Mr. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Trung Nguyen coffee house, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Finally I could taste the real local Vietnamese coffee. This shop is called Trung Nguyen. Trung means center and Nguyen is just a name (like "Chow") - prounced as "Wuen". By the way, don't ever visit those foreign coffee place like one called Gloria Jean's. They over-price the coffee by 3-4 times and taste is so so.
1. the shop. 2. I ordered a mild caffeine called Passiona - so good for me to buy one ground coffee bean after I tried it! Highly recommended for those who can't take strong coffee.

3. this one is called "Legend" - quite strong. 4. this is a mixed coffee - medium strong but still very thick. 5. I put my Passiona into ice cubes and make it less thick.

Dan Ich Hot Pot restaurant, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Brought to this local hot pot restaurant close to China Town, the first sight reminded me of my childhood. So nostalgic to me and such a memory!


1. we told the locals about "frying ghost" - how people hated that devil officer called "Chin Quay". As "Quay" sounded like "ghost" in Chinese, then people made some flour doughnut and deep frying it to express their anger to deep fry "quay". 2. local beer - the locals put some ice in the beer to keep it cold.

3. the restaurant inside. See how we can recall our childhood. 4. the restaurant's tableware.

5. the restaurant. 6. beef in grilled in garlic.

7. deep fried shrimp balls. 8. fried rice.
9. the hot pot.

Maxim's restaurant, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

On the first night arriving Ho Chi Minh City, my business fellows and I went to this Maxim's restaurant next to the Hotel Majestic. Apparently from the name of this restaurant, the atmosphere and the food are quite French influenced.

1. baby lotus stem salad - I immediately ordered this one as I wanna compare my favourite dish I tried in Nha Trang Viet restaurant in HK. Quite disappointing - this one is not that good as they used too much Chinese celery and make the taste too overwhelming. 2. cheese baked clam - this one is actually quite French and I think it's the best we have ordered.

3. No need to tell - garlic bread. However, we got told it's a very foreign taste food but no matter what, it's not my preference as I like plain bread without anything, not even with butter or jam. 4. Fried shrimp chip - pretty good but a bit oily and the frying and oil control technique needs to be improved.

5. The young coconut is a bit different from what we have tasted in Thailand, but it's bigger inside. However, I prefer the Thai young coconut. 6. Maxim's seafood soup - much too sweet (sugar taste). Interesting I found something unmatched in the soup - like string bean and Chinese green but it's in a tomato soup base.
7. Ain't it look like a Chinese stir fried noodle but this time the other ingredients are much more than the noodle. 8. seafood omelette - a bit oily but it's quite tasty.

9/10. the restaurant

What do these two Vietnamese words (in red) mean?

I was told that Chinese language was widely used in Vietnam 30 years ago and even up until now there are some words derived from Chinese. Besides, I saw many Chinese customs still taking place in Vietnam. Like in the Chinese New Year, the first day is to visit your parents or the closet relatives. Then the 3rd day is supposed not for any visit - called "red mouth". Then the 7th day is everybody's birthday. The 15th day is the rounding up of Chinese New Year. They call it as Lunar New Year - same as Korea.

OK, this is quite easy to guess if you can speak Mandarin "Ho'ang Ty". Hint: a person in the ancient time of China.

Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon, Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) has a population of 6 million (total 83 million in Vietnam) people, ranked as the most populated city in Vietnam. The capital city Hanoi is the second with 4 million and Da Nang with 2 million (if you would notice most HKG-BKK flight often fly over Da Nang before hitting Thailand). Ho Chi Minh City is a bit below my expectation. The city's infrastructure really needs to be improved. The locals take motorbikes as their own transportation. So the air pollution is the worst among all the cities I have ever been to. Also, it's so noisy. I would prefer Hanoi after all.

1. a view to the western part of Hong Kong Island. See how heavy the smog is around HK island, due to polluted air emitted from the factory plants in Shen Zhen area. The HK Gov't should know that dealing in the control of HK's air pollution doesn't improve the air quality much. I really hope those senior officers should have had a better study about geography when they were in high school! 2. the Opera House in Ho Chi Minh City.

3. the bathroom of Sheraton Saigon. 4. the Saigon Cafe. 5. the lobby.
6. the lobby. 7. the bedroom

8/9. the breakfast - that's the most rewarding meal for me during my stay. It's not that outstanding but just I had too much "local" food.

10 the swimming pool, Sheraton Saigon.

11. Hotel Continental. 12. City Hall.

13. a cinema - doesn't it remind you your old time memory? 14. Ben Thanh market - an indoor market like any other tourist place. Advise not to shop there. The shops can drop their prices from $100 to $20 even you don't say anything. I was told by the locals that the price was marked up by almost 10 times.

15. What a spectacular scene of motorbikes! By the way, if I have a super wide angle lens, you would see this motorbikes is like a long endless stream. 16. the pirate CD shop market - the shops will tailor made whatever compilation you like. I think it's the worst pirate market I have ever seen.

17. One of the record companies I visited. I noticed they live there and work there too. 18. the Copyright collection society in Ho Chi Minh City.

19/20. Saigon River - very quiet.

21. Saigon River in day time - it's mainly for transportation. I think they should have developed it for more tourists. 22. the Rose Lounge of Ho Chi City Airport.

23/24. the Ho Chi Minh City Airport.