Ho Chi Minh :: First Day

Hi hi..I'm backkk :)
Finally! after a longgggggggg silence that is *sigh* janji sebelum ni tinggal janji je nampak gayanya :">
hmm..not sure why, but i'm so lazy these days :(

I'm here, means I have a storymany stories to tell, but let's start with this one first!

It’s that time of the year again =D> kebiasaannya, our family pergi bercuti awal tahun (some time in Feb/March), and the other time will be before or after raya.. well, dua-dua ni kind of suits our timing the best! after taking into consideration of work load & study break. this time around we opted for Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) a 3 days & 2 nights trip. let's just call this a shopping trip, ok.. since we spent MOST of the time in the market/shops :D hence the short trip. lagi lama, lagi banyak belanja.. ye tak?! trust me, i a shopaholic ;)

eh, muka masing-masing.. macam tak excited pulak kan? keke.. mengantuk sebenarnya ni. flight pukul 9.15am, so kami keluar rumah dlm pukul 7. me & adik pegi park kereta, while the rest settlekan luggage. budget ada la masa untuk lepak-lepak breakfast, tapi belum apa-apa dah dipanggil untuk boarding. seriously tak sempat duduk pun dalam airport tu! nasib baik dah pre-booked meal siap-siap! mengantuk macam mana pun, nampak makanan segar terus :P

semua sedap katanya, except for the spaghetti. konfem tak beli dah lepas ni!

The flight was alright, nothing significant happened..Alhamdulillah! but there were a lot of empty seats.. almost half of the flight. maybe because it was 2 weeks after CNY. I heard most shops were closed for about 10 days semperna CNY. luckly by the time we went there, semua kedai dah bukak! fuh, selamat :D

Trip kali ni main pakai redah je. itinerary plan sendiri, berbekalkan ilmu cedok dari forum.. which turned out sangat-sangat berguna. thanks to those who have shared info & tips :x

So, we've arrived in HCMC. debaran pun bermula.. our 1st concern is Taxi. dah banyak baca cases taxi menipu, so we tried to be as careful as possible. mostly the drivers can't speak English, so communication is very limited. Among all taxi operators in HCMC, ONLY Vinasun and Mai Linh are trustworthy enough. we walked until almost to the end of the airport baru jumpa Vinasun taxi ni. mind you, there was a long queue of taxis from different operators, and each have a warden who tried to lure us to their taxis!

that's me asking for the fare, at the time we can't seem to find any Vinasun or Mai Linh taxi 8-| the guy asked for USD15 which is almost twice the supposed fare!! dipendekkan cerita, we managed to get a (metered) Vinasun taxi for VND170K (approx. RM27) wayy cheaper dari taxi tadi!

this is how a Vinasun taxi look like (sorry for the pic quality) Don't worry, ada je MPV (mostly Toyota Innova) kalau lebih dari 4 orang macam kami. rasanya macam lebih banyak taxi Innova lagi dari sedan car :) dan yang lebih penting, kat mana-mana pun ada. It is even better if you can spot the warden (in green colour shirt with maroon tie for Vinasun), just show him the address & he'll hail one for you! sepanjang kami kat sana, memang naik Vinasun je, tak pandang dah taxi lain :P Alhamdulillah, kami terselamat dari di tipu. setakat baki kurang VND10K kira dah cukup bernasib baik!

Also, please beware of fake/counterfeit taxis, they look almost the same. dan jangan naik taxi buruk, tau! sebab tu kena perati betul-betul.. make sure jangan salah. So, to be safe just pilih Vinasun/Mai Linh sahaja. Dan doa lah banyak-banyak supaya tak kena tipu [-O<

We stayed in Asian Ruby 4 Hotel, at the Le Thanh Ton St.

I get to sleep on the double bed :P alone! yay!! and there's a bath tub :D double yay!!

selesai solat & makan, kami tuju ke acara utama: shopping ;;) where else to go than the famous Ben Thanh Market? it's not far from the hotel.. dalam 400m je jaraknya. jalan kaki 10x pun tak apa :P but I'll write about it in a separate entry since we did went there several times throughout the trip :)

next, we went to Taka Plaza. On the way, sempat singgah di Rohani Collection. hajatnya nak cari telekung & tudung chiffon 3 layer 

signage tulis bahasa Melayu terus! Gayanya memang nak cater to Malaysians :D nampak sangat orang kita kaki shopping, kan! the guy in red t-shirt is the owner.. and he can speak Ganu fluently ;)

sesat kami nak cari Taka Plaza ni, sebab agak tersorok & bukannya di bangunan sendiri (rupanya dalam deretan kedai) kebetulan pulak terlindung dek construction di sebelahnya.

macam-macam ada jual dalam ni - mostly baju, kasut & beg. there are 2 floors, tapi tak lah besar mana.. at a glance, stuff they sell here not much different from Ben Thanh Market, cuma sini lebih selesa sebab ada aircond ;)

Rokiah Collection

actually, ada satu lagi tempat nak pegi jenguk - Saigon Square. tapi memandangkan barang yang banyak & nak angkut tak larat, dengan rela hatinya dipotong terus dari itenerary. akhirnya, kami balik je ke hotel :)) sikit pun tak kisah sebab hati berkobar-kobar nak pegi night market malamnya tu :P tapi tu cerita nanti-nanti lah, ada masa saya sambung ye!