Back home for CNY

It's good to be back home for CNY (29 Jan to 13 Feb 2011). Problem is that it's been raining the past 2 days so we're stuck at home. Apart from NEX Shopping Mall (which has a sheltered walkway all the way from our block), going out would mean hauling an umbrella and getting wet - too lazy to do that. Anyway, we're meeting the old CHR gang this evening ... hope the rain stops by then.

... and so we finally arrived at the 6-star St Regis in Tanglin Road. Never been to a 6-star hotel

before, so thanks to Mr Chow, we're here. Decor is nice but doesn't feel any different from the other 4- or 5-star hotels in Singapore. We had dinner at Yan Ting Chinese Restaurant.

St Regis

At King's Hotel

At Si Chuan Dou Hua Restaurant, Parkroyal on Beach Road

At Hong Seng's home in Holland Village

More photos of our activities :

Mum's birthday

Proud Grandma with granddaughter Adel

Adel's dessert treat@Caramel

Had dinner at Grandma's Restaurant in Nex twice

Menu at Grandma's

Where to get O•P•I in HCMC

Adel needed us to buy a bottle of O•P•I nail polish for her as it costs a bomb in SG. We're talking about the original stuff here. True enough - it's only 180,000VND (S$11.25) at Parkson Flemington. Unfortunately, the outlet had only a small selection. Going to check with their office tomorrow to see if they have more colours. For those who want to know the O•P•I addresses :

253A-B Nam Ky Khoi Nghia P7 Q3 Tel (08) 3243 0562
142 Ba Thang Hai Q10 Tel (08) 3243 0559 (this office has closed! Went past it on 28 Jan 11)
Parkson C.T. Plaza (next to the airport) Tel (08) 3297 1820
Parkson Flemington Q11
103 Nguyen Hue Q1
03 Chau Van Liem Q5
06 Le Thi Rieng Q1

http://www.opi.com

Blackout and Mus*Mus Healthy Hot Pot

Went home to find the whole area almost pitch dark. Blackout ... again. Seems like this year, it'll be worse because there's not enough water (for the dams) and consumption is rising every year.

So we had to go out for dinner. Drove around and found this Japanese hotpot restaurant. Value-for-money, I would say as the shabu shabu hotpot for 2 was 180,000VND (S$11.20) - see pix below. The pot itself was big enough for 4 pax. Total damage was 204,000vnd which includes tea and tax. Mus Mus also has sushi and other Japanese food.


Mus*Mus Healthy Hot Pot
117 Vo Van Tan (just after Truong Dinh)
Q3
08-3930-9135
www.musmus.net

Lunch : 11.00-14.30
Dinner : 17.00-22.30

If you don't like Japanese hotpot, you can go next door for some coffee and ice-cream, and the next door for Vietnamese BBQ, and the next door for Bready (bakery-cum-cafe selling good and reasonable food). Or across the road (there's a new expensive restaurant) and its neighbour - local Vietnamese rice paper roll and noodles. Or at the junction of Vo Van Tan and Ba Huyen where there's a seafood restaurant. No shortage of eating places along this small stretch.

HCMC Taxis

Was outside Ben Thanh Market yesterday. Took several photos to differentiate between the good guys and the bad in the taxi business here.

(Warning : There are many pirate taxis outside and around Ben Thanh Market. They also park themselves at Nguyen Hue outside Saigon Tax Trade Center's entrance. Be sure you know the real from the pirates. Don't know why the authorities allow them to dominate that area.)

Always take either Mai Linh or Vinasun. They're 95% honest, always some bad hats around.

Here's the real Mai Linh.

Problem :
Mai Linh has 3 different taxi colours : white-green, green and silver-green.
Always look at the driver - if he wears a tie, he's probably the real thing.
Mai Linh drivers wear a green tie.


Here's the real Vinasun.

Problem :
The unlicensed taxis "disguise" themselves with Vinasun's tel number "272727".
The real Vinasun tel number is 38 272727, and the driver wears a maroon tie.


Some of the other genuine taxi companies:

All the drivers are supposed to wear ties too.
My opinion : Vinataxi (the yellow one) and Hoang Long (green & yellow) are next in line after Mai Linh and Vinasun.
All the rest I try to avoid, especially SaigonTourist, the airport taxi (can't remember the name) and very sadly, Savico-Comfort. Sad because Comfort is from Singapore and this joint-venture taxi company has ripped me off twice by bringing me a big round.


Here are the fakes :





The advertised tel numbers end with 272727 or 272777.
They come in variations, the most common being : 38 272777, 54 272727
So don't be fooled. The best way is to look for the driver's "tie".
Be forewarned - all their meters are rigged.
You'll end up paying 3-5 times the normal rates or more.

In some cases, 10 times!!!

Interesting tit-bits:
- In case you're wondering, there are decal shops that can provide the "disguise" for a fee. Not sure where they get the meters from though.
- I know Vinasun inspectors go round on motorbikes doing checks on taxi-drivers. They snap a photo if the driver is not wearing his tie. That's what happened to me one night - though I had my pix taken by a crazy fellow until the driver started cursing and putting on his tie.

References :
http://www.vietnamtravel.org/taxis-saigon-avoid-being-taken-ride
- good article. Note that Mai Linh has changed its number from 262626 to 383838.

Sunday "stroll" around town - Hello Kitty, Swensen's

We took a Sunday "stroll" on my bike around town today. Found a new "Hello Kitty" shop - great news for "Hello Kitty" fans. Prices seem reasonable to me - 250,000 upwards for a bag. But we're no HK fans, so just browsed around and left.



Address :
Hello Kitty
360, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai
Quan 3
(after CMT8)
Tel : 08 7303 7900; 0903669100
Website : www.kittybycam.com
E-mail : minhanh3891@yahoo.com

Checked out Swenson's for lunch.
"Assume" = making an ass of u and me, ya? And so assume we did - that Swenson's will have a menu for lunch just like in Singapore. We sat down only to find that they served only ice-cream and coffee!!! No food!!! Hungry, hungry. No choice - ordered a waffle and a brownie. Both came with a scoop of ice cream of our choice. Damage : 45,000vnd for waffle, 55,000vnd for brownie. Fair price to pay. Waffle was freshly made and brownie was fresh too.


Swenson's
73 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street,
Quan 1
(848) 3838 8335
(it's after Tran Hung Dao Str.)

Next on our list - the latest Russian Mart. No change in the place. Not fruitful today - didn't get anything there. There was a very nice backpack there for 700,000vnd but since I'm not going trekking anytime soon, no point buying one now.

Then it's to Ben Thanh to buy some lotus nuts and soursop sweets - prices have gone up quite a bit probably due to Tet.

Misty City

The whole city was blanketed in a heavy mist this morning, so much so that the horizon from my balcony has disappeared. I think it's probably due to the cold spells that the north is experiencing now. It has been misty for the past week or so in the mornings, but never this bad. But it's a nice change - the air can be quite cold in the morning, making for a refreshing drive to school.

However, the freak weather is giving lots of people a big headache. Peach blossoms and other flowering plants are not flowering in time for Tet, with potential losses running into tens of thousands of US$.