Tuesday 30 December 2008

Ho Chi Minh City trip - 30 Dec 08

Today is our last day in HCMC. We woke up quite early today at 8am and went to Bi Saigon Cafe for breakfast as we found that there is a variety of breakfast to choose and the food is not bad.

Puppy toy Bi Saigon Cafe

I had pork sausage with bacon while YQ had Mi Quang soup. Our breakfast cost us VND 920,000 ~ S$9.20.


Our breakfast

We head to Ben Thanh Market to do last minute shopping and also to buy coffee. We bought coffee from stall #887 which YQ's frenz recommend us. We bought 1kg of robusta coffee, 500g of Moka coffee and 500g of Vietnam coffee. We ask the owner to pack into 100g each so that we can give to our frenz. Each packet come with a coffee filter too.


Grinding coffee Grounded coffee Tailor shoes Busy traffic outside Ben Thanh Market
After that, we head to Therapy Massage Ngoc Anh for massage. This time we chose the 60min massage which cost VND 120,000 ~ S$12. We also tipped the therapist VND2,000 each. After that, we head to Quan An Ngon for lunch again.


We ordered Banh hoi chao tom cuon banh trang which is recommended in the research I had done. The waitress teach us how to eat it after she served the food. Use the rice paper to wrap the meat and the vegetable and dipped on the sauce. Don't eat the green banana cos it's doesn't taste nice and leave a not very nice feeling in the mouth. We also ordered Com Tam Bi Suon Cha which i eaten on the 2nd day. The dessert which we ordered is a bit like bo bo cha cha, I still prefer the Che which is nicer.
Quan An NgonEnjoying my last lunch at HCMC banh hoi chao tom cuon banh trang - A pounded shrimp hash in sugar cane with vermicelli rice paper and vegetables Com Tam Bi Suon Cha & Popiah Che Khoai Mon (Taro Sticky sweet soup with coconut milk)
After our filling lunch, we went back to the hotel to collect our luggage before heading to the airport. it started to rain quite heavily and I waited at the shop while YQ flagged the taxi at the street. There are some taxi drivers touting for business, quoting us US$10 but we simply ignore them.
Me and one of the hotel receptionist
It took us about 45min to reach the airport and the cab fare is VND84,000 and VND5,000 toll fees. It is advisable to take a cab and use a meter instead of agreeing a fee.


Tan Son Nhat International Airport is the largest airport in Vietnam in terms of area and passengers handled. The international terminal 2 was opened in Aug 2007, no wonder it look so new. What amuse me is that only passenger are allowed inside the departure hall. This is why there are crowds outside the departure hall.




We checked in our luggage and the total weight is 29.8kg, luckily it didnt exceed 30kg, phe.... After we passed the immigration counter and the security check, YQ didnt check in his lighter and swiss knife so he had to check in his Samsonite bag at the counter. I waited for him inside and he joined me shortly. We walked around but there is not many shops here. We headed to the departure lounge and waited for our flight. The plane departs at 5.25pm and reached Singapore at 8.20pm.


Departure hall


Inside the airport


Waiting for boarding
Bye bye HCMC

Singapore


>>Epilogue

No comments: