A glimpse of Ho chi minh, Vietnam and Pnom phen, Cambodia 03/2011

       This is our first trip to Ho chi minh, Vietnam. I would still like to call it Saigon. It's easier for me to say it that way. We went at the last days of March of 2011. We stayed in Saigon Mini Hotel 5  which I booked online and made sure to get the reservation for 3 days as I have read good reviews about it from the trip advisor which is located at the heart of the tourist peeps and it is just behind the Mekong bus going to Cambodia.Very accessible. It's my first time to see a mini hotel, I meant that small. The hotel was not that fancy but their rooms were pretty clean and cozy and just right with our budget. Just I think USD 20-35 per night.
        It's great to spend some time with my daughter and to be travelling alone. We could use a little privacy. I wish we were travelling with my boyfriend too (now my hubby). Missed him so much.

         I am a little bit skeptic on coming to Vietnam at first  when I was still in Manila although I booked our plane tickets earlier. I was actually planning on asking for a refund but later change my mind and I figured that this is my only chance as of now to explore what I can in Vietnam and Cambodia. Considering that Vietnam is not like a shopping hub for me compared to Thailand, or a place where my daughter would have a lot of fun such as Hongkong where there is Disneyland and Ocean Park and Singapore where there is Universal Studio and Sentosa, I would still want to see Vietnam. I would want to see as many places as I can.
       A few people speaks in English. I used Philippine AirlinesTheir airport is new and clean. I arranged a pick up airport at the hotel. Our trip was pretty smooth I should say.
       These are the places we usually eat at Ho Chi minh, Saigon.

       We had our daily breakfast in our mini hotel in which we are satisfied of the amount of food and hospitality they are giving. I usually ordered Egg phoa for breakfast and a glass of water with freshly squeezed lime. It's so authentic and yummy. While my daughter tried the other variety like mini bacon, mini hotdog, bread or toasted bread and strawberry jam or just plain cereal. I really like the crunchiness of the bread they are serving. I don't know what kind of bread it is though. They just simply call it bread. It's crunchy and perfect.

                                                                  Veggie spring roll

       We usually eat at our favorite fresh spring roll place, wrap and roll http://www.wrap-and-roll.com, we ordered a chicken wrapped in pandan and fresh spring roll, yoghurt shake on our first visit. It was so worth it. Then we went back the next day to have supper, we got yoghurt shake, fresh spring roll that you have to wrap it up yourself, veggie spring roll, and a fried big lumpia with shrimp and bean sprouts.. It was so great and delicious mouth watering meal.

     There's a a coffee place name SOZO in Bui Vien street which is owned by a foreigner and their advocacy is to help the unemployed have a job. Bui vien street is where you usually see foreigners pass by and where our mini hotel is located. It's a 10-15 minute walk to Ben than market and less than a minute from our hotel. Sozo is where me and my daughter loved to hang out to eat a tasty meal and have desserts or just to hang out and surf. I just adore their cakes and cookies. We tried their carrot cake, cookies, And cheesecake. It's a really cozy and welcoming. The staff are great and we could use a little surfing in the internet. 2 Mac computers are available. It's a place where a lot of teens hang out too. I just love that place. Very accessible.

                                                        Burger and Pearl milk

Malaysian noodle

                                                                  Chicken curry

Fresh buko

Watermelon shake

                                                                     Fried roll

Fried Chicken

Grilled cheese

Tuna Sub

Banana split

                                                                          cookies

Cakes

       We have been to a fresh salad European resto accross our mini hotel as well to have dinner on our other nights in Saigon. We had a pizza and a bowl of salad. It was good.

       We will meet my mom after 3 days and then went to Cambodia with my mom. We took the Mekong bus and it took us around 4 hours to get there. We met my mom at Vietnam. Cambodia is really beautiful and has a nice weather. I really loved their cloudy weather and the garden view of Cambodia. We used tuktuk (motorcycle with a carriage) as our day-to-day ride. It's a public ride but you feel as though you are riding on a royal carriage. Feel the breeze and see nice views. It's usually 2$ per ride. By the way, Cambodia uses dollars to everyday trade and usually uses olive oil for cooking in fast foods. We passed by their kingdom too and it was huge and beautiful. We are heading next to our shopping destination, we went to a place called the Rushian market were you can buy branded clothes since it is made right there in the country.

Fast food uses olive oil

Cooked with olive oil

       We had dinner at Titanic restaurant and I didn't much liked it. I tasted their fresh spring roll and other stuff and it didn't taste good compared to what we had in Vietnam.
       We stayed in Cambodia for 3 nights at my mom's friend place which she was in the Philippines at that time of our stay. We stayed at one of my mom's coworker who is an Indian and a vegetarian on our last night in Cambodia. I was glad because I was trying to become a vegetarian at that time. He do yoga and have us tried their cuisine cooked right in his home. It's a freshly rolled chapati and vegetable curry cooked in a cute small pressure cooker. We ate it with green peppers. He thought us how to make a chapati and the vegetable curry fillings. I'll share it soon.

Kingdom of Cambodia, Didn't have time to visit

Garden Mansion, Cambodia

Goodmorning Cambodia, View from the balcony

        Going back to Vietnam after the Cambodia trip. We stayed at Saigon mini hotel 5 again.  Before ending our trip, We can't leave without having to taste the best authentic phoa ever that's located near our hotel. You can see that a lot of local and foreigners have phoa at that place.

                                                   Should have bought this one or bigger.. darn

       To make it short I can't deny how much I love the food and the cruiser bikes in vietnam and love the weather and view in Cambodia. I also met few friends from Cambodia that I still kept in touch with. I wish I can visit again someday.

                                                                PAL kid's meal

       It's just an awesome experience.

       Well, that's a great start to definitely start a blog. I feel so great having to finally share my thoughts to everyone. See ya soon.

Here are the links for our trip:
www.philippineairlines.com



www.tripadvisor.com



www.saigonminihotel.com



www.sozocentre.com x