Vietnam day 2 - shopping & more shopping
joyce did lots of homework for the trip ... and from the forum she read, An Dong market/ plaza was recommended over Ben Thanh market... so we headed for An Dong market straight after our breakfast...
But the place was so cramp and crowded and the sellers were all so unfriendly that both joyce & i dun know how to shop there lo... from what we observed, the shops there are more like wholesalers as everyone seems to be extremely busy packing and unpacking clothes/shoes/accessories into huge trashbags and securing them with masking tapes then heaved off elsewhere...
the aisles were just about a meter or so between the shops lo....
in less than an hour, we gave up... joyce managed to buy only 2 kiddo clothings while I, a box of 10 pairs of fake eyelashes... but i would like to commend that the lady who sold me the eyelashes was very honest. the price to pay was 25,000 dong (S$1.70) but as i was confused over the large denomination, i paid her 205,000 dong instead... she could actually choose to pocket it yet she choose to correct me and gave me back the excess... =)
we were rather disappointed with the quality and quantity of shopping that both joyce & i ended up in the supermarket again... stocking up on vietnamese instant coffee mix, 土产s, snacks & gums for dear dear & the 3As (Alfred, Angela & Alvin)... feel so weird that we had to spend our money at oversea supermarket instead... okok...it's not unusual for joyce =P, but it's definitely a first for me...
we, especially me, decided to head back to the hotel to put down our barang barang .. i took a nap while joyce went to the lobby to check out all the direction details for the day before we head out for lunch ... =) ... i m just so well taken care of... hee...
our first adventure began when we tried to locate this particular restaurant for lunch... from the forum, it was stated that it is highly recommended...cheap food, great variety and nice deco... =)...
the address that we gotten was 236 pasteur road.... we started off somewhere around 124 pasteur road...as we walked, i realised that the number gotten smaller, so we u - turned.... walk walk and walk somemore till 186 pasteur and realised that it seems to be the end of the road liao ... hmm.... so asked the shop (royal sporting house) assistants at 186 and they directed us to 136 pasteur road... wtf... but nevermind, we persevered on... walk walk walk back to 136 only to find that it's a shop selling clothes..... wtf x 1000.... joyce checked with the shop assistants and gotten "new" direction... but i damn pissed off liao and insisted that we are to eat at that damn posh looking restaurant that we had passed by TWICE in our search for that so call recommended restaurant...
this is the restaurant that we ended up in ...
a super sianx and hungry me after 1 hour of walking in the hot hot sun...
fried rice and pho (vietnamese noodles)
papaya salad
a very satisfied joyce with her ice - cream
the open concept kitchen of the restaurant...
the meal only cost us 230,000 dong (S$15)... i commended that scarly this is the restaurant which we were looking for lo... hahaha... and true enough... when joyce asked the waitress about it, they said that the restaurant had just changed its name after a recent renovation and relocation along the same stretch of road... check out joyce's expression when the "truth" was revealed!!!
after a good good lunch, we took a cab to TNK travel agency @ 216 De Tham St, just next to An An 2 hotel... from the forum once more, this travel agency provides the best rate for day tours... =) ... we booked a one day mekong delta tour (day 3) at 10 usd and a half day cu chi tunnel (day 4) at 5 usd only.... =)
along the way, bought 2 fakco northface bag at 200,000 dong ($13.40) each ... red one for dear dear and the blue one for wai yee.. had bought a greyish tinted blue one for dear dear last year during the cambodia trip and he loves it... =)... i find them quite durable and super worth it for the price paid...
then from here, we walked to Ben Thanh market... dun remember buying anything... then proceeded to Saigon Square... love love saigon square... just like siam square in bangkok... lots of clothes at affordable prices... ranging from 100, 000 dong (S$6.70) to 220, 000 dong (S$14.70) for each of the pieces i bought... slightly more expensive as compared to bangkok though...
i think we went back to the hotel once more to put our barang barang before we head out for dinner at the Parkson's foodcourt ... decided to have 煮炒...
tom yam soup + vegetable + sweet & sour fish = 130,000 dong (S$8.70)
then to the supermarket time once more....it was just beside the foodcourt mah... and i bought 2 bottles of hadalabo for charlene and her niece... joyce said that it cost S$22+ in singapore and S$16+ in malaysia... so the S$14+ in vietnam is a steal oh...
as it was still early.... we headed back to Ben Thanh market area for the night market... and bought one more t shirt for myself, a polo tee for baby marcus,
t shirts for alfred & alvin to share share wear...
wallets for the 2As also...
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