Today the only things planned was (1) go for a tour with Saigon Free Walking Tours; and (2) move hotel.
As our tour guide was supposed to meet us at our hotel lobby at 8am, we again woke up early to have breakfast. While getting ready, we were informed that the tour guide will be late. I wanted to try street food for breakfast so we had quick breakfast at the hotel and then took a walk around the neighboring blocks. Alas, as we had too much for breakfast (as we were worried we wouldn't be able to find anything we want to try) we could not get anything more for food.
When we returned, we met with Trieu from SFWT. He was very cordial and often took down notes when we speak. Our first stop was the Cao Dai temple at District 5. Trieu was clearly new at this. He had to check with the attendant at the temple whenever we had questions. As males and females were to take different stairs (females to the left, males to the right), I missed out on most of the explanations/discussions. It was nevertheless very helpful to have a Vietnamese explain things to us and to ask questions. As we have experienced the past 2 days, most of them can't quite understand us. When we were done with the temple, we met Long, another guide with SFWT.
After the temple, we took a cab to a flower market. Long wanted to get us chinese herbal tea but unfortunately the shop was not opened yet. In any event, as we were in the Chinatown area, we could read what were on the signs and were amused to find that the herbals drinks available were similar to what we could get back in Singapore/Malaysia.
We also went to what is known as the "Cambodian Market". It really just reminded me of wet markets in Malaysia except for the fact that one has to be mindful of motorbikes.
We stopped at a desserts stall where we had pudding-in-pumpkin. We saw something that looked like noodles which both Trieu and Long had never seen before either. According to the stall owner (a sweet lady) they were noodles made of egg. She added that to our bowl of pudding together with some sweet sauce. I do not know if she would have done so if we did not ask her about it. While eating, we asked them about an item that we were asked to buy from Vietnam. Both guides were not aware where to get the item and neither does the stall owner. Some ladies at the stall waiting to buy food got curious, took a look at the photograph we had and told us that we were looking for some specialty snack from North Vietnam. The Vietnamese can be quite friendly but I cannot say we have seen much of this friendliness elsewhere. It is very difficult when we cannot communicate and I have been soo used to being efficient that i tend to speak rather quickly and give up when I am not understood.
After the market, we went to the FITO Museum. Both guides did not want to join us as the Museum included a guide. However, we later learned that both have not been inside the Museum. We felt bad for not insisting that they visit with us.
Our last stop, before returning to our hotel, was to lunch. I had Banh Cuon while the bf had crab noodles. The bf also had a drink which Trieu said was nice but turns out to be something green! It tasted green too. I had avocado, which was incredibly thick and nice. I never had avocado that was that thick in Singapore ever. If i had to guess, I would say no water was added at all.
That was the end of the first half of the day. It was not a perfect tour. But I would give it 4 out of 5. Trieu and Long were not professional tour guides, they were merely students in university. They may not be able to answer all of your questions but they will try their best to help. They also refuse to take any money from us. We had to insist (force them) to let us treat them to lunch.
Check out their facebook page if you are interested: www.facebook.com/saigonfreewalkingtours
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