I
bought a ticket to Saigon way back in January. There was an offer in May and I decided
to invite my aunt along. Her ticket turned out to cost less than what I paid
for mine @&$()!*U(
Saturday,
7 November 2015
I
met up with aunt at KLIA and we went to drop off our bags. We decided to go in
to the boarding gate immediately and waved her family farewell. The flight was
pretty full. There was a slight delay in taking off but we landed on time. I had
told aunt that we would be taking the bus to the city.
From
the bus station near Chợ
Bến
Thành, we walked to
our hotel. I usually stay in Pham Ngũ Lão
but decided to book a hotel closer to Chợ
Bến
Thành this time
as I had aunt to consider. We checked in at 1645 and rested before venturing
out to dinner. There are too many Malaysians descending upon the city now which
means you won’t have problems finding halal food. We had beef pho at one of the
halal restaurants before exploring the night market (I wouldn’t recommend
buying anything at the night market as they’re mainly expensive and hardly
offer any value for money but it was still fun to just soak in the atmosphere).
We then returned to Nguyen An Ninh where better shopping was offered. We spent
some time walking up and down the street, browsing stalls, choosing stuff and
bargaining. We returned to the hotel quite late tonight.
Sunday, 8 November 2015
I slept poorly the night before and must have lain
awake longer than I was asleep. Aunt was happily snoring away beside me
argghhhhhh...!!! Managed a brief kip after Suboh and finally got up at 0835 to
shower. We had agreed to have a late breakfast today as I wanted to check in
for the flight back after breakfast.
We left at 1115 and went to the shops along Le Loi
before turning back. We then entered Chợ Bến
Thành and I don’t
know which is worse: being out in the hot sun or inside the market and
suffocating. We headed for the stall selling cotton material (I had Googled it
earlier) and found it easily. Unfortunately, there were already about a dozen
Malaysians swarming the stall (OK, it was less but it felt like dozens the way
they wouldn’t let us near the stall at all). I took some pictures to show Akak
(yup, she was the one who wanted those cotton materials) and left.
We then walked to Calmette for lunch at the
vegetarian restaurant which I discovered on my last trip in March 2014. It rained
while we were having lunch so we waited out the rain before hurrying back to
the hotel to rest. I decided an hour-long siesta was in order after the
sleepless night.
I left the hotel and explored the area surrounding
Chợ
Bến
Thành at 1545
before entering it. I returned empty-handed however as I wanted to check
further with Akak. Rain was imminent and true enough, I was just a block away
from the hotel when it rained heavily again. I waited out the rain before hurrying
back to the hotel again.
We ventured out for dinner. I decided to buy some
spring rolls from a Muslim seller and as she only had that and a pack of
doughnuts left, she gave me the doughnuts for free. Thank you, kind lady. I had
a couple each of spring rolls and doughnuts for dinner and that was it. More shopping
was done after dinner.
Monday,
9 November 2015
I
had another poor night. Hardly slept a wink. Bloody hell. Had breakfast before
0900 and went out to the market alone. I already had what I wanted to buy in
mind. First stop was the cotton material stall. I managed to buy 4 out 5
material that Akak wanted. I threw in another one of my own choosing. Next stop
was at a stall selling drawstring pouches and the next stop was another stall
selling medium-sized satin drawstring pouches. After getting those bought and
out of the way, I went to find souvenir for myself: buffalo-horn necklaces. I found
what I wanted quickly enough but had to change money into Dong as the stall
only accepted either VND or USD. It was then when I discovered that there’s a
bank/moneychanger in the market! I’d never come across it before. After that, I
walked around the area of the market selling food and of all the stalls there,
found one selling dates (Egyptian ones). Dad wanted me to buy some should I come
across one such stall.
I
returned to the hotel laden with the purchases and finished packing.
We
ventured out for lunch at almost 2 pm and had Thai vermicelli soup at a
vegetarian restaurant.
We
stayed in the rest of the evening. I caught up on my sleep. Aunt reminisced on
the old days (she and Mummy and two other aunts were adopted by one kind highly
respected Domestic Science teacher) and I shed tears as I listened. Mummy may
be gone but her memory lives on.
Tuesday,
10 November 2015
I
showered before performing Suboh prayers. We went down for breakfast at 0745
and checked out an hour later. I had insisted that we take the bus back to the
airport so I helped to steer my aunt’s new suitcase and dragged my suitcase
behind. The duffel I placed on my suitcase fell and I tripped over my suitcase
and fell down like a sack of potatoes just before we crossed over to the bus
station. So near and yet so far, eh. At least I didn’t fall down in the middle
of the road. We had help from kind locals who helped us haul our suitcases up
and down the bus at the bus station and airport respectively.
We
reached the airport at 0940 and dropped off our heavy bags. Then we went in for
immigration and security clearance. The flight was quite full. There was a bit
of turbulence and we were due to land at 1350 when we felt the plane lift up
again and ascend instead. The pilot then announced that the bad weather at KLIA
didn’t allow us to land so we had to circle overhead for 20 minutes before
getting the go ahead from the control tower. Alhamdulillah.
I
will definitely visit Saigon again if I have the rezeki, insyaAllah. But I doubt
it will be anytime soon.
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