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Friday, March 10, 2023

Day Three of My Inaugural Visit to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) in Vietnam



Detailed Postings for the Day

For our third day in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), we are going to explore Chinatown, which covers District 5 but includes parts of Districts 6 and 11 too! Without an easy public transportation system, we were thankful for the convenience of GRAB! 

While walking would allow us a relaxing pace for exploration, you can't deny the comfort of being seated in the car where numerous sights would zoom past us; like this Saigon Holy House from this uniquely Vietnamese Cao Dai religion. 

Zooming past means higher risk of blurry photos! I was ecstatic to see a shop that sold piggy banks in the image and shape of pigs! I was telling myself that if I were to walk past later, I would buy two!

Be prepared for random photos! 

For a moment, I assumed this was a shop offering traditional Chinese attire but a closer look revealed that they were likely cloaks for the statues of deities, which could come in different heights.

Breakfast at Tien Phat Hong Kong Dim Sum Restaurant. To be honest, the dim sums weren't that amazing although the pricing was cheaper than Singapore since a meal in restaurants etc would typically include an additional 10% service charge and 8% GST.

The Vietnamese word for sorry is "Xin Loi".
Sounds a bit like "wake up already" in Chinese 

Time to explore the area on foot; beneficial for the body as well since we just had a pretty meal and as the older generation would say; walking is good for digestion!

So much fruits around.

Cholon Mosque which was built in 1932 by Tamil Muslims; for reference sake, Muslims make up less than 1% of the population, and was said to number only about 90,000 persons. 

Motorbikes everywhere!

God of War (Guān Dì) temple; first religious abode for the day, which was just 200 meters away from Tien Phat Hong Kong Dim Sum Restaurant. Click here for more photographs! 

Unlike Bangkok, there were a lot of dogs on the streets and they might not be homeless. Nevertheless, there were plenty of "gold" on the streets and I will advise keeping your eyes glued on the pavement just in case you, unfortunately, step onto one. I almost did. 

Sports shop - although I am always on the lookout for sports equipment and accessories, I am not likely to haul back a yoga mat and / or weights from overseas; absolutely not worth the luggage space! 

I really enjoyed Thien Hau Temple; with a history spanning from 1760, it appeared popular with exquisite architecture on its roof! Strongly recommended if you have time for only one temple. For more pictures, check out the link here. 

The alley; this would be considered wide as the ones around Vien Dong Hotel were much narrower. I managed to explore one and would be sharing my experience in a separate post.

Preserved lime? 

Scenes of motorbikes on the roads. Despite its numbers, the motorists displayed safe driving and were skillful in avoiding knocking down jaywalkers! Quite an amazing feat if you ask me. As tourists, it can be daunting and rule of thumb is to walk without abrupt stopping or changing direction. 

Poor bird. 

Religious / festive stuff again; even though we have Chinese in Singapore, you can see the differences in the styles of the lion heads used for lion dance. We also don't have the habit to wrap the deities with cloaks at home.

Dong Nguyen Chicken Rice - don't be deceived by the emptiness of the shop as the main eatery was two doors away and it was packed with many delivery riders waiting to collect the order. We can't stomach another meal but we can make do with their signature drink given the warm weather! 

Changchow Assembly Hall - a nearby temple that we didn't visit. I did a check on Google and it honored an interesting person that those of Chinese ethnicity would know; Justice Bao!

My favorite custard apples! A bit overripe and I know for a fact that given such conditions; I would likely be able to get one for S$1.00 back in Singapore.

Food found along the way. None of which appealed to me, especially those of organs like intestines, stomachs and unconventional parts like ears and feet.

Aren't you curious to know how a typical apartment in Vietnam would look like? I wonder if tourists to Singapore would be interested to have a tour of HDBs in Singapore, where more than 70% of the citizens stay at. 

Ohhh a market! I love exploring markets when I am overseas; seeing the unique produce they have, and loving the atmosphere where locals banter with the stall-owners. Not so much the smell though, especially if there is a wet market section.

A roundabout. Fascinating that a person can use the marker as an area for rest and motorcyclists also parked their vehicles around it.

I haven't seen a feather duster for a long time! Please don't belittle this traditional cleaning tool as I remember watching a documentary where the feather dusters commanded an extremely high price; something about using limited feathers from a specific part of a special chicken and you need a lot of chickens just to make one feather duster.

Dogs again! I thought the Maltese was a toy! 

Our visit coincided with the Halloween and some stalls were rolling out attires for the festive celebration. I wonder if the kids do trick or treat in Vietnam
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A row of stalls for locks! With keyless locks, this industry would have to transform as you can't beat the convenience of not having to bring out a heavy bunch of keys whenever you go out of the house. 

Last temple; Ong Bon (Nhi Phu) Temple! 
Alex was so relieved we were done with temple visitations.

Kids playing capteh; brought back memories when I am young. In Singapore, you don't really see kids indulging in such activities anymore. In my time, there would be hopscotch, zero point, skipping, catching, hide and seek. 

Halloween, Christmas, Lunar New Year; all within months from each other! As the last picture reflects, Vietnamese are so friendly and love to photobomb my photos! The Thais were more reserved whereas Singaporeans would likely give you a death stare.

Paper products.

Statue of Confucius; I was wondering about the identity until I noticed the Chinese characters on the side. I am so glad I fell in love with Chinee comic books when I was growing up; if not, I doubt I would pass my Chinese.

One Vietnamese word I recognize nowaday.
The word "cho" which means market!

So many fire extinguishers! I recently heard from a colleague that the typical dry powder fire extinguishers actually cannot eliminate the fire from electrical vehicles; and I just found out you need one with a "copper-base extinguishing agent". 
 
 Different types of weighing scales.
I always prefer electronic scales for their accuracy.
 
It's like a wholesale market, which is typically the case for most Chinatowns I think; even in Bangkok, there was an entire stretch known as Sampeng Lane for wholesalers. 

Five-lane, single way road.

A dragon water feature in a small park; I checked on Google and it was known as the nine-dragon park. So I guess there are eight other dragons hidden from sight. 

Those kiap kiap shops (like Cow Play Cow Moo) would have to secure their stocks from such wholesalers where each toy would cost just pennies. The business was lucrative and you can see more and more of them mushrooming all over Singapore.

Religious artifacts.

Arriving at Bình Tây Market; also known as Cho Bình Tây, this was much better than the tourist famous Cho Ben Thanh in District 1; prices are cheaper, you don't get pushy salespersons, and there was a wider variety of goods, many of which were wholesale though! Click here for more photos! 

I bought dried jackfruits from this auntie who can speak Teochew; was a blast talking to her since I only know a bit of Teochew! If only my mom were with me; I bet she will buy a lot of stuff from her. p.s. I regretted not buying more dried jackfruits! 

Another toy store.

As someone who bakes quite a bit during festivals, I am always on the lookout for good quality plastic containers for my bakes. I didn't dare ask the price; if it is too cheap, I am worried I would burst my luggage. 

A boring building that was transformed with just paint, adding color that pleases the eyes. Singaporeans would know of a recent news about the red, horrifying lift lobby of a new HDB block. Disturbing aside, I thought the architect should have taken the opportunity to paint every floor with a different color; I bet it will become an Instagram hit! 

Finally resting my legs with a cup of iced Vietnamese coffee at Phuc Long Cafe! I also took the opportunity to take a time-lapsed video of the roundabout in front of us; check out the video in the post here. 

Took GRAB back to our hotels! No way am I going to walk 5.4 kilometers back to Vien Dong Hotel, not when I had a few kilograms worth of goodies with me!

Cho Thái Bình - a small market that was pretty near (300 meters) Vien Dong Hotel; aside from raw meat, vegetables and fruits stall, there were also a number of food stalls, which I tried on my last day.

Third day of my trip and I still had yet to try my favorite Thai dish of all time; Bahn Mi! Reason being I was full very so often and it didn't make sense to have more starch in my body when I couldn't jog as much when I was in HCMC.

So dangerous.... he wasn't even wearing a face shield, and working from height with no safety harness! My line of work requires me to be more attentive to potential infringement to safety and this was of concern!

I think I took pictures of this lane numerous times. 

A local tour agency; quite a number along the stretch where our hotel was located. I think it has something to do with the reputation of the nearby Bui Vien Street, also know as backpacker street

Old propaganda posters! I think not many people are aware that like China, Vietnam is a communist country too, and propaganda is a huge aspect of life in the past. 

My first egg coffee from Little Hanoi Egg Coffee! This special beverage was said to originate from the capital of Vietnam and unfortunately, it didn't appeal to my taste buds. Let me give it a try again end of this month, in my upcoming trip to Hanoi! 

A Singapore firm in HCMC; Jumbo Seafood! My last visit was quite a number of years ago and it doesn't help that crabs are getting insanely expensive nowadays. 

A wirefox terrier?

Our walk continued to our final dinner destination; what we had at Little Hanoi Egg Coffee was just a prelude to dinner. p.s. the motorcycles at night seemed to be a lot more than daytime! 

Satisfying meal at Quán Ụt Ụt American BBQ Restaurant, where we tried four different marinated styles! And the meal only cost us about S$60+.

Another familiar brand; Tiger beer! In recent month, I have grown to love Tiger beer, specifically the crystal beer which was smooth and light without the tart bitterness. 

Another walking journey. I actually enjoy walking and when I took the boosters for COVID-19; I actually strolled for an hour for two weeks as we were not supposed to do any strenuous exercises.

Quite a number of dogs in one household. I am not even sure if it is a home or a shop since they were selling coconuts in front too. Maybe a mix of both, which was a norm when I was growing up in the 80s.

Ears of corn! 

Found a Kentucky Fried Chicken! In the past, whenever I travel overseas, I would make it a point to have KFC but nowadays, there are so many other eateries serving much better fried chicken. Hence, there's really no point.

I have no idea how they managed to navigate.
p.s. sometimes, there were no traffic lights!

Sushi Tei; do you know it's a home grown restaurant from Singapore too? I know we have branches in our little red dot but I didn't know it was a Singapore brand. I only know Sakae Sushi is although nowadays, the number of branches have plummeted to only four. 

Bahn Mi again!

Cutting across Bui Vien Street again to get to our hotels; even though I didn't have the chance to eat or drink at any of the eateries, it was so nice to get into a partying mood just by strolling past those clubs / pubs pulsating with lights and sound and decked out to welcome Halloween! 


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