Halal Eateries in Ho Chi Minh City

Bismillah

To find halal restaurants in Ho Chi Minh city is easy only if you know where to find them. There are several Malaysian halal restaurants there.

The VN . Halal is one of them. A place that offers you Malaysian cuisine and also the local Vietnamese cuisine. Located near Ben Thanh market, the tourist attraction market place.

If you are near Dong Du street, you are close to a centre of halal food. In that street, it is where you can find an old mosque and just opposite, you will find two those restaurants; Malaysian halal restaurants, an Indian muslim restaurant and a Turkish restaurant.

Malaysian restaurants are Halal@Saigon and another one D'Nyonya Penang.

'Kerabu' or southeast Asian salad. This salad is made out of fresh shrimps, lime zest, sliced bird's eye chilli, and some of which i couldn't tell but obviously this salad is so tasty.

Vietnamese cuisine are known for their variety of vegetables. So, this is one of it. I couldn't recall this type of plant. But, it is nutty and crunchy. Not bad at all.

If you are looking for a briyani rice, just next to Halal@Saigon, you will see Bombay Indian restaurant. Or you have another option which is to walk into Parkson mall, on the 3rd floor (it is actually at the food court), you will find another Indian restaurant.Well, I went to the one in Parkson.

Malaysian briyani is different from Indian briyani,. I guess i prefer Indian briyani as Malaysian briyani  is more oily and the gravy is thicker. This one is just nice. Lighter yet never less in taste.

Enjoying every bite. You can order lassi (yogurt drink) too.

I think there is more halal eateries in HCM city. After I came home from Vietnam, I saw a TV program, Rasa Halal Orient Vietnam, they discovered a street food which is halal which I feel unlucky to have miss it. It better be a good reason for me to come again and give it a go. :)

For more info and food close-up, browse my mom's writing. :)

Vietnam : Places to shop

Bismillah.

It is becoming common among the Malaysian to go to Vietnam because of its shopping paradise. Well, from what I heard, fabric especially for making baju kurung (a traditional Malay women clothes) are very cheap and they offer variety kinds of fabric and colours. I was so astonished to see several local shops. They are specifically tailoring for baju kurung. And oh, most surprising thing was, the local Vietnamese ladies could speak Malay! If you walked down the stores, you will hear, “Kakak, cari apa” , “ Kain cantik-cantik!” or  “Madam, kain murah-murah!” I thought I was in Jalan TAR, KL. I mean how could they possibly speak Malay? When I asked them if they have ever come to Malaysia, most of them answered ‘NO’. Even though they speak just the basic of Malay but I think they picked up the language really quick. This must have been the bunch of Malaysian, who keep coming here for shopping, indirectly spreading the language here. Or maybe Malay language itself is easy to learn. That is probably true. Remember what we learned in History in secondary school, where Bahasa Melayu (Malay language) served as the lingua franca in southeast Asia? It  had been adopted by Arab and Chinese traders in the region well before the European arrived. Okay, now I see the reason why. Bahasa Melayu can easily be adapted to foreign tongue. J

Okay, back to shopping matter. There are a few places, where you can buy pretty laces, beautiful cottons, viscose, chiffons or Vietnamese silks, just name it. They have it all.

An Dong:  Located in District 5. Offers cheapest price according to the taxi driver that took us there.

An Dong complex

Fabric to make suits or blazer are also available

Gorgeous isn' it? So, to all bride-to-be, mayday mayday!

      

     Ben Than: It is located in District 1. A tourist area. According to the local, this place is more expensive than An Dong. But since most of the tourists stay in District 1, so this shopping attracts most of the tourists since it is nearer.

If you know Pasar Buluh Kubu in Kelantan, Malaysia, then this shopping complex is the closest thing to that. 

Both places offer the same item for fabric, textiles, ladies wear, embroideries shoes, handmade bags etc. For fabric and textiles, to get 10USD for four metres long, it is okay. 10 USD is equal to RM30 plus minus. But, if you buy more, you will get more discounts. Let say if you take four sets of four metres long, each of your fabric would costs you only RM27-RM25!  “Murah murah!” Oh yesss…J

For souvenirs and local hand crafts, I suggested that you go to Ben Than because it offers more choices compared to An Dong.

What we got from reading commentaries from the previous tourist to Vietnam, according to them, all of the items are actually expensive just on price tag. You need to bargain as low as 70% less than the price tag. If your negotiation skill is good, you might have the chance to get the best price. But sometimes, the seller is just as stubborn as you are. So, don’t try to make a scene. Just walk off. Yes, just walk away and just two steps you make, they might call back. Hehe. They would ask you how much you are willing to pay or they would give you a new cheaper price. Believe me. It worked for me most of the time.  Remember to pretend as if you wanted to walk away to go to the next shop. Just don’t walk too fast. You might want to hear them calling you. But, if you heard nothing, then, just walk off lah! Hey, there are like hundreds of stores there and don’t waste your time on that one particular shop. Keep your option opens!

There are more shops that you can find on the street.  

Saigon- Beautiful Shop, located in Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in District 1.

I personally suggest you to storm into this shop which specialized in producing bags. All handmade bags, embroidered bags. I think it’s cool if you buy here in bulk and sell later back home. So far, they sell the cheapest than any other place for bags. J

Tagging along

Bismillah.

For this three days onward, me and my sister are going to stay longer accompanying my father for he is attending IBM's invitation.

 

This IBM's event of Business Partner Advisory Council 2011 are held in Hotel Intercontinental Asiana Saigon. According to father, this annual event is for the purpose of sharing and giving the picture of how information technology is currently progressing in the West. Therefore, IT solution's company in Asia could stay updated and anticipate of what will come in the future.The best thing for this event is that, everything from flight tickets, hotel and food will be accommodated by IBM. Me and my sister, kami tumpang sekaki la! :)

Ayah, thanks for tagging us along. Love you. :D

When Malaysian goes to Vietnam

Bismillah.

Arrived in Ho Chi Minh city two days ago along with my parents and my little sister. Just four of us. Were four of us. Now, just the three of us. Last night, we sent mother to the airport since she has to work today. We spent the last two days solely for shopping. Mother had always been the one all geared up and had been pulling us around to here and there. It is like she had the map and travel guide in her head. She could remember stores and streets very well. I know she had been looking forward to shop in Vietnam. Mother is always passionate about shopping which somehow I think is good. Now that she's gone home, i wonder what my day here in Saigon would be like.

And guess what, i think most Malay from Malaysia are like that. You see, when were walking around in the city, it was very easy to spot another Malay Malaysian in sight. I don't see many Chinese Malaysian here. Or maybe they look alike with the local Vietnamese that I don't recognized them. So far, I've met only one group of Chinese Malaysian and one group of Indian Malaysian. Other than that, Malay and Malay again. You can recognize them from their veil/hijab style and clothing. And their hands are always full of plastic shopping bags. That's what I'm talking about. Malaysian like to shop especially when the place offers cheap and various things to shop. Trust me. I have seen it Bandung and Bangkok. Now, I'm witnessing it again in Vietnam.

I think the reason of this phenomenon is due to the rising of low cost airlines systems in Malaysia. The famous AirAsia tagline, "Now everyone can fly" really works. You can even save up to 70% if you booked a year in advance. This low cost airlines has opened the opportunity for everyone to go abroad and thus, expanding their shopping coverage. To go shopping in neighbouring countries is way cheaper especially going to country that has lower currency rate than your country. :) And you know what, last night when we were lining up to check-in at the airport, most of people are Malaysian! I think they might be in the same case like my mother where they go travel and/or shop just for the weekend. Remember again, that "Now everyone can fly"? hehe.

we were in the queue for check-in. See those people behind us?

sorry for the blurry image

People can escape fromm their routine workloads in the weekdays and escape in the weekend! As they say, borderless world. huh? Thanks to AirAsia for making people less stress and spend less money. ;)

I will write more on travel in Vietnam. Stay tune.

Let's spin the globe.

Bismillah.

I have been thinking to skip my Europe Trip journal because I think it is too overload. Since my internship in Bosnia, i have been blogging and writing on my travel in Europe for almost 7 months now. =P

So, i decided to skip Europe story for a while. Let's make a spin to the world globe. Searching Asia, alright? :)

Tomorrow, i will leave the country for Vietnam. This is my first time to Ho Chi Minh City as it will be second for the rest member of my family. But, they didn't enjoy much of Vietnam since they went there during Chinese New Year, and everything, stores and souvenirs shops were closed. And this time, hoping for a better shopping spree.

As for myself, I could not wait to taste Vietnamese local food. According to my family, Vietnamese cuisine is very different and unique. I doubt that and still do. I have the feeling that it would be something like chinese-style cooking which i'm not into. But, when my family members trying very hard to convince me, now I could not wait to swallow it. :)

Am i gonna hook up onVietnamese cuisine? We shall see that.

May Allah bless our journey to Saigon. Ameen.

Till then.