Day 11- April 27, 2009

Day 11: Saigon


Our airplane landed at Saigon Airport around 9 am. It took us only 20 minutes to get out of the airport and on our bus. We got stuck in a heavy traffic jam though, which amazed everyone. Hundreds of scooters and dozens of cars moved slowly in front and around our bus. A truck full of young soldiers was next to my window for at least 15 minutes.
I tried to take their pictures but they were very shy.
The first place we visited in Saigon was the Reunification Palace, formerly Independence Palace during the Vietnam War (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reunification_Palace). It’s called the American War here. The building and decor had the modern designs of the 60s. The

furniture had a similar style too but was covered with velvet fabric with Asian designs. There was a giant, round and red carpet with two flying dragons in the middle of the main hall. On our way out, a few of us posed for pictures next to the two tanks which crashed the gates of the Palace during the Fall of Saigon in April 30, 1975.
The group walked to “Quan Ngon” restaurant, which was only 2 blocks away from the Independence Palace.
Some people couldn’t 

wait to cool down and bought for $1 cold and very fresh coconut juice along the way. “Quan Ngon” offered a very extensive menu of Vietnamese food from North to South of Vietnam. Surrounding the dinning areas were multiple food stands where the foods were made to order. I enjoyed so much the fresh spring rolls with shrimp, the snail cake with ginger sauce, pancakes with shrimp, snail stew with coconut sauce and rice cake with mung bean. Most of them were served with green lecture and different kinds of herds.



After lunch, the group visited the School of Tourism and Hotel of Saigon where Chef Khai’s and Chef Chu’s associations, Asian Chef Association and Chefs without Border, sponsored 30 students with full scholarships for cooking programs here. The students all got job placements after graduating from the school.

The group listened to the stories of the students, their backgrounds and their dreams of studying in school. It’s wonderful to see how enthusiastic the students were in the kitchen with their learning. The student test submissions and different food creations looked delicious.
The group got to 5-star New World Hotel around 2 pm. While we were waiting for our luggage to be delivered to the rooms, everyone enjoyed ice cream, which was on Mr. Tu. New World Hotel is in the heart of Saigon, which is only 2 blocks away from Saigon Market on Le Loi Boulevard. From there, it’s only 10 minutes walking distance to the main circle and the famous Opera House.

The evening was for Miss Alexandra who is a vegetarian. We had dinner at a vegetarian restaurant, Hoa Dang. Miss Chu never had vegetarian food before but enjoyed her meal quite a bit. There was “Crab Cake”, Hoa Dang Salad with “Chicken”, “Beef” Stew with White Beans, Lemongrass “Chicken”.... all of them were made from vegetable products. The foods all looked and tasted like they sounded. It was amazing.