A Pretty Star in Can Tho

I thought I'd pamper myself for a night after having lost a night's sleep at the three-star hotel. The walls are thin over there and the guests next door just didn't care what time they were arriving -and how noisy they were.

I checked out this four-star that I saw on the Internet. I was impressed of course. At last I was reminded how a bath robe looked like, but there was attention to more details here:

It's a resort. After ending work at 3 pm, I sped back to the hotel for a rest in my room. Colonial styled fan, wooden flooring, plants in the living area and in the corner of the toilet.

Relaxing. When I looked out of my room, the view of the Mekong was stunning.

In the night I had a decent French (?)-Vietnamese kind of fusion dinner. The waitors were anxious to chat and make my dinner enjoyable.

Great service. I also like the art pieces around the restaurant.

There's a free cruise that I thought I'd love to reserve but ran out of time. So I just took my walk around the hotel along the concrete bank.

I swam at 5:30 am - which was already very bright - and then had a hearty breakfast before checking out.

A great place to be - though the water in the swimming pool made my teeth feel very strange...But I'll be back.

A Small Star in Can Tho

A Picture of the Street on the River Bank

This is a hotel with no international stars on it, and I have no idea if it's got a domestic star or not. Anyway I accidentally checked into it without reservation and pre-trip research.

After alighting from the domestic inter-city public bus, I hopped onto a cab (a black Mai Linh limousine type) and was driven to Ninh Kieu III which I saw on the internet before departing Ho Chi Minh City. Reviewed as modern and clean it was, the lobby did not look welcoming. It is cold and has a "metallic" feel because of a large elevator (lift) that is visible near the check-in.

I asked the receptionist for a room, and she came back with a question of whether I had advanced booking. I said "No" and she said, "No more rooms". So off I went to Ninh Kieu II and then to Ninh Kieu I. I didn't like the look of Ninh Kieu I and went to the hotel beside it. Garden Hotel? Can't recall, but it was fully booked as well. I was left with no choice and checked into Ninh Kieu I which had a room for me.

There was a heater, phone, and a tiled toilet with lights which were working in the room. All these for 280,000 dong and breakfast. I didn't think I would sleep with the very hard bed. But later on I realized that there was something that made me lose my sleep- an annoying mozzie which refused to leave the room. So I kept the dim lights over my head on for fear it would come too near.

When I saw the first ray of sunlight, I packed everything and went out for breakfast at the motel's restaurant across. It was packed with guests from the sister hotels of Ninh Kieu which belongs to the commercial arm of the military, I suppose.

I went around the long table which was overloaded with food: sweet potatoes (yum!), banana, papaya, apple (didn't look too good), baguette, etc. They were not displayed very appealingly but I was happy that it had warm soy milk. That is great in Vietnam. I hesitated to try the snails with noodle (bun oc)because I could imagine what went into the lakes but I wasn't disappointed. Could it be the veg condiments in it that made it so good?


At the end of my breakfast I was quite pleased that I checked into this small place for a night. The laundry staff were pleasant as well. Although I'd expected it to be noisy, it wasn't. The three-star hotel nearby which I later checked into was noisy, indeed, with domestic travellers arriving late in the night.

I found the grilled fish and the restaurant beside that three-star hotel rather unforgettable, though. I remember this restaurant well because it wasn't my first time there. I went there three years ago, and was surprised to find "farm rats" on its menu alongside snake and other animals. Now it's got a "new" variety of fish which I didn't notice before. It's the basa fish.

Gee...what is the basa? I was curious how it would look like but surely grilled fish must be good, I thought. I waited for 30 minutes accompanied by the local Viet kung fu drama serial on TV. Gosh! What a long wait...I was going to give up when the lady manager smiled and said, "It'd be out soon". Really? OK...Waited another five minutes before the fish appeared. Big it was!

It was fleshy rather than crispy and didn't taste bland or bitter like fishes in rivers. It is from the sea I was told. I think I would like to try it again the next time I go to Can Tho. Being on the Mekong delta, the city offers a great variety of fruit, veg, and seafood.

I'd recommend papaya at Saigon-Can Tho Hotel's restaurant. I was craving for some local deep fried tofu (not silken type)in fact, and walked into this hotel by chance. Instead of finding my favourite tofu, I ordered three glasses of papaya juice at one shot. The girl Trang did the papaya shakes superbly... I may try to stay in that hotel in my next chance for those papaya, nice service staff, and the hotel's good location.

A Genuine Five-Star Hotel, Ho Chi Minh City

Not a bad interior, I thought, when I first lugged my luggage into this room. I will take a nice rest here before my departure. Soothing colors, tasteful pictures -yes! I can sleep well.
The phone and everything are working well- good! Now I will go to the restaurants to explore a bit.

Rather pricey food they have here. Buffets at its cheaper restaurant on the ground flloor - but they come with reasonably good wines. So I'll take that.
In the night, after my last appointment, I stepped into the lobby and it began to pour in torrents. Phew! I like the view of such monsoons, when I am cozy indoors.

I'm happy with the amount of Viet food that I've had and so ordered a Club Sandwich for a change. I wonder if it'd be like the one I had in the "five-star" pub up in the north. What a surprise! Pleasing taste, colors, texture and fragrance. Great bordeaux too.

The lunch buffet that I had in the day had fresh seafood and salads as well.

After the night I plan to swim in the morning. The pool is of a decent size compared to the other hotel that's located in District 5. I'll come back to this for the peace, soothing colors, good food, and the smaller tourist crowd -service aside. I must add, though, the price-tag is a little higher.

Hoi An's Three-Star

15 November 2010: This thi xa (rural town) has become a city. One of the most obvious transformations is that the price tag of everything is higher than that of a few years ago. While the cab fare from Danang Airport to Hoi An was about 180,000 dong four years ago, it's now 270,000 dong at least. The trip back from Hoi An to Danang is cheaper - about 240,000 dong on a squeaky clean car - which I booked at the hotel where I stayed.

As usual, I am not here as a tourist; I have been here at least seven times. The atmosphere is still pleasant to me but food, overall, doesn't excite me. There are several 'specialties' such as banh bao banh vac ('white rose') - like ha kao except for its tougher skin and its filling -which is pork. The dish is however given a leash of life thanks to the crispy browned shallot (hanh kho) and fish sauce (nuoc cham). It's not served with fresh herbs as one would expect in Vietnam, but these dumplings are aromatic on their own.

Another specialty is Cao Lau- thick flat noodle with shredded carrot, sometimes even cabbage,and bean sprouts topped with 'crouton-like' flat square pieces of deep-fried flour - all a quarter-immersed in soya-based gravy.

While food may be limited in choice, accomodation is not. For such a small place, Hoi An surprisingly offers quite a range of hotels to suit various budgets. For a few nights I went to the same hotel where I used to go. It's clean; it's like a mini-five star without the amenities. But there was a pesky mozzie which hovered around me at night this time because I dislike using mozzie-nets. Well, I didn't sleep well. So my hotel in Danang compensated me for my loss of sleep and my half-filled stomach...

I'll be back again, though.

Back to Saigon Again 再び ホチミン市へ

(31 May 2009): Time flies - two months have passed since my last trip to Ho Chi Minh City. This time, my trip to Saigon started in a not so glamourous way on SQ 178, departing Singapore at 12:55 pm. The standard of service on SQ has slipped in recent years. It was rather strange that the air stewardess greeted the Caucasian man behind me instead of the both of us and offered me tea right in the beginning of the meal when I was dying to quench my thirst. I haven't taken budget airlines yet but think it's time to consider that. Who needs substandard service and meals for a few hundred more dollars? I can tolerate an-hour-and-a-half of discomfort on air.

This time, for lodging, I checked-in first into a university dorm. It cost me SGD30(about 300,000 dong). Minimal, spartan, and noisy but in some sense, a good experience, because it is very 'local' in flavour.

It was still better than my school dorm in Hanoi 11 years ago in terms of cleanliness or any house that I had stayed in during my student days in Vietnam except that it didn't have a big window that overlooked a field (a bonus) like my first dorm in Hanoi had!

My biological clock woke me up at 5:00 am the next morning. In Singapore time, it was 6:00 am. I ordered a typical western style breakfast:

Later in the evening, I checked into Renaissance Riverside Hotel. For the second time, I have to say that its front desk service truly requires vast, rapid improvement. The staff were slow in communicating whatever information you needed them to convey to your family members/friends. Lounge and restaurant services ranked the best, though.

I was persuaded to pay extra US$55 for lounge access and breakfasts everyday. I think the lounge was really redundant. It wasn't necessary in fact for someone who had errands to run. There was a coffee-maker in the room; the sofa set was hard and comfortable for reading as well. This is the first morning at the hotel when I had breakfast at 7 am.

The sun rays cut through the misty night of shower. The atmosphere was warm, but the food limited in options compared to the spread in the cafe downstairs.

After the conference , I rested and visited old places. I started my day with a walk along the riverside. It was glaring hot in the early morning. Outside the hotel lobby, I could spot a statue of Trần Hưng Đạo(1228–1300; 陳興道).

Born in Nam Đinh, his original name was Trần Quốc Tuấn (陳國峻). Under him the Đại Việt armies of the Trần Dynasty managed to repell two major Mongol invasions of Kublai Khan (Yuan dynasty) in the 13th century. Trần is thus a national hero and has been deified.

One of the unforgettable places I visited was the Independence Palace. It reminded me that this country was war-torn just three decades ago.

We were too early to enter the Palace when we reached at 10:30 am and were told to wait till 1:00 pm. Instead we took a stroll to the Notre Dame Church and the Central Post Office. The heat was oppressive so we headed for some cool drinks and a good light lunch at Quan An Ngon which was very close by.

At 1 pm, we stepped into this historic venue, the former Independence Palace, constructed during the American War.

The story of Vu Ngoc Nha etched in my mind, reminding me of the dangers of 'revealing too much'. Indeed, Vu must be one of the best intelligence in human history.

It takes an agile,versatile and determined people to win the war; people who can make do and make the best with anything they have:

Despite the trauma left by the war, the Vietnamese still give the most 'face' to the Americans. At the Conference's inaugural speech, 'United States' was mentioned first, although it starts with the letter 'U'; the rest of the countries of the participants followed in an alphabetical order with the European countries named first before the Asian countries.

After the trip to Independence Palace (now, Reunification Palace), A. read his book in the room while I dashed to the Ben Thanh market. There, I realised that everything I bought was cheaper than in my last trip for the simple fact that no foreigner was with me! Now I know the right prices. I bought a pair of sandals for Ro. and another for R.

In the night, we went to the Temple Club with S. and M. As usual, I found the service there rather haughty and the food 'no big deal'. But to me, this is probably the most beautiful restaurant in the world. It must be once a 19th century Buddhist temple, judging from the tablets and steles.

One dish stood out: the Temple platter with different kinds of rolls(la lot cuon thit bo -beef rolled in pepper leaves; cha gio -fried spring rolls; nem - rice noodle rolled in lettuce; nem tom- fresh spring rolls with shrimp).

La Fourchette, a French restaurant very near the Renaissance Riverside, is on my list of restaurants to visit. The prices seem reasonable, but A. did not want to try food other than Vietnamese.

Over dinner, M. told us about the 'dog-napping' cases among expats/locals in Saigon. Earlier that day near the Reunification Palace, I saw an old lady from the countryside selling puppies which she carried in a plastic basket for 70,000 dong each to a young girl on a scooter. So cheap I thought. But if your pet dog was 'dog-napped', the ransom would be 5,000,000 dong. That was what a Japanese expat paid to get her dog back from the thief who apparently knew 'automatically' who to contact.

After the wonderful dinner, we went to Dong Khoi, to a money-changer EXIMBANK with the most reasonable rates and reliable service. This money changer will move to 135 Dong Khoi soon. Earlier upon arrival, I changed my currency at the airport which offered 17,800 dong to USD1. It wasn't fantastic; but it was convenient and I only changed US$250. A. changed US$50.

The People's Committee Building, the Opera House and so forth glowed in the night; the place looked like scenes from Disneyland.

In the morning, we took another stroll, this time turning at the corner around the Majestic Hotel side and past Nguyen Freres, the decor shop. It was closed on this early Sunday morning.

I wonder if the Mango shop I saw was real or another imitation effort? The clothes in shocking pink on the models didn't quite fall in line with the omnipresent black Mango apparel.

We left Saigon with the thought that we would return very soon. It's an interesting city with varied textures created by colonialism, war, struggle, nation-state building, commercialisation and globalisation.

Back to Vietnam ベトナム 再訪

(March 26): I'd to go to the South. It was a travel made comfortable with stays at two five-star hotels, one of which is the Windsor Plaza Hotel for its proximity to the bus-station where Mai Linh vehicles arrive and depart.

I was surprised to find Pho 24 across the Hotel, so I went there for dinner on my first night. No regrets. The young waiters and waitresses were pleasant; the pho and the nem ran were reasonably good.(Pho bo,beef noodle, and sinh to bo ,avocado juice, in picture.)

The restaurant was also clean and more spacious than the one downtown.


The next morning, we tucked in pho, cornflakes, rice porridge, egg, fruit, and toast for breakfast. The coffee, bland and characterless, was not at all invigorating. We gulped it down like water. I realised that in the cafe in Windsor Plaza, only the nuoc mam ( fish sauce ) tasted real. Even in an agriculturally fertile country like Vietnam where vegetables and food stuff are normally cheap, the ketchup and chilli sauces in the cafe look like 'dyed glue'. So I ate my sunny side-up sans ketchup. Food is terribly average here.

At night, J. wanted to taste the shark's fin of Vietnam. I obliged and took her to the Chinese restaurant at the fourth level. There, I had my first shark's fin soup in Vietnam in 11 years! It was going to be my first and last. I didn't enjoy the food. Although service was great and I was enchanted by the intricate Chinese aesthetics and Vietnamese handicraft, the kang kong rau muong with fu -yi ('fermented beans' as the Vietnamese lady articulated precisely in Cantonese), and the fried noodle we ordered were salty.

We spent SGD 44 on three dishes, the soup included. After that, we enjoyed mango juices from concentrate - compliments of the hotel - on the 25th level. To our surprise, there was a small 'Equinox Restaurant' a la Saigon beside the terrace where we were sipping our drinks. The restaurant had great ambience enhanced with wood panels and a 'cool' wine cellar. It was soothing being inside. I wondered how its food would be? The menu did not seem exciting at all.

Looking down on the buzzling streets from 25th floor in the strong breeze was rather exciting. But it was better looking afar. The city at night was rather different from developed urban cities. It was not head-spinning like Hong Kong's. A twenty-five storey building seemed like an architectural feat already:

The next morning at 6:30 am, we left for the outskirts. The lovely kitchen staff prepared us two bentoo in plastic boxes. Each one had a hard-boiled egg (unshelled), a big juicy Fuji apple, sweet Vietnamese bananas (chuoi tieu), two slices of French toasts sandwiching a slice of thick ham and melted cheese. This was a breakfast packed with warm thoughts and certainly tasted better than the whole buffet we stuffed ourselves with yesterday morning.

The journey outwards to the countryside was rather smooth. The bus sped; the passengers were quiet, unlike those from the 'far western end of the Mekong' in my last trip. The seats on the bus were far apart. The conductor - a young man- helped an old woman got up the bus even though she was accompanied by her family members. There is great respect for the old in Vietnam.

Halfway, we got down and waited for another bus. It's a smaller Mai Linh van which came after 20 -30 minutes. That Mai Linh staff was not helpful. But another traveller who was boarding a different vehicle helped us with information. He pointed to where the bus number was painted on the van. We got up the correct van, which later became packed with passengers heading westward along Kien Giang (a Mekong tributary).

Along the way, we saw a lady motorcyclist hit another motorcycle. She braked and helped the driver of the other bike who had fallen off to get up; then she uttered something and they moved on in separate ways again. J. baulked; she couldn't believe her eyes! There should be some detail exchanged on which insurance company to call or something like that, she thought. Nope - this is Vietnam, I told her.

The weather was fine - very sunny and breezy. The van stopped at a station for the commuters to lunch and relieve themselves.

Hygiene has improved over the years. J. was surprised; she thought it was much cleaner than rural Malaysia. I bolted out of the van into the toilet. Indeed I thought sanitation had improved -the toilets were OK. We brought along our clean tissue and papers and that was wise.

After 20 minutes at the terminal, the journey continued. The driver, a stout sun-browned man in his late 40s /50s, dropped us along Quoc Lo (the national expressway)after the Cao Dai Temple. I understood why he chose that spot to drop us. It was the only place where we could see some human activities - some men were chatting and enjoying some icy water outside a family shop. I negotiated for motorbike-taxis.

I asked the driver (the owner of the house where we alighted). He replied 10,000 dong for a person and said he was going to take us two rounds- both J. and I separately. I answered 'No'. Muttering something, he sped to get his neighbours. After a few houses, without success, he came running with a scrawny man. We were on our way...Toot, toot.

We arrived at the hotel. Tuan, the cleaner-turned-concierge, rushed to greet us and our luggage very quickly disappeared with him. He appeared beside the front desk in the rural hotel, smiling, and waiting for us. Indeed, he was a good 'concierge', though he explained that his job was only temporary. Dung the front desk lady had left. There was a change of management, explained Tuan. Dep ('The Beautiful'), another younger girl, took over. She's sun-burnt, pleasant, soft-spoken and sweet.

She quoted me at first in US dollars. When I broke into Vietnamese, she diverted my gaze to another price list-this time, in Vietnamese dong. She gave me a room which she said was good. I was surprised when I opened the room on the fourth floor. It was the last one I stayed in in my last trip - the same room where I was springing up and down when the dengue headaches were searing my head apart. It was bright, overlooking the main street with a big window and a tiny verandah - without any table and chairs. I looked out of the window-my heart screamed: "I'm very glad to be back!"

I unpacked everything and went out to visit my friends. Somehow I didn't find myself very productive. I wasn't in a mood to chat. Why? I wonder? The heat was sapping up my energy. In the night at 6:30 pm, J. and I took our dinner of caramelized fish in claypot,

bitter gourd stir-fried with beef, squid and a hot pot of mustard greens and fish balls. It was a fantastic dinner of the freshest ingredients:

At 7 pm, D. came to pick me up. We sped off and looked for Uncle Q. but he didn't want to chat with us. So we went back to D.'s home. There, at the second level overlooking the river, D.'s Dad was watching TV lying in a hammock tied to poles in his home. D. brought up a huge fresh coconut which he said was from Ben Tre. I sipped it as I was explaining to D. everything that he wanted to know about how to fly to Singapore.

At about 9:15 pm, his Dad was asleep on the hammock. I went back to the hotel.

The next morning, we had some awful breakfast buffet. D. appeared at 7:15 pm. He said he would be back in a while. I told him the bus would leave at 8:30 am but he had to be, as usual, late. J. refused to wait.

When we reached HCMC, the van stopped at a terminal somewhere far away from the Central. We took a taxi to Renaissance Riverside. The front desk wasn't very fast. We waited but finally went up to our room at the 11th floor. When we opened the door, wow! the view from the room was beautiful.


I scooted off to the bookstores. Prior to that, J. made sure that her request to go to Cho Ben Thanh was heard. It was a big mistake to take her along. I obliged her - again. But after shopping, we managed to reach the hotel in the evening in time to wash up for dinner.

At night, we went to Quan An Ngon. As usual, the crowd was there but we didn't wait very long. The Guest Relations girls have been great so far. This one was very pleasant.

I ordered a list: shrimp lotus salad (nom sen tom), bun thit nuong cha gio (this is simply the best!):

In addition, we had bo bia ('poh piah' as we call it here are small papaya rolls with some crushed peanuts), nem tom (shrimp summer roll), banh cuon (steamed mushroom roll with some meat)(see first picture in this entry) and cha gio (sliced ham). Finally, I had a do den (black rice dessert), which unfortunately tasted bad.

J. slurped all the way. She couldn't wait to put down her chopsticks on the table while scooping up soup with a spoon - all utensils in one hand! Both diners and the workers were all busy!

The next morning, I rose to a beautiful sunrise at the Mekong while J. was still in her sleep. The panoramic view of the river was serene...

Later, we packed and went down to the restaurant for wholesome excellent breakfast. I couldn't help recalling the more inferior quality of food at Windsor. But, Windsor's front desk and overall service was (at that time) warmer and more memorable than that of Renaissance. The Renaissance Riverside staff did not have any special characteristics that put them a class apart from those at other hotels. They were 'corporate' cold; but ack! breakfast was excellent.

And the jams and sauces could not be more authentic:

So I will come back here very soon.

On the way home,the Tan Son Nhat Airport's new international terminal,although basic in its functions, it's clean and efficient.

I am glad, I didn't meet that indespicable driver from the North who demanded tip all the way throughout my journey the last time. That was in the year 2007-already two years have passed! I only regretted that I didn't have time to feedback to TNK across the Bui Vien Motel because I have lost its business card. However, even that front desk officer at TNK, a young Mr Vu from Sadec, was belligerent. That was probably why the thought of going back would cause stress.

My Trip to Vietnam; Vietnamese Food

It's been a while since my last entry. I was in Vietnam from June 19, 2007, and came back to Singapore with dengue fever close to a month later. I caused anxiety to rise at Tan Tock Seng Hospital when I said that I'd just returned from Vietnam. Being very experienced in dealing with SARS, they confined me to an isolated, classless ward, Ward 82. There, I was put under observation for two days while they carried out thorough investigation. At the same time, I was being treated like a princess by the most of the nurses, food delivery staff and cleaners. It's hard to word the happiness of being home.

I couldn't eat the first three days at the hospital. But I had not eaten since July 8, the day I left for Sa Dec. I felt like throwing up every ten minutes after my first three days of fever. My temperature remained at least 38 degree Celcius at hospital for the first few days. In Vietnam, it was much higher, and it started with many hours of splitting headaches.

I toured the Mekong tributaries of Tien Giang and Hau Giang. On my first trip I visited My Tho, Vinh Long, Sa Dec, Can Tho, Vinh Chau and Soc Trang (in former Cissbassac). I went there on a rented car- just me and the driver, a wacky Vietnamese who understands Mandarin and is able to sing in Mandarin as well. His name read as Zhang Tiancai, meaning 'a talent' in Mandarin. Despite his attempts to control my schedule along the way such as restricting my meeting time, I was not disappointed with the trip as I gathered a wealth of information on what I wanted to find out. Most places, fortunately, left pleasant memories; I only felt constrained by time.

I returned to Ho Chi Minh City and rested for two days before booking my bus/air ticket for the next bagpacking trip along Hau Giang. The places I wanted to visit were Ha Tien and Rach Gia; and across in the ocean, Phu Quoc (all in the former Transbasaac area under the French).

I spent a day/night in Rach Gia,three days/two nights in Ha Tien and a day/night in Phu Quoc. This bagpacking trip was fun and unexpectedly productive despite the heavy monsoon. Except for the owner of Khach San Lang Du (Rach Gia) and his friend, a motorbike-taxi driver who asked for SGD5 for an-hour-and-a-half waiting, I met only nice people. The owner of Lang Du Inn was just too business-like and cold. His inn reflects his character as well. It's actually a common six-storey Vietnamese house that is long, narrow and quite dark. It's clean, but very poorly designed. Standing just by the sea, the winds howled throughout night and the windows rattled; the shower/toilet becomes wet after a shower, but it is inside the room and has no windows. The walls of the toilet are up to three quarters the height of the room walls. Overall the room is very dark and moist with countless mossies hovering around. I'd to leave the noisy fan and wall lights turned on throughout the night. The pillows were hard and high- the typical Vietnamese pillows-and I surely missed my British down feather pillows back home. In fact throughout trip, I hardly had any good night sleep. I only slept very well on my first four nights at Windsor Plaza Hotel - a hospitable five-star hotel- rare in HCM city. In some towns that I visited, I had no choice of lodges; there were two-star or one-star hotels. Even if conferred with stars, these hotels may be no-star hotels by international standards. I can only conclude that I've been spoilt by good living in Singapore.

On July 4, despite Mai Linh taxi's failure to pick me up at 4 am at KS Hai Yen in Ha Tien, I reached Rach Gia on time to go to Phu Quoc, just thanks to the driving skills of the next Mai Linh driver at 5:45 am. Thank heavens, the sea wasn't stormy like it was two days ago.

Despite Phu Quoc being a touristy destination, there was absolutely no foreigner on my speedboat, Super Dong, which left the coast of Rach Gia at 8 am. I guessed there must be better boats for foreign tourists wharfed somewhere.

Phu Quoc, in reality, is quite different from what it appears in pictures. It is still undeveloped - if one is to compare it with Bali, Langkawi, Mauritius or Koh Samui. The ambience of a resort island has yet to be achieved.

I booked a little hut in The Tropicana (US 38/night). The mozzies were waiting for me there as well. Although the hotel is owned by a French-Viet kieu, the furnishing does not reflect anything stylish. It is certainly not like what you see in Langkawi or Ubud, Bali. So don't head for Phuc Quoc yet; if you have to, don't settle for anything less than La Verandah (USD 80 ~ per night).

Despite the stormy weather and the village setting, I'd met some really nice people there. In fact, my second motorbike driver was very hardworking. He sped me to all the places that I needed to see before the heavy rain poured down. We were drenched anyway in the end, but I was thankful to him. I could have met someone who did the least but threatened that I give him all my money-this was a real possibility.

It was at the second last of the four places I visited that I got the Aedes-assault. They were very colorful, I remember. One of them even looked like a small jet-black butterfly. I was too busy chatting to be frightened by the varied looks of this aggressive swarm... On hindsight, they looked outrageous- absolutely un-mosquito like. Too colorful, too fast, too many wings...

When I left Phu Quoc after a hearty breakfast, I was so tired that I had to lie down at the airport. I was reluctant to return to Ho Chi Minh city, as I do consider it as safe as the locals would like to believe. In fact the Northerners and Central Vietnamese in the hotel in Phu Quoc totally agreed about it. I have to say that the last driver I met for my trip to the outskirts which began on July 8, the first day of my high fever, had the 'coolest' demeanor, but the greatest greed of all. From his accent, I could tell that he came from the North. He demanded a ten US dollar-tip, hinting that 'I was a foreigner' although I'd told him that he need not drive me around as I knew the places well. I was too ill by then to fight with him, and perhaps he knew it. Paying a US ten-dollar tip was perhaps still better than what Bruno, my ex-classmate, surrendered to the armed cyclo-driver in Ho Chi Minh city he met in the late 1990s. I'd say, such drivers are not unheard of in HCM city, as even my friend was conned SGD12 more by a 'cool' taxi-driver. It's just a place that is trying too hard to develop too fast. Just do not book your tours at TNK Travel, and all those smaller tour operators. There are very few big players. But even established operators do not guarantee much good service. The first wacky driver works for a huge, established tour company; overall he must still be considered a great driver, by Vietnamese standard. The worker of the last greedy driver did praise his boss for being a kind man as well. I think he must be kind to his own people, who will normally pay SGD50 less for the same trip, although he would not admit it.

Before I struggled with dengue, I was satisfying my crave for Vietnamese food. But Vietnamese cuisine is not quite as expansive as that of the Japanese or Chinese. The Northern Vietnamese specialties, Central Vietnamese rice cakes and dishes, and the Southern Vietnamese fare altogether can be savoured within less than a week. I only took a few food pictures in this trip because I was saving space for others.

One of the first few dishes I went for was this soursop juice and fresh shrimp roll which I missed very much. I'd this on June 23:


I'd this sour soup (canh chua)for dinner on June 25 at a store called Cay Me (Tamarind)in My Tho, ten minutes from Khach San Cong Doan:

My driver actually refused to take me to dinner. After some persuasion, he finally did, but he invited himself to eat with me.

Throughout my trip, I'd plenty of Hu Tieu (Southern Vietnamese noodle soup with pork). Depending on the cook, Hu Tieu can vary in taste. Just think of a rather salty soup with pork slices, sometimes pork liver in it. It is more boring than the ba cho mee (noodle with minced meat and mushroom) of Singapore, but nutritionally, it is more balanced, thanks to the greens. Here's what I'd for breakfast at Can Tho, the same restaurant that offers farm rats:

For a crash course in Vietnamese food, a buffet dinner at Bong Sen Hotel(Ho Chi Minh City) is ideal. For 150,000 Vietnamese dong (approx. SGD 15), eat till you burst; savour all the Vietnamese favourites with a glass of decent Australian red thrown in free:

Locals rave about this pancake; but you'll know how oily it is when you see them cook it. It resembles the way a Vietnamese would cook his sunny-side up (trung op-la): Heat the pan; throw the egg in and then drown it in oil till it browns at the sides.

I quite like this chain store Pho 24 which can be found all around Ho Chi Minh city. The combo set which comprises a pho (Northern Vietnamese noodle) of your choice with plenty of herbs, Northern Vietnamese spring rolls, a caramel pudding and a delicious iced jasmine tea costs 60,000 dong (approx. SGD 6), but you can't eat this every day:



Being a multicultural Singaporean, my diet demands variety all the time, and I did crave for Japanese food after a while.

On July 6, I went to Diamond Plaza and ordered a soba at what I thought was Japanese food store. The owner was definitely Korean, as evident in what I was being served as well:

There are food courts in the few shopping malls in HCM city now: Diamond Plaza, Thuong Sa Tax; and Eden Shopping Mall. While food courts in Singapore are necessities, in HCM, they are luxurious eat-outs. This Korean Japanese set costs SGD 9.90. I wasn't satisfied. A Korean set meal at the basement of Capital Cinemaplex here is much tastier and certainly cheaper at SGD 6.20.

Some truly good local restaurants will be able to offer value-for-money (the correct price) and a more lasting satisfactory dining experience, such as Quan An Ngon at 138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia.

I'd 'Chinese spring rolls', called bo bia in Vietnamese, phonetically resembling popiah in Hokkien. The filling is, of course, simmered radish and peanuts. It is however rolled slimmer and given the boost by beefsteak leaf:

Two noodle dishes, two fresh fruit juices, and two small salads cost 88,000 dong (approx. SGD 9), and the taste is a cut above any modern food courts and many restaurants in HCM city:

There is also a branch in Ha Noi - if you're visiting the north.

Lastly another example to show that I can't stick to a single cuisine. Here's how a western steak is served in Ho Chi Minh city:

I ordered a spaghetti, though, which didn't taste Italian, but it was alright.

I won't be thinking of Vietnamese food for sometime...