I
was planning my trips in 2014 and searching the MAS website when I found that a
return trip to Ho Chi Minh City was only RM405 (around the same amount my
sister paid for her trip way back when) so after gauging that my trip would not
fall within the school holidays, without much ado, I proceeded to buy the ticket
(I quickly bought another ticket a few days later when ZS agreed to join me
before the fare rose again). I then quickly contacted the guesthouse I stayed
at on my last trip and booked our accommodation. Then it was a matter of
waiting and, in my case, monitoring the direction of the greenback.
Thursday,
20 March 2014
I
headed to KL Sentral this morning and dropped off my bag at the KL City Air
Terminal. My flight was in the afternoon and I didn’t want to drop off my bag
at the airport as the bag drop-off queue at KLIA has been long of late. I
obtained permission to leave early, caught the 1252 Komuter train to KL Sentral
and then the 1320 KLIA Express to KLIA. I reached the airport just before 2 and
still had time to perform prayers (there were many people about to depart for
Umrah at the prayer room).
We
went in about 20 minutes before ETA and boarded the plane shortly after.
However, we only took off after 1530 as three passengers who had earlier
checked in didn’t show up and the airline had to remove their bags from the
plane.
We
landed at Tan Son Nhat Airport at 1615 and quickly made our way to immigration.
A good thing too as there were only two counters opened. Two!
After
getting our bags and a check at the money exchange booths, we rushed out to
catch the bus no. 152 to the city. The fare is now VND5K but you must pay
double if you have luggage. VND20K for two people with bags amount to less than
a dollar so it’s a great bargain. I happened to have some change from my last
trip so we weren’t too worried yet about not having changed money.
We
joined the evening rush hour and arrived at the bus terminal opposite Cho Ben
Thanh at 1710. It took another fifteen minutes’ walk to the guesthouse in Pham
Ngu Lao. After checking in, we left and went to find dinner. Dinner was had at
An Lac Chay, the vegetarian resto at a small lane off Pham Ngu Lao. After
dinner, we ventured to the night market outside Cho Ben Thanh and stumbled upon
Nguyen An Ninh street with its many halal restaurants and shops selling Muslim
attire. It was like being in KL! We didn’t linger long here, just long enough
to browse around. After that, we walked along Le Loi to the City Hall to say hi
to Uncle Ho and Opera House. We returned back to the guesthouse after 9 pm.
Friday,
21 March 2014
We
set off before 9 (it was already getting warm although the morning was somewhat
overcast) and went to the tourist sites: City Hall, Opera House, Notre Dame
Cathedral and General Post Office. After that, we walked to the Reunification
Palace before walking to Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre. The lady at the
ticket office was on the phone but pointed us to a paper stating that the
evening’s shows were all fully booked. Are the next evening’s shows full too?
She nodded yes. We thanked her and left and agreed we’d check with Ms Vy back
at the guesthouse.
We
returned to the guesthouse and rested. We also arranged with Ms Vy for tickets
to the 5 pm puppet show (it cost VND160K each). I left after prayers and went
to have lunch before meeting ZS at Sheraton Hotel. We walked down to the Saigon
River and sat there watching the afternoon river activity (not much, heh)
before leaving after being accosted by an old man trying to sell counterfeit
sunglasses.
We
separated after that and met again at Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre at
1645. After exchanging our receipt for payment, we got our tickets and went in.
We got good seats and pretty soon, the theatre filled up. The show lasted 45
minutes and was thoroughly enjoyable. After the show, we walked to Nguyen An
Ninh street and I ended up buying a dozen prayer attire, some t-shirts and baju
kurung Pahang for Akak, my niece and myself.
Saturday,
22 March 2014
This
morning, we left and walked in the less ventured parts of the city. We ended
our walk at Cho Ben Thanh and after buying some souvenirs and coffee, went to
have lunch at Thien Duyen Ben Thanh, a vegetarian resto at 159 Calmette (near the
bus terminal). The food was good and very well presented. I even had a brief
moment of doubt when the beef pho I ordered came looking exactly like beef pho
– it looked and smelled like the real thing.
After
lunch, we headed back to the guesthouse. It was a hot afternoon and after
prayers, I had a siesta. No dinner tonight; instead we stayed in and had
instant noodles. There was no match shown and a good thing too because we lost
spectacularly. Damn you, Arsenal.
Sunday,
23 March 2014
This
morning, we left at 0815 and walked to the city bus terminal. We were in luck
as the airport bus pulled up just as we reached the terminal. We reached the
airport at 9 and went to drop off our bags (a long process, not sure why the
passengers ahead of us took so long). We decided to go through immigration
immediately and it was a good thing too as the queue was long. Then we had to
join the long security queue. So yeah, it was a good thing we didn’t saunter
off to Parkson near the airport (not that I wanted to. I don’t like Parkson).
We
took off just after 11 and landed at almost 2. Went to perform prayers first
and although the prayer room was at the opposite end of our carousel, we still
had to wait for our bags to emerge. I got my bags at 1434 and half ran half
walked to the KLIA Express platform. The F1 crew were already starting to
arrive; we saw some of them in our rush to the platform. I boarded the train
with literally seconds to spare. Phew!
So
that was our trip to Saigon. And yes, I would want to return. It’s one of my few favourite Asian cities
after all.
