Revisiting Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City is quite memorable for me because this was the last place I visited in my previous (travelling) role. The timing was great because Sofia and yaya Naling were able to travel with me, and we stayed at the Intercontinental Asiana Saigon Hotel in District 1 for close to a month.  You can read about that here or browse through all my posts on Vietnam here where we did quite a lot of things including watch the water puppet theater, visit the war remnants museum, visit the spa, and eat at all the restaurants nearby as well as backpack our way to Phnom Penh, Cambodia on one of the weekends.

The check-in process at Intercontinental Asiana Saigon was even more efficient than I remembered. When we arrived, we were immediately escorted to our rooms, which were ready despite our early arrival, and we were just asked to sign forms as part of the in-room express check in.

We had a few minutes to freshen up before going directly to the local office, so it's a good thing we had a great view from the room since one of my office mates, Sha, has never been to HCMC before.

View from our room: Notre Dame Church and Post Office - check!

It's quite interesting to see the back part of the post office,
which looks so much more modern than the front which
has been preserved as a heritage site.

On the far left of our window view, we could see VinCom,
the mall walking distance to the hotel. This was the view
we had the last time we stayed here.

Since this blog is not in any way about work, let me skip that part and get directly to what we had for lunch. Our local office is located in District 7, which is so much more developed now as compared to when I was there 3 years ago. Walking distance is a row of restaurants overlooking the river, and we had lunch at one of the restaurants serving local Vietnamese food, which I really enjoyed.

Spring Rolls are still so much better when you eat them in Vietnam,
and we had this together with shrimps and squid.

Some of the new things I tried was the starter - which was like a shrimp
ball on top of rice cracker, and vegetables local to Vietnam.

For dessert, we enjoyed the local fruits together with the seasoned salt.

I was so full already, but the mango was so good,
(similar to the Thai mango) that I still managed to eat a lot.

Our meetings ended quite late, so Ben Thanh Market was already closed when we got back to the hotel. We decided to go to Saigon Square instead, though I was told that Saigon Square 2, which I preferred to go to before, was already closed.

Vietnam is the source of a lot of the clothes for chain stores like Mango, Zara, Forever 21 and the like, so they have a market for export overruns. Just use your judgement since good finds are also mixed together with obvious fakes. My rule of thumb is I am willing to things that look well-made, and I don't buy them for the brand they claim to be, so this isn't an issue for me.

This is the old Saigon Square I remember, close to Ben Thanh Market.

Interestingly, right beside it is a newer extension that looks like the
Saigon Square 2 that I visited (so maybe that's why it closed!).

We really didn't have much time to look around before the stores started closing around us. I totally rushed to buy something for the kids (Sofia and Karl's kids included since he was busy working some more in the hotel), I was able to buy a nice pair of linen shorts for myself, and I wanted to buy another top - which I couldn't find before we left because I think the store was already closed.

I pressured Sha to also buy something! Hahaha.

They also had one local coffee store, so I bought a small pack of the
medium-strength Blue Mountain blend, so I could try my new Hario toys.

The coffee was as good as it smelled, which was full-bodied with a hint
of mocha. Next time I can buy more! Plus I was so happy the Hario grinder
and V60 drip was so easy to use and clean.

Where's Wally Shopping in Vietnam.
I was telling Sha, when I travel for work, I make sure I
explore we're visiting after the work is done.

Since it was Sha's first time, we opted to walk back to the hotel, so we could see more HCMC's District 1.

Witty Sign

There are a lot of small alley's where they have paintings for sale.

Saigon Opera House at Night, with the people on motocycles,
which you only see at this quantity in Vietnam.

The ironic thing is that their pedestrian light doesn't
really work, so cross the street at your own risk.

Saigon Opera House

Closer look at the Top

I couldn't resist taking a photo. Don't worry, I just pretended to sit,
since it's for display only.

Since we wanted to make the most of our 2 days in Vietnam, I had the concierge make us reservations at Pizza4P's for 9pm. Looking back, I don't really know where we got the energy, since we've been up since 3am (Vietnam Time) to catch the early flight.

This prosciutto burrata pizza was worth all the calories.
In fact, it's the only Pizza I think that's better than my mom's. Hahaha.

Post on Pizza4P's to follow.

On our second and last night, we just went to the restaurant directly from work. This time around I didn't schedule dinner for too late since we were travelling back the next day.

We tried out Cuc Gach Quan, an old house converted into a restaurant,
visited by Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, and the food was also good.
I'll blog about that separately.

It was two really tiring days, with really good food.

Special mention goes to Intercontinental's breakfast buffet, which is
complete with western staples, local food, and my favorite congee!

Can't wait to visit more places for work, so I can explore more places after work. Good thing sleep is for the week, and I get my strength from shopping. Hahaha. just saying.


Intercontinental Asiana Saigon
Corner Hai Ba Trung , St.& Le Duan Bl , 
Ho Chi Minh City , Vietnam
Website

Pizza4P's
8/15, Lê Thánh Tôn, 
Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam

+84 120 789 4444
Reservations recommended 
http://pizza4ps.com/

Cuc Gach Quan
10 Đặng Tất, Tân Định, 
Quận 1, 
Hồ Chí Minh, Vietnam
+84 8 3848 0144
http://www.cucgach.com.vn/

Traditional French Cuisine from Wepler

I love Paris. Just walking around the place, then sitting for an overpriced cup of coffee is enough for me, but since you can't live on coffee alone, I also have my list of favorite places to eat in, mixed together with places I want to try.

I always try to stay with my favorite landlady Line, you can read about her here, whenever I have a few days in Paris because she's just like my French mom. She always asks us where we plan to go, where we plan to eat, and she also has some suggestions.

I remember the last time I visited, she asked what we planned to eat and that day we were planning to eat at Le Relais de l'Entrecote, my favorite steak frites place which you can read about here.

At Le Relais de l'Entrecote, they only serve one thing.
Steak Frites in secret sauce, and they just ask you how you like it cooked.

I remember my landlady telling us that real French food is not steak frites. Hahaha. How I could read the judgement in her tone, then she went on to recommend that we eat in Wepler, her favorite traditional French food place nearby, which she went on to describe as where the sons normally take their moms for lunch as it's very bourgeois.

Wepler is right on Place de Clichy, around 10-15 minutes by foot from our flat.

They're also famous for seafood, displayed right on the street,
but it's not really my thing.

Wepler has both a restaurant and cafe, so we decided to
have dinner at the restaurant.

The menu has a drawing of the restaurant, right at the heart
of Place de Clichy, with our very French waiter at the back.

They gave us olives while waiting for us to decide what we wanted to order.

After a full day of shopping, we just wanted to have a nice dinner nearby.

Behind us you can see the cafe portion.

Hooray for the good quality French Butter, lightly salted.

Some of the things on their menu, was similar to the food served at the Bouchons we visited in Lyon, which you can read about here. I opted to go for the set menu, while Ady just decided to order Ala Carte.

Since I was so envious of Ady's Poached Egg in Red Wine sauce (from Lyon),
that's what I ordered here.

It was so much better, and richer, as I think it had bacon and croutons,
so definitely more deadly.

Ady had French Onion Soup.

With the Soup named after the country,
I don't really think they could get it wrong.

Ady's main course was Veal Cutlets served with pasta which she liked.

While I decided to listen to my landlady and stay away from Steak Frites,
even if everyone in the table to locals beside us ordered it, so I ordered
Leg of Lamb instead.

It was so good. I was totally glad I went with this instead. In fact, looking back,
I can't really imagine how I finished that huge dish. I'm sure it was so good,
I didn't want to let anything go to waste.

For dessert, Ady and I just shared the Opera Cake that came with my meal. 

For a really, filling and enjoyable Traditional French Meal, our bill was
pretty reasonable too at less than Eu40 a person, wine not included.

Since Wepler is so near my favorite land lady too, I'm sure this will now make it as a staple place in our Paris Itinerary. just saying.


Wepler
14 Place de Clichy, 
75018 Paris, France

+33 1 45 22 53 24

Our new Favorite Hotel in Hong Kong - Rosedale Hotel in Causeway Bay

The last few times Sof and I went to Hong Kong, we stayed at my Aunt's flat very conveniently located on top of the Tin Hau MRT, which if you cross Victoria Park, will take you get you to Causeway Bay. 

However, on our last trip, we went to Hong Kong with a big group of office friends, roughly around the same time my Aunt was packing up their flat to move out, so we searched for a hotel in the Causeway Bay area within our budget (which is around US$100 a room).

We tried to find a hotel that was close enough to walk to Causeway Bay, and when we checked, it seemed like Rosedale Hotel (Previously Rosedale on The Park), was a good deal given it's location just at the corner of Victoria Park (on the side closer to Causeway Bay), and they were even offering a special discounted price when we booked, which brought the price to US$185 for two nights, tax included.

It looked like the hotel was newly renovated, and while
they room was not really big, it wasn't too small either.

View from the Door

The full length mirror is inside the closet door.

Sofia's favorite place was seat by the window.

Sof and Rainbow when we arrived.

This is also where she has a light breakfast every morning
before we meet up with everyone.

If I'm not mistaken, the tall white building we see from
our window across the park is Auntie Stell's old flat.

The view from our room was really nice, so I could understand why Sofia loved staying there.

The Bay

Some water, Skyline and Mountains

And the Mountains towards the back

Time Square was around a 10-15 minute walk away.

There's a tram stop right in front of the hotel so you can
tram to Causeway Bay if you're lazy, or it can take you
directly to the Toy Street in Wanchai which was our
destination.

The trams get really busy though, sometimes you need to
sit on the steps (which i no problem if you're super tired).

On the second level of the tram when we finally got seats.

The hotel lobby is on the second floor, which they refer to as 1, G is 0.

When we were asking for a taxi on our way to Hong Kong Station to catch the Airport Express, the concierge informed us that there was a free shuttle that stops right behind the building.

H2 stop is in front of McDonald's. The shuttle comes
every 20 minutes.

You just need to allocate 40 minutes travel time because
it also stops at Park Lane and Excelsior.

The ride is very comfortable though, so as long as you
have enough time, there's no issue.

I think from now on, Rosedale will be our default hotel for Hong Kong. Don't forget to ask for a nice view when booking your room, the view from the other side of the hotel is not as nice. just saying.


Rosedale Hotel Causeway Bay
8 Shelter Street, 
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
http://hongkong.rosedalehotels.com/
*But we booked through booking.com