Crescent Mall

Went to Crescent Mall in Phu My Hung (District 7) yesterday to check it out since it has just opened its doors in end Nov 11. It's a huge mall, and a huge disappointment. It's boring ... ground floor has many big brands with big discounts for Tet ... but who's gonna buy Gap or Tommy Hilfiger when Saigon Square and so many other places have "copies" at a fraction of the price? Looked for a bookstore but there was none. Looked for a restaurant and only MOF and Pizza Nut were available. And you can give MOF a miss there (we had lunch there) - the quality of food sucks, poor service and poor value for money. You're better off going to the one in Le Loi Street in District 1. The foodcourt is nothing fantastic. Giant Supermarket at the basement is also huge but prices seem higher than normal. There's a big Cholon electronics supermart next to Giant.

While it wasn't exactly a waste of time, it wasn't a good shopping experience for us at Crescent Mall either. To top it all, the quality of finishing in the mall is pathetic. Many tiles are stained and the wooden floor parts have started popping out after just 2 odd months - someone should be "shot" for that.

Website : http://www.the-crescent.com/trung-tam-thuong-mai

Wooden tiles popping out

Stains like these all over the place

Gyu Jin ShabuShabu & Sukiyaki Hotpot Restaurant

Happen to drive by this evening. The restaurant looked interesting so we decided to have dinner there. It near Bui Vien Street in Pham Ngu Lao so those staying at the backpackers' area can just walk there. It's a ShabuShabu & Sukiyaki Hotpot Restaurant. We took the Combo at 300,000vnd (S$18) each - unlimited servings of beef, seafood, vegetables, mushroom, etc - good value for money if you love good beef. Saw this 2 men at the next table eating nothing but beef, beef and beef!!!

Address : 102 Cong Quynh, P. Pham Ngu Lao, Q1

Website : www.gyujin.com.vn

Tet - Chinatown

Tons of Tet decorations for sale in Cholon (Chinatown) in HCMC. Nowhere else will you be able to find the range and quantity of Tet decorations save for here. Small-time retailers buy from these shops for resale in other districts.

The new Quan An Ngon

We finally stepped into the "new" Quan An Ngon Vietnamese Restaurant last night - about a year or so after it reopened. The old restaurant was demolished and a new one rebuilt in its place. The old Quan An Ngon was famous for its wide variety of Vietnamese food and more importantly, for its really reasonable prices...but that was more than 3 years ago.

Prices have increased 2-3 times. This makes it no more fun to dine there (as far as I'm concerned). For instance, a sinh to (fruit shake) costs 42,000vnd, a coconut 25,000vnd, a bowl of pho 42-48,000vnd, a cafe sua da (ice milk coffee) 32,000vnd, and crab cost 460,000vnd/kg. The quality of the food is just average. I think the only reason I would want to go there again is probably to bring some visitors there because the wide range of Vietnamese food under one roof.

Address :

Quan An Ngon 138

138 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia

District 1

(Diagonally opposite the entrance to the Reunification Palace)

New Year's Eve in HCMC

It's New Year Day. Went for dinner at Dragon Noodle after mass last evening. Caught a bit of the New Year's Eve madness in downtown Dong Khoi Street - it's going to be packed later in the night. It's like Vietnamese have no where to go except to town ... actually to some extent, that's true. Can't blame them. Anyway, we "ran" away back home after dinner to a more peaceful environment.