Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon - 28-30 September 2012

This was my shopping marathon trip with my BFF, Bib aka Abby.  

Jomm...

On your mark... get set... go...

To some of you who are unfamiliar, we bought the AA ticket early of the year.  The tickets were RM222.00 each with 15kg from KUL and 20kg from SGN.  I had doubt that it was enough that we increased to 30kg at the airport a few weeks before the trip, so all in RM250.00 each.  For us, it was still affordable although we have heard others getting cheaper.  The flight was about two hours one-way and the time difference is earlier an hour than Malaysia.

Ka-ching

Surprisingly when we went,  RM was cheaper than USD and Viet Dong.  One shop even insisted only RM since I bargained really cheap.  My advice is just use RM.  Anyway, my currency exchange was VD10000=RM0.165 and USD3.10=RM1.

always and always bring a printed converter... This time I prepared both VND and USD.

Airport

International airport, no worries... aerobridge will be provided and we do not have to walk very far outside the terminal.  Shockingly, they were VERY strict and it reminded me of Dubai Airport.  Please be careful especially upon departure.

airport...

Transportation

From the airport to the hotel, we took the bus which cost us VD4000=RM0.66 only.  The airport cab would have costed us RM30.00-40.00,but the bus ride was very adventurous.  Hehe...  As our hotel was very near to Ben Thanh Market, the bus stopped at the nearby bus station (it looked like one).  Unfortunately it started to rain.  I asked a girl the way to the hotel, she said it's near, but lack of vocabulary she opted to show us the way by foot.  Both of us and our big bags tailed her and it was not very near for her to go back to the bus station.TQVM gal whoever you are.

In the bus, very creative... the drink for the bus driver. The big bag beside it, is Abby's :p

VINASUNTAXI... the locals said this is the most reliable cab.

Hotel

We chose Saigon Pink Hotel as it was highly recommended online.  I have always liked the idea of booking hotel rooms via phone and negotiate no deposit just in case the trip would be cancelled, so I did the same thing for this trip and no deposit or credit card needed.  It was super fast less than 30 minutes with a phone call and few emails our room was booked.  Here you go:

SAI GON PINK 2 Hotel

Add: 32 Nguyen An Ninh St , Ben Thanh ward, Dist 1, HCM City.

Tel: +84 8 3827 2339 - 3827 2340 .  Fax: +84 8 3829.4073.

Email: saigonpink2hotel@yahoo.com

ROOM TYPE	PUBLISHED RATE
	Single	Double	Extra bed
STANDARD	22 USD	25 USD	10 USD
SUPERIOR (Twin)	28 USD	32 USD
DELUXE	30 USD	35 USD
EXECUTIVE ( 2 Double Bed )	45 USD (4 people)

Long Stay Benefit :

   All rates include 5% service charge, VAT.

   Wifi and cable internet accesses in room.

   Cable TV ( BBC, CNN, HBO, NHK, etc...)

Hotel lobby

I wanted to take more photos, but it was raining before we left.  Earlier I did not take more photos because we were reminded not to expose our handphones, tablet, camera etc.

From hotel entrance, we can see one of Ben Tanh Market entrance.

From hotel entrance, the Halal restaurants is just across the road.

Our '7 Eleven'.

From the hotel entrance, look to the extreme left and right; both Halal restaurants and '7 Eleven' are very near.

From the hotel entrance also, you can get a dose of botox injection... hehehe...

Shopping

I prepared the tentative schedule, but we spent a lot of time in Ben Tanh Market.  We skipped Lucky Plaza and Saigon Square... hehehehe...

A packed tentative schedule... hehehe...

Abby with our tourist guide.  Our second tourist guide on the first day.

Hong Anh Collection... there are 2 of them and we went to the new one.  Our 1st shopping stop.  Not very far (we actually walked with our tourist guide... hehehe...) from the Ben Than Market.  Thank you my friend, Reshi for the info.  A must go boutique by Malaysian VIPs.

Focus on the red ones...

Surprisingly the taxi driver did not know where Hard Rock Cafe was, so if you want to go, please bring the address.  We managed to get there anyway after the taxi driver and our tourist guide made so many phone calls... calling half of Ho Chi Minh maybe... hehehe...

Must go a go go... ngeee...

What I understood was there are 3 shops under the same umbrella; one shop of cotton (SHOP A), one shop of chiffon plus other exclusive fabrics (SHOP B) and one more shop for vietnam silk etc (SHOP C).  I spent a lot on SHOPS A and B.  There were so many Malaysians at SHOP A on Saturday afternoon that I felt I was at a primary school canteen counter.  I heard most of them said that it was the best shop in the market for variety choices of cotton.

Our favourite shop...

SHOP A : We called him 'Abang'... look at all the folded cotton fabrics waiting to be cut.

SHOP B :Look at all the folded chiffon etc. fabrics waiting to be cut.

Cotton and chiffon I bought... hehehe...

Cotton and chiffon I bought... ngeeee...

Cotton and chiffon I bought... har har har...

Matching weekend bags for both of us.  We managed to get this bag for RM25.00 in Ben Than Market.

My mom-in-law wanted this, but I felt cheated getting this at RM25.00in Ben Than Market.

All packed... 6 bags... 60kg + 14kg hand luggage.  We wanted to buy more, but it has exceeded that we had to restrategize our purchase... wink wink...

A reminder from Ho Chi Minh... hehehe...

Only 10% I met could not speak Bahasa Malaysia and generally can speak English, so we had fun.  It was cheap, but not as cheap as before.  As much as we felt safe because there were a lot of Malaysians because the night market was like Jalan TAR, we were extra careful all the time.  To those who are going, have fun cos you'll love it.... ngeeeeeeeeeee...