Firefly buzz: Day 5 : Fine Art Museum & Cholon

This was the last day of our stay in HCM City and the schedule was kinda relaxed as we had to return to guesthouse early to pack our barang barang. First thing to do before we set off for sightseeing… Booking of our tour package from Sinh Café for 3D2N Mekong Delta – Chau Doc – Phnom Penh (priced at 597,000 Dongs = 36$ USD) for tmr.

Getting our tour package at Sinh Café

Buildings at the junction to our guesthouse

When we go out for our sightseeing or return to guesthouse everyday, we would pass by a particular bread shop with delicious looking breads, cakes and whatnot… Hence, we decided to check out the shop before we left! This was a nice bread shop with a wide selection of food ranging from breads, cakes, pastry and drinks, pretty similar to Breadtalk here. Prices were comparable to ours, so I guess it’s rather pricey for the viets…

Bread shop

Ex-irish checking out the pastry. Princess with her purchases.

We got to our first sightseeing venue pretty quickly, though by the wrong entrance, haha. This building caught our eyes with its striking color and colonial feel, and we took a few photos in the courtyard. As we walked to the front, we realized that we had arrived at our destination. Viola, this was easy.

First Stop: Fine Arts Museum
Cost: 10,000.00 Dong
Opening: 09:00-17:00 (Tue-Sun)

Housed in this old colonial structure are: 1) Ground floor – beautiful photographs taken from various places in Vietnam and were entered for a competition (guess this was an ad hoc display then), 2) Second floor – war-related artwork and interesting wood and marble sculptures, 3) Third floor - 'Contemporary' and 'Antique' art displays; I particularly love the lacquer artworks as I knew that artists had to put in a lot of hours and effort just to complete one art piece… Though English labeling were found on some pieces, they weren’t very informative… A pity though. No photography inside the museum and thus no photo.

Side of building and beautiful staircase

Entrance of museum. Ex-irish imitating the statue.

Second Stop: Binh Tay Market
Cost: FOC

Next on our schedule was a visit to Cho Lon, Ho Chi Minh City’s Chinatown. Cho Lon means ‘‘big market,’’ and the best place to begin our visit is at the overwhelming Binh Tay Market. Millions of stores selling an astounding variety of goods and at ‘wholesome’ prices could be found here, and place was pretty organized as specified goods were allocated to a specified section. If you love Bangkok’s chatuchak and its stuffy cum no/little air ventilation, you would love it here.

Building + Bus terminal at Cho Lon

Lunch at KFC

Binh Tay Market

We decided to give shopping at Binh Tay Market a miss cos there wasn’t anything that we want to buy and set forth for sightseeing in Cho Lon area. To our dismay, the weather wasn’t on our side and it started raining!

Park with dragon sculpture. Loveflower using the local map as umbrella.

Third Stop: Cha Tam Church
Cost: FOC

Built at the beginning of the last century, Cha Tam Church has a pleasing pastel yellow and white paint job and a peculiar statue in the tower. More interestingly, this was the place where President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother Ngo Dinh Nhu took refuge on 2 November 1963, after fleeing the Presidential Palace during a coup attempt. When their efforts to contact loyal military officers (of whom there was almost none) failed, Diem and Nhu agreed to surrender unconditionally and revealed where they were hiding.

Cha Tam Church and its main gate

Statues found within the compound

Interior of church

The rain turned heavier and we had to take refuge in the church too! To kill time, we took photos of each other taking photos of the other person, haha

Loveflower’s camera. Ex-irish’s camera

The rain subdued a little and we decided to dash to our next sightsee. Much to our dismay, before we could get anyhere, it started to rain heavily AGAIN! We concluded that the rain won’t stop anytime soon, decided to forgo the remaining sightseeing in Cholon and cabbed to Diamond Plaza instead.

The drenched gang taking shelter from the pouring rain

Rain, rain, go away!

Fourth Stop: Diamond Plaza
Cost: FOC

One of HCM City's premier shopping centers, this complex feels like our Takashimaya with its wide variety of international brands. In addition, there are also a bowling place, arcade machines, a snooker/pool area, cinema as well as various food and drink venues…

Food court

It’s high tea time! Savoring the local delights in comfort…