Saigon Day 1 (July 26th 2010)

It was 12 p.m. and I rushed to the DAMRI bus terminal in Bekasi. Despite the take-off still was at 16.35 but I was on rush. I had a nightmare nights before. I missed the flight and It happened three times (hahaha… I’m just too paranoid). Finally, I got my DAMRI bus. It took exactly an hour from Bekasi to the airport and costed me Rp 30.000. Arrived at terminal 2 D, I waited for the others at Tony Jack’s. After all team members were complete, we went to the AirAsia counter for check in and we also paid for airport tax for Rp 150.000. Then we went to the free fiscal counter. It’s quite easy to free yourself from fiscal. What you have to bring are NPWP of your father/mother/yourself, a copy of your parents’ ID card, and a copy of family card. After all the administration and immigration thingy were clear, we waited at the gate. We finally take off at 5 p.m. , 30 minutes late from the schedule.

The flight itself took about 3 hours. During the flight, the weather wasn’t so good and we got turbulence several times. Finally, we arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City at 8.30 p.m. No time difference between Jakarta and Ho Chi Minh City (from now on, I will call the city as Saigon) . The airport was quite good, even better than Terminal 2 Soekarno-Hatta.

Picture 1: Inside Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Much better than Soetta. Picture 2: Outside the Airport

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

Outside the airport, Martin’s uncle, who lived in Saigon, had waited for us. He accompanied us till the hotel. He chose the taxis and make a deal with the taxi drivers so we didn’t get overcharged. FYI, from the internet, I found that only two taxi company which can be trusted, Vinasun and Malilnh. The other company usually charge the passenger with unbelievable price so please be careful.

We had made room reservation in Ngoc Linh Hotel. The hotel was located in Pham Ngu Lao, District 1. Pham Ngu Lao was just like Jalan Jaksa, Jakarta or Khaosan Road, Bangkok, it’s the backpackers center in Saigon. The taxi from airport to Pham Ngu Lao took about 30 minutes and should cost you less than 120.000 VND. From the taxi, I saw “Saigon-motorcycle-terror”. I always think that motorcycle in Jakarta is chaotic but in Saigon, the motorcycle traffic is far more deadly and far more chaotic than in Jakarta. Not only chaotic, they are also very noisy since they always ring their horns.

Finally, we arrived at Pham Ngu Lao. The Ngoc Linh hotel was located in the alley so it was quite difficult for the newcomers to find this hotel but thanks to the taxi driver and Martin’s uncle, we could find the hotel easily. The hotel itself was quite strategic and it consisted of 5-6 floors and there was NO elevator. So if you got a room at the 5th floor, it means you just do “some” exercise. We reserved two triple rooms and Iroda reserved her own single room. All rooms equipped with AC, cable tv, fridge, and hot water. For the triple room, it costed us US$ 24/ night, that means, US$ 8 per person per night. Quite cheap, wasn’t it? The hotel had one computer near the receptionist table which you can use to access the internet and it is FREE. The staff is also quite helpful. The conclusion for this hotel: 8.5/10.

Picture 1: Triple bedroom (featuring Rio). Picture 2: The bathroom

After we put our bag in the hotel, we immediately went to the Pho restaurant near the hotel. It was our first dinner in Vietnam!!! We were sooo excited. The restaurant’s name was Pho Quynh. They sold beef pho with several variation. The restaurant is quite cheap, the price range between 30.000 - 40.000 dong and the Vietnamese ice coffee milk was only 10.000 dong. The taste was great. We were so happy because we didn’t choose the wrong restaurant. The only problem that we had was the servant didn’t understand English so we must do some “body language”.

Picture 1: The Menu. Picture 2: The Real and Authentic Vietnamese Pho

Photo (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

After having great time at the restaurant, we had a little walk in Pham Ngu Lao area. There was a park full with young men. They played a game that we never see before. They used a shuttlecock-like-thingy and they kick that shuttlecock to their opponent, just like sepak takraw. Later, Rio bought the shuttlecock. We also had a little walk at De Tham street and Bui Vien street. We found a bar with an eye-catching billboard then I decided to take a photo with the billboard as the background.

Bui Vien Streetscape 1

Bui Vien Streetscape 2

This is Crazy Buffalo!!!

An alley near our hotel

Pham Ngu Lao's Park where so many Vietnamese doing exercise in the night

Photos (c) Zarwindo S, 2010

It was almost midnight. Time for us to take a rest because the 2nd day would be a long and exhausting day.

Expenses:
Bus DAMRI Bekasi – Soekarno Hatta: Rp 30.000
Lunch at Tony Jack : Rp 18.500
International airport tax: Rp 150.000
Taxi (-)  apparently, Martin’s uncle paid for the taxi
Beef Pho: 30.000 VND
Vietnamese ice coffee: 10.000 VND
Shopping at circle K: 10.000 VND
Total expense at day 1: Rp 198.500 and 50.000 VND