881 – 一人一半

After so much hype about this movie, the BF and I finally decided to catch it tonight at the cinema near my workplace. I’m surprised to see that the cinema is on full house, with almost 95% of audiences are at least those from 40 years old and above. I think I only saw a handful of couples that’s around our age.

This movie is very watchable and enjoyable. Almost 95% of the movie dialogue is in hokkien and I know nuts about hokkien! It has its comical moments, especially the part on the 仙姑，and the “competition” between the 木瓜姐妹 and 榴莲姐妹。It has its touching moments, especially the last part where the two sisters, hugged together at the hospital bed, and the scenes show the different stages leading to 小木瓜 death by how bad her hair dropped because of the chemo treatment. I even hear sniffing sound near my seats. I tried not to cry and have to control myself at the last part of the show. QiYiWu, though he is a mute in the show and did not say a single word in the show, i’m quite impressed of his acting. Not to say the least, 刘玲玲 is the star in the show.

As a result of watching the movie, this song keeps playing in my head now …..

It’s Been A Crazy Day

Saigon – Food

We had our first real meal the next morning. We went to Sinh Cafe, which is just around the corner from our hotel, for a breakfast before booking our next two days trip with them. We had the american breakfast set which include a burgette, scramble eggs, pork saugages and vietnamese coffee.

They have other breakfast and breads. We basically had all our breakfast there throughout the whole trip. Their crossiant is so soft and nice!

The first full day in Saigon is a free and easy for us. We went and visit all the touristy stuff and bascially went to eat whatever we want to try. Lunch was at Pho 24, sort of a fast-food Pho chain in Vietnam with more than 26 locations in Saigon. They provide “high end” broth with tasty meat slices and polished white bowls. We tried their meal sets which comes with a big bowl of Pho, deep-fried spring rolls, meat balls, agar-agar as dessert and drinks at a very reasonable price!

For dinner, we decided to go french and went to L’Oliver, located inside Sofitel Plaza Hotel. Initially, we were worried that the resturant will turn us away because we were not dressed to have dinner in a high-class resturant. Well, they didn’t! They welcome us just the way they greet the other guests who were much better dressed than us. Again, the food is superly done and even their complimentry breads and appetizer were so good they we wanted more!

While walking along one of the road, we saw a small shop selling coffee beans and they allow customers to have a freshly-brewed coffee in their shop before buying. The place is called Coffee Chateau. We decided to stop and rest our legs and have a cuppa. The coffee is quite nice and the whole place is filled with nice coffee aroma from the beans.

For dinner the next night, we went to Phu Xuan which served traditional Hue cuisine. What is a Hue cuisine you may asked? Check it out here.  The food is not too bad, though I felt it’s a bit too salty for my taste. However, I do like the unique and different choices. The service staff is very friendly and I must add that one of them is very good looking!

For sweet dessert, we went to Fanny Ice Cream which served varieties of ice creams, soberts and cakes.

 

For drinks, we went to Rex Hotel Rooftop Garden which provide live music and night view of HCM city.

Saigon – Stay

We first arrived in HCM on 7 August, 8 pm. The airport is small but ok. Long queue at the immigration despite more than 10 counters opened. The immigration staff are slow. By the time we pass thru immigration, it was almost 45 mins later and our driver from the hotel we staying were already outside waiting for us. Hopped on the van and off we go.

We stayed at the An An Hotel, which is located near the backpackers’ lane. This hotel got rave reviews in Trip Advisor and that was the reason why we choose this hotel besides the very cheap rates. The rooms are spacious and clean. Staff are very friendly and accommodating too! Before the trip, we already specified in our reservations that we wanted high floors. However, we were given a room on the 5th floor (out of 11 floors) on our first night. We made another request and got a new room the next day at the 7th floor. On our third day, our toilet was spoiled and we highlight to the receptionist and they got it fixed on the same day while we were out.

I highly recommend this hotel to anyone going to Saigon. It’s a basic 3 star hotel but big with services and friendly staff. And its just around the backpackers’ lane but still quiet enough to sleep comfortably at night. And they have over 20+ cable channels. We even managed to catch Heros on Star World every night when we were there!

Back

Am back from HCM yesterday afternoon. I have a very good impression of the city! It will be one of the places I wanted to visit many time! Things are cheap, food is super nice, people very friendly. In my opinion, I think the people in vietnam is much nicer than thais. Went and did all the touristy stuff and back with a very sore leg because of the cu chi tunnels! My only regret is that I didn’t do much homework before I go and missed quite a number of good eateries. Also, I wish I have more time there and would like to visit their islands some day! Vietnam, I will be back!

Will post photos and travelogues later ……

Off to HCM Tonight

but I’m so stressed out by work … on leave today but work from home since this morning. What goes wrong will goes wrong when you are not around! So many issues to deal just when I go on leave. Why can’t I go for a nice holiday in peace!!!! arggghhhhhhhh …

Tech-Out

I ws in a short seminar this afternoon at Sheraton Hotel. The ballroom is average size with about 8 tables of 6 pax each. Sitting around it are all high-powered people. And you can see all the blackberrys sitting nicely on every table. Almost 90% of the high-powered people had their blackberrys on the table. And there I was, sitting in table 2, the only one with no blackberry, thinking, what has technology done to us?!