Good Bye, Saigon! 17 Nov 2017

We had a really good rest and sleep last night as today we are leaving Saigon. We woke up around 8.00am, and opted to have our breakfast out from the hotel. We walked into alley again, as Alvin and I were thinking of wanting to have a delicious Bún Thịt Nướng before we fly back to Malaysia.

The food stall which we tried the other day was not open, and we ended up with another food stall and seems selling quite the same thing. We ordered Bún Chả Giò.The difference between Bún Thịt Nướng, and Bún Chả Giò, is that the latter version includes a deep fried spring roll on top but the earlier includes grilled pork.

Chả Giò is minced pork, herbs, and spices rolled up in rice paper then deep fried. Recently, cooks have been trading in their rice paper for a wheat based wrapper similar to egg rolls. They are easier to fry and stay crispy longer. The traditional Vietnamese way uses rice paper, which gets soggy after a while, but has a consistency that is much different than the egg roll type wrappers.

In this dish, the Chả Giò is cut up and placed over vermicelli rice noodles, herbs, pickled daikon and carrot, and some greens. It is similar to Bún Thịt Nướng. Not only does the Chả Giò add an extra flavour to the already delicious dish, but it also gives some crunchy texture to the soft noodles and other ingredients.

They both come with nuoc cham, a sweetened fish sauce that can be used as a dip or spooned into the bowl. This sauce shouldn't be forgotten. Its sweet and sourness balances out the flavours. Our bowl includes also with Chả Lụa and pieces of Banh Mi in it.

Chả Lụa is the most popular kind of chả. Lụa means silk in Vietnamese. It is made with very lean cuts of pork, potato or tapioca starch, and usually contains some garlic and fish sauce. The meat is tightly sealed in a banana leaf and steamed.

All of us had a really hearty breakfast and yummy too!

We checked out the hotel around 11.30am and headed to the Tan Son Nhat International Airport. We arrived around 12.45pm. We just hanging around in the airport and waited for our flight to depart.

It was quite an interesting and yummy experiences we had in Saigon! Good Bye, Saigon! And, hope to come back to visit again soon!

Saigon Street Food by Night VII 16 Nov 2017

After our visit from the Reunification Palace and the Fine Arts Museum, we walked back to our hotel as the Fine Arts Museum located very near to the Benh Tham Market and it is walking distance from where we stayed.

We passed by the streets and noticed that, there were a lot of Vespa motorcycles parking along the pedestrian walkways. Then only I got to know, those motorcycles can be hired for a full day or half day.

The motorcyclists can bring you to tour around the Saigon city to visit places of attractions or food trip. It would not be economical for us as we are family of 4 and need 4 motorcycles instead. Anyhow, it must be a great experience and explore the city in the bikes!

Both Issac and Annabelle took rest back in the hotel, whereby both Alvin and I walked into the alleys again to look for more.

To experience the best of Saigon, there is no better place to do this than in the tangled network of narrow alleyways that fill in the gaps between the city’s major roads.

Saigon’s thousands of alleyways – sometimes no more than a few feet wide – are where the majority of Vietnamese live, and it is here that you will find the ‘real’ Saigon.

What is more, the alleyways offer far more charm and interest than the central area of District 1, where most travellers spend their time.

Getting lost on foot in the web of alleyways brings you into contact with friendly local people, great street food, intriguing architecture, and, best of all, local life. And this particular ‘attraction’ is free!

One of the best places to eat delicious food in Vietnam is down alleys or deep into markets. We were again walking down a side street, and exploring all sorts of tasty foods.

We just satisfying with the Bun Thit Nuong and Com Suon for our late lunch! We bought and took away Annabelle and Issac late lunch back to hotel.

It was almost 6.00pm evening after all of us have a good nap in the afternoon. We decided to go back to the Asiana Food Town in the Sense Market Shopping Center for our dinner.

There were still some of the food that we have yet to try out. And Bot Chien is one of those. Bot Chien is the Vietnamese version of fried rice flour cakes. It is similar to the carrot cake or the Singapore or Malaysian of Chai Tow Kway.

The rice cakes are made from rice flour and tapioca starch, and Malaysian or Singapore Chinese and some other southeast Asian versions include daikon radish in the cakes, but I think they are normally just rice in Vietnam.

The cakes are sliced into bite sized pieces, then fried, normally on a hot skillet in lots of lard, along with some light seasonings, until crispy and golden brown on the edges. Once cooked, the rice cakes are topped with an egg and a handful of green onions before being served.

The result of Bot Chien are little bite sized nuggets of crispy sticky rice flour, but smooth and creamy on the inside, and slightly sticky. The egg, coated each nugget of rice cakes, and with a nice smoky flavour that I could really taste the green onions, and the fresh green papaya on top.

The Bot Chien was served on a plate, along with a side sauce which I think was a mostly soy sauce and vinegar that had a sweet tinge to it. The dark sauce was very mellow, not too strong, but just slightly sweet, salty, and sour, all three flavors almost even and balanced.

If you are looking for something tasty and comforting when you are in Vietnam, stop at the next stall you see serving Bot Chien.

Another type of Vietnamese snacks which we found is called Banh Trang Tron, which Banh Trang is the thin rice paper.

Banh Trang Tron is a snack of shredded rice paper, seasoned with a chili sauce, and filled with herbs like Vietnamese coriander and basil and supplemented with pieces of squid, salty fish, and quail eggs. There are probably about ten more ingredients I am forgetting to mention in the mix as well.

It is basically a snack or junk food, and often available at parks and public places, and nearly always served in a plastic bag. Just this time around, we found it in the Asiana Food Town. It is quite nice and I can just munch and munch the whole bag of this!

Well, finally we managed to eat all the famous street foods that in our bucket lists on the last night in Saigon and we were quite happy about it!

Saigon Fine Arts Museum 16 Nov 2017

After the Reunification Palace, we decided to go to the famous Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre. We knew that the shows is going to start in the evening. The price of the tickets are not cheap either.

It was kind of troublesome for us to go back there in the evening as we need to purposely take a cab to come here. Then, we decided not to watch the show, anyhow we took our family photo in front of the place for remembrance.

We continued our way to the Fine Arts Museum. Like many of the museums in Saigon, one of the best parts of visiting is to admire the structure its housed in.

The building that houses the museum was originally a mansion of a Chinese during colonial time and after - Mr. Hoa, the wealthiest man of Saigon at the time, who also owned other famous buildings in the city such as Majestic Hotel and Tu Du Hospital.

This yellow-white grand colonial-era mansion is a combination of French and Chinese styles which brings about a typical colonial feeling through its marble floors throughout and the spacious, airy rooms. It is no wonder that the building is considered as a masterpiece itself by most people.

As Saigon became Ho Chi Minh City and the country reunited, the building was reformed into a museum in 1987 as the result of a decision of the City’s People's Committee, though it was not officially opened until 1991.

The museum focuses on collecting, keeping, preserving and displaying fine artworks typical of Vietnamese people, especially Ho Chi Minh City and the South. It comprises three floors of exhibition space.

We started from the highest floor – 3rd Floor.

The 3rd floor holds a collection of historic arts ranging from 7th century to early 20th century, featuring Champa and earlier civilizations such as Oc Eo archaeological site in Mekong Delta.

The 2nd floor is where to store arts work – both paintings and sculptures of Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese artists.

Some leading Vietnamese artists of the last 50 years whose paintings are displayed there include: Trinh Cung, Do Quang Em, Diep Minh Chau and Nguyen Gia Tri.

The 1st floor is for domestic and international arts display.

We spent an hour browsing through the art exhibitions at this fantastic museum. There is a beautiful courtyard in the middle of the building where you can take a rest on a bench and just enjoy the peaceful quietness of the museum.

We took a selfie in front of the building itself and in front of the old elevator which is no more in function anymore. It is an antique elevator.

At first I was not extremely interested in visiting as I was kind of doubt of the fine arts that displayed over here, but I was pleasantly surprised at how nice it was. I was really amazed by the art appreciation level by the people of Saigon showed compared with us in Malaysia.

I thought the Fine Arts Museum was a hidden gem, and even if you just have 1 or 3 days in Saigon, I would recommend it as one of the top attractions in Ho Chi Minh City.

Saigon Reunification Palace (Independence Palace) 16 Nov 2017

It was the second last day in Saigon, and we still have a few places that we need to visit and tick off from our bucket lists in this trip.

The Reunification Palace is one of them. Reunification Palace was the base and former home of the president of South Vietnam. It made its name in global history in 1975.

A tank belonging to the North Vietnamese Army crashed through its main gate, ending the Vietnam War. You can see two of the original tanks used in the capture of the palace parked in the grounds.

Today, it is a must-visit for tourists in Saigon. The palace is like a time capsule frozen in 1975. Reunification Palace was the home and workplace of the French Governor of Cochin-China.

It has lush gardens, secret rooms, antique furniture, and a command bunker. It's still in use to host important occasions in Saigon, including APEC summits.

After buying the ticket we then go inside, and walk around a few of the floors to see all sorts of rooms including meeting rooms, dining rooms, and lounges that are fit for royalty.

On the third floor, there is a card playing room while the fourth houses a casino. Reunification Palace's rooftop terrace is fitted with a heliport.

Every room and space within the Independence Palace is still furnished with original chairs and tables.

The round dragon carpet, located on the second floor, a huge circular red carpet with a dragon etched into the middle, was something I thought was pretty amazing.

After navigating through a few floors and seeing the helicopter pad, you can then head to the basement where we found some slightly scary offices, control rooms, and bunkers.

It was very interesting to visit the Independence Palace in Saigon, and I think the highlight for me was strolling through the dark and creepy basement.

And also, the palace kitchen, still equipped with old school machines, was pretty cool.

Visiting the Independence Palace is one of the top things to do in Saigon and it is one of the most visited attractions in the city.