Banh Xeo at Dinh Cong Trang, District 1 at Saigon

Saigon, this city serves a nostalgic and peculiar sense to me. Not that i have been here. Just that i feel the name Saigon in itself is of something special. It was late in the evening. The familiar hustle and bustle scene of the traffic was back. Just returned from exploring the lively Mekong River Delta was certainly one of the highlights during my stay in Saigon. Well, this would be my last night staying in Saigon before i headed to Dalat.

So, i decided on going to 46A, Dinh Cong Trang Street for the famous and delicious Banh Xeo, a kind of Vietnamese pancake fried on pans with some shrimps, pork and bean sprouts. The motorbike journey to the place was one helluva ride. I mean, really, it was one hell of a ride for those who have not yet experienced the infamous Saigon motorbikes invasion first hand. The traffic light is of no use. Hey, it's like going into battle with you charging into a formation of motorbike-soldiers head on--in and out, in and out, without fail until you reach your destination every time when there is traffic light. That of course, provided you come out in one piece beforehand.

I ordered one Banh Xeo, some Cha Gio (fried spring rolls) and Goi Cuon (fresh spring rolls). Since this is my first time being served on this Vietnamese cuisine, i was obliviously in the dark on how to savor this delicacy. Of course, you could just eat it like normal pancake in itself. But i observed. The locals definitely not eating their Banh Xeo just like that. They prepared the vegetable leafs, put one Cha Gio in it, grabbed some pieces of Banh Xeo, with a little of every ingredients in it, rolled together and dipped into the ever tasty Nuoc Nam (fish sauce). That's how the locals eat it. And, that's how i ate it. Perfect! Bon appetit!



Banh Xeo


Cha Gio (fried spring rolls with nuoc nam)


How the Banh Xeo is prepared


Fried over a hot charcoal stove


The place to be for Banh Xeo

Friendly 2 Pub and Restaurant in Hue, Vietnam

One of the restaurants that i think should be recommended to the readers is Friendly 2 Pub and Restaurant in Hue, Vietnam. The specialty of the restaurant is local Hue cuisine. The address of this restaurant is 27, Vo Thi Sau Street, Hue, Vietnam. Telephone no. is 054-240506. The whole restaurant is run by the family members, notably the dishes are all prepared by the sisters.

Recommended dishes are:


Banh Beo (20,000 VND) - This used to be a favorite of past kings. Always a treat during Vietnamese parties. Quarter sized rice cakes topped with crispy chopped shrimps and pork melt in your mouth.



Banh Loc (15,000 VND) - Banana leaf wrapped Loc cake. This dish is hard to prepare. Clear chewy tapioca is wrapped around pieces of pork and shrimp. The flour must be just right so that the right consistency is reached.



Ca Basa Kho To (35,000 VND) - Basa fish (belongs to catfish family found in Mekong River) cooked in the hot pot. The sauce is particularly tasty and the texture of the fish is just right.



Beef Grilled Over Charcoals (30,000 VND)

Other dishes on the menu are:

1. Banh Khoai (10,000 VND) - Vietnamese pancake. A crunchy yellow shell folded over bean sprouts, eggs, tofu and pork. This is delicious when combined with locally grown lettuce.

2. Banh Nam (15,000 VND) - Leaf wrapped with Nam cake. Open up the steamy leaf and scoop out the mixture of rice flour, shrimp and herbs. Dip in the spicy sauce and enjoy.

3. Muc Chien Nhoi Thit (35,000 VND) - Squid stuffed with spiced ground pork.

Cai Rang Floating Market in Cantho

I was on a tour to Mekong Delta on my third day in Vietnam. The whole package was only USD18 for a 2 days 1 night trip to the Mekong Delta region. The bus journey started in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) and arrived in Cai Be some three hours later. You will see a smaller version of floating market here. Then, we took a boat ride through the maze of shady small canals visiting the An Binh islands in Vinh Long. We saw how people cultivate their orchards, making coconut candy and rice paper. We took a bicycle ride around the area after taken our lunch.

A short boat stop landed on Vinh Long market later that day for us to explore the area. Then, from Cai Von our wonderful boat trip reached Cantho, where we stayed the night.

The next morning, we cruised along the small and picturesque tributaries by rowing boat and experienced the hustle and bustle of Cai Rang floating market first hand. The Cai Rang floating market is by far the largest floating market in the whole Mekong Delta region. Business is the busiest during the early morning. Each boat displays what they are selling by tying the samples onto a stick and displaying it upright.

Later, we visited a rice husking mill and made a stop at Cantho market. We headed back to HCMC later that afternoon where the madness of the traffic awaits us.


A church in Vinh Long



Small shady canal in Vinh Long



This guy showing his skill with kids looking on at Vinh Long market



Boats at Cai Rang floating market


Deals are made on the boats



Different boats selling different goods



A woman rowing a boat and get ready to do business



You know what this boat is offering. Pineapples of course!

Magnificent & Stunning Halong Bay

One can book a 2 days 1 night trip to Halong Bay from Hanoi for as little as USD29 per person. Bus journey from Hanoi to Halong City (Hon Gai) takes 3 1/2 hours, passing Haiphong along the way. Once we reached the port at about 12pm, we were taken on board the boat and start cruising along Halong Bay. Lunch was taken on board the boat.

At 3pm, we were guided to visit one of the caves in Halong Bay. In this case, the Amazing Cave. Halong Bay is famous not only for its magnificent view and scenery, but also for its geological value of the numerous caves around the area.

After visiting the cave, one could opt to kayak around the blue and tranquil water of Halong Bay.

We stayed the night off the shore near the southern tip of Cat Ba Island after dinner and head back to Halong City the next morning.



Boats anchored outside the Amazing Cave



Typical boat at Halong Bay



View of Halong Bay in the evening



Mysterious & beautiful Halong Bay



Such a heavenly picture of Halong Bay!



Halong Bay at 5.37pm in the evening

Best Stuffed Baguette (Banh Mi) in Vietnam

Of many baguettes i sampled in Vietnam, the best one was undoubtedly be found in the city of Dalat, a cool hill-station retreat in the central highlands region of Vietnam.

This is due to the many bakery outlets that opened around the downtown area of Dalat. They sell impressive looking breads and cakes. In fact, Dalat is famous for its coffee and cakes.

I've compiled a list of bakeries that sell mouth-watering stuffed baguette (Banh Mi) that taste so good and not expensive at all. It costs only 5,000 VND (0.32 USD) each. They all located at the 3/2 Street (D 3 Thang 2) of Dalat.

My personal favorite is at Tiem Banh Lien Hoa (literally translate Lotus Bakery). Address : 19, 3/2 Street, Dalat. Telephone numbers 063-837303. Their baguettes are the best. Even local people queue up for them.


Banh Mi stall inside Lien Hoa


Tiem Banh Lien Hoa (Lotus Bakery)


Alternatively, one may try Hieu Banh Hoan Hy 2's. Address : 14, 3/2 Street, Dalat. Telephone numbers 063-830457.


Banh Mi stall inside Hoan Hy 2


Bami Kim Anh is the franchise looking Banh Mi outlet located the the corner (or junction) of 3/2 Street. They have variety of fillings that you could choose for your baguettes, i.e. eggs, chicken, beef, kebabs, etc.


Kim Anh's baguette


Bami Kim Anh

Hope you all have a pleasant stays in Dalat. With a cup of coffee and a baguette in hands, take a stroll around the Xuan Huong Lake. What a relaxing moment!


Xuan Huong Lake


Strolling path around Xuan Huong Lake


The "Eiffel Tower" in Dalat

Vietnam Excursion (23/12/07-05/01/08)

Finally, i have booked the air ticket to Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) from Singapore, using the service of budget airline Tiger Airways. This is almost one month after i booked the return ticket from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur. After comparing the fares of two Singapore budget airlines Jetstar Asia and Tiger Airways, i decided to go with Tiger Airways because of its lower airfare and more convenient departure time.

My tentative itinerary would be visiting HCMC, Mekong Delta, Dalat, Danang, Hue and Hanoi. Main mode of transportation between major cities would be using Reunification Express train.

HCMC - Notre Dame Cathedral, Reunification Palace, etc.
Mekong Delta - Mytho, Vinh Long, Cantho, the floating market.
Dalat - Cool mountain retreat.
Danang / Hoi An - China Beach.
Hue - Citadel (UNESCO World Heritage Site).
Hanoi - Old Quarter, Halong Bay, etc.

I attended a travelogue held in Kuala Lumpur a couple of years back about visiting Vietnam. The presenter of the travelogue opined that one should at least watch two movies before visiting Vietnam; these two movies titled Apocalypse Now and The Lover.

Apocalypse Now was directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Martin Sheen and Marlon Brando. It's set during Vietnam War. It tells the story of Army Captain Benjamin L. Willard (Martin Sheen) who is sent into the jungle to assassinate United States Army Special Forces Colonel Walter E. Kurtz (Marlon Brando), who is said to have gone insane. The film has been viewed as a journey into the darkness of the human psyche.

As for The Lover, it was a movie adapted from an autobiographical French novel L'Amant by Marguerite Duras. The movie version was directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Jane March and Tony Leung Ka-Fai. It's set against the backdrop of French colonial Vietnam during 1920's. The Lover reveals the intimacies and intricacies of a romance between a pubescent girl (Jane March), from a financially strapped French family and an older, wealthy Chinese man (Tony Leung Ka-Fai). This movie was one of the sexiest movie i have ever watched. Believe me.

One of the signature cuisine in Vietnam is of course the pho, a kind of clear soup noodle with beef or chicken variation. The other dish would be Vietnamese spring rolls. Would also like to taste their famous Vietnamese coffee.

Bonjour Vietnam!

Crossing the Wallace's Line : A Travelogue

[9th May 2007]

After 6 days in Bali, Winston, Alvin and I started our journey to conquer Mt Rinjani in Lombok, an island located 35km east of Bali, Indonesia.

We rent a car and arrived at the Padangbai ferry terminal at around 11.50am for 260,000 rp, not a good deal for me. At the ferry terminal, some touts tried very hard to squeeze more out of our limited money supply. I knew their tricks for I had been traveled alone before. At one point, there was this guy who tried to out-smart us by agreeing a ferry ticket for 25,000 rp each and then charged us 50,000 rp each when he asked us to pay. We refused to pay and I really got angry with their dirty tricks and scolded them. Luckily, we managed to get the tickets for 25,000 rp (RM10) each when we approached the official ticket booth and run and hopped into the ferry just in the nick of time before the ferry raised its bridge. 12.00pm on the dot. Phew! We felt like doing Amazing Race live!

According to my trusted Lonely Planet travel book, the ferry trip should take around 3 1/2 to 4 hours depending on the sea and wind condition. So, my hope of meeting Saiful at Lembar ferry terminal at 3pm in Lombok was still very much on time. We were excited and restless. Winston and Alvin even went up to the upper deck and into the navigation room. The sea were rough, the ferry wobbled hard.

Actually, the ferry was navigating itself to cross the famous Wallace's Line* between Bali and Lombok that is separated by the deep Lombok Strait. We noticed the colour of the sea changed from blue to black at some points and that confirms how deep the Lombok Strait actually is.



Yonder! We are not crossing the Bermuda Triangle but the Wallace's Line.

Time passed us by. At 4pm, the end was still far away. We decided to send Saiful a short message to tell him to keep on waiting for us. He replied positively and we were relieved. At least, we were still on the right course.

5.30 pm, we could see the end is near. The ferry was approaching the Lembar ferry terminal and waiting to dock. The whole docking maneuver took another 30 minutes to finish. At 6pm, we were on our feet again. For a mere 25,000 rp, this ferry trip was worth every rupiah we paid for it. From far away, I could see Saiful was waiting for us. We exchanged some friendly handshakes and he took us to his brand new 1 day on-the-road van that we had the honour to first sit on it. Or so he said. It took us another 3 1/2 hours, across city roads and more so country roads to reach the valley of Sembalun Lawang, the trail head of Mt Rinjani trek.

We had our dinner and the day was gone. It took us more than 10 hours from our hotel in Bali to reach the starting point of the trek at Sembalun Lawang.


* Wallace's Line - According to the Lonely Planet: Bali & Lombok travel book, the 19th-century naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) observed great differences in fauna between Bali and Lombok. In particular, there were no large mammals (elephants, rhinos, tigers etc) east of Bali and very few carnivores. He postulated that during the ice ages, when sea levels were lower, animals could have moved by land from what is now mainland Asia all the way to Bali, but deep Lombok Strait would always have been a barrier. Thus he drew a line between Bali and Lombok, which marked the biological division between Asia and Australasia. Plant life, on the other hand, does not display such a sharp division, but there is a gradual transition from predominantly Asian rain forest species to mostly Australian plants like eucalypts and acacias, which are better suited to long dry periods. Wikipedia has a good article on the Wallace's Line, do check it out.