Ho Chi Minh - have a cup of coffee and chill

Many small,cheap and good hotels from US$ 30 per night available in HCM city

This is the second last post for my visit to Ho Chi Minh. In a nutshell, it is near to Singapore and Malaysia, flights are plentiful and inexpensive, hotels are plentiful and inexpensive, food is mainly soups, or grilled and if you look beyond the touristy spots, excellent tasting and inexpensive. The city is devoid of beggars, and relatively safe to walk at night. People are friendly and helpful, so if you are tired of the Chatuchak market in Thailand (like many Singaporeans and Malaysians have visited the place many times in the last 5 years), you can consider the Ben Thanh market for their range of excellent coffees, basic clothing wear, local Vietnamese food stalls serving pho (beef noodles), handicrafts and lacquer paintings. Remember to bargain and negotiate as this is essentially a tourist market and to get a good bargain is the name of the game.   

Tourists wearing the 'ao dai' (pronounced 'ao yai') or traditional Vietnamese dress

Booking of the hotels are very easy, one way is to go to the website www.agoda.com and check out the deals and read the past visitor ratings, our hotel, called Lavender Hotel is located just 2 minutes walk from Ben Thanh market (District 1) and is rated at 3 and a half stars. It is priced at about US$ 50 per night per room with free wifi and king size bed. The rooms are a bit small but bathroom and toilet is spotless and dining on the 8th floor offers one a view of the 'downtown'. There are literally hundreds of small hotels springing up all over town in district 1 and 3, so in fact, if you are daring, just drop in on the hotel and see if they have rooms. Its that plentiful of hotels and rooms.  

On the last day, my manager Kannan and myself had a chillout session at the roadside and enjoyed a coffee along the sideroad. Vietnamese coffee is very potent and they have many grades ranging from normal,medium and strong. The aroma from the coffee is enough to drive afficiandos crazy and some of their well known brands are the Weasel,Mika,Mokassa and Culi brands. If you love coffee, do the Vietnamese thing and have a cuppa by the roadside.  

Relaxing and having a nice cuppa by the sidewalk- Vietnamese style

Cheers !! 

Ho Chi Minh - Rex Hotel

In front of the Rex Hotel 

Situated prominently at the junctions of Le Loi and Nguyen Hue is the Rex Hotel. Once famous for housing the 5 star generals during the Vietnam civil war, it is now the 6 star hotel of the city renowned for its old world charm and fine dining. I had the good fortune to dine on the 5th floor open deck of the hotel on Wednesday 9th, and the weather was fine. My colleague Kannan accompanied me for this trip and we had a very fine Jacob's Creek Shiraz, roasted duck and glazed chicken, Vietnamese fried spring rolls - all for an unbelieveably inexpensive U$ 72 or S$ 95 meal for 2. I would strongly recommend a revisit or for anyone going there for the first time, to take in the sights of the city at the 5th floor of this iconic hotel. It is well worth the visit.    

Statue of Ho Chi Minh handing the keys of the city to a little girl

The traffic around the monument is the same as in all parts of HCM, horribly congested, and crossing the road takes some guts. Do not run. The bikers and drivers will somehow give way to you. So the trick is to walk slowly and inch forward. Look out for the bikes and their projected paths and avoid them. In fact, they will avoid you ! It takes a certain skill to drive in HCM and I have seen foreigners even riding motorbikes with the same skill as the Vietnamese. The cars will liberally use their horns so its best to use all your senses when crossing the streets. Do not take the crossings for granted. The bikes will not stop at times, and even while the rest of the traffic has stopped, the turning lane is still allowing traffic to flow, so be forewarned.  

Signing of the surrender documents between North and South took place at the People's Committee  Hall

The Vietnamese by and large are friendly but beware of conmen and women. A friend told me the story of some people being driven to some place for a 'tiger' show (risque dancing and acting) and end up getting ripped off when they have paid for the entrance fees, they will shout 'police' and everyone runs away leaving the tourists running outside and finding everyone has left. The presence of police are everywhere and it is generally very safe for tourists, but as a rule don't walk outside late in the night.    

                                                                  'King'  Kannan

The lacquer products are generally all handmade. I bought several jewelry and tissue paper boxes made using either clam shells or duck egg shells pounded to a fine size. The craftsman then painstakingly pastes the shells in the shape of the object so each box or container is different. No mass produced handicraft here.

Finally, the Vietnamese people are very polite and frank on the whole. They have endured so much hardships in the past and now while the lassaize-fair economy has the cities buzzing will countless hotels,spas, food joints and  trinket shops, inflation is also a major issue for the locals here.

Ho Chi Minh 2011- a revisit

Kannan outside the Notre Dame Basillica, District 1 

Statues from a victorious regime 

Inside the General Post Office 

I am at the tail end of a 3 day business trip to Ho Chi Minh city,the first since my earlier trip in 2009. The memories and impressions then and now are quite distinct. I find in 2011, the city is still full of motocycles what with the upward mobility and wealth of the Vietnamese people in general, but in addition, where we are staying, in District 1, there are lot of high end luxury sedans and SUV cars. This is far more apparent now than in 2009.

The communist party is still firmly in power, and the people here are thriving and entrepreneurial. However, there is none of the sleaze you will find in  many of the other developing countries. It makes the visit to HCM as a family destination more appealing. On the other hand, the traffic and air conditions are not good even for a decent stay of say 4 to 5 days. I bought a mask when I took a walk out in the city as many Vietnamese are also aware of the impact the polluted air can cause to their bodies. There are literally thousands of masked people in the streets, from motorbike riders, to street vendors to ordinary citizens out and about. The pollution levels here make KL and even Bangkok levels seem quite liveable.

There are literally hundreds of clean and decent looking small hotels to choose from in District 1 alone, so my guess is that, for a walk-in visitor, the rate may drop to perhaps S$50 during the low season. It is preferrable to book online, like I did and paid $ 72 per room per night for a clean, large room and free wi-fi.

There are several interesting places one must visit, and these are (in no order of preference) :

Rex Hotel

Notre Dame Basillica

Reunification Palace

War Remnants Museum

The roof top 5th floor of the Rex Hotel is a must visit. You can view the of whole of Saigon (old HCM name) and take in the sights and sounds of the city without the smog. A must visit. We had a starter, 2 main courses and a bottle of Australian shiraz for a total of U$ 72 or about S$ 95. Unbelieveably inexpensive for dining for 2 at the equivalent to the Raffles (or E & O in Penang) Hotel.

The best times to visit I guess would be in March, April, or October to December as it it considered Spring or Autumn time respectively. June and July would be the swelteringly hot months.

The Vietnamese coffee is also very good, you can choose from the normal, medium to strong. The weasel is one well known brand, and I have just taken a liking to the Moka blend, selling at VND 44,000 per 100 g or U$ 2 per 100 g. Certainly not cheap but very robust, good aroma and flavourful.

It is a great short visit combination of business and some relaxation, in my opinion. 

     

2 excellent Nasi Lemak stalls side by side

                                                             Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak stall

                                                                  Adam's Nasi Lemak

Adam Road hawker center has always been famous for its Malay food, since the 70's and last weekend, I decided to try their famous Nasi Lemak. I went there last Sunday at around 11.30 am and already there was 2 queues of more than 10 people each. Wow ! imagine that, for an 'early lunch' one must queue for one's food - must be really good - I thought to myself.

Anyway, I decided to take the one with the shorter queue, Adam's, but ended up waiting almost 35 minutes before I reached the stallholders. They are a very friendly couple and their helper, and in a flash, the orders were carried out. I ordered 4 packets, 2 Sutra specials which was the fried chicken, with ikan billis, nuts,kuning (cucumber),fried egg, otak (mackerel cake) and the coconut rice. In addition, I ordered for my wife and myself, the fish set which was the fish (small ikan kuning) instead of the chicken.

Adam's stall has won awards from the Makansutra (KF Seetoh's TV series about good foods) as well as several Mediacorp TV food series for their tasty nasi lemak. Anyway, the true test was in the tasting.

The verdict, the fish was nice and crispy, the otah was flavourful and with nice aroma. The best part was the rice was 'sedap' ! Very nice separated grains and retaining the aroma of the pandan leaf it is wrapped in as well as the not so heavy going feeling. The sambal chilli ? Sweet, and not too heavy or thick, rather, it is less viscous and   like a sauce. My preference is for a thicker sambal sauce.

The other stall Selera, was also doing a roaring business and when I left with my packets at 12.10 pm, the queues were growing ever longer. What a wonderful way to earn a decent income, the foodstall business is best as it is a) cash basis b) high turnover if food is good, c) low overheads for the stall and d) no retirement in sight if one is healthy and able.

And I am not even referring to the tax computations !  

Scouts Investiture Feb 26th 2011 - video

Feb 26th 2011 Scouts Investiture

Andrew with the Scouts Salute 

Saturday 26th February was a very proud day for me as a father, my 2nd boy Andrew was officially inducted into the Scout family at the ACS Barker Road Lee Kong Chian Hall. The principles of the scouting movement were initiated by the Lord Francis Baden Powell, and last year was the 100th anniversary of scouting in Singapore.There was a massive Jamboree or meeting of scouts,past and present from 12 countries in Singapore, and our chief scout is the President, S.R. Nathan.

                                         Andrew standing before the troop, he is in Huron Tribe

The principles of scouting are simple, service to God, family and the scout troop. Values cherished are the brotherhood of scouts (also the Girl Guides or  Female Venture Scouts as they are called now), honesty,integrity, uprightness, discipline and being prepared for any kinds of contingencies possible in life and also in daily activities.

                                                      Putting on the scarf and woggle

                   Its now 2 generations (maybe 3 as my father ,Geoffrey, I recall was also a Scout if I recall properly) in our family, that all the males have all become scouts and proudly so too. Admittedly, I was not a very enthusiastic scout during my time, but did attend the activities for at least 2 years (Sec 1 and Sec 2) in secondary school. There were weekly footdrills, the scouts camp in Sarimbun 2 times a year, the preparation for the tests such as cooking, knot tying, map reading etc. etc. which all earned us some badges if we passe them. Then, there is the annual Job Week where the scouts have to go to strangers or housing estates and offer to do jobs for whatever they paid us. I remember vivdly doing jobs for my father such as washing the family car and cleaning the office and being rewarded for S$ 5, a princely sum then.

                                                Wearing the Green Beret with Pride

       We all aim to leave our mark in this world during our lives, and as a father, I am proud to say that I am doing my bit to ensure that the next generation grow up well adjusted. We have our failings and disappointments along the way but pick ourselves up, wipe the dust and tears away and press on towards the goal without fear of further failure. Being in part of a uniformed group gave me, and I'm sure for my sons too, a sense of mission and responsibility to the troop and ultimately, the overall well being of one's self.

                                                    Proud father with his Scout son

   What I hope for my son to be in the years to come is that he will be an upright person, God fearing, and always give of his best. There will be many activities which will be deemed as 'character building' such as scout camps, jamborees, Job week and badges of merit such as knots, cooking and jungle survival. These so called survival skills will hopefully equip him well for the trials and successes  well for his future life.

Andrew at Attention in front of his troop

                                              Reciting of the Scouts Promise in front on the Colours

Boy Scouts in the Family - 1975, 2008 and 2011

                      My investiture or formal acceptance ceremony as a scout in 1975, 35 years ago !

 This is a much treasured picture of me and 2 mates of mine, Freddy Choy (extreme left) and Chew Ping Nan (right) during our investiture ceremony in the opne field of St Andrew's School at Woodsville.The date was sometime in February 1975 when I was 12 goingon 13.  Now the area is called Potong Pasir, the field no longer exists but the school and its premises have expanded to include the St Andrew's Junior College and so provides for 12 years of seamless education.

I recall vividly the ceremony whereby we start out as recruits and after 2 months or so, get promoted to be fully fledged scouts. After the investiture, we were made to crawl through a human tunnel with the senior scouts forming a triangle with their spread legs and we had to crawl in the mud through their legs. When we started crawling through, the seniors then took their berets and whacked the hell out of us !
Some even were made to be the 'horse' and were pushed face first intot the ground. It took about 10 minutes for us to finish the tunnel and after that I was so tired and muddy, I still remember the occasion to this day !  

Although this photo is in black and white, I must add that the uniform of the day was brown or khaki,
with black belt and silver buckle. The beret is a dark green and scarf is white with red stripes representing Singapore flag colours. Our scout troop was numbered 2501, or the first troop in the Potong Pasir constituency.

We had many campfires and night games were remembered with relish. Jamborees were the events where we could meet with scouts from brother and sister schools (they were called Girl Guides then).

I put this post up as I was invited to attend my son Andrew's Investiture yesterday at the ACS Barker Road school and was full of curiosity as to what to expect. The event is put up in the next couple of posts.

Coincidentally or not, my 2 sons, Noel (16 going on 17) and Andrew (13 going on 14) are also Boy Scouts, here is a picture of Noel taken in 2008 (above). He was made Patrol Leader in 2010 in Sec. 4 last year. The uniform is now a faint green with dark green pants, the beret is green and the scarf is red.