Good Morning Vietnam, Day 3

Our third day in HCMC was marked by a series of taxi mishaps that led me to believe that the Nam Ky Koi-La Fenetre misadventure the night before was still hovering over us like a dark cloud of bad cab luck.

From Saigon Center in Le Loi Blvd., we decided to try a delightful-looking resto within an old European structure we passed by somewhere near the Reunification Palace along, yes, Nam Ky Koi. But the midday sun was awfully hot so we flagged a taxi, come what may! Okay, the game plan was not to mention Nam Ky Koi to avoid another disaster. So we all said "Reunification Palace" which the driver seemed to have no problem comprehending. He confidently drove thru familiar streets until suddenly he was, wait, going back to the direction of our hotel! He stopped the taxi in the corner of Mac Thi Buoi and a street parallel to Dong Khoi and pointed, as if defensively, to the signage above us. It said Saigon "Palace" Hotel! Arrrrrrgh!
To make things simpler, we settled on lunch wherever along the short Mac Thi Buoi stretch. We agreed to have an Italian feast, some carbo-loading to make up for energy lost due to a cab guy blunder so early in the day. The restaurant is named "Goldfish". You can just imagine how un-Italian that sounded so no one could fault me for my initial reservations about the place. But the universe called for balance at that point in time and we were promptly rewarded with a great meal of two pastas and a pizza. ( I was having quite a migraine attack so no food pics, sorry...)
It was drizzling in the afternoon but Indie was in no mood for a nap so we just went out and rode yet another taxi with Rosene in the hunt for the Cheech Santos-Ed Hardy overrun pair. We stepped off the cab without finding the targeted store and no one was surprised nor disappointed.

Now there was no room to pause and think if someone was playing tricks on us so we hailed yet another taxi to bring us to the Chinese district of Cholon. Cholon, in Q5 (quan for district), was a bit far from our Q1 comfort zone. We entered the district, half-expecting a Binondo-ish arch saying Chinatown but there was none. We saw a store selling very nice spherical hanging lamps but the driver just kept on. Okay, there was always a way to come back and get one. We passed by typical Chinese paraphernalia on display. Rosene spotted the tiled roofs of a beautiful temple. (I read somewhere on the net that there were 2 temples worth-visiting in the area.) But the day's Mr. Taxi Man number 3 seemed to have ideas of his own and did not stop his vehicle in spite of our obvious and heightening desire to go down.

When he finally did a full stop, it was in front of the Bin Thay market. Yes, I've read about it also but this was not where we wanted to go! Okay, we were a bit lost. But there was a silent consensus not to lose our sense of humor. In spite. And so we braved the market's Divisoria-like atmosphere and went in.
The lighting was insufficient. It was dingy. It was musty. And everybody seemed to be shouting at us, grabbing us by the arm, hard-selling their wares. I took a deep breath and snapped, "Don't touch! Don't touch!" Nobody bothered us again. But poor Indie had no choice but to endure this place that was certainly unfit for little kids like her.

In all fairness, the goods came at very low prices. I had this suspicion that even sellers at Ben Thanh buy their stuff from here. We bought Chinese silks, some bags and beaded slippers for Indie. Quickly, we made the rounds and rushed out of the place!
Now, time to get the hanging lamps or that temple visit. Jeez, nobody remembered the street names so how on earth could we go back to both? After much deliberation, we took a cab and just directed the driver to bring us to Ben Thanh, hoping against hope that he will traverse the same streets as the driver before him. As our taxi slowly inched its way out of Cholon, it became clear that we were passing thru unfamiliar roads. And, oh yes, we did miss the must-see pagodas, the Chinatown shopping experience and the lamps Nubs and I wanted so badly!

And the irony of it all—Rosene got a sms from a friend as to the exact location of La Fenetre. And so we ended up where all this cab bad luck started.

The controversial La Fenetre was right above Deco Cafe, in the corner of Nam Ky Koi and Le Thanh Ton. Hell, Nubs, Indie and I were just somewhere in this area yesterday afternoon but how were we suppossed to know?! The climb up to La Fenetre was as just as conversation-provoking as the search for it the night before.
And the inside? It was worth all the misadventures that came with it. La Fenetre was full of character and ambience, filled with beautiful pieces of furniture from another era, each with a story to tell. The windows were tall; the lighting, dramatic. We were not allowed to take photos though after 4 shots. So no food pics again!
We had mozzarella sandwiches, fried chicken, gambas and apple with ginger crepe. All very good but the best had to come in last, of course. The banana and passion fruit crepe. Simply mouth-watering.

We took pictures of the surrounding night scene then went for an after-dinner stroll along Le Thanh Ton.
We bought chips from the local version of 7-Eleven and more of yesterday's 10,000-dong beaded purses after which we took a right at Pasteur where I collected my Mother's Day present from Nubs.
Happy and relaxed at last, we hopped on a cab, without qualms this time. Little Indie chanted, "Mac Thi Buoi! Mac Thi Buoi!", which the good-natured driver found very amusing. Upon depositing father and daughter at the hotel, Rosene and I walked to a nearby moneychanger to replenish our dong supply. Along the way we chanced upon these cute ethnic espadrilles that we both just couldn't resist trying on! So I haggled and haggled until we got a good price for 2 pairs.

We ended the day on a high note—great finds, plus not to mention finding La Fenetre! Who would have thought that another surprise was on the way? By 10 pm, Indie was burning... She was running a fever as high as 39ºC!

Good Morning Vietnam, Day 2

I woke up quite early. Father and daughter slept soundly on the double bed we all shared while Rosene's single bed was empty as she spent the previous night in a friend's flat. I had the morning all to myself so I took some pictures from our room and from the top floor where our morning meals were always served.

It was explore-HCMC-day for the family. After breakfast, we immediately set off on foot to the Opera House which was but two blocks from Mac Thi Buoi. Along the way, we passed by the shops of Dong Khoi, a bridal photo shoot and HCMC's Vespa gang at every turn. Contrary to what I've read about these motorists over the net, I noticed that they were not as unruly as the write-ups said. But then again, it was a Sunday so it was too early to tell.

The Post Office was next. It was very touristy. Everybody was busy clicking away so we took no time joining in the shutter fest. There was quite a number of subjects actually—the grand ceiling, the antique maps on the walls, a portrait of Ho Chin Minh, the telephone booths from another age...

We then crossed the street to the Notre Dame Cathedral and soon found out that we didn't make it to viewing time, darn! Nevertheless, we spent time clicking away with the church's beautiful facade as background.

We were hungry but the only resto in sight was Pho24 which we just had to pass up since we had those back in our Manila malls already. And so we walked some more but the sun was at a rather unforgiving state and Indie was complaining about her empty stomach so we settled on the plain yet decent-looking fast food joint right next to Pho24. Food was very cheap but surprisingly good, the chicken and pork as tender and tasty as we wanted them to be. We also tried the Fanny Ice Cream which was, come to think of it, pricier than the food! But what the heck, the strawberry flavor was authentic. And the mint chocolate was, I must say, close to nirvana.

We were just dodging a bike outside when a smiling waitress came running after us with Indie's forgotten hairband. The Vietnamese were good people, I made a mental note of that.

After siesta at the Thang Long, we went back to our tourists-for-the-day endeavor and were soon at the Cathedral which, thank God, was open for viewing this time. There was a divider just a few steps away from the giant doors that separated the sightseer from the pious and nobody minded it seemed. But I did! I wasn't able to take pictures of the altar which I bet would have been fascinating to photograph just like any old churches anywhere in the world.

We walked further to the left side of the Notre Dame in the direction of the Reunification Palace. The parks were lined with tall trees and populated by locals enjoying their Sunday picnic. I also spotted a rowdy group of men engaged in some form of Viet gambling.

French influence was everywhere. And it was that thing that made HCMC both lovely and mysterious to the eyes of a stranger like myself. It was old like a small European city but it never lost its Asian roots. We walked along Nam Ky Koi Ngia and Pasteur and immersed ourselves in our surroundings.

After some time, we found ourselves in front of the Museum so we gave it a go for 15,000 dong per adult while toddler Indie was free to enter. So on to another round of photo ops.

We came across some independent Saigonese fashion shops somewhere in Pasteur and we were so lucky to find some exquisite and intricately-made beaded bags on sale. Ten thousand dong only I went crazy!

Then there was this other shop selling very unique stuff from Cambodia, Laos and the mountains of Vietnam. I just found the perfect Mother's Day gift for Nubs to buy me! But there was no need to rush...

We reached the People's Committee Hall and wasted no time having our pictures taken in front of the Colonial architecture. By this time, Indie was quite tired so we took a leisurely stroll back to our hotel.

We freshened up and hooked up with an old friend for dinner at Ben Thanh night market. Poppet took us to a crowded al fresco make-shift restaurant with waiters in yellow shirts who were obviously having a hard time keeping up with the sea of diners wanting a taste of whatever the resto had to offer. Given his familiarity with the place, my friend appointed himself in-charge of ordering.

Then viands started falling, as if randomly, into our very, very small table like manna from heaven and there was clearly an absence of space for plates to eat on. Okay, small bowls would have to do but these certainly took a long time coming. And the vegetables! I've never seen so many of them gathered on one table or plate for that matter.

But what do you know! The meal proved to be our best dining experience in this quaint little city. There was pork barbecue, grilled beef, kikiam, sugar cane sticks wrapped in shrimp meat, bean sprouts fried in a lumpia-esque wrapper, yang chow rice, another kind of rice and, of, course, the greens.

And we had to eat everything in a certain way. Like Beijing's Peking Duck, it came with some sort of Saigonese ceremony:

1. First, spread a leaf (lettuce or romaine) on your palm.
   
2. Line it with filling of choice (been sprouts, sugar cane sticks, kikiam, beef or pork) or a combination of two.
   
3. Add a basil leaf or two for that authentic local flavor.
4. Roll it.
   
5. Dunk it into the spicy fish sauce.

And voila, it was simply the best! For a self-declared non-veggie eating carnivore, I had an unbelievable total of 5 rolls. Everybody ate so much it was difficult to get up on our feet to kiss Poppet goodnight!

At Rosene's suggestion, the sumptuous dinner was to be capped by the most delicious crepes in town to be relished in to-die-for ambience. In the span of a few minutes, the search for La Fenetre slowly became the great Saigon adventure for apart from the street name, Rosene had no idea where it really was. After a few intersections, Nubs and I realized that Nam Ky Koi was the same road we passed by during the afternoon but we didn't know exactly what Rosene was looking for and besides streets had this uncanny ability to change appearances under the cover of darkness so we were absolutely of no help! In the middle of all this, Mr. Taxi Man drove steadily, dealing with our friend with the patience of a saint despite the language barrier that hung between them. By the time we gave up and decided to just head back to the hotel, Mr. Taxi Man seemed to have lost a fraction of his patience and grew an allergic reaction to every mention of Nam Ky Koi!

After the failed dessert attempt, I contented myself with a few shots of the Thang Long and was in for another discovery! There, right beside our home in HCMC, seemingly out of place, was a conveneince store not like 7-Eleven or any other air-conditioned mini-mart—it was a sari-sari store no different from the ones back home!

Ho Chi Minh was turning out to be full of surprises I couldn't help but wonder what tomorrow might bring....