Paradise Inn at City Square Mall

Went to City Square mall with my family this evening. My colleague has been recommending me to check out this mall since it is not so populated yet. We had dinner at Paradise Inn - a Cantonese restaurant. We like how the food is prepared. The Kong Ba Bao was excellent! The other dishes were great too. What a meal.In order to digest the food, you really need to drink quite a bit of tea though!

Paradise Inn (City Square Mall)

180 Kitchener Road

#B1-01/02 City Square Mall

Singapore 208539

Tel: 65 6509 9337

Website: http://www.paradiseinn.com.sg/

Vietnam - Mekong Day Tour

We were off to an early start. After breakfast we rushed over to Sinh Café for the Mekong Tour.

Ben Tre Boat Trip Map

The bus ride to Mekong area was about 2 hours. The tour consisted of the following:

The first stop was the Rice Paper production. The rice would go through the treadmill and mixed with coconut.

Treading Mill

Drying of rice paper

Lil girl helping out!

Lunch was a simple fare. We also get the chance to see the major Fried Elephant Ear Fish. The fish was used as an ingredient with the rice paper. It was an interesting mix of flavors.

Fried Elephant Ear Fish

The tour guide also brought us to an area to sample pure honey. Besides the refreshing honey drinks, we also so to see the bees hive.

The Hive

Countless bees

There was also the horse cart ride that was the highlight of the tour. Our horse or pony was a female one and the rider had to spend quite a bit of energy to prod the horse along.

Pony

We were also shown a flavor of the fruits and Vietnamese traditional singing.

Fruit Array

The river cruise was quite commercialized in a way. In a way, the whole Mekong Tour is designed to feed off tourists. It was really tranquil to sail through the river.

Cruising the river

Mini boat

When we got to the main river, we had to go onto the main boat. I was really holding on to the transition platform with my dear life. Ha…

The last stop was the coconut candy.

Raw Materials

Rich coconut extract

Coconut concentrate - Wow!

Sweet Packers

After which, it was the hot stone treat at The Spa. The service was impressive that it was a one stop shop. They even arranged for transport from the hotel to the Spa. It was very impressive - both the deco and the service. This place is highly recommended but it may be a little pricey.

The entrance

Setup

Grand Affair

Lighting that dazzles

Tea

Spa

We were all famished as we didn’t have dinner. We settled at Shabu Shabu. Very comforting to tuck in to steamboat as the weather was turning chilly.

Vietnam - Initial Sights

We rested in the wee hours of the morning, due to last minute packing. We definitely had to struggle to wake up as we were catching an early flight. After clearing our passports, we thought we gave the duty free shop a check. A security personnel came in to ask BZ and I if we lost a Samsung phone. We were rather obliviou that it could belong to LC. And it turned out it was LC’s phone. Imagine if he were to lost the phone at the start of the trip.

The flight was really a breeze. We were in HCM in 90 minutes.

LC’s friends (Thao and Ivy) were there to pick us up at the airport

Taxi Stand

We were only encouraged to take “Vinasun” cabs. The rest of the cabs may have credibility issues, with which we discovered over the next few days.

Welcome to HCM

Street Sights

Check out the wiring

Thao brought us to a Cambodian food outlet. It was a fresh start to the type of food we can await. Ha…we had a refreshing lemon tea. We also had something similar to glass noodles. The soup was a delight in that it is very sweet.

Store Front

Appetizer

Minced Meat Noodles

Another form of minced meat noodles

Fresh Lime

The real lemon tea

Liberty 4 hotel turned out to be relatively spacious and clean. They even had a board to welcome the guests of the day. We had a huge double bed and a single bed (and it is not the foldable type). Really satisfied other than the point that it was by the road side and the sounds of horn that greet us all day.

Guest List

Beds to ZZZ..

The washroom

The first major stop was Andong Market and Andong Plaza. It felt like it was a wholesaler’s market, similar to Pratunum in Thailand. It was so crowded, and the locals were jostling each other to move through the crowded aisles. If I have the choice, I would not visit the place again, especially Andong Market.

Entrance to Andong Market

The market at a glance

LC brought us to a Chinese restaurant for a quick meal. It was quite a spread given that it was tea time! We went over to a local ice cream chain for desserts. Was quite famous given the no. of chains they have.

As we didn’t really rest well, we returned to the hotel for afternoon nap. What a way of spending time overseas. To just slack.

Thao and Ivy brought us for a Vietnamese fare at Quan An Ngon. It was alfresco dining and the place was nicely done up, just that we were not very used to the taste and fare.

Quan An Ngon

Table Set up

Dining Setting

Flour based items

Salad with sour dressing

Noodles

We had time to browse through the ranks of Ben Thanh Night Market. The traffic was overwhelming, no matter at which point in the day. How I wished I didn’t have to cross the roads at all.

All types of stores

Eateries by the road side

We went to a drinks place for supper. One of the sides we ordered was fries. The interesting bit is the sauce. Fries go rather well with butter and sugar. Oooooh!

Butter and Sugar to go with fries?!