the market to make our way back to the bus station we passed earlier. We saw a bus load of tourists alighting and their guide showing them into that market. Some other sights along the way:

I'm really grateful that it's not like this in Singapore!

Taking a short break and looking left and right

We finally reached the bus station to take bus #1 back to District 1. Here at the bus station, people just walk freely along the road, and wait right outside the buses where they are parked, until the driver comes and opens the door. Amazing uh, there aren't multiple buses of the same number to confuse commuters. Even if there is, I wonder how the locals know which one will depart next. 

Unflattering selfie while the guys dozed off!

While on the bus, Ame and I discussed which cinema to head to, since we had a lot of time to kill and we wanted to try out their cinema. There were two, one at Nguyen Du and another at Le Duan. After stopping at Ben Thanh, we walked towards Nguyen Du to try and locate the cinema. It was quite a long stretch. Having failed to locate it, despite asking for directions from this lady at this coffee shop, we decided to stop by for some coffee. We had three cups of coffee, but since there were four of us, the kind lady gave us four cups of tea :) I love how most stalls serve complimentary tea when we order their food or drinks.

Took the time to apply some sunblock too. 

We then made our way towards Le Duan, which was further from Nguyen Du. The Notre Dame Cathedral was located there too, and I wanted to go take a look, so we went there en route to the cinema!

Passed a school, where the students' family members waited to pick them up outside.

Credits: Brice

Zoomed in on the couple having their wedding photoshoot there! :P Good choice of location :)

The front of the cathedral. Credits: Brice

Us being tourists :)

The Central Post Office was just across the road, hence we went over to take a look.

Hard at work

Brice's stunning finished product. Credits to him.

 Inside the post office....

Selfie with Ho Chi Minh! Well, sorta... 

Then we spotted phone booths at the side and went to play around with them. Bet weren't the only tourists who did that!

We continued to walk towards our destination, and eventually found the shopping centre where the cinema was at. It looked just like a typical shopping centre, with a large departmental store, a food court, etc. We headed straight for the cinema, and caught the Hunger Games, even though Ivan had already watched it before. I was trying so hard to keep awake, no thanks to not knowing what the plot was about and getting completely lost, in addition to the fatigue setting in from the lack of sleep plus the long morning walks. Their Lotte Cinema wasn't exactly comfortable either, because we sat at the last row, and the row of heads in front of us were partially in our line of vision. Trying to sit straight to see the whole screen was a little tiring.

Went for lunch at the shopping centre's food court thereafter. We bought some fast food - fried chicken - which was really normal and didn't taste that good. No pictures for this!

Finally, having killed enough time, we walked back to Pham Ngu Lao to check into our hostel. First thing upon entering the room....

Feet washing time!

It was a small room with two bunk beds, but good enough for the four of us. At least there was space to walk even after placing our bags on the floor. The rooms are really clean, since all our shoes are left at the hostel's entrance, and towels are provided so we do not need to use our personal towels :) All our passports were left at the reception. 

Of course. Wi-fi monsters.

The girls bathed first, and here's us after we're fresh! It felt so good to be able to freshen up, brush our teeth and change into fresh clothes, after being in our overnight travel outfits for the whole night and morning.

Amelia is tooooooooooo skinny :( 

Blurry self-shot.

I wanted to sleep at the upper bunk at first, but was concerned that the guys, especially Ivan, would feel too warm at the lower bunk, since the air-con was right beside this bed. I was also scared of being frozen, so I slept at the lower bunk instead, and Ivan at the upper bunk.

We rested till it was time to go meet Elizabeth and Yangyang :D They were in Vietnam too for a short exchange programme! Then walked over to Saigon Square (near Ben Thanh Market) to meet them..... only to realise that we were at different Saigon Squares! Apparently, the one we were at was Saigon Square 2 (the one with a wide range of good quality clothes for shopping) and they were at Saigon Square 1. It was confusing, because the sign outside the place did not indicate which Saigon Square that was -__-

So we walked over to the row of shops beside Ben Thanh Market first, to look for a place to settle down for dinner. Decided on this noodle shop, where Yangs and Eli came to meet us and we caught up over dinner! Yay! :)

My food. 

All of us had either the seafood noodles or crab noodles. Sounds good right? Well, not really. They were much more expensive (even more expensive than Pho24) than the average food stall, and the soup didn't taste very good. I'll be sure to avoid this stall if I were to go back to Ho Chi Minh's District 1 again.

Post-dinner, we walked over to a pub near our hostel, where Yangyang and Elizabeth had been the night before, and I must say that they have good music, awesome fries and very cheap booze :) Then again, alcohol is cheap everywhere in Vietnam. Relative to Singapore's because of our high taxes on alcohol.

Final photo for the night!

Walked back to our hotel after talking and finishing up all the drinks. We were all dead tired and slept like logs till the next morning.