Ho Chi Minh City Zoo and Botanical Gardens

The other week, I was staring at my map of Saigon wondering where to take my dad. I’ve always known the Zoo and Botanical Gardens were north of District 1, which is rather close to me. I never bothered to research it because I have been to zoos and botanical gardens all over the world and they typically have the same attractions with their own personal touches—the botanical gardens are usually the most interesting to see because they can change considerably depending on the climate.

So without researching it, I thought it would be a grand idea to take my father to the zoo and botanical gardens. In Malaysia, we went to the botanical gardens of Penang and they were incredible. There were acres of greenery and wild monkeys roaming through the trees and pathways. I loved it because that would never fly in America (the monkeys were harmless, but of course in America something would happen and there would be a lawsuit). Regardless, it was a great escape from the city: the air was clean and the plant life was exotic to my sister and I, who in turn were exotic to groups of Asian girls running up to us and taking pictures because they rarely saw white people—and if they did, they were usually British because this was 6 years ago when not many Americas made the journey out to Malaysia. Anyway, without researching the Ho Chi Minh City Zoo and “Botanical Gardens,” I had this vision of Penang (and if you’ve ever been to HCMC Zoo, you’re probably laughing right now).

It turns out that the zoo was a pretty depressing experience. The animals for the most part were miserable—and rightfully so. IFAW would be appalled (actually anyone who respects animals even slightly would be).

[On a side note, I actually just tried to pull up the official website to find out when it opened so that I could make a joke that it hasn’t been renovated since…and I kept getting a message from Google that the website I’m trying to visit might harm my computer (weird?). If only someone had warned me prior to visiting, that the zoo itself might harm my heart.] To branch off of this side note, Wikipedia says it opened in 1864 whilst the French occupied Saigon. It also says that it has undergone many changes and its main goal is to educate the public about endangered animals; but you really can’t believe everything you read on Wikipedia and this is a “case-and-point” example. 

I'm honestly not sure why "Botanical Gardens" is included in the title of this establishment. There is a tiny area where there are 30 bonsai trees max (which doesn't count because there are probably more bonsai trees in the backyards of some private households in China and Japan--and there are certainly a million more bonsai trees in Washington, D.C.'s arboretum). Atop of that, there are some nice trees, but nothing more exotic than Tao Dan Park, so if you're looking for plant life in Saigon you might as well just go there. In their defense, they do have a lot of cool topiaries (and there's only one dragon in Tao Dan). 

Overall, the exhibits were depressing. Every animal looked miserable. There were weird separations between certain animals, habitats that looked uncomfortable and no apparent system of sanitation or regulation.

 

                                               (This castle seriously creeped me out)

                  

The most depressing exhibit at the zoo was the otter exhibit. They were placed in an oval concrete tank that had an island in the middle. I’m guessing there was supposed to be water surrounding the island, but there were only dead, dried up fish surrounding the island. The otters were lying in the middle, probably waiting to die. I wanted to free them so badly. I immediately thought of the Hey Arnold! episode where grandma Pookie breaks into the zoo and frees the turtles. In fact, some monkeys managed to escape the cages and hang out in the trees. Dad and I were quite happy for them but felt very sorry for the ones that were still in their staring at their friends that made it.

On a slightly comical aspect of this journey, all of the garbage cans were covered with metal penguins that lined the pathways. Vietnam is just north of the equator, so you can’t get much farther from the arctic than this. The penguins made no sense, but then again nothing really makes sense here. And thankfully, it was the closest the Saigon zoo was to having Arctic animals.

Despite the fact that the zoo left me questioning the morality of mankind as I glanced at the sad eyes of otters, rhinos, deer, giraffes, elephants and more, I’m glad I went. Everyday I’m reminded about the differences between the first and third world and going to the zoo reminded me of the importance of international politics. I know that sounds 100% nerdy and corny but it made me think about how necessary it is to build international institutions that do as much as they possibly can to regulate basic rights so that places like this don't exist.

Dining with Dad Part II (Dining with a Difference)

Huong Lai

Last Monday night, dad and I looked at my Lonely Planet book in search of places to eat and we came across a place called Huong Lai located in District 1 on Ly Tu Trong Street (http://huonglai2001saigon.com/en/index.html). We were drawn by the philanthropic design of the restaurant as all the staff were originally from disadvantaged families or were former street children. They were taken in and provided with training, education and a place to stay. Oftentimes in Ho Chi Minh City, you see such a class divide between the wealthy and the poor. Despite the fact that it's a Communist country, there really isn't a whole lot of "giving-back" here, so it was refreshing to see a place that gentrified the community.

There’s also an interesting write-up about it in the Wall Street journal from a little over a year ago. Apparently, it was started by a Japanese expatriate who enjoyed traditional home-cooked Vietnamese food…who would have thought?!

http://blogs.wsj.com/searealtime/2012/06/01/food-fridays-huong-lai-in-ho-chi-minh-city/

The food was inexpensive and pleasant. To start, we split the appetizer sample platter and had a glass of Dalat wine each. The appetizer was good but nothing to write home about. There were okay spring rolls (4 fried and 2 fresh) and some miscellaneous vegetables and spices that you put on those Japanese crackers you tend to get in sushi restaurants. Just as I typed that, I pieced together the relevance of those crackers to the ethnicity of the owner…it all makes sense now! As for the wine, I knew it wouldn’t be good because…it’s Vietnam. However, Dad wanted to try it so I suggested that we opt for a glass rather than a bottle. This was a wise decision because Dad, being the wine connoisseur that he is, did not enjoy the Dalat wine whatsoever. I laughed it off because I’m 22 and have had to settle for shitty wine many times throughout my college career (despite being spoiled by my parents excellent taste whilst at home), which only ended about six months ago.

After the curiosity killed the connoisseur we switched to Huda beer, which is quite nice. It’s a pale lager from Hue, Vietnam. It started out as joint enterprise between the Hue Brewery LTD and the Carlsberg Group, but now is owned solely by the Carlsberg Group. It seems to be a trend for Vietnamese beer to be much better in the north. I’m sure this is largely due to climate as it is much cooler up there for the wheat crops. Clearly, I picked the wrong region to live in (but I do love Ho Chi Minh City flaws and all).

For entrees, I had chicken with lemongrass and dad had some sort of braised pork with mixed vegetables. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of this...but it is home-style cooking so the presentation wasn't fancy anyway--which suits the sentiment of the restaurant. We both enjoyed the food but the biggest “wow” I had there was from the staff. Everyone was incredibly friendly and nice. I’m sure a lot of this had to do with their gratitude for being taken in and given a fresh start to their lives. Yet, their kindness felt the most genuine in comparison to my other dining experiences thus far in Ho Chi Minh City. I’m sure this was probably overemphasized in my head because I knew their background, but it is very easy for me to tell when someone is being genuine and I felt a strong sense of that here. Thus, I would definitely come back and recommend this place to friends. It feels really good to be apart of something bigger than your own gratification.

Dining with Dad Part 1: Shri Restaurant and Lounge & Monsoon Restaurant and Bar

This past weekend, my dad came to visit! He had a business conference in Thailand, so he decided to pop over to Vietnam afterward and see his favorite daughter (sorry, Meredith). I wanted to make sure we ate well, so I did some research about where to take him and this is what I came up with…

In my last post, I mentioned how much I love seeing Ho Chi Minh from above. I think this is especially true when eating because you’re much more relaxed when you don’t have people coming up to you in a restaurant and asking if you want a massage (this happens more often than one would think). Thus, in my restaurant search I made sure to lookup places with view. For Saturday I decided on http://shri.vn/, which is located in District 3 (bordering District 1) on the 23^rd floor of the Centec Tower.

The view from Shri is quite impressive. You can either dine outside with a nice breezy view, or you can dine in an air-conditioning room enclosed by glass windows.  It was a busy Saturday night so the outdoor seating filled up quickly and we were placed inside. The inside was lovely and much cooler without compromising the view. About 20 minutes into our meal, we ended up having the entire room to ourselves, so we were able to walk the perimeter of the room and see Saigon from every angle.

In terms of food, the menu is probably hit or miss. They give you a delicious warm baguette with olive oil, butter and some sort of green (cucumber/avocado?) spread. It was the first time I have had warm bread in Saigon, so that was exciting.  To start, we ordered the peppered garlic prawns as an appetizer to split, which were delicious. However, the prawn/mango salad that I got for my entrée had very fishy and tiny prawns that were kind of nauseating...I wish I had chosen something else. Dad on the other hand, had the seafood risotto, which was actually quite good, so I really can’t knock Shri just because my one entrée sucked.  

On the upside of things, they had an incredible selection of wine—which came with a price. It was about 500,000 VND for a bottle of nice wine (which is not surprising for Vietnam). We had been eying the wine room on our way out--they have an entire room filled will wine in a glass room, and they asked if we wanted to go in. We walked around and dad being the wine connoisseur that he is, pointed out all the different wines that we've tried at home. The wine was by far the most expensive part of our meal, but when you translate the total bill into USD it is still much cheaper than dining out in America. Plus, the tea to top off the meal would have been hard to come by in America. I ordered Jasmine tea, which is plentiful and incredible all throughout Vietnam. 

While I was working all day on Sunday, my dad had a little Spa Day for himself at his hotel. He got a full-body massage while I was tending to screaming children, (lucky man!) but it was well-deserved for him. After an exhausting day I wanted to have a more relaxed and less over-the-top dining experience. I had read really good reviews on TripAdvisor about Monsoon Restaurant and Bar nearby in District 1, so I decided to give that a go. It turned out to be a great decision!

Monsoon had a great ambiance. There was a little stone path with extremely comfortable lounge chairs on a patio leading up to the restaurant, which had dimmed lighting and tasteful decor.The restaurant has all local cuisine from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Laos. The menu is split by region. I ordered a Vietnamese dish: prawns with lemongrass, garlic and vegetables on skewers and dad ordered a dish from Laos (I can't remember what, but he liked it).

At Monsoon, dad tried his first Vietnamese beer! I gave him the low-down on beer in Vietnam and stopped him from ordering a Saigon Green--which tastes like a sub-par version of Heineken (which in my opinion isn't even a good beer to begin with). I directed him to a Hanoi beer, which is much better than the Saigon beers. Yet, I must add that Saigon beer is more plentiful and a Saigon red is pretty good as an everyday beer. Regardless, here he is with his Hanoi beer and one of my prawns,  posing as a kind stranger of Saigon.

 When we finished our meal, I insisted that we order fresh coconuts for dessert. Dad loved them! I had no idea he was such a huge coconut fan...he told me that when he was a little kid he would always order coconut flavored ice-pops in the summer. He said not many people liked them but they were his favorite flavor. Also, he and mom fancied coconuts in Bali. One time while they were there, a local Indonesian man offered them a coconut, shimmied up a coconut tree to get one and cracked it open for them to drink. Our coconuts weren't quite that fresh, but they were certainly refreshing.

The Heights of Ho Chi Minh City

In order to truly love a city, you need to see it from different angles so that you can appreciate each layer. My favorite way to see a city is from above. There is nothing quite like flying into a city and seeing its veins. Height provides a sense of nostalgia for a city but it also provides an escape from the chaos that lies beneath.

In New York, I love seeing the city from above. Weather permitting, rooftop bars are all the rage. They allow you to be apart of the hustle from afar. You can still hear the sirens, see the yellow cabs speeding by and gaze at the skyscrapers surrounding you. But your world looks smaller. You aren’t directly dodging crowds (as much), you can’t hear as many side conversations and you are less bothered by the weekday pressures. You begin to romanticize about a city when you look down on it from above.

In the short time that I’ve been in Ho Chi Minh City, I’ve spent a lot of time experiencing the city from above. It’s a nice escape from the motorbike madness that resides below. The new teachers and I that are staying at Miss Loi’s have been frequenting the roof terrace. It’s the perfect way to wind down after days of planning lessons, exploring the city or just for adding an extra nightcap to our dinners/drinking sessions on Bui Vien. The rooftop terrace is best in the morning or at night when the weather is cooler. Typically at night we all stock up on cheap beer and enjoy each other’s company.

Last week, we convened for happy hour at the Sheraton hotel in District 1. The hotel has a rooftop dining area called the Level 23 Signature Restaurant that offers an incredible view of the city. The happy hour deal is buy one cocktail, get one free. I ordered a Caiprinha, which was quite refreshing followed by a Black Russian. It was 195,000 Dong for the two of them. In terms of Saigon it’s very expensive, but when you translate it to U.S. dollars, it’s quite cheap ($10).

At a slightly lower altitude, Cindy and I found the most adorable café across from the Ben Thanh Market called Coffee Anh. We spotted the sign when were across the street from the café (on Le Thanh Ton Street—194) and decided to check it out. At first attempt, we walked right passed it because the doorway is small and hidden. Once we realized, we walked back and a woman working for the café escorted us upstairs.

When we reached the top of the stairs, I was pleasantly surprised about how charming the place was. It was a long, narrow, French-inspired restaurant with a balcony that had a bar table looking over Ben Thanh market with four stools. We took two bar stools next to an Eastern European couple entertaining white wine and some appetizers. We opted for the coffee milkshakes. Cindy ordered vanilla and I ordered chocolate so that we could both taste and compare. They were served on adorable pink-knitted coasters and tasted heavenly. 

An added bonus to this place was how cheap it was. Throughout Ho Chi Minh City, the price for a black coffee—which here implies a single espresso shot, ranges from 18.00-55.00 VND. Therefore, one would expect a milkshake to be at least 100.00 VND. But that wasn’t the case! These little treats were only 55.00 VND a pop and they came along with a lovely view of (and escape from) the Ben Thahn market chaos on top of an adorable and feminine atmosphere. I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to relax over a snack after being constantly hassled at the market.

First days in HCMC

The first few days in Ho Chi Minh City, I wandered around bemused by my surroundings. It was impossible to coherently process the energy of the city, as I was still very much groggy from my traveling. The first night, I arrived at my hotel around 2:00 am and was completely out of it. I hopped out of the cab with my airport pick-up and wandered down an alleyway filled with people sitting on tiny stools, chatting, staring and eating soup with noodles.  I had no idea where I was and I’m sure that was very apparent to the locals. I can only imagine what they thought of the white person struggling with three large suitcases and a stuffed animal under her arm—not to mention I probably looked like I was on drugs.

The following day, I had to go to my school for observations. The easiest method of transportation in Ho Chi Minh City is by xe om (aka a motorbike taxi). I’m using the word “taxi” here very loosely. Most Westerns would immediately associate a taxi as some sort of regulated private of public corporation. This is not the case. However, it is an amazing and exhilarating experience. The lady at the front desk hooked me up with some guy down the street who is a xe om driver. I gave him to the address and off I went with this stranger to experience my first time on a motorcycle.

As a child, I always imagined my first motorcycle ride to be in Italy with some attractive Italian man, riding down cobblestone streets on the way to a nice dinner. Yet, there I was in Vietnam on the back of a motorcycle with someone I had met thirty seconds earlier. I loved it. I must have looked like I had some sort of mental problem for the duration of the ride because I couldn’t stop smiling and staring at everything. I had slept in because I was so exhausted so this was my first time seeing Saigon by day.

I enjoyed the ride so much; I was actually disappointed that it wasn’t longer. However, I was still really excited to check out my school and meet all my coworkers. I arrived really early because I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get there. My school is in Hung Vuong Plaza in District 5, so luckily I had plenty of options to kill my time with. I ended up grabbing an iced coffee across the road. It was my first time drinking Vietnamese coffee and it reminded me slightly of Malaysian coffee in that it was chocolate-y.

Everyone at school was celebrating Halloween for the children, so I met most of my coworkers in costume. They were really lovely and it seems like everyone gets along well. I felt bad that I was thrown onto people in-between observations because everyone was busy preparing lessons and what not; but I guess everyone has been new once so they were really great about showing me the ropes.  I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone better.

When I finished observations, I headed back to my hotel on a xeon and wandered to a vegetarian restaurant where I had some delicious spring rolls and some sort of saffron-vegetarian appetizer with flatbread. The man said it was the best thing they had, so I said why not. It was light and tasty. I washed it down with a Saigon Green beer. I was ecstatic to try the beer, but I wasn’t very impressed when I tasted it and it reminded me of Heineken. It’s something I’m just going have to get over.

After eating, I wandered around a bit and then headed back to my hotel. When I walked into the lobby, I felt someone tapping on my shoulder. It turned out to be another person that was new to ILA (my school). She was sitting in the alleyway with a few other new people and invited me to join them. I must have walked passed them in a jetlag daze and didn’t notice them.  I was really tired but I was excited to meet new people so I went back out with them and wandered some more.

Once everyone decided to throw in the towel, we made plans to meet for breakfast. Eventually, more and more people arrived at the hotel that were from ILA. Everyone got along well immediately—this wasn’t really very surprising to me as it takes a certain type of person to want to pick up and move to Vietnam. It’s nice to be around similar-minded people.

Once our free-stay at the hotel was up, we all decided to move to guesthouses. Most of us are at a delightfully tacky, yet comfortable place called “Miss Loi’s.” It offers free breakfast, a rooftop terrace and enough rooms for many of us to stay in close proximity to each other until we find our own places. The rest of the people are in different guesthouses that are apart of the same alley. Together, we’ve been exploring the city and celebrating our new home on Bui Vien, which is a giant street of shops and bars where many expats and tourists go at night. 

Here's a quick look at the view from Miss Loi's (clearly I fancy the rooftop terrace):

24 Hours in China

I've been in Vietnam for a week now, but this is the first time that I've had a moment to sit down and write a blog post. The journey getting to Vietnam was a little more stressful than I imagined. Yet, I was happy to leave out of JFK so that I could cross the Verrazano bridge and get one last glimpse of my beloved New York skyline before jetting off to Asia.

I arrived at JFK with my parents last Thursday and it was a madhouse. My nerves had been jittering the entire car ride, so once I said goodbye to my parents and was completely on my own, the feeling got even stranger. Thus, the moment I got to the gate, I headed straight for the Martini Bar at the airport and ordered a Pinot Grigio...and I must have looked absurd to the people at the gate because I literally plopped my pillowpet down on the bar stool next to me. Surprisingly, I didn't get carded. On the other side of me, sat an Italian man who began chatting me. He was a bit off and I didn't want to talk to him at first, but in the end it was a good distraction to my nerves.

He told me about how he was married for a year and a half to this American woman. However, he didn't have a green card yet and would travel back and forth from Naples to Long Island, where they lived together. He began showing me pictures, which turned out to be a riot. I would have never expected this man to whip out Vegas-style wedding photos of his fake-tan, fake-blonde wife. Somehow the conversation moved to soccer, American football and eventually the reason for my travels.

It took a lot of time for him to process that I was moving to Vietnam. The language barrier caused him to think I was going to Vienna, Austria to which he shouted "Austriche!!" Eventually, he got the memo that it was Vietnam rather than Austria and he was deeply confused as to why I was going there. I'm also pretty sure he was confused about the location of Vietnam because when I said it was warm weather because it was close to the equator, he responded, "Yes, Ecuador, the Galapagos!" He then asked me how old I was and I responded 22. He pushed himself backward and told me that he thought I was 16. I asked if the pillowpet was the reason, and he laughed. I was slightly offended but payback quickly ensued when he took off his white-guido sunglasses and asked me to guess his age. I said 40 when he was actually 35, so our age assumptions were equally insulting. Soon enough, I bid him adieu and boarded my plane.

From the moment I stepped on Air China, I was a minority. 80% of the people on the flight were Chinese and the other 20% were only traveling through China. We all missed our second planes--to Thailand, Vietnam, etc. Thus, for 24 hours we were all STUCK IN CHINA.

I had a near panic attack when the lady at the transfer desk told me that I had to catch a flight the next day and that my plane was already leaving. I was alone and terrified with a pillowpet under my arm and absolutely clueless of my next move. I latched onto these two Persian men traveling separately and another Indian man. They were all supposed to get on a flight to Bangkok and were in the same situation as me. One of them, I called big brother in my head because that's how he was acting. He made sure I knew where I was going, waited for me at customs, etc. The other one was livid, screaming about how he was a gold member and how he hated Chinese people to their face. On a side note, I am 90% he was from the reality TV show, Shahs of Sunset. At the moment, I was angry I didn't watch the show and was unable to tell if my speculations were true. Regardless, I was embarrassed for him and his rude, reality TV personality. At the other end of the spectrum was the Indian man, whom I called Gandhi in my head because he was forever trying to calm down the begrudged Persian man and make peace of the misery we were all in.

Eventually, us four misfits found ourselves at some strange hotel just outside of Beijing airport. When we arrived, they told us we either had to share rooms or pay extra. The angry Persian man absolutely lost it and because he was a Business Class traveler, they gave him his own room. I was less fortunate at first and ended up with some American girl on vacation in my room. However, she was nice and ended up booking a 3am flight out of her own pocket and so I had the room to myself. The room wreaked of cigarettes and the hotel all in all was so strange. I went from being confused, to bursting out in tears, to watching Breakfast at Tiffany's, to nonstop texting Kevin, Chris and my family.

I took a video of a hotel (wedding?) event because I needed to show someone what a weird place I was in.

When I was parting from this not-so-lovely place, I sat in the lobby and saw some more people that had been in the same situation as me. I had recognized them but they weren't apart of my Persian-Indian gang on the way there. There was an older Vietnamese woman, an American and a Bhutanese girl. They were all lovely. The Vietnamese woman spoke very little English but she jumped for joy when she realized I was going to Vietnam. The guy was named Christopher and he was so incredibly kind to this woman and made sure she was taken care of because she was very concerned and spoke little English. She kept calling him Christopher, my son!

We were all told by Air China to be in the lobby at 15:00 for airport pickup. However, when we arrived at the airport, which was about 10 minutes away, they told us it would be another hour until we could get our tickets. Thus, we all decided to sit down at a cafe and order cappuccinos. I had gone to the bathroom and came back and asked what I owed to pay. They said nothing, to which I protested I wouldn't allow them to pay for me. At that moment, Christopher leaned in and said to me, "What if you are meant to sit down and have a free cappuccino and a nice conversation with some people you just met in China." This immediately relaxed me and made the whole mess of a situation feel okay.

Christopher was 38 and was the same age as UT, the Vietnamese woman's daughter. This is another reason why she loved him so much. At the moment I can't remember the Bhutanese girl's name, but she was so friendly, spoke English very well and gave me her card. She told me that whenever I wanted to come to Bhutan, she would show me around. I can't believe I'm at a loss for her name right now, but I have her information in one of my bags and I definitely want to write her and find out how the rest of her journey went.

We all talked about life, happenstance and literature. Christopher wrote down three of his favorite books in my moleskin. He told me that those three books changed his life and I feel like because we all shared this unconventional travel experience together, I'm somehow meant to read them.

When it was time to go to our gates, I took UT and made sure her bags went through, her ticket was set, etc. She was so grateful to all of us for helping her. She kept offering us money and we kept telling her that was absurd. We compromised that we would try to come visit her and she would cook us her famous egg rolls. She lives about 2 hours south of Ho Chi Minh City and I have her address and phone number now. Because I had helped her with her ticket, etc. the Air China employee put us in the seats next to each other. It was really a cool experience getting to know her.

UT told me that she had lost her husband when her daughter was born, lost her mother when she (herself) was born and ended up being raised by her aunt--not to mention she was born in 1945 and lived in Vietnam through the war. She had a hard life but a positive outlook. I truly hope to visit her in Vietnam and learn more about her life.

Here is a picture of Beijing airport and another one of UT and I.

I will post more about actually being here in Vietnam, but I thought I would firstly share my journey because getting there is half the battle.