287 (Day 1)

They say a picture paints a thousand words, and so I couldn't agree more.
For a 4D3N short vacation, we managed to fill up 3/4 of 2 pieces of 8GB memory cards.
I have always wanted to visit our neighbours, so took the opportunity to visit Saigon. It was a pre-planned trip, since a year ago. The thing with cheap tickets, you have to pre-plan the flights way ahead of time. Ever since we bought the flight tickets, many circumstances have changed for the both of us. I have switched to a 5-day job, so we wasted one whole day at home, instead of traveling early to our destination.

So I don't know if the idea of buying flight tickets way ahead of time is a good thing or not.

Anyway, moving on.

As you read about what I have to write about, you may notice that the pictures are not in sequence. This is because I wanted to write about the trip so badly, but I couldn't afford to upload the pictures one by one, because it will take up the entire webpage for a single entry alone, and also it's time-saving to compile several pictures and mashed into one to upload.
Anyway, pictures can be found in Facebook (if I manage to get them uploaded).

You will also notice that pictures are mainly about food because I find food photography is so much easier because the subjects cooperate! Unlike humans, or the missus...

To begin the story of our little excursion, we were set to leave for Vietnam in the late evening of Saturday. It was quite a trip for us to even get from Bandar Utama to LCCT because we had to find a way to get to the Bandar Utama bus station to get onto the Skybus, and the weather wasn't exactly on our side, with the rain and all. And also because of the odd hours of traveling, we had to choose an earlier bus schedule and arrived at LCCT 3 hours earlier and not forgetting, we had very little Malaysian Ringgit with us. We were to excited equipping ourselves with Vietnam Dongs and US Dollars that we forgot that we may have to use the Ringgit when we come back.

I was smart enough to have brought along my Starbucks card though. I knew it would be of great use in LCCT to kill time.

Cut story short, by the time we arrived at Vietnam, it was about 8pm local time. The two of us were excited, and also intimidated by the language barrier we may face in a foreign country.
Just so you know, it cost us 9USD from the airport to our hotel, by a cab.

We opted to stay in Thien Xuan Hotel, near Ben Thanh street, walking distance to the infamous Ben Thanh market.  Apparently it's 3-star so I guess, the security and comfort level was up to par.

The first thing after we left the luggage in our rooms, we went to hunt for food.
We came to a place, a few shops away from our hotel which serves their local food.
This is a touristy place, so I have already expected prices to be slightly higher since we were offered a different set of menu, complete with English names for their food. 

We picked the most common Vietnamese food we know of.
The Pho and their rolls.
That was our first Pho in Vietnam.
It tasted somewhat different from the ones we get in Malaysia. Almost authentic, but what do I know, right?

After dinner, we walked around the Ben Thanh night market, and being an impulsive shopper, I bought a pair of counterfeit Adidas shorts, only for 4USD.

The next morning, we had our complimentary breakfasts in the hotel.
Actually our hotel comes up to RM120 per night, which comes with 2 complimentary breakfasts daily.
After that, we decided to walk around the city and also look for local tours to take us around the country.
Our plan was to not have any specific plan. Just follow what's on the palate and go with it.

The picture of the building above is known as Cho Ben Thanh which after translation means Ben Thanh market. From there, we know Cho = Market. Yay! Now you've learned a new word.
In the picture above, you will also see pictures of ice on the ground and also the cluster of electric cables. Very Vietnam-ish I'd say. However, ice on the ground shows how unhygienic the people are. 

Crazy Buffalo Saigon - after much googling, we found out that it's the most expensive bar around town. 

The Sinh Tourist - this is the credible local tour agency that many backpackers have recommended online. We went there, and find ourselves signed up for a 1-day tour to Mekong Delta on the very same day. 

We saw this funny looking man, carrying the plate of sweet donuts on his head. Decided to give him a holler and buy one. He was very friendly, even asking us whether we want a picture with the plate of sweeties. We didn't even expect him to put the thing on our heads; it was freaking heavy, and this man could balance it so well on his head.
The donut-alike cost us 20,000 Dong, not something worth the price paid. However, very much compensated with the pictures taken. 

Our tour supposedly starts at 8.30am, so we had an hour to kill. We walked around and found a coffee stall by the road side. Actually there are many of such stalls at the road sides of Vietnam. Like everywhere can be a place for a stall set-up. We ordered Vietnam Iced Coffee. One with milk, one without.

I didn't like it. Not a fan of Vietnam coffee.
Period. 

Mekong Delta. We took ferries to tour around the Delta. This Delta consists of 4 islands - Phoenix, Dragon, Turtle and Unicorn. There was a tour guide who explained to us what these people do for a living. Apparently in Dragon Island, the people there, do a lot of fish-farming. 

First stop was to bring us to a rice cracker factory. Please refer to picture of hand to see what it is.

Basically their main product was Coconuts and Bananas. Almost similar to what we have back home. So whenever we went to a place, where the guide will introduce us to bees and honeys, coconuts and bananas, I was like "Meh." Lunch was provided with the tour. (Refer picture below)
Not exactly the best kind of meals, but it was something different. We also met 3 girls from China, originated from Guang Xi so they knew how to converse in Cantonese. They are the kinds who came to Vietnam to earn a living, so they also knew abit of the Vietnam language. When they saw us struggling having to grab the waiter's attention, they did the ordering for us. In Vietnamese.
Awesome. 

We were also taken on a horse ride, to a nearby town. It was a short ride, about 10 minutes. Enough to create an experience for the 2 of us. In the same cart, there were older Korean men and women with us. Again, such experiences were priceless for us. 

We were also brought to an orchard to taste tropical fruits (available in Malaysia too) and also listen to a 15-minute long performance of local instruments and orchestra. Also an opportunity to ride on a traditional sampan.

By the time we arrived back to District 1, it was dinner time. We opted to try out Pho 24 - local fast food chain in Vietnam. Spring rolls, Broken rice (below) and Assorted beef Pho.
After dinner, we went back to our hotel for shower and then to the nearest spa for a relaxing massage.
A 60-minute massage cost us 15USD almost equivalent to the price at home, nothing to shout about. Certainly massages are a thing for the Thais, not the Viets. 

After the massage, we went back to the night market to try out the seafood place, recommended by Yiling in her blog. It was really cheap for the 2 of us and I really, really liked the prawn set on fire in the coconut. After "sapu-ing" all the prawns, I tasted the coconut juice and it was really sweet. Love it. Also ordered other dishes and the bill went up to RM50+. Even tried their Saigon Beer.

Beer + Seafood = Best combination ever!

Day 2 coming up real soon.