HCMC Short Escape 2017 (Part 1)

Back from Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City. It was a short escape with BFFs, escape from our hectic working life, well for 5 days. =D  A satisfaction trip indeed. Food, views, people and relax.
Here is the summarization for the expenses for my trip (per person) :

Flight (Pg--KL--HCMC--PG)
Including 25kg luggage for all flights
=RM464.52

Accommodation (Really awesome and nice Airbnb House for 4 nights)
=RM229

Food, Transport in city, local tour, and phone card etc.
=RM462

For HCMC 5 days 4 nights (excluding souvenirs)
Total = RM1155.52

Exchanging currency rate RM1: 5065vnd

Day 1

On the first day, we reached Tan Son Nhat international airport around 4 pm. The flight took around 1 hour and 45 minutes. Vietnam has an hour time zone different from Malaysia, which is an hour earlier. Unlike the previous trip, we didn't fill in any white card for entering Vietnam.

We proceeded to the shops and booths selling sim card after retrieved our luggage. According to other bloggers, the 3 big network service providers are Viettel, Mobifone and Vinaphone. Among those providers, Vinaphone provides the best plan which costs around 100,000vnd for 7 days. Too bad when we arrived the shop selling vinaphone sim card was closed. The sim card plans from all the other shops were similar, 200,000vnd for 3.5Gb (Just Internet). We had to get a sim card to contact the host and also to get the car.

Grabcar and Uber are really well developed here. We got into uber and headed to our 1st Airbnb accommodation. The accommodation situated in a rather locally area. Yet not too far from the main town (Dist. 1). The outlook of the apartment was just normal, but it really took us by surprise when we looked into it.

We love the open space sleeping area

I fall in love with the house once we entered. It was so comfy and homey!

Once we were done unpacking and clean up, we took Uber to the town for our dinner. The dinner of the night was Pizza 4P, famous pizza restaurant recommended in tripadvisor.  Since we never make a reservation, we waited for half an hour to get seated.

Ice cream treat while waiting for a seat!

Pizza in making

Liquor

Busying to prepare the pizza

Half mushroom Half seaweed Pizza. Sehr lecker!

Half salmon Half *signature* Pizza!

It was a really filling and satisfying dinner! Our taste buds were pampered by delicious food! (I am drooling while typing this. Miss the pizza already!)
We then get some drinks (alcohol to be exact. XD) and snacks before headed back to our cosy temporary home.

Drinks, snacks, Netflix. Perfect!

Love the beanbags too!

Spending (4 pax) :

- Sim card = 200,000vnd

-uber (airport to apartment) = 140,000vnd

-Pizza 4P = 722,000vnd

-family mart = 232,000vnd

-Ice Cream = 45,000vnd

-uber (return trip) = 80,000vnd

 Day 2

OOTD before exploring the city!

We walked around the neighbourhood and found an Aeon Mini stop for some instant noodles and light snacks. Then, we got an uber again to our breakfast destination. Pho Phuong 25.

It's beef noodle. *Pho Phuong 25*

I don't take beef back in hometown, but since I was in the foreign country, might as well try the local famous food. Surprisingly, the soup is really good and doesn't taste like beef! (well, the usual smelly taste) The meats are delicious too! Well cooked, juicy and not too hard to bite at the same time. 

Next, we took grab to The Sinh Tourist to book our tour in advanced. (Finally able to book grab! The connection was a little bit problem on the first day. ) We booked our tour to Delta Mekong on the day after tomorrow.

While walking around the town, we found cheaper sim card (also Viettel), 140,000vnd for 7Gb! Much better than the previous one. The weather was hot but still better compared to the heat in Penang. When the wind blew, cold air breeze through our skin. We stopped by in the famous local chain Cafe. Trung Nguyen Cafe. The cafe has 4 floors in total. The ground floor is just for selling coffee beans and others products. 1st to 3rd floors are open for customers to enjoy the coffee in the cafe. We ordered the signature coffee drips and Trung Nguyen coffee ice cream.

Chilling and relaxing in the cafe was really nice, but we had to move to the next attraction. Grab car again to the Remnant War Museum. A place full of completed history of Vietnam during the war, exhibits the impacts of war, and teach us to appreciate the peaceful life without war.

Bought the caps from a lady just outside the museum

It's creepy but it was the reality.

The guillotines 

Cages for women 

We spent around 3 hours in the war museum. For me, the tour was really worth it. Learned a lot about the history in just a few hours. The history was heartbroken and cruel.

A long history tour starved my dear friend as it took hours. Again we took Grabcar to our dinner place - Bep Me In. Since we never take lunch, we decided to have heavy dinner. The restaurant serving authentic Vietnamese Cuisine. As all of us were starving, we ordered 7 dishes and it did amaze the customers sitting beside us as well as the waitress.

I tasted like liquor. I am hiding among them. Which is me?

Let us take a photo before food!

Restaurant recommended by Trip Advisor

Delicious!

Vietnam style BBQ Pork

My very first try on Vietnamese bbq pork pizza. The bottom part was rice cake, with a layer of rice paper, topped with bbq pork, eggs, peanuts, vege, and some sesame. The pizza was surprisingly tasty and crispy! A tummy filling and soul-satisfying dinner indeed!

Night crawling in while we enjoying our meal in the restaurant situated in a hidden alley. We haven't explored the backpacker street during night hour, thus it's time for us to sit and drink while experiencing the local nightlife (or the Europeans). 

Drinks !

Celebrating the night!

The chairs arranged were facing the busy city street. Everyone sitting and drinking while looking at the cars, bikes and pedestrians passed by. It was a signature activities in Vietnam.

After drinks, we got some drinks and snacks again from B mart then heading back to our apartment.

The day was great, we enjoyed, we learned, we ate, we drank, we live our life. 

Spending (4 pax) :

- Aeon mart = 85,500vnd

-Uber = 35,000vnd

-Pho Phuong beef noodles = 110,000vnd

-Grab to Sinh Tourist = 40,000vnd

-Delta Mekong tours =796,000vnd

-Sim Card = 140,000vnd

-Trung Nguyen Coffee = 283,000vnd

-Grab to war museum = 20,000vnd

-Cap = 50,000vnd

-War museum tickets = 60,000vnd

-Bep Me In dinner = 710,000vnd

-Go go Bar = 200,000vnd

-B mart = 139,500vnd

-Grab back apartment = 89,000vnd

-Mosquitoes Repellent = 40,000vnd

To be Continued ... ...