Lost in Hanoi and karaoke in the rice paddies

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Me and Zara at Hanoi’s beautiful Hoan Kiem Lake
We’ve spent the last week and a half travelling around (for S’s work) – from Hanoi to Hoi An to Hue.
Highlights – staying at the beautiful Life Resort in Hoi An (chic rooms, great pool, really nice staff), seeing our friend Quyen, walking around beautiful Hanoi (except when lost) and delicious meals at Hoi An’s Mango Rooms (a Mexican/Vietnamese fusion place).

Mango Rooms’ amazing food (so good!) – duck with mole sauce & sticky rice
with spiced tempura prawns in the background

Lowlights – getting drenched in torrential rain in Hoi An and getting lost (multiple times) in Hanoi! One wrong turn on the twisty windy streets and you can easily find yourself heading in the wrong direction and ending up far from touristville. Not that that’s a bad thing (of course!) but when it involves freeways and dusty roads past manky local hospitals it is, especially when you’re alone with a baby in a stroller – ridiculous!

Unplanned detours aside, Hanoi is such a beautiful city. The buildings and lakes are gorgeous, and in the early morning the cool temperature, misty air and sight of rugged up locals having coffee at local sidewalk cafes give the city a romantic and atmospheric feel. I’m happy to return to Hanoi again and again!
In Hoi An we visited our tailor friend Quyen at Hoi An Cloth Shop. We first met Quyen in 2003 on our first visit to Hoi An, and visited her again last year. This time, we were invited to lunch at her family’s house in the countryside (around 10kms outside Hoi An).

Behind a village and down some windy paths through waterlogged rice paddies, we ventured to her family’s welcoming home, a simple yet effective structure with a high ceiling, concrete walls, tiled floors and an open front that provided a surprisingly cool temperature due to its great design.

We feasted on chicken noodle soup with fresh herbs and had bananas fried in batter for dessert, all washed down with the local brew, Biere La Rue. The whole extended family turned up, family by family on their motorbikes, and mayhem ensued with babies and kids everywhere and their karaoke machine being given a workout by the whole family. There was an insane amount of chaos and noise, and miraculously little Zara managed to sleep for part of the time – she really is used to living in Asia!

The (almost) polished off soup, and Quyen with a banana fritter – they were
sweet, soft in parts, crispy in others and really tasty!

Now we’re in Hue but only for one night, not enough time to see or do much and it’s raining non-stop – time to order room service and watch Gossip Girl DVDs and maybe drink the Dalat wine (red wine made in Dalat, Vietnam) we’ve been given, though it smells not too good come to think of it, and I just saw a description on their website – sour and acrid!! Maybe not!

Singapore Fling: Little Arabia

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The mosque by day…

And by night – when the streets took on an Arabian fairytale quality
One of the coolest neighbourhoods we visited in Singapore was Little Arabia. I think I loved it so much as it was something a little more unique, having visited many a Chinatown and several Indian neighbourhoods (and India!) before. With a huge mosque as its focal point, the area (known as ‘Kampong Glam’) had rows of streets lined with shophouses, with evocative street names like Kandahar, Muscat and Baghdad.
Similar to Singapore’s Chinatown, some streets seemed a little more ‘local’, like those lined with fabric stores, while others had a bit more of a contrived, touristy feel with ubiquitous souvenirs. Mostly though, the area was charming, particularly as the sun went down, the mosque was lit up, and we dined on delicious Muslim fare (at Sultan’s Cafe Corner) outdoors under palm trees and twinkling lights.
Delicious chicken murtabak

A highlight of the area was hip Haji Lane – aome to cute and highly unique clothing stores, Middle Eastern eateries, pokey stairways leading up to treasure troves of vintage goods, and pavements lined with mats and shisha pipes.

 

The lane seemed to attract photographers, black-clad arty looking guys, and even teens dressed like Harajuku girls – this was a Singapore a world away from its often conservative image.

The trip definitely opened my eyes to a side of Singapore some people don’t realise is there – one that’s not all about endless shopping malls and skyscrapers, but instead, unique and colourful neighbourhoods with pockets of quirky, cool places, like the Arab Quarter’s Haji Lane and Ann Siang Road in Chinatown. Overall – a great place for a weekend or mini-break!

Singapore Fling: Little India

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Visiting Singapore’s Little India was like stepping into a scene straight from the sub-continent, with abundant colour, noise, crowds, chaos, lights, flowers, spices…the area was full of life and reminiscent of our explorations of India a few years back. It actually made me want to go back, despite my love/hate experience at the time.

Being a Sunday, the area was teeming with predominantly Indian (and Bangladeshi and Pakistani) men – supposedly the itinerant workers from the sub-continent head there on their one day off for a taste of home. The atmosphere was festive as it was Deepavali (or Diwali), the Indian festival of lights, so there were colourful banners and neon lights adorning the main streets.

We randomly picked a restaurant for one our all-time favourite dishes – dosais. The restaurant was called Sakunthala’s and was totally packed. It had a frenetic energy as staff buzzed around delivering plate-loads of tasty Indian fare served atop bright green banana leaves. Our masala dosais were suitably massive and very authentic, though a paper dosai (a crispy pancake minus the potato filling) may have been all that was needed to soak up the tasty chutney and sambal accompaniments.

Singapore Fling: Chinatown

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During our Singapore long weekend we not only stayed in Chinatown but spent a bit of time exploring its colourful streets, checking out the shops, and of course, sampling the food. The area seemed to consist of several parts – the touristy part hawking souvenirs seen all over Asia (and every Chinatown around the world), the local area with great kitchenware shops and bustling restaurants, and the boutiquey area around and including Ann Siang Road.


Ann Siang Road was loaded with character – from Chinese clan houses to ornate tiles on the exterior of the buildings, to its mix of fashion boutiques and quirkier shops.

One of my favourite shops on Ann Siang Road was Asylum (at no. 22), selling magazines, travel books, lomo cameras and unique homewares. The other was a fantastic bookshop called Books Actually (at no. 5). Along with a great selection of books, the shop housed retro accessories, some cool photography (more lomo action) and there was even a little ‘cat viewing gallery’ – glass windows looking out to a teeny courtyard home to one very pampered looking cat.

 

We ate dinner at a nearby food centre (like a hawker centre – but a small version) called Tion Shian Eating House. The seafood with crispy noodles we tried was delicious yet the sauce quickly turned the noodles from crispy to soupy. The highlight was a plate of chicken wings accompanied by a red hot chilli dipping sauce and a small lime to suck afterwards if the heat got too much (according to the vendor). The wings were some of the best I’d ever tasted – crispy on the outside with tender meat – and all for the sum of a few dollars.

Singapore Fling

Liz / / 2 Comments


We ate, we shopped, we saw…Singapore! So after asking in a post ‘Is Singapore really boring?’ I’ve decided it’s not – well at least not for a long weekend, it could be a different story if you live there and have seen and done the cool areas to death.

For our four day Singapore fling we stayed in Chinatown at Hotel 1929. A series of old shophouses restored and converted into a boutique hotel, it was definitely cute but was not without its flaws – the rooms are TINY (though we came prepared for that) and the building is in need of some serious soundproofing – all night we heard the roar of cars hooning past and people yelling, screaming and partying literally til the sun came up!

That aside, the decor was retro modern, with a great chair collection in the lobby. The location was also fantastic – the street was lined with brightly painted shophouses and we could walk to other parts of Chinatown, including Ann Siang Road (perhaps my favourite spot of the trip)…

What I wish I knew when I moved to Phnom Penh

Liz / / 3 Comments

As promised, here are some things I wish I knew when I first moved to Phnom Penh – those little bits of information that might help save you the time and effort involved in finding things for yourself (and if you’ve already suffered disastrous haircuts, painful pedicures and fruitless searches for obscure groceries you may find this useful!).

  • For hair and nail primping head straight to Lucky Salon, above Lucky supermarket on Sihanouk Boulevard. They offer the best manicures and pedicures in town and the most hygienic – how often do you see PP parlours putting their nail equipment in a steriliser? Not often enough, say my friends with the foot fungal infections! And they use OPI brand nailpolish with a huge selection of colours. The haircuts are also excellent – and male friends attest to this as well. I recommend bypassing the local $1-2 haircut joints – while they seem so fun and cheap and cheerful at first, you soon discover they’re just cheap.
  • For obscure grocery items look no further than Thai Huot on Monivong Boulevard. It’s here I’ve found filo pastry, harissa paste, arborio rice, chicken stock and lots of great dairy produce – if you need thickened cream or sour cream (and these can be hard to come by in PP) head to the Huot. Added bonus – the alcohol selection is great and slightly cheaper than the selections at Pencil and Lucky. Oh, and there’s lots of chocolate goodness as well.
  • Fabric street near O’Russei Market has the largest selection of cotton fabrics for getting shirts, skirts, dresses and more tailor made. It runs the southern length of the market (on the street outside that is) and there’s another street that runs off this with more, which is particularly good for men’s shirt fabrics. Bargaining is essential (but easy) and you can usually get good quality cotton for around US$1.50-2 per metre. There’s lots of crazy, glitzy, slinky, shiny (read: crazy) stuff among the finds, but it’s fun to look at! The 2nd floor of Olympic Market has lots of good fabric too, and it’s undercover and a little more orderly.
  • Boom Boom Room on Street 278 is a great way to buy music. While this will sound obvious to PP residents it took me a while to stop buying CDs at Russian Market and instead get with the times and purchase MP3 files at BBR – much cheaper, and they can fit around 9 albums onto one CD which you can then copy onto itunes. Or you can get them to put the music straight onto your ipod. The music selection is updated frequently too.
  • And a few favourite food places: The Deli Bakery for bread, The Shop for lunch and dessert (especially dessert – OMG!), Le Duo for pizza (bar the decor!), Pop Cafe for lasagna, Romdeng for Khmer, Boat Noodle for cheap and cheerful Khmer or Thai, Sam Doo for dim sum, Mekong Village for duck pancakes, Sher-e-Punjab for Indian (go for the tandoor offerings), Cafe Fresco for coffee (illy), Garden Center 108 for burgers, shakes and great service, and finally, one of my favourite ‘secret’ places is a little find called ‘Khmer Thai’ – the food is great, the setting is chic, the prices are cheap and for some reason it’s off the expat radar. To find it – head along Mao Tse Tung (inland that is) and turn left just before the wat near Russian Market. Head upstairs to sit on Thai cushions and feast!
If I think of more will do a Part 2 post but this should be enough PP inspiration for now! Ok, back to Saigon….

In search of sustenance: third time lucky

Liz / / 1 Comment

In search of something delicious, inspiring and new for Sunday lunch, we ventured to a recently opened Moroccan-themed eatery called Casbah in Saigon’s District 1 (59 Nguyen Du Street – the last right turn off Dong Khoi before the cathedral).

Upon arrival it seemed to check all the right boxes – cool, hidden entryway down a little laneway, cute Moroccan decor (though it’s obviously trying to emulate the more authentic and upscale Warda), different nooks and crannies divided by beaded curtains and Arabesque window cut-outs in which to lounge… however the menu seemed a little suss with its bizarre mix of Asian dishes and Middle Eastern ones.
We should have taken this as a sign the food would be less than inspiring.  We ordered hommus with bread, falafel and tabouli – the hommus was basically a too-small amount of the dip smeared on a plate with a few triangles of bread. The tabouli was actually couscous with a bit of parsley and a few other things mixed through it – not tabouli at all. The falafels were a little better, though came with a dip that tasted just like mayonnaise mixed with chilli sauce, kind of like a spicy version of thousand island dressing.
The food was a major letdown, but the space is really cute and I would go back for a drink instead. Perhaps it’s better viewed as a loungey bar.
So…still hungry and unsatisfied we thought we’d try a cheap Vietnamese place back down on street level called Banh Cuon LA – a chain restaurant in the style of a Pho 24 or Wrap & Roll (which I love – have been going to the branch on Hai Ba Trung alot!) – but specialising in rice paper rolls.
We had the cha gio (prawn and crab spring rolls, fried) and rice paper rolls containing shredded pork, which actually turned out to be some kind of pork sausage instead. The flavour was ok but the rolls were quite greasy, and the cha gio were nowhere near as nice as they are elsewhere.
Refusing to accept that two mediocre lunches would suffice we thought we’d head to Au Parc in search of dessert. Finally – a winner! Au Parc is a favourite already (it seems like Saigon’s version of our favourite Phnom Penh cafe – The Shop), with its colonial shophouse setting, good western cafe fare and importantly, excellent desserts! We had the Chocolate Nemisis Cake – cool name, brilliant cake – almost like chocolate fudge. The perfect cure for my ‘disappointing food experiences/can’t find a good place to rent/the ATM swallowed my card/I’m living in a little hotel room/I don’t know where anything is/I feel lost’ Saigon blues! 

 

Image courtesy Nick Leonard

A Girl in Asia on About.com

Liz / / 2 Comments

I recently discovered that comprehensive website About.com has a Southeast Asia section containing travel advice, forums and a blog spanning a wide variety of topics regarding travel in the region. Some Phnom Penh advice from yours truly appears in the latest post by blogger and writer Mike Aquino – here. Of course, it’s shopping and restaurant oriented – just doing my bit to spread the Phnom Penh word! Speaking of which – I still can’t believe I’ve left Cambodia. Living out of a suitcase (or 10, actually maybe more) in a hotel room in Saigon is only fun for so many days. I’m really looking forward to finding a real place to live, and soon!

Though we’ve just moved to Vietnam we’re still off to Singapore in a week’s time, a trip we booked ages ago. I found a few ideas about places to check out on the About.com Singapore page, and now I need to find some cool Singapore blogs for more. It’s interesting that a few short years ago mainstream guidebooks were the main go-to source of travel information. These days a combination of in the know guidebooks (like LUXE city guides), blogs and picking up expat magazines or street press on arrival are how I (and presumably many others) prefer to get my travel tips.
And speaking of which – my priority (besides house-hunting, Singapore trip planning and a million other things) is to get my head around everything Saigon has to offer – after knowing where to go and what to do in Phnom Penh inside out, this will be a much more challenging task!

Leaving Phnom Penh

Liz / / 1 Comment

After a whirlwind week of farewells, packing, baby minding, working and entertaining visitors all at the same time we’ve bid farewell to Phnom Penh. We created many memories during our time there, made some amazing friends, had some great travel experiences and developed our careers, though it helps that some of our best friends have left or are about to leave, and that there are exciting prospects and adventures ahead in Saigon!