PLACES TO TRAVEL IN SAIGON

Travel in Saigon, why not?

District 1
District 1 is considered as the heart of Ho Chi Minh city. It's the most crowded and bustle district with many places to visit. 

Bến Thành market
Bến Thành market is an old market in Ho Chi Minh. Nowadays, it becomes a places for tourist, there is not many Vietnamese come here to buy things, mostly foreigners like to visit. Behind the market on Thủ Khoa Huân street, there is a Bến Thành food market which is opened recently. There is thousands of Vietnamese foods selling here.

Nguyen Hue walking street
The new place where young Saigonese like to visit is Nguyen Hue walking street. It's a very large street for walking but it's short. There are a statue of Ho Chi Minh Chairman (7.2 meters high) put in front of HCMC People's Committee Building city hall.
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Nguyen Hue street 

Sky deck

Sky deck is a floor of the highest building in Saigon  (the 49th floor of Bitexco building). This is the best view of the whole Saigon. They have equipment like big binoculars for you to be easy to see the whole city from high level. The ticket is 200,000VND/person.

Saigon riverside
Riverside from Cầu Mống (Mong bridge) to Bến Bạch Đằng is the ideal place to walking in the night because of the cool wind and pure air on peaceful Saigon river. It's the place to avoid a busy and crowded Saigon with dust and motorcycles. Mong bridge is one of the most ancient bridge in Saigon which was built by a French company. Currently, the Mong bridge is only for pedestrians. Every night, there are many young people walking there and there are also many group of students who come to have singing or guitar-playing activities.
Walking along Saigon river to Bến Bạch Đằng where there are tourism boats. You can try diners on these boats right on the river if you like.

Saigon riverside from Mong bridge

Center area (Saigon Center Post office, Đức Bà Pagoda, 30-4 Park)
Saigon Center Post office is a ancient post office (130 years) (re-painted last year) built by a French architect by European style architecture combined with Asian decoration.
Next to Saigon Center Post office is Đức Bà pagoda, the symbol of Saigon. Anyone who visited Saigon but never visit here, that one is considered as never visit Saigon. It's a place tourist must visit in Saigon. If you are Christian, it's certainly the best place for you.

Đức Bà pagoda

Also in this area, there are a large park where many people like to visit on every weekend. In the weekend morning, you can see a lot of people who are here for exercising, singing, playing guitar, studying, community events... And specially they are drinking coffee. How come they drink coffee in the park? There is no chair and table to serve coffee in the park. So coffee sellers will give passengers newspaper for sitting on the ground. And of course they will give you take away coffee. You can enjoy it in the park. Therefore, if you don't like to drink anything here, you just don't receive newspaper from anyone (Someone you never know they are coffee seller, but they will ask you to buy drinks after you received newspaper from them). But don't worry, the price of drinks is very cheap. Remember to put newspaper into dustbin after use :)

Historical places (Independence building, War museums, Củ Chi tunnel, Bến Nhà Rồng)

If you are the one who like to research or study about Vietnamese history you should not ignore these interesting places.

Independence building is a special national historical monument located in district 1 (Nam Ky Khoi Nghia street) where many foreign tourist like to visit to research Vietnamese history. If you want to hear presentation and introduction about Vietnamese history you can hire a guider (with designated fee). Entrance fee is 30,000VND/foreigner.

War museums (district 3) is also the place to store pictures, models, documents about Vietnam war in the past. Entrance fee is 15,000VND/foreigner.

Bến Nhà Rồng (district 4) is the place where Ho Chi Minh Chairman leaving for finding a way to save Vietnam from war. Here displays all about the life of Uncle Ho. Entrance fee is 10,000VND/foreigner.

Củ Chi tunnel & Đền Bến Dược is a special place where Vietnamese soldiers used to live, hide and fight during Vietnam war. It's a part of a forest with many old trees and tunnels. Therefore, it's a bit far from city center (70kms to the west). However there is a bus to this place. By visiting here, you can try walking inside the tunnels with a guider. They will tell you the story and direct you under the tunnels because you can be easy to get lost (the tunnels is 200km long with many ways as a maze). It's also hard to breathe under the tunnels because it's small and less oxygen. And foreigners will find it difficult to walk because it seems so small for them. But don't worry, there will be always methods. They will also give you free cooked tapioca roots which Vietnamese used to eat instead of rice during the war. Try it because it's special food. You can also find some restaurants in Cu Chi have this food as their special meal because they cook it with a very delicious taste. Entrance fee of Cu Chi is 90,000VND/foreigner, Entrance fee of Đền Bến Dược is 80,000VND/foreigner (plus 20,000ND if visiting fighting village).

Cu Chi tunnel

ALL ABOUT HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON) (continued)

Dinner in Ho Chi Minh

A dinner in Saigon is diversity. You can have simple foods like in breakfast or lunch. But Saigonese usually likes to have a big meal for their dinner. What is big meal? Saigonese like to have dinner with a group of friends and drinking beer after a long working day. That's why Vietnam is one of the most beer consuming countries on the world. We especially like to have these kind of dinner on the weekends. The best place to drink beer is not in the luxury restaurants but it's on the street. There are so many streets you can find for your dinner such as Nguyễn Tri Phương, Phạm Văn Đồng, Phan Xích Long, Cô Giang...

Most famous food I have to tell is snails and seafood. Snails and seafood in Saigon are cooked with a special ingredients and special recipe that you can't help eating if you are a fan of seafood. The special smell and delicious flavor make your dinner more interesting. A plate of snails is around $2-$3. There are so many seafood restaurants you can choose for these foods such as: Ốc Đào (Nguyễn Trãi, Dist. 5; Nguyễn Thái Học, Dist. 1), Ốc Oanh (Vĩnh Khánh, Dist. 4, Super spicy with big plate ($4-$5)), Ốc Quang Anh (Tô Hiến Thành, Dist 10)...

The second option you can choose for your dinner is Grilled & BBQ. It's also food Saigonese like to eat. What a interesting dinner if you are sitting in front of a smoking BBQ with your friends and drinking beer. There are various kinds of grill and BBQ such as grilled beef, chicken, pork, seafood (octopus, shrimp, squid, oyster, fish)... The price of these is different depends on the type and size of BBQ (average from $4-$5/plate). You can have these foods on Phạm Văn Đồng street (from Thủ Đức until Gò Vấp dist.), Phan Xích Long (Phú Nhuận dist.), Dương Quảng Hàm (Gò Vấp)... There is a new place named Ben Thanh Street Food Market located in the city center. I never visit here but someone said that the food is diversity that you can find any food here. Aside from street food, you can also eat in bigger restaurants like Sườn Cây, Sumo BBQ, Gogi House... The price from these restaurant is 2-3 times more expensive than street food.

Beer club/beer garden - one of the drinking beer places for youth in Saigon. People come here mostly enjoy beer tower (about $20/ 3 liters tower) and dancing with music. There are so many beer clubs recently such as Vuvuzela, Oneplus rooftop, Happy house beer garden, Poc Poc beer garden...

It finishes all foods in one day of Saigonese. Hope I provided enough information for you when visiting Ho Chi Minh city. The next post should be places to visit in Saigon. Let's see.

ALL ABOUT HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON) (continued)

Well, it takes me too long to write this post because it's quiet busy these days.

Here we are, the next parts of eating in Saigon...

Lunch in Ho Chi Minh: 

For the lunch, it's not many options because Saigonese doesn't have much time to enjoy their lunch. We mostly have Rice. There are many kinds of rice we can choose. Rice with other foods like soup, fish, port, beef, chicken... or Cơm tấm (that I mentioned last post). 

We also have a very famous rice called Cơm niêu Saigon (also name of a restaurant). The rice is cooked in a soil pot by wood (this is a traditional method of rice cooking in Vietnam), therefore the rice will be burnt at the bottom of the pot making a thin crust of hard rice (called Cơm cháy). This will be a strange flavor and good taste. And the most interesting thing here maybe the performance of waiters. So what do they perform? They will do a performance in front of customers' eyes by throwing the rice form this waiter to another waiter. One waiter will broke the soil pot and throw the rice and another waiter will catch it by a plate (it looks like they are doing circus :)). However, it's the best thing you should enjoy in the restaurant. The price for a pot of rice like that is not too expensive about $2 (only rice). 

Aside from rice, you can also have beefsteak, hotpot, coconut milk-flavored crepes (bánh xèo), rice noodle (hủ tiếu), thick noodle (bánh canh), thin rice paper (bánh tráng). 

Talk a little about hotpot. Hotpot is good to eat with friends. There are so many kind of hotpot we have in Saigon. Such as Thai hotpot, mushroom hotpot, hotpot with sauce of macerated fish, beef hotpot, goat hotpot... it's so good to have hotpot in a raining day :).

 

A little about thick noodle and rice paper. These are traditional special foods in Tayninh province, there is no other places have this special food. Saigon is the unique place where these food are brought to. Although it's not totally delicious as the same flavor in Tayninh, it's also a countable food. There are a restaurant named Hoang Ty where I think it's the most successful restaurant for these food. However, the price is rather expensive (around $2.5 for bánh canh, $5 for bánh tráng). That's why there are many fake restaurants with the same name but the food is not delicious like the original restaurant. The Hoang Ty restaurant has only two address (Hoàng Ty 1 - 74 Trương Quốc Dung, P.10, Q.Phú Nhuận, Tp. HCM, Hoàng Ty 2 - Số 01 Nguyễn Hữu Cầu, P. Tân Định, Q. 1, Tp. HCM), so don't be confused.

Some of restaurants I prefer for those foods: Bò né 3 ngon, Hai chị em (beefsteak $1-$2), (Mười Xiềm, Ăn là ghiền (bánh xèo $3-$4), Nhân quán (hủ tiếu $3), Bánh canh Hoàng Ty (bánh canh, bánh tráng $2-$5), Lẩu mắm nam bộ (hotpot with sauce of macerated fish $10/ 4 people).

Bánh tráng at Hoang Ty

ALL ABOUT HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON)

ALL ABOUT HO CHI MINH CITY (SAIGON)

No need to travel too far. I will just write about the place where I am living, Saigon.

Saigon is the previous name of Ho Chi Minh City but I like to call it by this name. As a person who has lived in Saigon for 10 years, I will show you how Saigonese spends their free time.

What does Saigonese eat?

The special thing in Ho Chi Minh City is food culture. The food culture here is unique and unforgettable. There are many luxury restaurants where have many delicious food. But I recommend you should try some popular foods in some small restaurant or street food. Because most of foreigners like to eat at luxury restaurants but we like to eat at common restaurants. So if you want to be like Saigonese you should try and the flavor must be very different.

Let’s grab the menu for a day in Saigon.

Breakfast: there are many choices for breakfast you can get in HCMC. 

Phở (a kind of noodle soup with beef, chicken) seems to be the most famous breakfast in the world but it’s not the most famous food in Saigon. Phở is delicious but it will be different if you try it in HCMC instead of Hanoi or other countries. Saigon Phở has a special flavor because it’s a little bit sweeter and fatter than other areas. There are many restaurants with Phở like Phở Hùng, Phở 24 (many branches), Phở Tàu bay… with price from $2-3$. For me, I like eating Phở on the street because it’s more delicious than in restaurants with cheaper price ($1.5).

Cơm tấm (rice with grilled pork) is a very famous food here in the south of Vietnam. Because breakfast is the most important meal in a day, Cơm tấm is the best choice for you if you want to start a day with full energy. A plate of Cơm tấm has the price of $1-$3.

Bánh mì (Bread with pork, eggs…) is one of foods Saigonese usually chooses for their fast breakfast. Although it’s a fast breakfast, its flavor is very good, a kind of Vietnamese Hamburger. The price is super cheap at $0.5-$0.7.

Aside from above popular breakfasts, Saigonese also has Bún bò, Hủ tiếu, Bánh canh... (other types of noodle soup).

Coffee culture:

In the morning, Saigonese (especially men) likes to have a cup of coffee before starting their work. The coffee here is more special than Starbuck or McCafe. Because Vietnam is one of the biggest exporters of coffee, Saigonese likes to drink coffee with very strong flavor. Some like to drink black coffee (or pure coffee), some like to drink milk coffee (coffee flavor is still strong). There are many small coffee shops where they use pure coffee seed to grind into coffee flour for making up a cup of coffee. However they price is very cheap (around $0.7-$1/cup). These kinds of coffee shop can be said is Milano, Napoli. However, sitting too long in these coffee shops will not be comfortable because they are all using wooden chair.

Another kind in coffee culture I have to say about is a high-class coffee shop. You will enjoy a cup of coffee in a quiet and comfortable atmosphere with light music and air conditioner. However, Saigonese just likes to have this kind of coffee in the weekend because they have more time to enjoy these comfortable feelings. These coffee shops include Hingland coffee, House Country, Effoc, My life… and price is much higher at $3-$4.

That’s how Saigonese has their breakfast. I will write about other meals later because I am so sleepy now… Good night.

Cambodia - Bokor Mountain

Well the most recent trip is going to Cambodia. Today I will make a very detailed review about this trip and give advice to someone who are going to go or plan to go to Cambodia.

First of all, I would like to make sure that my trip is only at the south of Cambodia not included Phnom Penh capital or Angkor Wat.

I had a wonderful trip to Kampot province, Sihanouk Ville and Koh Rong Saloem. There are two ways to go to these areas from Ho Chi Minh - one is going by Phnom Penh way (Moc Bai border gate) and by Ha Tien way (Xa Xia border gate). Because we started at 8pm at night, we decided to go by Ha Tien way in order to arrive at border gate at morning for immigration procedure timely (because border gate will not open until 6 am).

From Ho Chi Minh to Ha Tien, we booked Futa bus ticket online with the price of 155k VND per person. The bus is good with bed seat and you can take a sleep during the trip. The bus departed at 8pm and arrived at 4:30 at Ha Tien bus station. Futa has a smaller bus to bring you to Ha Tien border for free (7-8km). We arrived at border gate at 5am and waited for the gate to open at 6am.

Then we get in line to stamp our passport when checking out Vietnam and checking in Cambodia. There is a disappointed thing here that at the Cambodia gate we were asked to give to the police 50k VND/person to get our passport stamped. Please note that this practice doesn't have at Vietnam gate. We got really angry about this practice, how come they do corruption like that. But we had to give them money because they seem never stamp our passport if we don't. We noticed that foreigners (not Asian) were stamped very quick even they don't have to give money. At that time we give the police 100k for our 4 people. He still accepted and stamped our passports. But when you gave money, please make sure that your passport is stamped certainly because the guy received money and the guy stamp your passport may be different. We encountered this problem and we had to complained them for this. Because they cannot speak English or Vietnamese, it's very difficult for us to explain. Fortunately they finally understood. We also noticed that some people gave only 20k/passport and they still stamped passport. One tip is that when they give you Arrive/Departure Card, don't write anything on it. Because they will write it for you when you gave them money, it's a way to mark people who gave them money for their colleagues to recognize. I finally know that's why Cambodia border gate is more luxurious than Vietnam border gate.

After checking in at Cambodia gate, we got Cambodia land. We were so happy for that. Here we haven't booked any bus ticket yet although there was bus service from Ha Tien to Sihanouk (at $14/person, $12 to Kampot). Fortunately there are two groups of Vietnamese also go to Sihanouk and they also haven't booked bus ticket. So they recommended us to make a deal with coach driver standing at the gate for seeking customers. We finally got a coach at $70 to Sihanouk with 16 seats. So cheap for the trip even we have only 13 people. Because our group just went to Kampot (half of trip), so we just paid for $16 for 4 people. Other group paid $6/person.

We come to Kampot at 8:30am because the coach just took half hour. We had breakfast at Captain's Chin restaurant. The noodle soup with beef was not delicious even it's difficult to eat. It's not our taste. But the price is $2 for each. It's a little expensive compared to Vietnamese food. We check-in at Apsara Guest House, it's the best guesthouse that I ever stayed. It's not just a standard of a guesthouse but it's should be a hotel with good location, cleaning room, cheap price and friendly staff. We got 4 guests room at $20/night.

At 10am, we hired 2 scooters from our guesthouse at $5/one (some other guesthouses lend at $4). They advised us to fill $3 of fuel to go to Bokor Hill. But I advise that you just need to fill $1.5 (or 1,5 - 2 liters in case the fuel price is increase) because when we went to Bokor and come back to the city, we drove around so many times and many rounds, there were still a half of fuel remaining in the scooters. We didn't buy mobile Sim card, but we pre-printed the maps for our trip from home. So it's easy for us to get Bokor. The road to Bokor is really beautiful with nice view and the weather is really cool. In this hotness of summer, it's an ideal idea to go to Bokor. However you should be careful when driving, because there are so many dangerous bends during the road (the length of road from the welcome gate to the top of mountain is around 30km). And please keep in mind that the higher you reach the top, the more fog is. So you should go down before 2pm. If you have to drive in foggy weather, you should drive your scooter on the white painting line. By doing this, you can locate the road and bends easily and it's will be safer for your driving. Or you can stay on the mountain at night because there is a big resort on the top. But you should book your room first because there is only one resort for your choose.

Bokor trip is a good experience for biking. It's one of valuable challenges in life.

After we came back to Kampot city, we had some street good such as fried fish balls, fried sausages... and went to the river to see sunset. Ah this is the place you can see the whole Bokor Mount and you can be proud because you already were there on that huge mountain. The sunset here is really wonderful and romantic. At first, we just saw a little sunshine on the top of Bokor Mount. We thought that the sunset just liked that. However, the Sun was shined unexpectedly and brought the last brightness to the city again before it went down after the mountain left a wonderful view behind. We were so excited to see this moment.

At night we rode around the city and had dinner on the street. But I advise that you should have dinner at restaurants on the riverside it's better than street foods.

The next morning we got up and took breakfast at Captain's Chim restaurant again. This time we tried fried rice with beef and it's really delicious and cheap at $2. At 11am we checked out and hired a taxi to travel to Sihanouk Ville. There is no brand name taxi here, but the taxi we rode is just like a private car. But it's a good taxi with a good price for us ($25/4 people). Please remember that the driver will offer a very high price what you have to do and always do when you are in Cambodia is dealing the price (bargaining). You should also ask them that they cannot pick up others, sometimes they will pick up other passengers for filling their seats. You should hire taxi unless your group is 4 people or more. If you are solo travelers you should buy ticket at hotels or restaurants to go to Sihanouk with the price of $5/person.

It takes around 2 hours to get Sihanouk Ville from Kampot. And it will be part 2...

                                                    Uncultivated building on Bokor top

Peaceful Kampot river

Monkey island and Can Gio beach (Ho Chi Minh city)

If you are bored of crowded and noisy HCM city, there is a place you can go to hide from the city. Trust me, it's not too far from Ho Chi Minh city and really quiet.

In the early morning, two small girls (my close friend and me) went to Can Gio by motorbike. It was a beautiful Friday, and we both hidden from boring work. Can Gio is a far district in HCMC (50kms far from the city center). Using Google maps you can easy get the instruction for going to Can Gio beach. 

As scheduled, I picked my friend up and we went straight to Nguyen Van Linh street. We passed by Phu My Hung area and then we went by Huynh Tan Phat street. During our route, we stopped to take a pictures next to the river.

When we arrived Binh Khanh ferry, we were so eager because it's the first time we travel by ferry. However, we were the one who stood at the top of the waiting line. After the door was opened, we intended to go down the ferry, unexpectedly it was the door for pedestrians, our motorbike was not allowed going first. A guard stopped us and asked where we go, he made us like foolish in front of other pedestrians. Some people laughed at us. OMG we were so shy. Finally motorcycles were on the ferry, we were extremely excited. Feeling of floating on peaceful river was really good.
It was a very peaceful day because we left all the works behind, like we were hiding from the noise of Saigon to get to a remote rural area. 

After get out of ferry, we went on the street named Rung Sac, a long and wild street of Ho Chi Minh.The street seems has no stopping point. We sometimes paused for taking pictures because we could not ignore the beauty of nature.
When we were riding on motorbike, suddenly we heard "tweed, tweed". Looking back we saw some polices who looked at us but we didn't think that the whistle sound is for us. We stopped to meet the policeman. He greeted us politely then he asked us to provide driving license and related documentation. We hesitated, not knowing what we did wrong. After checking our documentation, the policeman thanked us and then let us go.

We were happy to continue our journey. The road ahead was bringing us direct access to the horizon. My friend eagerly stop to capture this wonderful moment.

Extremely quiet way, we tried to run the tail for support under other people afraid. Monkey Island to Rung Sac-mother and son could not know what's inside game not because they saw several people run into, but not to play, but ran out immediately. We asked to pay protection, security inside him very many monkeys on the preview to go. We are also curious, despite its reputation for being mama but I was afraid of monkeys hihi. Well forget it when not in Monkey Island has been a carefree monkeys jumping on the bus I sat, I was startled revving run away. Scared Monkeys too. However, we still decided to buy tickets to see the monkey curiosity. Inside, a new funny story really begins. Daughter loves monkeys, sat playing with monkeys, shooting with friendly monkeys looked like two close friends hehe ...


(Two friends ^^)
Rung Sac there is so much beauty to photograph, mother and son pose all sizes, all styles, is climbing like a spider, monkey swing tree, the longer arms that straddle as superheroes. Daughter posing inside the delectable roots are a monkey running again jumped at her daughter's shoe, Mama just looked it up dully brought up the tree. Luckily there are going to protect him, so the hero and save the hand. He yelled monkey threw a terrified voice it always shoe. Seemed shoe was plopped into the river. Any doubt happened like in the movies, thanks to the high heel shoe was caught on a tree branch swaying teng which to live. He protected only with hand out and took the daughter was extremely excited monkey then fled disappeared. Unfortunately at that time should not panic too remember shooting up again. Shoe bite nose makes some huge signs. After this each time took the shoes off brought her daughter would make it much, remember this anniversary. Hihi was fun to finally regain his daughter's shoes also.
However, this time we are hungry and they were all tired, but in this area there was nothing to eat. Go inside the crocodile parks add some pictures done again, we come out. At our new, empty Rung Sac only only a few guests. But now, even a secondary school bus pulled in some big, noisy agitated it all up. The atmosphere now more animated, little monkeys are also occasions food spoiled jerk. We left Rung Sac sailed Gio, from Rung Sac there only about 7 km. We came to the beach 30/4, keeping his car into the restaurant for something to eat. Meager meals our dugout only dish fragrant fried squid satay.


(Meager meal)
While waiting for lunch, we saw cars pulling candy, candy only, of childhood memories came rushing in the mind of every child. I ran to my mother bought 2 2 pieces of candy just, finished feel funny, like the time to return to childhood at home.


(Candy just beautiful dykes ...)
Finished our meals sprawl seat backrest relax and feel the cool sea breeze to cool people. I also do not forget to donate her daughter's birthday gift did little to prepare the night before. Looking daughter looks so funny surprise. Then we added 2 postcards fall asleep in front of the ocean and the waves lapping against the shore spurred bargain sound like the mother's lullaby.
We woke up, the call of the vast sea, we walked along the beach taking pictures. Cold sea water cooling my feet, like washed all the dust, and worries, exhaustion which could have inadvertently end up on foot in search of livelihood between Saigon hustle this suffocating. Wind blowing messing up hair, slightly wind carries the salty taste of salt on the flesh identify, early afternoon sun shines bright in our faces.


(2 mother and daughter pose image)
But all that does not affect our joy, passion and record the most beautiful moment, but on the contrary makes everything becomes harmonious backdrop for the photos that character is our mother and daughter. We also contest running on the beach. Both mother and daughter are playing abilities, children, running and hook the mother, the mother ran off the road. We sat on the beach took out his phone and started karaoke. Daughter smiling eyes headline enjoy Mother's software. At first it's so unfamiliar to sing funny but then everything seemed much better.
Late afternoon sun also finished singing, we first got to find something to eat before leaving Gio but luck did not smile at us when coastal restaurants are not open for the weekend not. We pity return to Saigon. Car nearly out of gas, we find gas stations to pour. Find gas stations did not feel where a doctor asked her daughter on the way, this time he showed us, just leaned we could see gas stations, so that we also ask, yes, like your mother 2 My Sassy girl 2.
On the way to the beautiful scenery and fascinating. Standing on the bridge, one side is a romantic sunset, a dim moon party is very funny looks plump and magnificent.


(Sunset on the river)
On this visit to Binh Khanh ferry had not been home contempt should test again, this time not to wait as the last ferry medium garment 2 is the last we were on the ferry. Go to Saigon, then transported her daughter to find real shop "poisoning" on Ton Dan Street. But where to find not see forever, daughter saying sure it sells poisoning should go out of business already. So we're through eating oasis, because a girl should pay feasting, mother and son snail dish noodle 1 garlic, bread, 1 plate and 1 dish of oysters baked snails feather duvet. We left satisfied all go home to rest and prepare for the trip Giang Dien Waterfall promises many interesting things are waiting for the mother and child to explore.


So the trip ends "Phượt" Rung Sac-monkey-Gio Island fun and interesting. People say, "Take a decent day, ready to learn a wisdom" not wrong results that we are "going to know you fool," which hihi ... This will be the memories of unforgettable beauty of the mother and child.

Apr-7-2013:

SÀI GÒN MỘT NGÀY MƯA

Người ghi chép: Mama

Một buổi sáng chủ nhật êm đềm thay vì nằm nhà ngủ cho đến trưa, mẹ con chúng tôi quyết định xách xe chạy ra đường. (Nói là nói vậy thôi chứ sự thật là cuộc hẹn với cựu thành viên AA bị cancel do không ai đi được L) Chúng tôi gặp nhau tại Nhà văn hóa thanh niên, tội nghiệp con gái chờ tôi lâu quá chừng, do cancel mà tôi quên nói con gái hihi. Gửi xe tại Nhà văn hóa thanh niên luôn, chúng tôi cuốc bộ qua café bệt chỗ công viên 30-4.

(Công viên 30-4 một sáng chủ nhật êm đềm)

Vất vả tìm được một cái ghế đá lý tưởng cho 2 mẹ con. Vừa ngồi nhâm nhi ly sting dâu, vừa nhai đậu phộng, vừa ăn bò lá lốt (của con gái mua từ tối hôm qua, cũng may là ăn vào không vấn đề gì đó J) vừa rôm rả chuyện trò. Thì trời bỗng dưng đổ mưa. Cơn mưa bất chợt giữa buổi trưa đầu hè oi bức, làm cho tâm hồn con người ta cảm thấy khoan khoái dễ chịu hẳn lên. Cơn mưa đầu tiên của năm báo hiệu một mùa mưa đang về.

(Nhà thờ Đức Bà trong mưa)

Là một cơn mưa rào, vài giọt vừa rơi xuống đã nhanh chóng lan thành những giọt to làm rát da thịt. Hai mẹ con luống cuống không biết chạy đâu cho khỏi ướt (Cái này là “Chạy trời sao khỏi mưa” nà) thì thấy mọi người đang túm tụm vào một cây dù to chỗ mấy chú bảo vệ. Hai đứa cũng bon chen chạy lại nhưng do đến chậm nên chỉ có thể đứng vùng ven xung quanh người ta. Một cây dù cả mấy chục người chui vào thấy cũng buồn cười. Gặp 1 chú người tây cũng trú mưa trong cây dù, chú ta cầm cuốn sổ trong đó chi chít những hình vẽ rồng rắn, cùng 1 chữ espresso, miệng thì bập bẹ cà phê… nóng… thì ra là chú ta muốn 1 ly espresso nóng thơm lừng giữa cơn mưa mát lạnh đây mà.

(Sau cơn mưa thứ nhất)

Đúng là cơn mưa rào nhanh đến rồi lại nhanh đi. Trời mưa vừa ngớt mọi người đã túa ra ngoài để tiếp tục vui chơi. Hai mẹ con cũng trở lại vị trí cũ. Cái ghế dựa của 2 mẹ con đã bị những giọt nước mưa thấm ướt. Con gái xúng xính chạy lại ngồi, lại tiếp tục trò chuyện, hai mẹ con tám đủ thứ chuyện trên trời dưới đất. Đang tám ngon lành thì trời lại bắt đầu mưa, ban đầu chỉ mưa lất phất sau đó to dần nhưng hai mẹ con vẫn mặc kệ, vẫn cứ pose ảnh. Ly sting dâu lúc này đã bị nước mưa rơi vào, màu đỏ của sting dâu bị nhạt dần theo từng giọt nước mưa rơi xuống, vậy mà hai mẹ con vẫn vô tư uống. Con gái còn khen uống sting pha nước mưa ngon ghê nữa.

(Vô tư pose ảnh dưới mưa)

Bỗng nhiên ào ào trời lại đổ mưa lần này thì mưa to và dai hơn nhiều, mọi người đã nhanh chân đứng chật kín cây dù không còn đủ chỗ cho 2 mẹ con. Con gái cũng ráng chen vào, nước mưa nhiễu ướt mặt, con gái phải vừa đứng vừa đỡ mái che của cây dù cho đỡ ướt, mưa càng lúc càng nhiều, nước mưa cững dâng lên ngay chỗ hai mẹ con đứng, thế là ướt nhẹp đôi giày mới của mama huhu. Mưa một lúc lâu rồi cũng tạnh, hai mẹ con lại quay lại chỗ ngồi, lần này cái ghế ướt nhẹp không chừa một chỗ, con gái nảy ra ý tưởng mà tự con gái cho là thông minh, đó là lấy cái áo khoát lót sau lưng dựa vào cho khỏi ướt áo (nhưng nói nhỏ quần thì đã ướt rùi J)

(Cơn mưa chiều chủ nhật)

Không có cuộc vui nào không tàn. Dù vẫn còn muốn ngồi chơi nữa nhưng đã sắp đến giờ con gái đi học. Hai mẹ con đã bắt đầu thích không khí nơi này và hứa hẹn mỗi cuối tuần sẽ ra đây ngồi học cùng nhau. Cuối tuần nhiều bạn trẻ thường ra đây dạo chơi, nhiều bạn lập thành ban nhạc, ca hát nghe vui tai ghê, hai mẹ con trò chuyện đôi lúc dừng lại để lắng tai nghe tiếng hát, tiếng trống vỗ, tiếng đàn ghita và cả tiếng của dòng xe cộ dạo chơi trong một ngày chủ nhật thảnh thơi. Lắng nghe âm thanh của thành phố vào một ngày cuối tuần cảm giác thật thư thái, thật chậm rãi. Đôi lúc con người ta cũng cần những khoảng lặng, những nốt trầm và sống chậm lại để thấy yêu thương nhiều hơn, vì xã hội này đã cuốn ta đi theo dòng chảy tấp nập của nó. Phần lớn thời gian ta sống vội vã, lao đầu vào công việc để rồi nhận lại sự mệt mỏi, sự thờ ơ mà quên mất đi có những giá trị vốn rất đẹp trong cuộc sống này.

(Khoảng lặng)

Cuối cùng cũng đã đến giờ, thế là con gái rủ mama đi học cùng cho đỡ buồn. Suy nghĩ một lúc mama cũng quyết định đi học chung với con gái. Thế là hai mẹ con dẫn nhau lên Võ Thị Sáu học. Trên đường đi mama cứ sợ đi học chui không có giấy tờ sẽ bị đuổi về. Nên con gái mới nảy ra ý tưởng là mama sẽ đóng giả nhỏ bạn của con gái, trùng hợp nhỏ đó cũng trùng tên với mama. Lại còn học thuộc họ tên và ngày sinh của nhỏ bạn đó. Thật là buồn cười. Vào lớp thì chẳng có chuyện gì xảy ra cả, thầy cũng chẳng cần điểm danh mà chỉ tận tình giảng dạy. Con gái gặp lại thầy năm xưa cười tít mắt luôn, khen thầy hết cỡ. Thầy dạy dễ hiểu tuy mama đi học chơi cho vui nhưng cũng chăm chú nghe giảng và làm bài tập được phết chứ bộ J.

(Bài giảng của thầy)

Học xong hai mẹ con đói lả vì từ sáng chưa ăn gì chỉ có vài miếng lặt vặt ăn ở công viên. Mama dẫn con gái đi ăn mì Quảng, sau đó hai mẹ con rủ nhau đi hớt tóc. Thợ hớt tóc hớt gì mà lâu quá chừng, con gái nhăn nhó suốt buổi. Xong xuôi con gái phải đi sửa cái mic của điện thoại vì nói chuyện nghe nhỏ xíu. Vào mấy tiệm tiệm nào cũng hét giá trên trời 150k. Con gái bảo điện thoại cùi bắp mua có mấy trăm ngàn mà sửa mic mất hơn cả trăm nên không sửa. Ấy vậy mà con gái vẫn chưa chịu thôi, quyết định thử tiệm cuối cùng. Vừa vào nó hét cho giá 300k. Con gái bỏ chạy mất dép, không dám trả giá 1 đồng hihi. Thế là con gái quyết định không sửa để dành tiền mua điện thoại mới. Chạy cùng 1 đoạn hai mẹ con chia tay nhau ai về nhà nấy.

Lang thang Sài Gòn một ngày mưa, một trải nghiệm vô cùng thú vị!