A L I R A: Trip to HCMC/Saigon

Hello! I just came back from Saigon, Vietnam for a short holiday. Actually it was too short to explore whole the city, but I should be grateful that I given the chance to go there. My mom nearly cancelled our trip due to the uncertainty of our flight, it was a very dramatic story. Fortunately, Mom decided to keep waiting since the airlines would not refund our return ticket fees. The Soekarno Hatta immigration stamped my passport for 3 times!!! 'Go out' stamp [4-ish PM] - 'cancelled' stamp [4.35PM] - 'go out' stamp [8.40 PM] - 'cancelled' stamp [10.40 PM] - and finally, the real 'go out' stamp [11.10 PM].

I should be arrived on July 2, 7.30 PM but got delayed for 8 hours! Yeah, 8 hours!
Hard truth of LCC Airlines. Well, there're only 2 flight to Saigon from Jakarta. The only direct flight is operated by Air Asia. We chose that one, for the sake of simplicity.

July 3, 2012

The airport was nearly EMPTY! There were only few staffs and us, the passengers who just arrived. The immigration officers kept yawning, perhaps they had waited so long for our flight arrival y'know. My first impression on Vietnamese men was "OMG, so handsome! So many people look like Thai movie stars!" Call me delusional, it was dawn and I hadn't sleep properly. A lot of locals adopted Korean Style by dying their hair or wearing some make up, both male and female.
Went directly to our hotel as we arrived. We stayed at Blue Diamond Hotel on District 1, just 5 minutes of walking to the famous Ben Thanh market. The room was so so but the location+cleanliness is just perfect for a shopaholic princess like my mom.

We went to Cu Chi tunnel. I'm not a good story teller, just browse about Cu Chi tunnel if you're that curious hahaha. Then we visited Saigon Square, not so interesting but they sell a lof of great Marc Jacobs goodies. A class one, not the authentic one I think. We also had dinner on a cruise named "Tao Saigon". Nice dishes!

July 4
Our first destination was Mekong Delta! Mytho!
My mood was so good that I smiled a lot hahaha. I already had enough sleep so I could enjoy the whole trip that day~

Our private boat for the day. Comfy chairs

We traveled from Saigon for about 1.5 hours. There we took a boat to visit 3 island. The Mekong River was clean! There was nothing special about the island/culture but the way they packaged it as a tourist destination. Such a really good job.

I love their coconut candy&honey tea. I just figured out that the most effective way to attract buyers is to show them the making process so they'll consider more of the value.

the island of the coconut candy

We went to the Hard Rock Store after lunch. My mom is a big fans of Hard Rock tees. We continued our shopping at the Ben Thanh market. I really bought much! But don't worry, everything is cheap in Ben Thanh market, as long as you bargain well.

July 5
Last day already. Started my day with SHOPPING! I planned to use all of my money (eqv to $100), but ended by keeping 130,000 VND cos I didn't have enough time to shop muahaha.
We had a city tour. Saigon is amazing city. Its clean and green. How can you expect more?

Oya, we also brought our things to be packed at the carton shop around the Hard Rock Cafe. Simply give your thing, pay the fee, and they'll pack it nicely! Costs only 40,000 VND for my things. While waiting for the carton to be done, I bought cupcakes from "Pacey Cupcakes", only 3 shop apart from the carton shop. I love cupcakes! Their chocolate cheese (the only yellowish cupcakes in the picture) tasted really great. Each costs 16,000 VND