Today is our last day in HCM city. as mentioned in the previous entry, we'll be visiting a market today. Its An Dong market. U may be asking y that market and not Ben Thanh market. well.... yesterday whilst we were waiting for the bus, i asked the tour guide which of the markets listed in Lonely Planet was good. I even showed him the page where all the markets were listed down. I mean for such places.... its better to ask the locals. He recommended us to An Dong market. Coz for the same quality of things u can get them cheaper. So we decided to head there today. And its pretty easy to get there... but to be frank if u want to walk there from Pham Ngu Lao street is not easy... and it will definitely take u a super long time. we took a taxi there... and it was a bit of a distance. our taxi ride cost us 31 000 dong. Pretty ok... considering that there were 5 of us in the taxi. =P
when we reached there... most of the shops were not opened yet. Think the Vietnamese do not open shops that early or it could be because that day was a holiday for everyone... or it could be people were not able to wake up after partying so much last night.... hahaha... think these are juz nonsense reasons that i can think up of. But i guess they only set up their stalls at 8am-9am. so seeing that the people were still bringing things into the building to their various stalls to set up, we headed down to the 1st level. to them it was the 1st level, but to me, it was sort of like the basement of the building... coz u were required to climb down stairs. hahaha... anyway food stalls are on the 1st level. We've not had our breakfast.... we went there to take our breakfast. when the stall owners saw us, they keep signalling to us to go to their stall to eat. we chose 1 of the stalls that was at the back of the food section. and ordered chicken pho. it was really nice. and the auntie even gave us some fried 'you tiao'. chinese often eat them for breakfast soaked in soya milk, porridge or plain as itself.
after our breakfast, we walked to the dried food section. in fact it was just beside the food section. and over here... u can find all sort of dried fruits, shrimps, fish etc. and even processed dried sugared fruits. my parents bought dried jackfruit chips and dried lotus seeds. they are really nice. and its the healthier versions of potato chips! hahaha....
the dried food section of An Dong market
we also went to the 2nd, 3rd & 4th levels. T-shirts, underwear, bags, shoes, ao dai etc. u name it, they've got these in the entire building. only thing is i did not see lots of those more touristy items that fused with tradition yet modern items in the building. all these items sold in An Dong market was more usable by the vietnamese. mum wanted to get a bag... and we went around looking at bags also. and each level... there are lots of mini alleys packed jammed with stalls selling things. and it was a little stuffy in those mini alleys. seems to me that i've been transported to chatuchak market in Bangkok.
after 2 hrs of hanging around in the market, we decided to leave that place and head back to the hotel. it was about 10.15am then. I told my family that I'll be going on the walking tour myself whilst they do some last minute packing and wash up. i'll meet them at the hotel lobby at 12 noon. with a hundred thousand dong in my wallet, i set off with my camera & the trusty Lonely Planet guidebook (coz i need the map to navigate my way around), getting ready to take in sights of the city. in fact i wanted to take a look at the:
1. Reunification palace
2. Post office
3. Notre Dame Church.
1st stop that i was heading to was the Reunification Palace (Dinh Thống Nhất). It was explained in the LP guidebook that this was formly known as the Independent Palace. This was where the President of South Vietnam stayed during the time when Vietnam was separated into North & South Vietnam.
Reunification Palace
These days, this building has been converted into a museum that show case the happenings of vietnam war and also the items that were used in the past by the rulers. I did not go in as i was running out of time and also it cost 15 000 dong to enter. I just took a couple of photos and went off.
A pavilion in the gardens of Reunification Palace
Since the War remants museum (Bảo tàng chứng tích chiến tranh) was nearby, i decided to drop by and take a couple of shots. This museum is situated @ 28 Vo Van Tan, in District 3. easily reached when you walked from the Reunification palace to there. Lots of rickshaws outside the War Remnants museum. They are there trying to attact tourists to take a ride on them. This will be more interesting for Westerners, but not for Asians. hahaha... coz we've seen these in chinatown and in China. The items that were exhibited in the museum are mainly exhibits relating to American phase during the Vietnam War.
War Remnants Museum
Operated by the Vietnamese government, the museum was opened in September 1975 as the "The House for Displaying War Crimes of American Imperialism and the Puppet Government of South Vietnam." Later it was known as the Museum of American War Crimes, then as the War Crimes Museum until as recently as 1993. Its current name follows liberalization in Vietnam and the normalization of relations with the United States. I did not enter the museum, coz lack of time and it cost 10 000 dong to enter. After taking a couple of shots, i went off again.
Took this from outside the museum. 1 of the tankers on exhibit
This time round was to the the Notre Dame Church and the General Post office. This church is known as Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica. It was established by French colonists, the cathedral was constructed between 1863 and 1880. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 meters (190 feet). It was not as grand looking as the Notre Dame church in Paris. But to have such a western looking architechture sticking out in the Asian city is unique in a way.
Saigon Notre Dame church
When I was there there were lots of tourists taking pictures. A wedding was taking place in the church and i also saw another 2 couples taking wedding photos around that area. hahaha... seems like 1st Jan is an auspicious day for couples to get married. think with such a date... couples will not forget their wedding anniversay huh... =P
a wedding taking place in the Notre Dame church
Youngsters picnicing in front of the church
Just opposite the curch is another iconic structure of HCM city. Its the General Post office of HCM city. Well the full name of this structure is Saigon Central Post Office (Bưu điện Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh). The building was constructed when Vietnam was part of French Indochina in the early 20th century. It has a Gothic architectural style. It was designed and constructed by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel in harmony with the surrounding area.
Saigon Central Post Office
the clock of the post office
U can say that this building was also sticking out of the city... due to its outlook.... Today, the building is a tourist attraction. U can see shops selling touristy things and people taking photos there.
Entrance hall of the post office
Ok! by now i've managed to see all the structures that I wanted to see in Ho Chi Minh city. hahaha... these are the iconic structures u know... people will not believe u if u've got no photos to back u up if u were to tell people that u've visited HCM city. =P
City Hall building in the daytime
Close up view of Ho Chi Minh statue
so now its back to the hotel to meet my family, where we'll pick up our bags to take a taxi and head to the airport! along my way back to the hotel, i paid 1 more last visit to Ben Thanh market. I wanted to get a couple of vietnamese souvenirs for a few friends. so i bought 3 vietnamese girls bookmarks and a hand-sewen pouch. when i was nearing my hotel, i saw an auntie selling baguettes. and her baguette sandwiches were really cheap! and i mean cheap. coz each sandwich (regardless of the filling) was 8000 dong!!! my eyes almost popped out! hahaha... so much cheaper than the past baguettes that i was eating. Anyway if u really want to patronise her stall (her stall consist of a push cart and her ingredients), she is at the other end of the street that my hotel was situated at). A few westerners were also buying her baguettes. and when i ate the baguette, then i realised why she was able to sell at such a cheap price. Coz there were really lesser veggies. but still the sandwich tasted the same.
So when I reached the hotel, we pick up the baggage, and went to Mai Linh office to asked them if its possible for them to help me call a taxi. The lady at the counter, her English was not too good... but she was able to convey the message that I've got pay by the meter instead of paying a fixed price for the taxi fare to the airport. hahaha... but she was nice enough to help us call for a taxi to come pick us. it was then i realised that the airport was in fact very very near to the HCM city! yeah.... and when we reached the airport, i wet-wipped myself and changed to a clean top as i was a little sweaty after the walk. we waited for a while at the airport to board the plane. when we checked in our baggage, the staff informed us that our baggage exceeded the amount and we had to pay USD 20 for the excess baggage. We were shocked! I mean we did not buy a lot of things... how can that single baggage be exceeding... furthermore, there were 5 of us. So if each 1 of us had 10kg, then we should have an allowance of 50kg right? the staff told us that only my dad was able to check in 15kg whilst the rest of us are not allowed any check in luggage coz our ticket was not the ones for checking luggage. only for carry ons! wah... its totally unbelievable! we were not the only ones who faced this problem. almost 70% of the passengers faced this problem. I think in future i maybe boycotting Tiger Airways. Really terrible. 1st was our plane was delayed, then on the day when we were about land in Ho Chi Minh airport, the pilot suddenly took off! that was scary coz the pilot over-shot the runway when landing! imagine that! but we managed to escaper death. now is we've got to pay extra for the so-called excess baggage. Tiger Airways really got a problem manz....
one of the airlines (China airlines) that flew to HCM city
Anyway, we managed to reached Singapore safely. It Adios to HCM city & hello to Singapore.
After thoughts of this trip:
this had been an interesting trip. I mean...most of the things were good. My brothers even grew to like the trip even though they can be pretty picky. hahaha... think the most interesting and exciting thing for them was learning to dance on the streets of HCM city! hahaha... y dancing. Coz the motorcycles on the road just zoom about anywhere they like... and u basically have to check all directions when u cross the roads... trying to dodge the motorcycles and cars. =P
I must say the people there are really not that well-off....and more people here know how to speak english and other chinese dialects... but u don't find this in the north. Singaporeans are so fortunate to be living in a city, country where all of us are able to be educated, a society where its really clean and hygenic. Whilst the children living in villages, they run around, play or work in the fields. And in the city, u can see beggars, be they adults or children, u'll see them. Hygiene in vietnam is not the worse but not really good.... hahaha... so there were times that we just eat the food that had been prepared and not think.
Well, i'm not sure when i'll visit vietnam the next time. Coz i've there for 3 times.... both times to the north... this is the 1st time to the south. till then... guess the next place that i'm going will be pretty interesting... the plans are still in the way... when i'm there... will let u all know again! till then as the vietnamese say 'Xin chào'! =D
