The Rain is Coming

Yes, the rainy season is almost here ... probably a week more and it'll hit us. I dread riding in the rain. I get drenched not so much from the rain but from the inconsiderate riders who speed through puddles of dirty, muddy water, splashing bikers riding near them. Idiots! 

The rain will hit us soon

Lovely evening sky when it's not raining (about 6pm here)

Watermelon & Mango Season

It's watermelon galore as cartloads and truckloads of juicy green watermelons descend upon the city, esp the outskirts. The market price in the outskirts is 3,000VND per kg - about 25 cents. So a 4kg melon costs only S$1!! Bought this cute watermelon today from a vendor along Highway 1A - 3,000VND each. Watermelons here are small - 5-6kg is considered big. The really big ones are available only during Tet (Chinese New Year).

And mangoes too ... though the season seems to come a little later than the melons. Here are three (1 kg) that I bought for 6,000VND (in Binh Chanh District) - less than S$0.20 each. Can you believe that? And it's good. The better ones go for about 15,000VND/kg and they're very good.

Bryan's Broken Bones

Our goalkeeper son kept goal so well that he fractured two bones while making a save on Friday. That costs us 1,500,000VND just for consultation, an x-ray and a splint at FV Hospital on Sat.

And he had his cast today - all in - another 1,300,000VND.

World Hotel

Visited World Hotel (short for Top of the World Hotel) today - a new hotel near Zen Plaza (I can see it from the top floor) at the invitation of the manager, a friend of mine. It's a nice and brand new hotel. The rooms are spanking clean - they're new. The name will be changed soon - to Gia Linh Hotel if I'm not wrong - don't know why though. It's not far from the city centre but you'll need to take a cab there if you're not into walking. Think it'll take about 15-20 min to walk to Ben Thanh Market. Taxi fare should be about 12-15,000VND - cheap. It's right next to the "copy" software area (5 min walk) - so IT buffs will find paradize here..well, next to it. 

Address :

29-31 Bui Thi Xuan St.,

Ben Thanh Ward

District 1, HCMC

Tel : 848 3925 1879 - 1880

Fax : 848 3925 1881

Email : reservation@topoftheworldhotel.net

Website : www.topoftheworldhotel 

(Remember - name will be changed this month)

Here are some pix of of the hotel. 

The coffee area next to reception

Superior room

Twin room

Furniture in the rooms

Triple-sharing

Triple-sharing

Restaurant at top floor

Buffet

Nice decor

View from restaurant - the black & white building is Zen Plaza - a shopping centre

Ya Kun in HCMC

Ya Kun has come to Saigon town. A old friend told me about it some weeks ago. So we finally decided to make a trip tonight, only to find a ghost town in the 2-storey building. The deco was quite ok, the service was rather pathetic and the price quite expensive - 190,000VND (about S$18) for 4 of us - no drinks except for my cup of milk tea (which tasted quite close to SG-style). There was a Singapore manager there (gave himself away with his accent) but sadly, he did not even bother to talk to us in spite of our SG accent. This is not the kind of service we expect from a fellow Singaporean. Pathetic!