Purse picked @ LotteMart

Joyce had her purse picked last night - 2 VN women had her constantly sandwiched between them while she was buying vegetables at LotteMart, moving where she moved and picking the same vegetables. While waiting for the vegetables to be weighed, the 2 women left their vegetables and took off, with Joyce and the weighing staff shooting them dirty looks. It was only a while later that Joyce realized the 2 women had unzipped her purse and took off with her cash. Looks like they've been eyeing her for a while.

LotteMart is new and about 5 minute's walk from where we live. There's a huge supermarket on the ground floor, with shops, apparel outlets, food courts, a bookshop and cinemas on the 1st and 2nd floor. It's convenient for us as they have a free delivery service. So we just buy our groceries and they send it up - this is one good thing about VN supermarkets - they all have free delivery service. Prices are reasonable at some outlets although there are one or two expensive shops too.

Latest Shopping News

RUSSIAN MARKET

After weeks of procrastination, we finally "found" time to "find" the new Russian Market (RM), which is quite near to Pham Ngu Lau, the backpackers' area in District 1 (about 15 min walk). It is located at a block of pink apartments (Central Garden Complex) and can only be entered from the new East-West Highway. It's a far cry from it's original state - there were only a handful of shoppers on a Sunday morning. It's a smaller and poorer cousin to Saigon Square and the variety less than the old RM, which was recently reopened (in Lucky Plaza at Nguyen Hue Street) after some renovation works. The good thing was that it had good air-conditioning which unfortunately sent the vendors under their cloths and blankets after lunch (for their mandatory siesta). That didn't make for a good shopping experience; seems like the vendors are all in agreement not to serve the customers but to let them browse at their own time; good in a certain sense.

Russian Market

Central Garden Complex

225 Ben Chuong Duong

District 1

Banner outside RM

RM looking nice and colourful on the outside ...

...but empty inside

Came across a Bambo branch (a local t-shirt chain)

Had lunch at a Monaco cafe (2nd level)

SAIGON PARAGON SHOPPING MALL

(Update : The management of Saigon Paragon has been taken over by Parkson since Jan 2011)

This is one of the latest shopping centre to be opened (first half of 2009, I think) - in District 7, next to the new Saigon Exhibition and Convention Centre. Looks grand and has "Batman" spotlights spotting the sky. Very tempted to put a "Batman" logo there!! But it's as dead as a "ghost shopping centre" (adapted from "ghost town" ... get it?) can get.

Went for dinner at the basement foodcourt on a weekday - you could count the number of diners on your toes!!

There are 4 levels of shops (mostly branded, like Paragon in Singapore) but hardly any shoppers. Megastar Cineplex is located at the 5th level. Things are expensive here - and so not much fun shopping. My idea of great shopping is buying stuff at great discounts or bargain prices. In case you think I'm exaggerating about this ghost town, see the photos :

Nobody ...

and no body ...

Joyce browsing @ Esprit

If you are really desperate to get to this place, you'll have to take a cab from town - about 30-40 minutes from District 1 depending on the traffic.

It has a nice website though.

NOWZONE FASHION MALL

"Now", this is a much better shopping centre to go to, with 4 levels of shops. Each level has small individual outlets and so far, there seem to be quite a number of "sale" going on. Prices are more affordable, so for those who do not like shopping along the streets and at night markets, this is one place to go.

Daiso opened its first store here - everything goes for 30,000VND.

I bought an original Ecko jeans at a discounted price of about 200k (20% of the original price) - now that's a real bargain.

Joyce had a better time shopping along the street outside Nowzone, bought a decent blouse for 60k. T-shirts at the roadside go for about 50k. There's also a bookshop near Nowzone (can't remember the name now) - quite a big one and sells lots of other stuff apart from books and stationery. Mostly patronized by locals - so if you want a taste of local life, this is one place to go.

The food court at the top level serves quite good food - at SG prices. You'll have to buy a card, tell the staff how much you're buying (about 150,000VND is more than sufficient for 2 pax), and she'll add the value in the card for you - like our MRT top-up card. After your meal, you can get an instant refund of the remaining value - strange system to me.

NOWZONE

235 Nguyen Van Cu

District 1

Stairs or Escalator?

How do you get people to use the stairs and not the escalator? Think about it for a minute and then see one creative solution below - brilliantly creative or creatively brilliant?

A day in the life of an Industrial Zone worker

This is the story of an Industrial Zone worker in Vietnam - repeated millions of times over. It's a heart-wrenching tale of trying to improve one's lot - how does one get out of the vicious cycle of poverty? Compare this with Singapore, where many gripe and complain about the smallest of inconveniences ... it's a sin the way we take things for granted in SG!!!

Part 1

Part 2