GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!!!!

Have any of you seen this movie? How about Miss Saigon?

I’ve been to Ho Chin Minh City (or Saigon as the locals say) about 5-6 years back with my mom. Boy! Have Saigon change since then, and for the better too. I have to admit here, it’s quite impressive how fast they have grown over the past few years. More cars for one thing (else it will be all BIKESSSSS), many traders in Ben Thanh Market speaks good Bahasa Malaysia now (last time was calculator talk), more of them speaks English too (there goes my chance to trick them, darn!) AND more HALAL RESTAURANT!!! YEAY!

What is Saigon trip without shopping right?! Bet all the ladies agree with me here! Well, since am not much of a shopaholic, I only manage to buy telekung Vietnam and table cloth BUT! I did go berserk on the lacquer ware that I end up with 3 sets for goodness knows why.

The boy manning the stall can speak perfectly good BM, so; jangan nak kelentong kay.

Since I covered Mekong River during my previous trip here, was very thankful that the 2 beauuutiful ladies are willing to visit the famous historical site - Cu Chin Tunnel this time around. What I thought I know from the movies (haven’t read the book despite that I’ve bought it during my previous trip, I know Ayah has read it though) is nothing compared to what I see during this trip.

I know the tunnel is small, BUT THIS SMALL!?! Biar bonar...

According to Alang, if I manage the tampuk pemerintahan dapur, the country will be ruin! HAHAHAHHA

Hemm... city sightseeing (of which I missed in my first trip), they have very old French architecture ie the Notre Dame look alike and the post office (love this place for pic taking), the rest would be War Museum, Reunification Palace and err.... I think Thien Hau Temple.

Minus the cars and bikes, you can feel like in Paris. Kan! Kan! Kan!

Hey! My signature pose! Heheee (you'll see alot in my FB). The old POst Office, located next to Notre Dame Church.

The Thien Hou Temple... hope I'm right on this one.

Pham, our dear local friend whom we met in Chiang Mai took us to this coffee place. For those that never tried Vietnam coffee before, please do! I couldn’t sleep for the next 24 hrs! Black and strong but the taste…..yummmmmmy. It’s bitter, thick, milky all at the same time; and the fragrance….aww… dreammmmmy. Anna dearest must try this.

Great place to hang out, apparently it’s a social thing here, but for us Malaysian will be lepak-ing at mamak roti canai lar.

Oh! Before I missed out, one restaurant in particular I would like to mention is Halal@Saigon, owned by Dr Shimi. She has been staying in Saigon for the past 18 years and told us that its love at the first sight. The food served are simply delicious, and the service…. Heaven! Some of her boys speaks Malays too (hhehe.. plus point! Am sold!)

Saigon Central Mosque facing the restaurant.

Vietnamese Spring Role...yummy & fresh!

We (not sure who are "we" here :P ) are already planning the next 2 trip to Vietnam (konon) [1] shopping only trip 2D1N (Muahahahhah) and [2] Da Lat trip, perhaps to Hue as well?! Will update you guys…

For more info.

Lonely Planet : http://www.lonelyplanet.com/vietnam/ho-chi-minh-city

Tours Vietnam : http://www.toursvietnam.net/default.asp?/=&loading=33&newsID=888

Wikipedia (HCMC) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_City

Zabihah (Halal Restaurant in Saigon) : http://www.zabihah.com/ls.php?id=306

Wikipedia (Cu Chin) : http://wikitravel.org/en/Cu_Chi

This is long overdue...

This is long overdue. I never was a good writer, BUT attempting to blog!?!? Wow! A fit I myself am impress. Ahhahahhah…… How should I start this…. Or should I say “where“…. *wink*

The old Subang airport, bet some of you forgot how it use to look like

My late Ayah travels a lot, been to many countries, seen so many places; he would write postcards almost everyday to us, and he absolutely love taking pictures. Mummy (my aunt) always say that “kalau ayah tangkap gambar, sure tak nampak bayang gambar sebab dia tak pergi cuci” hahahahah…. He actually developed them (well some of them at least) but just doesn’t show it around.

Raya pic - Ayah, me in white, Beck in green and Kak Wani at the back

I guess from the postcards, pictures and stories he told me, make me want to travel too, especially since ibu traveled a lot as well (minus the postcards & pictures ofcos). We use to always go to Singapore back then and sometimes even once a month. He normally would invite my cousins - Is & Tina, who is about my bro and my age, so that the “kids” would have friends to play with. So, I guess I traveled since young lar kan.

Ayah & Ibu at Mummy's house during on of the raya

My first faraway trip was to US during my 1st year in college, didn’t enjoy it as I thought I would as I was trying to run away from problem….ahhahahha….*secret*. The subsequent trip was an eye opening of which helped to kick-start the traveling bug in me. After a few of traveling around, I felt that I need an objective to travel, hemm……. After much thought, and “verifying” my interest of the countries I’ve visited. I decided, I will plan my oversea trips base on “Wonders Of The World” and UNESCO sites AND other no-sense places.

That's me sliding down the "Splash" in Mimaland, bet some of you guys never heard it before huh! This is the equivalant of Sunway Lagoon to the child of the 80s.