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VINPEARL RESORT & SPA // vietnam


» Welcome to Ho Chi Minh City (Otherwise Known as Saigon)
» Things to See in Ho Chi Minh City (A-Z): Cholon
» Cao Dai Temple
» Chu Chi Tunnels
» Things to Buy in Ho Chi Minh City: Modern Vietnamese Art
» Things to Eat in Ho Chi Minh City: Restaurant Guide
» Places to Party in Ho Chi Minh City: Bars and Clubs
» Vietnamese Girls
» Places to Stay in Ho Chi Minh City: Saigon Hotels
» Getting There: Ho Chi Minh City Airport
» Further Afield: Dalat
» Hanoi Dining Guide
» Nha Trang and the Vinpearl Resort
» Phu Quoc Island
» Costs of Living and Staying in Vietnam
» Buying Real Estate in Vietnam?
» Learning Basic Travel Vietnamese
» Elsewhere in Indochina: Cruising Cambodia
Get off the beaten backpacker path, in Thailand
Get Off the Beaten Backpacker Path, in Liv Raban's Secret Thailand





RUSSIAN LANGUAGE PAPERBACKS STACKED IN THE CORRIDORS OUTSIDE YOUR ROOM, FREE FOR YOUR PERUSAL. Rotund Russian babushka's sipping cocktails with their families downstairs, most of them the color of lobsters. Filipino guitarists serenading both them and you, crooning all the hits of the '60s -- Simon & Garfunkel, Credence Clearwater Revival, perhaps The Beatles if they have any taste. Kind of reminds me of Mui Ne, those red roofs against the dry hills. Boasts the largest swimming pool in south east Asia, which pained me to paddle across the last time I was there, due to a probable broken arm sustained after a swim in a celebrity Tokyo pool. Damn that Maniac High (aka Dennis Longley) -- he always spoils my holidays! He manages to spoil it, even when he is a couple of thousand miles away. But now he is missing in action, and I might never see him again. Vinpearl Resort is, as the name suggests, the Pearl of Vietnam, and it never failed to entertain me during the brief time I was there. There are 500 rooms, some of which have housed Russian politicians. You can't beat the location -- fronting the sea on a private bay below the hills, on an island floating amongst a whole armada of islands, in a sea heaving with boats. That island is in fact Hon Tre Island, a few minutes off the coast of Nha Trang, 450km north of Ho Chi Minh City and a two-hour drive from Dalat in the central highlands. It is 30 minutes from Cam Ranh International Airport, which offers direct flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. (Eds. note: Cam Ranh International Airport is another US military creation like Tan Son Nhat, and can be reached by Jetstar Pacific Airlines.) There is also apparently another airport in the middle of town, but it is no longer the breeze it used to be, reportedly...
Head down to the jetty near Evason Ana Mandara, and VinPearl resort is but a 10-minute boat or hovercraft ride away. You can also get there by cablecar, which is supposed to the biggest or boldest or best in the world, in some kind of category or another, if my memory serves me correctly...
Vietnamese studies expert Darya Mishukova talked with Lao Dong newspaper about her book on Vietnamese culture and tourism, which has recently hit bookstores in Russia and attracted tourism investors' attention.

t r o p i c a l + d a w n

WE ARRIVED IN NHA TRANG ON A BRIGHT BLUE MORNING, THIS BEING THE MIDDLE OF THE NHA TRANGESE DRY SEASON (LATE AUGUST). For some peculiar reason even though it is raining in Ho Chi Minh City to the south, and raining in Hanoi to the north, in Nha Trang it is almost always sunny at this time of the year. Blame it on the geography! It had been a long hard ride up from Ho Chi Minh City on our bed bus, which sounds like it should have been luxurious, but it wasn't. Blame it on the Vietnamese roads! Try as hard as I might to get some sleep, I couldn't pull it off. Half conscious reveries were the best I could muster. Getting out of Ho Chi Minh City was awful, the honking as raucous as ever, piles of sand and building materials on the sides of the roads, the hugest truck jam I have ever seen in my life in the industrial zone north-east of the city. Trucks and buses with Korean hangul written all of them, sauntering past factories belonging to China and Japan. Things were only a little less hectic once we got out into the countryside. The common scenairo: I would finally doze off into sleep, only to be startled by the merest pretext: the driver suddenly applying the brakes, or the bus hitting a bump in the road. For some reason sleeping in a bed in a bus gives you a strange sense of falling, especially when you are... falling... asleep! I felt like I was tobogganing down a steep icy track and the toboggan was somehow out of control, careening towards imminent death. It was probably due to the crazy Vietnamese driving, which does actually lead to death, more often than not. In the middle of the night I am jolted out of my hard-won slumbers, headlights in my eyes: I look forward to see a large truck or something careening towards us, its horns blearing. Hard braking by both parties with plenty of horn, and plenty of mutual sliding; we all slide forward, our feet slammed/rammed into the end of our bunks, our shoes and bags flying down the corridor towards the driver's seat and the frontal windscreen. Bus and truck halted a meter or two apart from each other, headlights blasting each other. And it was basically just because the bus was driving on the wrong side of the road, overtaking. Or maybe it was the truck that was on the wrong side of the road. You can never tell in Vietnam. After all that bouncing around, the only thing I was looking forward to was a swim in southeast Asia's largest pool, and a sleep in a bed which didn't move...


"There are also numerous sports and recreation facilities including four tennis courts, fitness centre with daily aerobics class, driving range and putting green, archery range, mountain bikes, Kid's Club, table tennis and game room with pool tables, Mah Jong and chess.

"A feature of the hotel is the resort's spa and health centre. All treatments at the Qi-Vin Pearl Shiseido Salon & Spa are created and managed under strict regulations of Shiseido Japan with a distinctly Vietnamese touch. The luxurious facilities include an indoor pool.
"Dining and entertainment options include three restaurants serving Vietnamese, Asian and International cuisine, and two bars.
"The resort's Grand Ballroom can accommodate over 700 delegates theatre style and is divisible into two function rooms. There are also three additional meeting rooms for smaller gatherings.
"Sofitel Vinpearl is an ideal base for dive and water sports enthusiasts. The hotel dive centre offers PADI diving courses and can arrange dive and snorkel trips to Nha Trang's protected marine area, which features nine islands and over 100 species of both fish and coral. Other water sports available at the hotel include jet skis, wake boarding, wind surfing, kite surfing, ocean canoeing and parasailing.

As Smart Travel Asia reports: "Nha Trang is a short flight south on a Vietnam Airlines ATR. The overhead bins can accommodate a briefcase at best so watch your carry-on. The town actually looks like a seaside resort with a long breezy marine drive. There are public beach areas with nice thatch-palm umbrellas and endless views.
"It's a bit like the Pattaya of yore, minus the sleaze, the drug-laced transvestite nipples, the sanitation problems, the crime, the bars, the neon and badgering trinket vendors. Diving is big in Nha Trang and, lately, spa treatments.
"Taking credit for the latter is the Evason Ana Mandara and Six Senses Spa. As would be expected, this beautiful garden property features a Six Senses Spa set in its own private enclave at one end of the property. There are treatment rooms for couples with sunken Jacuzzis. Choose a package or go a la carte. If you're not warm enough by the beach, head for the sauna and herbal steam, then ponder the spelling and pronunciation of words like kinesiology. The spa is airy and bright with nice garden features.
"Evason Ana Mandara runs long rather than deep, along the promenade drive. It is minutes from the airport, yet far removed from the bustle. The cottages are roomy, the largest being the 35sq m Deluxe Seaview with tile floors and four-poster bed. There's TV, mosquito net, wooden furniture, a bathtub with a window looking onto garden and an incredibly small safe.
"The complex has two swimming pools (one deep enough for diving lessons), tennis courts and a super romantic dining spot on a wooden jetty, right above the sea. Sort out your "I dos" here under a full moon. The Six Senses Hideaway Ninh Van Bay is on a neighbouring island, a 15-minute boat ride from here. This resort features just 58 pool villas. The civil airport at Cam Ranh (which can handle larger aircraft) is a half-hour drive to Nha Trang along a 30km highway. The old city airport smack in the middle of town used to be a breeze but...
"One of the biggest and flashiest hotels on the Vietnam beach scene is the 485-room Vinpearl Resort & Spa megaresort. This humongous all-in-one playground boasts a 1,000-guest ballroom facility, bars, nightclub, extensive swimming pools, spa, marina, tennis and diving. The The resort complex is on a grand scale. The place may not appeal to all tastes but as an all-inclusive, private, Club Med sort of escape, it will find its fans. If comparisons were to be made, it is a tad like the Royal Cliff at Pattaya, with a five storey structure fronting the sea on a private bay below the hills. The five-star Sunrise Beach Resort Nha Trang on the tree-lined esplanade overlooking Nha Trang Bay has 121 guestrooms and suites. Close to the beach and in the heart of the city, the resort is conveniently located for sightseeing and a 45-minute drive from Cam Ranh Airport. The hotel boasts a raft of amenities including the Qi Salon and Spa by Shiseido where everything from mud baths and wraps to stinging scrubs is on offer.
"Sunrise Beach Resort: Modern amenities
"For those on a budget, the Yasaka Saigon Nha Trang Hotel is a stone's throw away, also on the marine drive. Here hotel-style rooms start at US$98 a night. Off season you might get a 50 percent discount or more. If it's raining, bargain, bargain, bargain. And even cheaper, is the Nha Trang Lodge Hotel.
Listen to Vietnam Music Online.
Nice Hotel: .
Nice Hotel in Nha Trang

FORGET ME NOT Guest House: .
Private rooms with ensuite for $12 a night.

c h a + c a

THIS IS WHAT IS WRITTEN IN THE CUISINE OF VIET NAM, WHICH I PICKED UP IN HO CHI MINH CITY'S AIRPORT ONCE: "Chả Ca, essentially fish served on a brazier, was first made by the Doan family, who lived in the house at number 14 Hang Son in Ha Noi's Old Quarter early in the 20th century. Originally, the thers might like it too. Accordingly, they opened a small restaurant that served this dish exclusively, thus beginning a long Ha Noi culinary tradition.

Lau Mam 140: 140/13 Tran Huy Lieu, F15, Phu Nhuan District. (Off Nam Khy Khoi Nghia Street, halyway between the airport and District 1.)
Specializes in bun mam (fermented fish noodle soup). According to Eating Asia who lived for a while in Saigon, and dined at this restaurant (and in my opinion, she knows much more about Vietnam and food in general than me -- get the hell off my website, and get the hell on hers!): "A plate of lotus root salad with shrimp and pork (ger and rib-less) that I've yet to identify. Lime slices and fresh chilies add a bit of zing..."

s the good folks at Vietnam Tourism Info write: "The first thing that strikes one about Hideaway Cafe is that the name fits. Nestled down a small laneway off Pham Ngoc Thach Street in Ho Chi Minh City, Hideaway is tricky to find. And sitting in a generous armchair in the light-filled, Moroccan-inspired dining room, really does feel like being in a haven; far from the noise and havoc of the streets out­side. Very appealing. I predict long after­noons over cups of coffee or freshly squeezed juices, maybe even a deca­dent cake or two; the owners installing WiFi in the building means I could work on my laptop here too!" H20 Restaurant: 216 Pasteur street, Dist. 3. Phone: 08/824 3261.
The menu in this place comes complete with a nutrition guide and a calorie count with every meal -- an idea they should start employing in American restaurants, given the huge weight disparity between the United States of America and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. This establishment in District 3 is being touted as Ho Chi Minh City's first true health food restaurant, and the emphasis in on vitamins and low calories. As Anh Thu reported: "If you're a bit overweight, you may be interested in taking a close look at the menu's detailed information on each dish?fs calorie count and vitamin content.
"'I like Australian beefsteak with chips, but I had to say no when I discovered the dish's calorie count was 560," said Tran Thanh Nguyen, a recent guest at the restaurant.
"Nguyen chose a rice soup called pineapple leaf and crab rice soup because 'the charming waitress advised me to buy the dish, and with only 280 calories, it's suitable for my diet.'
"Cooked with pineapple leaves, the sweet-smelling soup costs VND12,000 (less than US$1).
"Nguyen says the dish made her feel as if she had 'a sweet sensation in the chest,' a good choice for summer's hot temperatures.

f r i e n d l y + p h o

YES, HO CHI MINH CITY IS ONE OF THE BEST PLACES IN THE WORLD TO LOOK FOR WHAT I LIKE TO CALL EXOTIC MEATS -- I AM TALKING OF COURSE ABOUT SUCH SUCCULENT FLESHTYPES AS DOG, CAT, RAT OR BAT. All of these animals are eaten in Vietnam and have their fans among all strata of society. Now I know a lot of folks out there find the consumption of exotic meats strange and obscene. Some people in the West (and also some people in the East) are passionately opposed to the eating of some animals, particularly dogs and cats. I don't want to get into any fights about this issue, it's not worth the aggravation. I just think that travelling should be about opening your mind, and if you want your mind opened, Ho Chi Minh City will split open wider and faster than any other city on Earth. It is good to challenge yourself and exercise your morals a little sometimes. You should take a leaf out of the book of this guy, fellow Aussie, who while travelling in Vietnam was game enough to try the local delicacies:

On a more serious note, Ho Chi Minh City is also one of the world leaders in the cosumption of wildlife meat. The Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) wrote in 2003: "The total estimated volume of live and wildlife meat in and out of Vietnam is about 3,050 tonnes per year, of which about half was for domestic consumption. Trade in wildlife meat accounts for 80% of the total and this is concentrated in Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City. The total revenue and profit from illegal wildlife trade in Vietnam are estimated at USD 66.5 million and USD 21 million per year, respectively. In the study sites alone, the estimated total profit is eight times the expenditure on monitoring and enforcing. In the entire country, the estimated total profit is 31 times higher than such expenditures (USD 634,000 to USD 700,000); more than three times the total budget of Forest Protection Department staff (about USD 6.5 million), and four times the total fines collected (USD 5.5 million) per year. The estimated total revenue from illegal trade (USD 66.5 million) is 12 times the total revenue from legal wildlife trade (USD 5.2 million) per year. The study estimated that the average value of official confiscated live wildlife and wildlife meat from 1997 to 2002 accounted for only 3.1% of the total value of illegal wildlife trade per year.

"The main domestic sources of wildlife species in Vietnam are protected areas. The main international sources are Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar. Both sources travel along Road 1A to Ha Noi, and Ho Chi Minh City markets. From Ha Noi, wildlife species travel out to China through Mong Cai-Quang Ninh, and Lang Son...

"The most popular species are snake, turtle, bear, bird, pangolins, and monitor lizard."

Wildlife or partial wildlife meat restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City are mostly concentrated on Phan Viet Chanh Street. The estimated wildlife meat consumed in the city is about 465 kg valued at VND 116 million (USD 7,750) per day. The favored wildlife meats are those of forest deer, forest pig, pangolin, musk deer, palm civet, monitor lizard and muntjak. These are sourced from Laos, Plateau, Cambodia, the Central subsite and the Mekong River Delta. Although Ho Chi Minh City has 37% of the total number of restaurants in the South subsite, the total revenue and profit is about 79%. This is because of the larger scale and higher price in the area.

If you are game (no pun intended!), then here are some of the strange meats you can eat in Ho Chi Minh City, how to get there, and some of the alleged health benefits that these dishes provide:

Luong Son Restaurant: 31 Ly Tu Trong Street.
Said to be a lively and popular place, especially renowned for its barbeques. As well as some more delicious beef barbecue dishes such as Bo Tung Xeo, the restaurant also does a little walk on the exotic meats side. Inside the restaurant are tanks full of live scorpions and snakes.

There is more to the exotic meat market scene in Ho Chi Minh City than wildlife meat. Farmed exotic meat --particularly frog meat -- is really taking off. The interest in frog production in Vietnam is growing by leaps and bounds (once again pardon the pun -- and this time the pun is not mine -- it comes from SUSPER). Frog is a popular food in the country, where it is generally eaten in the form of frog legs and frog soup. It is a healthy meat that is low in cholesterol. As consumer worries over bird flu continue, the demand for frog is expected to rise here and abroad.

Thai frog is a special type of frog introduced from Thailand that is easy-to-grow with minimal costs. The large, brown, bumpy-skinned frog has quickly emerged as an attractive enterprise for farmers.

BLOGGERS CHOICE:

Professional food photographer and exotic meats connoisseur Owen Franken sounds like a man I would love to have by my side on a southeast Asian dining challenge -- on his blog he recounts munching spider and scorpion noodles on a Bangkok street with his 15-month-old daughter (and his daughter allegedly took a liking to the spider and its shrimplike flavor, according to Franken!) One month later both father and daughter dined on roast wild cat in neighbouring Burma! "We think it was lynx," wrote Franken with complete Politically Uncorrect aplomb. "It was too small for snow leopard." And out of habitat, because there are not too many snow leopards in tropical Burma!
When in Vietnam, Franken consumed dog sausage in Hanoi... and had this to say about a mystery exotic meats restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City: "There is also an amazing menagerie restaurant of wild animals outside of Ho Chi Minh City. Cages rather than menus, kind of like going to the zoo for dinner. I remember keeping it simple and having cobra, rather than fruit bat. A large fruit bat, I discovered, has a very cute face, hard to imagine eating it. On the other hand, I love rabbit. I make a mean rabbit with olives, although the best was made for my birthday dinner by the wife of a Tuscan ceramic artist..."

s w e e t + s t u f f

SOME OF THE SWEETEST SELECTIONS IN SAIGON/HO CHI MINH CITY, GOOD PLACES FOR DESERT AND JUICE AND WHATNOT:

Kem Bach Dang: 26-28, Le Loi Street (opp. Russian Market), Dist. 1. Phone: 829 2707.
I am only a beginner at Vietnamese but my guess is that "Kem" in this name means "cream" or "ice cream". I could be wrong though so I don't want to bet a testicle on it! Now this is a good place to go uf you like ice cream and sweet sh=t, but be warned, the prices are not cheap -- arasnosliw in one of his/her articles claimed?@some items on the menu creep towards US$10, which is a ripoff in Vietnam. Nonetheless, I have never been a sweets lover. Arasnosliw is, and he/she said in his/her article: " by arasnosliwThis is some of the best ice cream in Saigon. There are lots of exotic flavors, making this place an ice cream lover's paradise. Toppings consist of many fresh fruits. This is a long withstanding shop within proximity to Ben Thanh Market. It is always swarming with people, so it is hard to find a table. Service is quick, the staff is efficient.
Au Lac Cafe: 57 Ly Thai To St. Phone: 84-4-825-7807.
Writes Vietnam Tonight: "If a bowl of pho, a rice noodle soup, at a street stall isn't your idea of a perfect breakfast, then start your day at Au Lac Cafe. The cozy French eatery in the courtyard of a large French villa is known for the best coffee in town and is a favorite with both locals and long-term foreign residents. If it is too hot or rainy, walk to Paris Deli (6 Phan Chu Trinh St., 84-4-934-5269), an indoor cafe in another colonial villa that also serves French breakfast favorites such as croissants and baguettes..."

"Coconut ice-cream comes in a young coconut shell topped with strawberries, dragonfruit, raisins and longan. If you are not that adventurous, there is plain and simple choices available."

v e g e t a r i a n + c u i s i n e s

DESPITE BEING A BUDDHIST COUNTRY THERE ISN'T A LOT OF VEGETARIAN FOOD IN VIETNAM -- BUT THERE IS SOME, AND I WANT TO INFORM ABOUT THE BEST PLACES TO GO. Here is the latest selection:

Com Chay Nang Tam: 79 bis Dien Bien Phu, District 1.
One of the new vegetarian eateries in the city, and becoming popular, especially among foreigners. It boasts some classic pieces of vegetarian kitsch on the menu -- fake chicken and beef made from soya, for example. Nonetheless, the food is said to be excellent -- and costing under 40,000 Dong a dish. Grover Reidi wrote in Vietnam News: "The food, like the restaurant, is simple and well-presented... The sweetcorn cakes and snowballs stole the show. The sweet-corn cakes have a creamy flavour and smooth texture, well complimented by the lightly breaded and fried crust. Honestly, when you say sweetcorn I can only think of babyfood puree. But this was definitely adult food, solid but viscous, just sweet enough, with a lasting aftertaste."

Giac Duc: 492 Nguyen Dinh Chau, Dist. 3.



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Chugging down cheap red wine with a life tube around your neck in the middle of the Bien Dong... dancefloors on the beautiful bluegreen seas.