~Travelog: Vietnam (Part 2)~

Hi & Assalamualaikum...

Let's continue with the journey in Vietnam..heeee..  At 12.30 pm (Vietnam time), we went lunch at the nearby Halal Vietnamese Restaurant.. In front of Saigon Pink 2 Hotel, there's a few halal restaurant in which most of the owner can converse in Malay.. They were very friendly.. Most of the time, we had lunch and dinner at 'Kampung Melayu Halal Restoran' because the food here were very delicious and tasty.. it suits our appetite.. For your info, the foods and drinks in Vietnam is quite expensive.. Even you just drink ice lemon tea and chicken rice, the price was as the same as you ate Secret Recipe or Pizza San Francisco in Malaysia.. when you want to travel here, you will spend mainly on foods and shopping..

The front view of the restaurant..

We ate 1 set of BBQ chicken rice and 1 set of Roasted chicken rice.. 1 set can cater 2 people.. and each set cost about 199 000 dong.. It's cheaper if order by set.. The foods in Vietnam were healthy as it less spicy, oil, sugar, & salt.. similar like Chinese cuisine..hehe.. 

My Bro & Cousin.. 

Us.. Atok.. To'ki.. Mama.. Me.. Along.. :) 

The scenery around our hotel.. There's a lot of shops nearby selling goods for instance Deuter bags, clothes, shawl, Dress & many more with reasonable price.. it a small road but busy with people.. besides, many Vietnamese people who can speak a little bit Malay will approach you & promote the things they've been selling.. Sometimes i feel quite irritating but it's better to just ignore them.. or talk slowly that you don't want anything... :)

Next, our destination was Ben Thanh market.. It was a must visit place among the tourists who came to Vietnam.. Ben Thanh market will be opened daily from 8am until 6pm.. It was a very large and crowded area.. you have to be aware with pickpockets and your own items..  2 days wasn't enough to explore each shop in this market.. Here, there were many things being sold such as souvenirs, cotton material, jeans, branded shirts, Deuter bags, Perfumes, Jubah Dresses, handbags, shades, pickles, nuts, chips and manyyyyyyyyy more.. phewwhhh.. To keep it simple, everything you want you can get here.. But maybe the prices in Ben Thanh market was different compared to other places in Vietnam.. Because i was told by the tourist guide the next day that the rental fees for shop in Ben Thanh market was very expensive and usually the sellers had marked up their prices twice than the normal prices.. 

Various souvenirs available.. keychain.. fridge magnet.. 

Table runner.. bags.. Glass item..pencil case.. coin purse..

This was the things that can make a woman gone crazy... bahahaha.. most of the shop selling clothes material can make clothes as your request (Baju kurung moden, peplum, jubah dress and etc) within a day and they may send them right away to the hotel you stay.. i did bought custom made jubah satin +lace dress for my sis wedding next year and it cost RM180.. much more cheaper if you custom made in Malaysia.. after giving the body measurement, i've a  conversation with the workers of the shop..asked about their cultures..a nice place to visit.. suddenly she said: " you're so beautiful"..  i just laughed and said "beautiful because i'm wearing make up".. and then she said "no..no.. your face is so beautiful.. it's not the make up" and then she asked about my age and what i've been doing.. she also said her friend in front of her shop also said that i'm beautiful.. kembang semangkuk please...bahahaha

Cotton...various types of cotton available here.. with various designs & colours.. you will gone crazy to choose the best one.. ;) 

Even the Vietnamese people can recognized that we're Malaysian.. when we passed by their shop they will said, "mari-mari kakak abang.. murah saja"... besides, there was so many Malaysian having vacation there..  i've met many Malaysian & we smile to each other.. By the way, ONE important advice, don't touch the things in the shop unless you intended to buy those items.. Because if you don't buy those items, the sellers will scold and curse you.. in Vietnamese words of course..hehe.. Some of them will grab your hand and push you to buy their items.. seriously, it's not easy to escape once the seller got you.. they refuse to let you go until they successfully persuade you to buy items from them.. and you really need to be clever in bargaining the prices.. for example, my bro want a sling bag and it cost 50 USD.. He refuse to buy.. the bargaining session take quite sometimes.. i just observed them..after a long bargaining session, suddenly the prices drop to 25 USD.. but he still refuse and want to go to another shop, but the lady grab his hand and push him to buy.. my mom said no need and we just went by with the lady cursing at the back..hahahaha.. it's kinda scary you know.. See how the prices can be so different there?? and yeahhh.. you need a strategy when shopping.. As for me, i prefer just to ask the price without touching the items and just go if i found it unreasonable.. hehe.. Most of the shops here accept money in USD, RM and  Dong... But next time whenever i want to go to Vietnam again, i'll changed 100 USD only.. The rest i'll just use Ringgit Malaysia because it was acceptable in most places here.. Even people selling coffee on motorcycle by the street and the beggars accept Ringgit Malaysia.. But remember they'll just accept RM5 and above.. Sometimes it depends on the shop owner.. Most of them didn't want RM1 because the value is too small.. Plus the goods you buy will be cheaper.. Because here in Vietnam, the shop owner will just calculate 1 USD equal to RM3.. eventhough the real exchange rate was 1 USD equal to RM3.25 (during our vacation).. so if you buy a cloth which cost RM 25, you have to pay 8 USD (RM 26)..  a bit pricey right? After a while, we felt tired and went back to the hotel to leave the items we already bought in the room and have a drink.. shopping was a really tired activity..hehe

us on the way back to hotel.. 

Them.. :) 

On the way back to our hotel, we've seen unpleasant scene.. 2 Vietnamese guys were having a fight.. one of them is the owner of the restaurant and another guy is a shoe polisher.. we were so shock and stunt.. it was really scary you know.. & later we know the real story.. that a Malaysian guy who want to enter the restaurant was disturbed by the shoe polisher.. and the owner of the restaurant gets angry when the shoe polisher disturbed his customer.. so there goes the drama..hehe..  after that, we entered the shop for a drink.. and then we continue our journey by exploring the Ben Thanh market again.. 

This time, my mom and aunt bought a lot of chips and nuts.. especially the jackfruit chips..the vegetable chips (mainly potatoes of various types) was also delicious..  They said the price of the chips & nuts here also cheaper than Malaysia.. 

Ben Thanh Market view..  

Many weird and rare things also sold here.. in that bottle, there was a snack and scorpions and other various poisonous animals soaked in oil.. i guess it was a traditional medicine.. 

Tired already.. they spend almost 30 minutes in this shop only... -_-" 

waiting for them..  

 Nuts and chips in the house... zzzzzz

After that, we went back to the restaurant for dinner.. Alhamdulillah, everything was delicious.. see what's left by my cousin below?hehe

Clean & clear.. just the head of the fish left..haha

 After dinner, we went to the night market which situated outside the Ben Thanh market.. They also selling items like in Ben Thanh market.. but it was much more cheaper.. 

The night market..  

Crowded as always.. there goes my handsome To'ki.. :)  

various clothes were available here.. jeans... polo and tommy hilfinger shirts.. which cost less than RM30 if you know how to bargain the cheapest price..  

come & get it here...Telekung for prayer also very cheap here compared to the price in Malaysia :)

So that's all our activities on the 1st day of arrival here.. main activities just shopping...shopping... and shopping... will continue the journey in Part 3.. ;)