Ho Chi Minh: Notre Dame Cathedral & Saigon Central Post Office

Both of these buildings that resemble the French architectural style
are located next to each other.
And, they are just one street away from the Reunification Palace.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre-Dame Cathedral or to be exact Notre-Dame Basilica, was constructed between 1863 and 1880 by the French colonists. 

The special of this cathedral is that all the original building materials were imported from France. However, many tiles have since been made in Ho Chi Minh City to replace the tiles that were damaged by the war.

I didn’t stepped into the cathedral as the door was closed.

The cathedral has two bell towers, 

reaching a height of 58 meters.

The statue of Notre Dame in front of the cathedral.

Saigon Central Post Office

You won’t visit the city post office when you travel to overseas. But, there is an exception when you come to Ho Chi Minh. Saigon Central Post Office is one of the major tourists spot in this city. 

Saigon Central Post Office was constructed when Vietnam was part of French Indochina in the early 20th century, and it has a Gothic architectural style. And, you know what, Central Post Office was designed and constructed by the famous architect Gustave Eiffel(ie the architect that design Eiffel Tower in Paris!!) 

The Saigon Post Office is a functioning post office and also the largest post office in Vietnam.

All the buildings in HCM that built during the French colonist took my heart away.

A portrait of Mr Ho Chi Minh is at the centre of post office.

The former telephone and telegraph station booths are now
ATM Machine booths at the right side,
but still are telephone booths at the left side.

Most of the visitors that visited the post office will send a post card from here to themselves or the one they care for. So, I did the same thing that others did. >.<

I was writing a postcard to my Mr Panda.
*So serious*

Ready to send out my postcard to my lover.
Postcard=2000VND (about RM0.30)
Stamp(same price to all Asian countries)= 10500VND (about RM1.50)

My panda received the postcard a week later,
and he didn’t showed any appreciation on that.
*Sad me!*

Seoul: Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain Show

My mum get to know that, there is a Water Rainbow Show at Banpo Bridge every night. She love to watch light show so we paid a visit to Banpo Daegyo. Fyi, Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain is the world’s longest bridge fountain.

How to get there by subway

Banpo Daegyo Rainbow is located at the other side of the Han Gang river and we went there by subway.
We took the subway to  Express Bus Terminal Station.
Then took the Exit 8-1. 

Go straight for 250m, and turn right at the Express Bus Terminal 4-way intersection.
Continue going straight for 400m and you will see this signboard.

 
Then, cross the street at the crosswalk.
Go straight through the underpass to arrive at the park.

Banpo Daegyo

Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain Show

Water will dance accordingly with the song rhythm.

Night view. The tall building in blue is N Seoul Tower.
Personally think that, Hong Kong has the best night view in Asia.

Some of the light photography I took on that night.

Random cute graffiti I saw at the walkway to Banpo Bridge

These pictures that taken at night by my Fujifilm are actually poor in quality.
Spent some time to edit it and gosh, I want to have a new camera badly. 
=.=!!!

Ho Chi Minh: Ngoc Linh Hotel, Pham Ngu Lao

Based on the recommendations that I read from forums, I decided to stay at Pham Ngu Lao area, which is the backpackers area during my Vietnam trip.

As I wasn’t travel during the peak season, so some people said that I can just pick a hotel upon arrival, because there is a bundle of hotelssss for me to choose. But, I just don’t want take the risk since I reach Ho Chi Minh at night.

After looking for the suitable accomodation using Agoda and TripAdvisor, we came into consensus to stay at this family run hotel, Ngoc Linh Hotel.

Price

We took the airport transfer service from hotel. (USD 10 for airport pick up and USD 8 for airport transfer from hotel.)

We paid USD26 for the first night stay, and when we told the receptionist(I think is the boss) that we will stay for another 2 nights at the hotel after coming back from Dalat. He said, their new hotel rate is USD28. Then, we “begged” him to charge us with the original price(USD26), and he refused. He said he wanted to charge us USD25/night(inclusive of breakfast) for the last 2 nights. *KENA BOMB*. 

Of course, we said ON la! My cousin brother then said, this is the first time I stay at a hotel that can bargain price one.

Location

One of the major problem staying in backpacker area is the noise that come from the street at night time since there are pubs and clubs around. In Pham Ngu Lao, horn is another sources of sound pollution. So, if you want to stay away from noises while staying in Pham Ngu Lao, AVOID the hotels on main streets(ie the Pham Ngu Lao street, Bui Vien street and De Tham street).

I like Ngoc Linh Hotel because it located in a small alley on Pham Ngu Lao street, which means we are away from the noises come from the main street.  

Besides that,Ngoc Linh hotel is less than 5 minutes walk from Phuang Trang bus office and some local tour service desk; 7-10 minutes from the Crazy Buffalo Bar and 15 minutes walk from Ben Thanh Market.

Room

I would say for the price we paid(USD26/25 per night which is about RM75), the hotel room is clean, neat and in appropriate size. The actual room is no different from the one they posted in their official webpage, so you can book the hotel without worries. They will do room cleaning everyday.

Pictures of the hotel

There are around 20 hotels located on this small alley and Ngoc Linh Hotel is one of it.

Lobby at the first floor.

The triple room.
1 double bed and 1 single bed.
With basic facilities such as a small fridge, plasma TV, a cupboard, aircond and a fan.

Our bathroom that comes with a small bath tub.

The simple breakfast.
A French bread with omelette, banana, fruit juice and coffee.

MY compliments

I love the services provided by the family that running this hotel.
The good impressions that they left to us:

1) Keep on reminding us to take care of belongings.

2) Help us to buy and activate our sim card.

3) We bought the night sleeping bus to Dalat and they let us took our shower at their living place and they treat us with corns when we were hanging around while waiting for bus departure.

MY advice

Most of the hotels in HCM do not have lifts, and this 5 storey building do not have it too. They have 3 rooms in each floor. If you are travelling with the elderly and children or with big luggages, then pick a room at a lower floor. If you want to have a  deep sleep with quieter environment, pick the higher floor.

There is a shoe rack at the lobby and do remove your foot wears before going up to your room. (Most of the hotels in HCM practicing this.)

The hotel do offer tour services to Cu-chi Tunnel and Mekong Delta, you can also asked them to help you buy the bus ticket to your next destination.

Details of Ngoc Linh Hotel

Address:  283/21 Pham Ngu Lao St., Dist.1, HoChiMinh City
Tel:  (84.8) 3837.5159 - 3920.7874 
Email:  ngoclinhhotel@yahoo.com 
Website: http://ngoclinhhotel.com/webapp/aboutus.php

PS: All the hotel reviews in my blog are not sponsored, I just write out to share my experience. So, if you appreciate my review, please click on the adverts available on the top, so that I can have more income to travel and share all these wonderful experience with you. Tq.

Vietnam Trip 2012: Itinerary

I was sharing my South Korea trip for the past few weeks/ months, and I still not finishing it. (I m a lazy girl~). So, I decided to put a pause(not full stop) on that and start blogging my Saigon(aka Ho Chi Minh) trip.

I bought a pair of air ticket to Ho Chi Minh with my cousin Donkey a year ago, and why is Saigon? Simply just because the AA flight to Saigon is cheap. (Our initial plan was to go Bali~)

Then, we tried to ask more cousins to join our trip but no one showed their interest in the city. Everyone asked us back: “What is fun in Ho Chi Minh?”
Grrrrr… So frustrated!! At the end, Donkey’s brother joined us. And, we decided to prove to those who refused to join the trip regret for the refusal!!

So, the itinerary for our trip is as below:

First day
Arrive at night—Check in Hotel at Pham Ngu Lao, rest.

Second day
Ben Thanh Market—Reunification Palace—Notre Dame Cathedral—Central Post Office—Lunch at Pho 24—Opera House—Fanny Ice Cream—Night Sleeping Bus to Dalat

Third day
Dalat—Check in Hotel—Datanla Waterfall—Cable Car—Truc Lam Meditation Centre—Lunch at Trong Dong—Old Railway Station—Valley of Love—Dalat Night Market

Forth Day
Crazy House—Back to Ho Chi Minh

Fifth Day
Cu-Chi Tunnel Half Day Trip—Lunch at Quan An Ngon—HCM City Museum—Ben Thanh Night Market

Last Day
Fly back to Malaysia

Motorcyclists in Ho Chi Minh City have good driving skill.
The traffic is congested.

Seoul: Seoul City Hall

I didn’t stepped into Seoul City Hall during my S. Korea trip. 
I just accidentally went to the field that located beside the Seoul City Hall and which is also situated just in front of the Deok Su Gong.

I was there in the evening, so with the cooling weather, I had a short but awesome rest at here.

Leisure time!♥

LOVE ♥ SEOUL!!

They just lie on the field and chit chat with their partners.

Some people just sit at there and enjoy their own leisure time.

The building in brick colour is the Seoul City Hall.

Agriculture Art

Coincidentally, there was a farming expo going on at the field and 

there were some interesting agriculture art being exhibited.

Really amazed with Korean’s creativity.

Do the farming job with your family.

Last but not least,

m33iyin have her own time at here.

Do drop by here when you feel tired after a long day walking in the city.

Seoul: Random City Views

As the blogpost title implied, I will shared some pictures that I took randomly in the Seoul city which makes me miss the city whenever I looked back at the pictures.

Cute or pretty stuffs

Say HI to Haechi.
Haechi was announced as a Seoul city symbol in May 2008.
Haechi is a guardian of justice, a mythical beast that can discern good and evil.

This little girl is so adorable.
When her dad took out the phone and wanna snap a picture of her,
she will pose and said: “Ha, To, Say, Kimchi”

The cute wallpaper in EASTAR JET plane that we took.

White daisy in Seoul. Pretty!

Soup for handwashing in the public toilet.

A lanxi polar bear beside the dustbin.

Polices!!!

Kids playing with water at Gwang Hwa Mun Square.

Foods and beverages

The drink that everyone will buy in Korea.
Banana milk! Smell nice, taste nice! Love it!!
♥♥♥

Isotonic drink with lemon taste.
I dislike 100plus but I ♥ this.

Fruit juices. Forgotten the taste.

Sushi in Korea, known as Kimbap.
Abbreviated from Kimchi-Bap. (Bap=rice)

Redbean Patbingsu ie our redbean Ais Kacang.

Cold noodles in Korea, Rang-myun.
Ice cubes were put inside the noodle. Nice and refreshing!

There are many more nice and interesting stuffs that I saw in Korea.
But, I didn’t snapped a picture of them with camera.
I kept the beauty of the city in my heart.