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.

"Autumn" cravings

20 November 2010: It's rainy and the temperature has somewhat dropped by a few degrees at night. That's Singapore's autumn.

Next week, K will leave for Japan for ten days(envy)while I continue working. He's actually heeding my advice to go to Nara (greater envy) with his gal. I miss Nara. One thing that I like to tell History majors is, "The remnants of the Tang dynasty are seen daily in the place where I used to stay..." - and then see their eyes broaden.

A. asked me what I thought his morning toast look like one day, suddenly. I answered "Kofun (ancient tomb)" and he said, "Right". Anyone who hasn't the experience of living in Nara would not have blurted that answer.

Especially in autumn, I occasionally have urges to eat some mochi. Strangely I thought of eating a sakura mochi in September this year -although the mood/season wasn't quite right. I managed to buy one which didn't taste bad (I wonder if that was because it was slightly more expensive than usual - at SGD2.80 for one?) I bought two and gave one to K. I'd thought he would puke and warned him that he'd need an acquired taste. Well psycho. prep did help. He enjoyed it, even chewing the leaf which I thought he would discard. Bravo! He passed the "Japanese cultural test" that I set before his trip.

I really had great warabi mochi when in Nara. Maybe soon I'll head to Takashimaya and grab some...

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.

Danang's Four-Star Hotel

9 November 2010: This time I am back in Vietnam for the longest period ever since leaving that country. My first stop is Central Vietnam.

Having been in Danang only twice in the past, one day each for the previous two trips -one five, and the other ten years ago, I can hardly recall its townscape. What I vaguely recall is that it's not a crowded and bustling city, hence many times less suffocating than the city in the south. The boulevard by the river is broad and easy for walks. The traffic is not maddening; its more accessible public spaces are peaceful and clean. People on the road generally are less aggressive, I think.

This is my first time staying at this hotel. When the door to my bedroom swung wide open, I liked my room immediately. When I look out the wide window, the view of the river is most comforting. Nevermind if its color is brown in the afternoon - since I am not in my room then most of the time.

The pacquet flooring and the space are impressive! Never anywhere in the south or central have I met with such spaciousness for a "standard" hotel room.

The restaurant draws few people at noon and in the evening. Its breakfast spread is average -but rye bread is good and so is My Quang - the noodle specialty of Central Vietnam. The only dish in the morning that is least appealing is the pho that they prepare when officials from the north come to stay. I brought with me my daily supply of coffee.

The Vietnamese papaya salad is my favourite choice at the restaurant. I ate it numerous times, and each time, the chef tried to decorate the dish differently, sometimes serving it in a fruit and other times, plated with two pieces of crispy and warm banh da (nem) studded with sesame. He would also carve the tomato like a rose or sometimes, simply cut and decorated around the plate.

The ASEAN teams were in town for two conferences and they put up in the hotel as well. I met some familiar faces and chatted.

I would rate this four-star higher in quality than some five-stars in the southern business capital. Laundry is reasonably priced and the airport is just ten minutes away. Since I am not in Danang for the beach, being by the river bank and enjoying the sight of the dark water surface stripped by neon from that TOSHIBA office across the river when the night drizzles, or admiring the hues of the morning sun dispersed among the clouds and mountains provides wonderful breaks from daily routine.

Moon cakes

This year's Mooncake, Lantern or Mid-Autumn Festival was a little special in that I took the pains to go to Sheraton Towers to pick up greentea snowskin mooncakes. It was worth the effort, we realised, when we put the luminous and dark green quarters in our mouths. In the middle of the cakes, there was a white choco ball with truffle. Yum! But I preferred the maccha (green tea).

Earlier in the month, we picked up the signature cempedak (jackfruit) and durian from Singapore's second oldest hotel. Somehow I couldn't find the same old fragrance and texture. The durian ones did not come out of their moulds well and so there were no peony designs on them! That made me decide to pick the cakes up from Sheraton instead.

But looking at this picture, we felt that the leisurely atmosphere of tea and snacks that we used to enjoy in the office on this day has already gone. Instead the three of us, CK and our PRC friend, were the only ones eating the green tea and the yuuzu (Japanese citrus) varieties from Peony Jade, a restaurant which CK claimed was the best for mooncakes this year -2010. He based this on a review that he read "somewhere". The yuuzu cakes were ice-cream mooncakes which were, of course, easy to eat. Our PRC friend seemed to enjoy the yuuzu more than the green tea ones. Now we're counting down to the end of 2010. Oops.

Hanoi's Five-Star Hotel

26 August 2010 (Thurs): There are differences among five-star hotels across national boundaries due to different rating standards as there are also many different standards of five-star hotels within the same country. I realised the latter when I stayed at this in Hanoi. It's located on Cat Linh Street.

It certainly differs from Sofitel Plaza and Daewoo Hotel, for instance, in terms of service standard and ambience. Some say the staff at this hotel are cold - their greetings being more subdued and the level of their confidence differs from that of the staff at Sofitel Plaza. The staff here also look more demure and some even unfriendly. But some "warm up" after a few days.

There is a casino located at a discreet corner with scrawny "guest relations officers" in mini-mini-skirts. They told me that US dollars are the only currency used. That's not true as I saw them holding DONG notes instead.

Beside the casino, there is a beer counter which was never crowded. It's spacious, and that's what I like. I saw the usual guests every evening. More local residents appeared in the evening when pastries and buns are sold at a discount. The pastries looked good, but I couldn't buy them even if they were cheaper. I've got a complimentary breakfast everyday and I like the way bacon was done here:

I'd rate the room that I stayed in "average" by five-star standards. I checked into one that smelled of tobacco. I asked for a change.

After four days I asked for a change again because running water from the room right above could be heard. Urg ! Someone checked in and the ceiling was too thin. At first, the receptionist informed me very convincingly that the hotel was changing the 'pump'. Then when I called her again after 20 minutes, two workmen came to investigate and then they finally changed my room after another lady came up to confirm that there was indeed noise.

Overall I like the quiet here. It caters more for tourists than the businessmen - although I spotted Japanese and other Asian businessmen. I also could read business magazines and the Nikkei Shimbun. I prefer the breakfast buffet here than at the Sofitel Plaza where bacon was soggy and greasy (never crispy), if not burnt.I thought food at Sofitel Plaza has slipped a great deal in standard. It used to be one of those best places to eat ten years ago.

The breakfast spread here was ordinary to me until I went to the Sofitel Plaza Hotel. I finally realized that it tasted much better and fresher here. At least the miso soup was alright and the fruit, good. The salad was also crispier, but the rolled sushi was bad - as in many breakfast buffets across the country.

But having said all the above, I had the worst club sandwich here. Look! Greasy and unappetizing. I could have gotten a banh my (Viet sandwich outside the hotel),certainly many times lower in price and many times up in terms of taste.

Put aside the memory of biting into this tough dough, I don't mind staying in this hotel again since I've gotten to know the names and faces of some of its nice staff. Its breakfast has also made up for the club sandwich many times.

Countryside シンガポールの田舎、クランジ

16 July 2010 (Friday): It's hard to believe that Singapore has a countryside- an undeveloped stretch of land with unruly trees growing and where insects and birds abound. There is - it's rather close to where I work by car. I like this kampong (Malay language for 'village') in Kranji.

If I am not picking up Japanese handmade tofu and sundries at Meidi-ya, cosmetics, electronic gadgets, and clothes after lunch, this is the place where I will head for a light healthy meal.

You can appear in a T-shirt, shorts and flip-flops; and remember your shades on a bright sunny day. This place is great for an introduction to biology or botany as well.

Banana curry
It's a clean countryside with no rowdy and viscious mosquitoes of the tropics. If there are, there is a pond to ensure that they will be gobbled up by the fish. There are even clean toilets with always-functional flushes and modern hand-towel dispensers.

That's so much about Singapore's countryside. Being in Singapore, the countryside must have some reasonably good food. I like the Acar fish (acar: Peranakan pickle vegetables consisting of pineapple, julienne carrot and cucumber, sesame seeds in a spicy vinegrette); banana curry, chicken curry and farm kang kong (water convulvulous).

Chicken curry
The taste is mild and the volume, not overwhelming. The beverage list is healthy; my favourite is lemongrass but

not the aloe vera which has sugar.

I usually go there for lunch once a month. I enjoy travelling on the well-paved road with plots of soil supporting the wild albizia, banana trees, and the ferns by the sides. Very quiet.

Acar fish