We spent our final day (
well, morning, hours, whatever) in Ho Chi Minh City at The Manor to attend the birthday of our family friend's daughter.
But you know, that didn't mean that I couldn't have one last taste of Vietnamese cuisine before leaving!
We had quite a late breakfast at the Pho 24 branch at The Manor. To be honest, I was freaking out a little the night before as I was worried that I would be leaving the city without having a bowl of pho.
Mhmm... so many yummy choices...
What do you know, cafe sua da! Two glasses of it too...
I always get pho ga, and add some bean sprouts in mine. Simple. Other people I know go for the whole shebang and put in egg, lemon, all sorts of veggies, etc. The works if you'll have it.
Again, I don't eat pho outside of Vietnam purely because I'm a stickler for taste. Pho outside of Vietnam just doesn't taste as amazing. (
If you read my last post about my thoughts on eating Cha gio outside of Vietnam, those feelings apply to pho too.)
How good does that look?
We also got a side order of bun cha gio - fried spring rolls served with rice vermicelli. It was such a big bowl, I couldn't finish it all, what with my pho ga also calling my attention. Personally, I think that the bun cha gio from Pho 2000 (another popular pho place) is better than the one from Pho 24, not to say that this wasn't good too. But that's just me.
Price-wise, very affordable (one bowl is about 60,000vnd), so if you're craving Vietnamese food, come check out any of the branches of Pho 24 (or Pho 2000, both are equally awesome in my opinion). Everyone passing through Vietnam needs to have a hot bowl of delicious pho straight from the country it originated from!
Just a few snippits from the birthday party we attended - there was so much food that I wanted to try out, but I was so stuffed from all the pho and bun cha gio! Lesson learned - don't eat pho before a children's birthday party where you're guaranteed to be drooling over all the food.
Sadly we had to leave the party early to catch our bus back to Phnom Penh at 1pm! It was a bit of a mad dash trying to get back to Pham Ngu Lao on time...
...because we dropped by Tous Les Jours to buy a few snacks for the road!
Tous Les Jours is a South Korean bakery franchise, with over 100 stores outside of Korea, serving a wide selection of baked goods and beverages. I remember how I would sometimes bring a few of their pastries to school for break and lunch time! TLJ is apparently the biggest bakery in Vietnam, and I can't argue with that! They've also got stores here in Phnom Penh, though I've yet to visit one.
My fave picks from TLJ - their croque monsieur, apple muffin, plain croissant and chocolate buns. Mhmm...
Nom nom nom...
Heading back! We passed by the first Starbucks that opened here in Ho Chi Minh City, the branch over at New World Hotel. I actually dropped by here May of last year with a few friends who had also come back to visit HCMC. Same menu, same vibe, same crowd. What did I expect really? Still, it's a great place to hang out. I believe they've got more branches around District 1 and 7 now.
After about two hours, we reached the Cambodian border. This time I remember to take a few photos!
We had a break once again at the Flower restaurant, and lesson learned, we didn't buy anything there besides drinks. My dad actually popped by Burger King before we left Ho Chi Minh City, and we ate those instead!
Not long after, it started to rain pretty hard while we were on the road and that got me pretty anxious. Bad weather while traveling always puts me on edge. So much so I didn't get any sleep despite feeling a little under the weather. We arrived back in Phnom Penh a little past 7pm - not bad at all. The trip back to Phnom Penh wasn't as thrilling as it was heading to HCMC (the movie wasn't as good and the views didn't seem so appealing in the rain), but it was much cooler as this time round, the air-condition on our bus was working well. Thank God!
It was so great being back in Ho Chi Minh City! It was like a breath of fresh air, being back in the city I hold near and dear to my heart, the place I called home for pretty much my entire childhood. Damn, I wish we had stayed for longer than the weekend but I guess that's just going to give me more incentive to come back. There literally was so much to do, and so little time. Probably this time next year? Who knows?
Hopefully my posts have helped you plan out your future trip to Ho Chi Minh City!
Happy discovering!
PS - I tried to take the quickest snapshot of the Cathedral as we passed it while in the car, and this was the result. Epic. Fail.
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