Didn't expect Ho Chi Minh can be so relaxing and fun, quite an alternative when you are tired of Thailand, best part is we only paid $87 (all in) each for our airfare. Mobile data plan can be easily purchased at airport counter at 5USD for 64mb, do note that application such as facebook and whatsap will instantly push message so 64mb might ran out before your holiday end.
Since we are still early to check in, we head to Cat Moc Spa to heal our tired body and dehydrated skin.
Cat Moc Spa ranked no.9 activity in Ho Chi Minh by TripAdvisor, their service is friendly, hygienic as it was said to be opened by a doctor and they are using dermalogica skin care products for facial.
Click to enlarge. We did an hour body massage ($16 SGD) and an hour of basic facial ($23SGD).
Delicious calamansi juice they serve after our massage.
After our rejuvination treatment, we went La Creperie to start our day with a touch of French.
La Creperie serving thin buckwheat pancakes of both savory and sweet.
Homemade apple cider, a little sour and less gassy.
Oyster is the item of the day at 120,000dong (7SGD) for half a dozen.
Americano Crepe for the carnivore hubby.
This is basically a hamburger on a crepe, comes with egg, cheese, tomato, minced beef and greens. Portion is generous, the carnivore is satisfied and happy.
La Piano for me. Comes with egg, smoked salmon, cream spinach and greens as side.
Dessert of the day for hubby's set menu is Mango chocolate sweet crepe.
Checked into Grand Silverland Hotel to catch up some sleep before our night tour start.
Silverland is a group of hotels, under it there is Grand Silverland and Silverland, do make sure you didnt book the wrong one, review of Grand Silverland is way better than the previous.
I am using my hotel.com credit to claim, so our big and nice executive room ($120SGD) is free for the first night.
Big Jacuzzi enough to fit two!
Booked our XO foodie tour (USD68) weeks before to secure us a spot in this number one ranked must do activity in HCM. It is a five hours 1-1 scooter trip exploring different districts of HCM, showing you different faces of how the rich and poor lives together in this developing society. This foodie tour wouldn't bring you to typical Vietnamese food like pho and spring roll where you can find in every corner of Vietnam, they brought us to hidden food stores between the alleys and some dangerous food we never thought we would dare to try.
Our pretty little angels came picked us up from our hotel at 5pm and sent us to the gathering location to meet tour leader Ben and other tour members.
First stop, they bring us to try a central Vietnam beef noddle soup called Bun Bo Hue.
Our group members are international, from Singaporean, Korean, NZ, UK, NYC and Germany.
Sample portion of Bun Bo Hue, soup is so rich and flavorful, yums.
Water spinach (kang kon) and Banana flower.
Some scene of the night market, bad resolution as we as moving on scooter.
Binh Tay market (the Platinum of Saigon) in China Town, distributor price goods are available here if you match their minimum quantity.
Also another part of China Town, famous for their goat BBQ and steamboat.
My young sweet cute tour guide Ee, still a university student by the way :)
Saigon beer, quite sweet, light, not bad. I also tried banana wine, soaked banana in wine. Ee and Milkyway (tour guides) also told us some old folks who lives in the province still drink exotic animals soaked wine, Milkyway even goggled a picture of monkey wine to show us on her mobile phone!
Something new, tofu sauce, creamy salty nice.
Charcoal BBQ, i wish they have such in Singapore, it will be nice.
Highlight of this BBQ place, goat breast! Looking at the goat breast, the color, the textures makes me wonder, why the hell they don't look like meat? I confirmed my suspicion with hand signs, this is GOAT UDDERS!
BBQ goat udders tasted chewy, probably like interesting texture. Ee told me they marinate the meat with Coke to get rid of the goat smell and to sweeten the meat.
BBQ fresh squid.
I won the chopstick game against The Husband.
Jumping chicken (frog), a shock for the Caucasian but a common dish in Asia. Find it a little dry to have it BBQ compared to the stew one we usually have.
Dance performance by tour angels
BBQ quail
My favorite, salt and pepper crab craw.
Another of my favorite, BBQ scallop with spring onions and peanuts.
Fear factor dish, embryo egg. Comes in original flavor (right) or tamarind salt pepper flavor (left). I am surprised and amazed the husband actually tried the tamarind one after much persuasion by his pretty little guide Milkyway.
Clams in sweet sour spicy wine sauce.
This is a good one, coconut aga (jelly). I will try to make it at home, so easy, so refreshing.
Little gift from XO tour group!
Don't miss their Foodie tour if you ever visit HCM, like everyone said, they will the highlight of your trip.
1 comment:
oh, so u went free and easy. The foodie tour is an interesting concept!!
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