To Saigon

The man in the house usually leaves me cracking up my brain whenever an occasion arises - birthday, anniversay, festive season and whatever memorable day shared between us.

"I don't need anything" he said for his birthday. And because we were, or rather I was, itching for a short trip prior to our Europe escape, I chanced upon Tiger Airways having a really good bargain, and the rest is history.

The jade lettuce is actually a national treasure of Taiwan

Lunch first then sight-seeing. Need to build up energy to walk, walk, walk!

Behind us is Mr Ho Chi Minh himself

The city retained various ancient architecture, displaying a characteristic combination of Vietnamese, Chinese and European.

As you can clearly see, going by foot doesn't bring us to many places of sights. And so it was dinner time!

Very interesting place where they laid out all the food spread in tables and you'll get to see how it's cooked. Food is yum-meh too.

Of course, other than giving your eyes a feast, one must do justice to their wallet by spending in a foreign land right? So it's shopping time!

This is HCM's version of Chinatown. It was more like a warehouse to me cause everything came in bulk and quantities and people were unloading, unpacking, packing, shipping out goods every single second! And did I mention in an orderly manner too? Shops were categorized by types so one section can be selling footwear, then another section hats, then another clothes. Very neat!

Took a day tour to visit the 'must-go' chu-ci tunnel, where they perserved the place when the war took place. It consists of a large network of underground tunnels used by their people to move around. We had a go to 'crawl' inside the tunnel which was already expanded for tourist purposes. I can only say, I cannot imagine myself being part of the war and crawling through these dark tiny holes, not knowing when I can see light. I truely emphatize the people.

Of course, after all the walking, eating, sweating, it's time to chill out with a cup of their home roasted coffee before heading to the airport. A great short trip after all!

Sipping hazelnut latte at their version of Starbucks cafe

Cheers!