Being careful with the number of credit cards to bring, the one he used to pay for his e-ticket happened to be deselected for the trip & he’s not allowed to check-in without his card. After all the hoo-ha, the only solution was to treat it as a new transaction, made another payment with another card & then had the previous payment reverted. As a result of it, an additional S$50 as a “walk-in” customer. Thank God he left his office early & could afford some time in sorting this out.
As I’d a meeting during the time he arrived at the airport, I’d made prior arrangement with the hotel for an airport pick-up for him. But the driver did not show up (according to the hotel there’s traffic congestion) & hubby waited for about 15mins at the airport. He ended up taking a taxi to the hotel @ the same price & that’s after a 40% bargain. I was fed up. To appease my anger, they offered us a free ride to the other hotel that we’re supposed to check into the following day. To me it’s negligible as the hotel wasn’t too far away so even if we took a cab it wouldn’t cost more than a few dollars. But I was in such good mood that even if they didn’t offer anything, I wouldn’t pursue the matter... as long as hubby reached hotel safely. Furthermore the reservation was made by our sister company in HCMC & I definitely didn’t wanna blow up a small matter like this.
Finally got to see my hubby dearest after nearly an hour’s wait. After settling down & some catching up, we went for a short walk before dining out at the hotel’s Rooftop Garden, which is a famous restaurant among tourists.
Hubby was completely bowled over by the throngs of motorcycles, the "laissez-faire " traffic, the noise, the super hot & humid weather…. I wasn’t feeling any better neither but was more than contented having hubby with me especially after those few stressful days. One problem though… I was drenched with perspiration after a few rounds at the market!
I didn’t wish to return to the hotel too early but there wasn’t much of a choice for us. Take a look at our Rex Hotel... you may like it ya?
Next morning, we’re woken up by the ringing of the hotel phone. The manager-on-duty again apologized for what happened the previous day & said they’d be sending up a fruit basket for Mr Soh in a minute. They’re so apologetic that all in all we’re compensated with :
- a free ride to the other hotel
- a fruit basket
- a waive-off of US$10 originally charged for double-occupancy
June had asked us to get for her some rice paper for Vietnamese spring rolls & its sauce. The rice paper was not very difficult to get but the sauce as there’re actually a few types & we didn’t understand what they’re trying to tell us. Thank God we happened to meet a very friendly & helpful couple. The girl, Amy, was American-Vietnamese & her boyfriend, Viet, was a French-Vietnamese. They even helped us pay for the 2 bottles of sauce & brought us around the market. Amy has her own beauty salon in the US & would bring in supplies from this particular shop. And thanks to her that I found some great buys... like OPI nail polish selling from S$5 – S$7.50 (hubby's female colleagues were so envious when he related to them as they said OPI nail polish priced around $40+ per bottle)! Other brands ranging from S$0.30 – S$2.50. In total I got 7 bottles of nail polish, 2 packs of Shiseido Naturgo ocean mineral clay mask @ S$0.20/pack, 2 brushes which Amy said were of good quality as they came from the same factories of some famous brands. I hope she’s right as I paid S$15 for the face/cheek brush & S$5 for the concealer/eyeshadow brush. Previously I was so tempted to buy a Shu Uemura face brush but had to pay about S$90! So no, I didn’t get it.
They also invited us to go for a bite with them but we declined. They’re very nice people... if only we stayed longer, we’d have suggested dinner with them.
When they knew where we’re staying, we could see their eyes nearly popped out. Amy said they stayed in a nice guesthouse @ US$10 & she recommended it to us. Out of politeness I told them we’d consider for our next trip to Saigon. But I know I can’t do it... I’ve got this stupid fetish about hotel rooms. How I wish I could be like many others who could make-do with a budget hotel. I tried before but was in misery & really defeat the purpose of going on a holiday. I’d rather scrimp on meals or other things than on the accommodation. So poor hubby has to pay much more to travel with his baobei wife.
So to speak, I’m really happy that we stayed in a very nice hotel as this trip was comparatively a very different 1 for us. Our “energy span” was 3 hours the max, after which we’d have to head back to the hotel to take a rest. We’re not used at all to the noise, the heat, the aggressiveness in crossing the roads & keeping a watchful eye in case at any time a motorcyclist wculd ramp onto us. When I was in Ben Thanh market on the 1st morning, I was so thoroughly soaked with perspiration that I nearly finished 1 packet of 3-ply tissue by myself. & I looked awful. As for the night market, we got very tired of watching over our shoulders for any oncoming bikes as they’d endlessly stream through in-between the stalls & sounding their honks... it could get real distracting & frustrating rather than enjoying the shopping stroll from stall to stall. Hence it felt really good to return to our haven after all the hustles & bustles.
Grand entrance of the slightly more than 1 year old Park Hyatt
Nice pool
The best perk-you-up after a tiring day... a hot rain shower!
Nevertheless, we still enjoyed our trip, indulging in some delicious Vietnamese food, jap food @ an interesting Jap restaurant full of Doraemon & chilling out @ coffee houses. They have this coffee joint - Highlands Coffee that's like the higher end of Starbucks. And it's interesting... many parts look very French, as if we're back in Paris again (but of course, they're once under French occupation) & then put us in a confused state of mind upon seeing the people & their motorbikes.
Sipping my fav ice lotus tea
Breakfast @ Highlands Coffee @ the Opera House
Taking a break at the chic Mojo @ Sheraton Saigon
The very French Notre Dame Cathedral Saigon, built by the French in 1870s - 1880s
The Opera House built end of 19th century, also by the French. Nice... can you see Vince in the background? No??
When I tell you there wasn’t much to shop, we could still come back with all our luggages full! And hubby who loves shopping, only bought 2 pathetic items – a tie & a Vietnamese shirt. So what did we lug back then? - (atop those mentioned above) 2 bags, 2 thongs (clogs), 1 Vietnamese top, 1 brooch, 2 hairpins with lines of crystals for ME, packs of local snacks/tidbits for ourselves & colleagues & lotsa souvenirs for almost every1 in the family. I especially love the Vietnamese lotus tea which I bought 2 packs for ourselves. Oh yes, not forgetting the 2 super huggable bears.. 1 for me & 1 for Zoe! Hehe!
My cutie bear in BLUE dress! The 1 in pink dress for Zoe
Vacuum-packed by Vincent & Soh Services. Ha!
Having a drink before leaving for airport @ Park Hyatt lobby
As if we'd to end the trip like how it started (more for hubby), we’d a frustrating encounter at HCMC airport. Was told by my travel agent who took care of all my flight bookings that my airport tax from HCMC airport back was already prepaid. So we bought hubby’s at the airport. To be safe, I reconfirmed with the immigration staff that mine’s already paid. Then they also checked hubby’s & said his had also been prepaid & told us to ask for a refund at a certain counter. So we had our money back after they verified his ticket. Then at the boarding mall, they stopped hubby saying that his was actually not paid. Goodness! It’s really annoying! To make it worse, we couldn’t get our seats next to each other (1 front 1 back, for this gotta blame it on me as I’d totally forgotten to choose our seats in advance) PLUS no entertainment on board as the system was down! So when everything decided to go wrong, even my fav airline failed me too. Perhaps the flight attendant noticed that I’d been turning my head back to talk with hubby for almost throughout the 2 hrs flight, while we’re waiting to leave the aircraft, he interrupted our conversation & handed us an SQ carrier while whispering some soothing words about the inconvenience we had. There’re some onlookers around us & we’re quite taken by surprise. Why only us? There’re definitely some other couples who’re being separated like there’re 2 in front who’re worse than us, diagonally seated. We peeped into the carrier after disembarking & saw 2 sets of in-flight toys! We looked like kids meh? Ha! Every passenger was also given an SIA wallet at the exit as a gesture of apology for being deprived of 2-hr in-flight entertainment. So… that’s the difference between the Dutch carrier & our national airline.
And yes… I’d another great buy at HCMC DFS. Bought a pack of TWO Touche Eclat… saved S$16 on each so that makes a total saving of S$32 for 2! Not bad not bad…
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