15th March 2014... one week after the missing MH370 issue. it was a tragic, mystery and sorrow. was i scared? buang jauh2 that feeling cause i'm a frequent traveler, i'm travelling by flight almost every month. apparently, when i was at KLIA, i can see most people aren't scared taking flight as well as using MAS. in fact, the queue for the MAS group check-in was a damn loooong. "misi pencarian??" errmmm i don't think so. my sister is one of the indirectly searching crew cause she's working for the MAS team's troubleshooter; thus she's keep update me for any news.
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| Let's Go! |
wonder who are the VVIP guest on this group? jeng jeng jeng!! it's Tun Musa Hitam, a former Deputy of Prime Minister of M'sia; serving under Tun Mahathir. aku belum lahir lagi mase tuh. Tun is a very nice, friendly, funny and down to earth person. it's nice meeting and knowing him in person. seriously. ini bukan bodek ke hape. this is my personal view after meeting and take care of his group. Group? the trip is for the WIEF Foundation. together with him are Tan Sri Ahmad Fuzi, Datuk Syed Abu Bakar and other 20 staff. that's why i'm calling this is a VVIP group. even Tun is already 80 yrs old, he's a tough guy. rilek jek tgok dia jalan ke sana sini or taking stairs or waiting for the bus. Bus? yeap, he didn't mind taking a bus, instead of luxury car cause he wants to mingle around with his staff. another one thing i respect about him is he's punctuality. memang superb. he never let other people wait for him not even for 1 minute. as a matter of fact, he's the one who waited for his staff. yet, he still not easily gets angry or cepat melenting. kagum tak? kagum tak? the best politician i ever met ever! by the way, since he's 80 yrs old this year, we applied MSIG for his insurance (travel insurance is a must) due to AXA's coverage up to 79 yrs old only.
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| xde amek gmbar dia. tp aku de gmbar passport dia Diplomatik, okeh. xleh plak rotate gmbar ni |
because of him, i experienced staying at a 5 star hotel in Ho Chi Minh. before this i only stayed at 3 star Kingston & Lan Lan 2 hotels located at the most favorite place in Ho Chi Minh --> nearby Ben Thanh Market. Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon is a very nice hotel, with free wifi at the lobby area, huge & cozy room, river facing (nice view) and with a rooftop swimming pool where you can see the whole view of Ho Chi Minh. the hotel used was chosen by Tun as he said he saw this hotel while cruising on the river early of this year.
the restaurants used and menu also recommended by himself. we were dine at Banana Leaf @ Saigon, Red House Ho Chi Minh, the Daun and Pasha Restaurant. for other previous group, we usually using Saigon Seripenang, Shamsuddin, 4 Season, VN Halal, Satay House etc. among 4 suggested restaurants, i love the dishes at Banana Leaf and Red House. Pasha is serving a Turkish Cuisine and i don't eats Kebab much. Tun ordered more than 10 items at each restaurant, but actually he didn't eat much. he just enjoy seeing his staff eating.
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| at Pasha Restaurant. yg aku tau yg #1 tu Hummus. yg lain x sure. too many food & too heavy. last2 dorg tapau n sedekah kat homeless ^^ |
the itinerary for this group is simple. upon arrival, visit the Notre Dame Cathedral + Post Office. Lunch at Banana Leaf. War Remnant Museum (they loves history so badly, they have spent almost 1 hour there) and pass by the Presidential Palace (they were too tired, so we proceed to hotel). Check-in and free time. Dinner at Red House.
on the second day, walking distance to the pier for the speed boat ride to Cu Chi Tunnel. before this i only travel to Cu Chi by bus, without knowing that the place can be reached by boat. the speed boat can be adventurous, but not advisable for the kids, panas. in addition, there's plenty of water hyacinth floating on the river. thus, the rides was not so smooth. and the boat engine keeps hooked by that water hyacinth. sket lagi nk muntah, dah pening2 dah. the journey takes less than 2 hours per way along the Sai Gon River. they really enjoy shooting at the Cu Chi place. then, back to town also by boat. Lunch at the Daun. Light shopping at Saigon Square and nearby shops. back to hotel, free time and dinner at Pasha Restaurant. then, Tun requested for 2 hours Karaoke as their annual activity. both Kingdom Karaoke or Avatar Karaoke are the best in town with English song and served beverages. i'm not joining their karaoke session but from outside i can hear Tun's singing well. he really enjoy it and try to entertain his staff at the same time.
last day there, free till check-out in the afternoon and transfer back to KL.
** more place of attractions in Ho Chi Minh? please view my previous Saigon entries **
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| boleh sesat kat dlm ni. ntah mane swimming pool tu?? |
in the morning on the last day, we accompanied Tan Sri to lacquerware shop and telekung shop. then to the souvenir shops nearby hotel. after that, accompanied another staff to Hard Rock Shop. rushed for lunch at own expenses at Halal @ Saigon Restaurant, in front of mosque not too far from Renaissance. tapi tak berapa sedappp... then, because of we are rushing (belum pack barang lagi, and teman Tan Sri that morning is a last minute plan from him) back to hotel, we took a motorbike service instead of taxi (sbb emergency + tak jumpe taxi kat area restaurant tu) but the driver charged us VND 100,000. jahat btol! but we only paid him few dolar cause it just nearby. if taking taxi, probably only VND 10,000. anyway, pengalaman.... experience taking motorbike and experience being cheated by motor driver in Ho Chi Minh. dah la kena tiaw dengan Airport 'Taxi' on the day of arrival (ada visa issue) - he charged me USD 25 from Airport to the Post Office. damn expensive!
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| cantik plak. ni dari mother-of-pearl. some dr kulit telur itik |
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| aku beli ni. set of 3 at USD20. pearl + gold paper |
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| beli ni jugak. embroidered wrist bag |
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| design tshirt atas tu ala2 mcm pkai egg-shell. sgt creative |
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| one of the Halal Restaurants depan masjid |
our group consists of one U.S. Citizen, two African (from Comoros & Cameroon) and one from Saudi. Alhamdulillah we Malaysian no longer need to apply the visa as previous time. i applied the visa by online using smile travel and the payment made by credit card, up to 10 person in the same booking @ USD14 per person (BSR 3.36 that time). so far, i found that the Smile Travel rate is the cheapest among other agencies. visatovietnam at USD15, myvietnamvisa USD20 and vietnam-visa.com USD21. the rates are varies maybe based on their service fee.
the online application is for the visa approval only. not including the stamping. the online application requires the details (name, DOB, nationality, passport no etc), the arrival date, airport name (Tan Son Nhat Airport for Saigon), visa type (normal / urgent) etc. normal processing is 3 working days, but i received the approval after 6 days. no additional charge for sharing application, while for private visa it will cost you an extra USD30. from the approval letter i received, i saw another 18 names on it.
the next step: print the approval letter with booking no and bring along to Vietnam with 2 passport size photos, original passport, and stamping money. if you didn't bring the photo or lost it, they will fine you USD5 per person.
upon arrival, please fill up one given form. and submit all the documents to the officer at the Landing Visa counter. after that, they will call up your names, make the stamping payment (USD45 for single entry or USD95 for multiple entries; valid for 3 months). then you may proceed to the immigration counter.
during my visit, i expected the visa processing will takes about 30mins only; but we have been waited till 1 and half hour for the visa. maybe sebab ramai kot. stamping tu means a visa sticker yg tampal dlm passport mcm China Visa tuh
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| what do you think? kurang hajar kan?? isk isk isk only in Saigon |
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