HCM Day 1

My first collage.. Haven't quite figure how to put up a bigger pic without sacrificing the pic. Seems like each time i upload a pic to somewhere, it will be automatically resized. Anyone any suggestions?
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After 3 mths of waiting (Tiger cheap tickets available 3mths ahead), finally, touch down! Casting aside work, projects, deadlines, complaints... well, 300 miles away, but just a phonecall away too,
Its HOLIDAY! For a WEEK!
Some may wonder, 1 week? Isn't tt long? I think its just enough.. if only i have 1 mth. Sadly seems like SG people dun have the luxury of time. we shld have some sort of long holidays!

Itinerary
For this week, the brieft itinerary is to travel down south. From HCM, we will travel along Mekong Delta to a small town call Can Tho, then from there we will break off from the main group, make our way to a port town call Rach Gia, then taking a 1hr ferry to the island. The return trip will be to fly a USD 33 Viet Airline back to HCM and reutrn to SG.
More on Phu Quoc. Highly recommended for a peaceful and relaxing getaway.

This is my 1st time taking budget airlines. Actually i kinda like it, as it is really hassle free. Its cheap, efficient and convenient.

After 1 1/2hrs, we touched down at Tan Son Nhat Int Airport. The airport is smaller than what i will expect of an international airport. But at least the waiting time for baggage is faster than at Suvarnabhumi.

After negotiating with the touts, we got our ride to Empress Hotel for USD 5. Pretty standard. During our exploration, we did realise that buses there can be taken with more ease as the destination is clearly spelt out on the bus. Not like in BKK, where most signss are in Thai.
Chaotic roads with mostly scooters. Gone r the days of bicycles and "cyclos" as the gov slowly phase them out.

After checking in, we grab a tourist map, and easily oriented ourselves to walk. We walked to the Backpackers' Street, along Pham Ngu Lao, to book our tours. settling for some vietnam fast food along the way .(Basically like KFC). Highly recommend Sinhcafe for any tour packages.

I will that my excellent travel mate is so informative, well-read and accomdative! Thanks!

The rest of the day was spent walking around the town to hunt for the elusive Parkson shopping centre! We spent hours finding in. We only had the name of the street and a map. However in HCM, once you take out a map and start looking lost, there will always be someone to come around to help you. Sincere helpers who will help call on others if they don't know. But still, we spent hours finding the place. Crossing the streets can be very challenging. Just look at the motorcyclist, cross confidently. The bikes will siam you. If not, there will be friendly tourist police at major road junctions to help you. (i heard that Hanoi people are less friendly. Will find out on our next trip) Finally after finding the place, we realised it was actually just around the courner, while we had simply just walked behind it!

It was actually a fruitful walk. Looking at the map, we realised we have covered much of the town. And even being able to recognise some key roads and buildings. ALong the way, we passed by the famous hotels like Continental Hotel (breakfast there is supposing good), Rex Hotel (interesting pub), Ho Chi Min Statue.
Dinner was settled at a rather expensive (abt SGD 12 total - noodles can go for about SGD 2 on the streets) pasta as there din seem to be any food around.
Finally, we got back to the hotel and rested... Needed to have a good rest as this is going tobe few of the better hotels tt we r going to be staying... =)
Stay tuned for day II