The Ben Thanh night market comes on alive starting at about 5pm everyday. This centrally located Saigon night market, which is on the 2 roads on both sides of the Ben Thanh Market, is the place to go for your night shopping and late supper. You’ll find contemporary clothing, men and ladies shoes, Crumpler bags, sunglasses, bikinis, souvenirs from Vietnam and a lot more. As for food, the Ben Thanh night market won’t disappoint with a wide range of Vietnamese food from the north and all the way down south. Another big plus point about this night market is that they open till about 12am everyday…

Christmas, although not a public holiday in Vietnam, is widely celebrated in the major cities particularly in Saigon. Vietnam is predominantly a Buddhist country but come Christmas, its young Vietnamese population paints the town red and green (Christmas theme ). Christmas in Vietnam is a major festival and the Vietnamese people celebrate it with equal enthusiasm as of the New Year.

The Saigon Zoo is about 1km from the Saigon Post Office. It’s very easy to get there. Facing the Saigon Post Office, just head down the road to your left and make a right turn at the road in front of the Diamond Plaza…

People – throw away Hai Au and other let-you-&-me-down resorts in Mui Ne and allow me to introduce you to the spanking new Saigon Cali Resort, opened 10 months ago. Brand new, and understandably spotless, this will definitely be my next resort stay in Mui Ne. It’s located right next, and I mean really right next, to the Fairy Stream which flows by its walls. Price range US$35-45 (no breakfast included – a pity). However, it’s near Kim Loan Restaurant so that is indeed a real comfort…

This is Saigon Paragon at Phu My Hung of District 7 in Ho Chi Minh City. Beautiful building selling high end products like Omega, Khaisilk, Espirit, Mphosis, Levis jeans, Bvlgary and Shiseido. Saigon Paragon also has the Megastar which is a multi cinema complex in Vietnam, a supermarket and food court in the basement. They even have a website at…

A friend of mine, Phi, recently opened up a Crumpler bag shop in Saigon Vietnam. A cool and very friendly chap, Phi’s Crumpler shop carries a wide collection of genuine Crumpler bag made in Vietnam, from ’7 million dollar home Crumpler’, ‘Dangerous Threat’ to ‘Crumpler Cheesy Disco’. Below are some pictures of different models of Crumpler bag you can find in his shop…

There are at least more than 10 websites on Vietnam news that you can find online. The 3 below are the ones I’ve counted on over the years to get my dose on the happenings in Vietnam and thought I’d share with you guys. When I googled ‘Vietnam news’ for fun just before writing this article, to my delight, the 3 websites I’m about to share are on the top 5 search list. This shows that they are the most popular and thus means that we are on the right track…

My encounter with the Binh An Village Resort in Vung Tau came in August this year. My buddy asked me to recommend a nice beach resort in Vung Tau to pamper his girlfriend for a short trip. I flipped through my faithful Lonely Planet and Binh An Village came highly recommended. Called the resort to make a booking and even though I thought the listed price of US$200 was reasonable for a boutique resort along the seafront, I asked for a discount and the lady manager gave us a 20% discount taking into consideration it was a weekday stay. Cool!

Stayed at Thuy Duong Hotel in Vung Tau 2 months back (Oct 09). Thuy Duong Hotel is along the ‘back beach’, further down the road away from the main actions meaning it is quiet which is one of their attractions for me. In fact, it was so quiet that my Vietnamese friend found it eerie

This is my favorite Trung Nguyen cafe in Ho Chi Minh City, Saigon. I kept the receipt thinking it’ll have the address printed but turned out it’s not there. Anyway, this Trung Nguyen Cafe is easy to find- it’s just behind the Diamond Shopping Centre. If you don’t know where the Diamond Shopping Centre is, it’s behind the Notre Dame Cathedral. And if you still have no idea where I’m talking about…