Landing in Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

Though I’d been to Vietnam before, I’d never been to Ho Chi Minh City… which according to my friend Andy was “where it’s at” – so of course I had to give him a visit. I had been to Hanoi on a prior trip, but Andy said Saigon had more of a city life so for most of this trip we checked out a lot of cafes, clubs, and local spots.

When I got to Andy’s place, I was greeted with a red Vietnamese flag. It was a national holiday and if you didn’t put up the flag you would be fined Andy said. Haha very interesting, but not a surprise.

Right after I dropped off my bags Andy had some plans ready to go!

First dinner in Saigon

We went to a Japanese style bbq restaurant. It was pretty nice and the water and ice were drinkable without having to buy bottled water. We got too much meat in our system so had to do a little pumping iron pose… and we were getting pumped to go out! haha!

Anyways next up after dinner was a chill hookah place. It was strewn with red satin curtains hung everywhere and had a cozy feel. Andy said it would be nice to open up a place like that in the future. It was a good pre-party hangout location. After hookah we hit up Model Club.

Philip, Andy, and I

We had a group of friends at the table and it was my first experience going to a club in Vietnam. So how was it inside? Comparing to the clubs in China, it wasn’t as big or as packed.. I don’t like it super packed where you can’t move. We had a good group of people at the table and ate, drank, danced, laughed.. so it was definitely a good first night.

Of course afterward we got some late night noodles. It’s funny because normally after going out.. in LA.. I would get either korean bbq or pho.. but in Vietnam we got some other kind of noodles.. and I was totally craving pho. So even though I wanted to try pho immediately, the noodles were still good.. and when I got back to Andy’s place I knocked out.

The next morning however my wish was granted – I wake up all groggy the next morning around 11:30am and stumble out of my room… my eyes half open.. I walk downstairs. Halfway down the flight of stairs Andy opens his room door and groggily says “if you’re hungry just go downstairs and eat some food”. I have no idea what he is talking about.. but I am half awake and a little hungry so I just keep walking downstairs.

I get to the kitchen and Lo and Behold!

Pho Fantasy Feast

I see a freaking entire fresh cooked meal laden all over his kitchen table. There is a fresh steaming pot of beef stew ready to fuse with the freshly cooked pho noodles. There is sliced chicken, basil, fish sauce, and the oh so aromatic toasted garlic flakes. WOW! The smell, the first bite.. I had like 3 bowls.

Best Bowl of Pho

I can’t forget the taste of this bowl of Pho. I think I would have to go back to Vietnam just for this pho alone.

So eventually we all climb out of our half-awake states; I tell Andy I want to do at least one touristy thing and then we can do all the cafes and partying possible. There were 2 touristy things to do on my to do list. 1 was the tunnels + AKs, the other was the Reunification Palace.

Reunification Palace

Reunification Palace, formerly known as Independence Palace, was the equivalent of the White House for the President of South Vietnam. It was also the last stand and site for the end of the war. But yeah… unfortunately when we got there it was CLOSED! I think either we got there too late or it was due to the holiday… so I had no choice but to get some…

Vietnamese Coffee

…Vietnamese Coffee! Also known as ‘ca phe sua da’ is delicious iced coffee with condensed milk. It’s not a trip to Vietnam without some Vietnamese coffee! It’s super strong and got me pretty wired.

After I got all wired we went to dinner with Andy’s friend Tommy and Tommy’s wife.

Tommy throwin down some knowledge

Tommy was hilarious! He was an international model and traveled to all these different parts of the world in the past and over dinner and drinks he kept throwin down all this knowledge. It was interesting and he was comical at the same time. In the picture above we went to a local pub bar type place.. but it’s different from bars in the US because at this bar there are girls that work there that hang out by the bar and you can select for them to accompany you while you drink. The way it works is you ask some to join you and then at the end you give them a standardized tip. In Vietnam and many parts of Asia this is pretty commonplace. At the same time you don’t have to ask them to drink with you. We just sat for drinks and there was also live music so it was a cool spot to chat and hear Tommy’s stories. At night we went to Shadow Club. There are mainly a lot of tables all lined up in there, but didn’t really have a dance floor. Tri dropped by too and we ended going to some cafe afterward.. we ordered food.. the food came.. but by the time the food came we were passed out. hahaha..

Okay, so due to our failure of doing one tourist thing the day before the first thing we did the next day was to check out the Reunification Palace again. This time it was open and I got to check it out (Unfortunately I did not have time to check out the tunnels and AKs this trip because that location was about 2 hours away from where we lived and we didn’t have enough time).

Here’s a glimpse of what’s inside:

Helicopter at the Reunification Palace

Commanding Room is for Commanders

Pictures on the wall in the Reunification Palace

The inside is what you could expect – it’s just some different board rooms, offices, library room, theater room, etc. Then there’s a helicopter and tank on the premises. Walking through it was a little boring, but at the same time when you realize it was a part of history and then see all these pictures of the war and slaughter, it’s pretty moving that I’m standing in the same place where tanks crashed through and people fought with their lives and struggled through so much.

Upon leaving, I was however touristed into buying some over-priced useless artifacts. Anyways, we headed to meet up a friend and get some coffee. I wanted to try some more food and though it wasn’t dinner time I wanted to try the banhi me and beef stew which I often have in San Gabriel on Valley Blvd. I may have not ordered the exact thing I was looking for but it was pretty good. I was hoping the beef stew would be thicker and more suitable for dipping the bread in.. but overall the taste was still good. With that, I will note one thing – at least from what I saw, though Beijing has a lot more modern looking buildings and some bigger more developed establishments.. the one thing that always nags at me in China is that when I’m eating, I’m not quite sure what I’m eating.. I often get this it’s half food, half synthetic feeling… and I did not have that feeling in Vietnam. Everything I ate tasted good and tasted like real food.

Beef Stew and Banh Mi!

For dinner we went to a really local spot and had some other kind of Vietnamese noodles. I was pretty full after already eating like 2 hours before dinner, but I remember the soup and noodles were really tasty.

spring rolls

After dinner we went to a more western club lounge called Lush. It was my last night and I had to catch a flight the next morning plus we had gone out enough so we took it easy and then headed out around midnight.

look at the picture behind me

So the next morning I’m at the airport. I’m sitting by my terminal going doot da doot.. and then suddenly this URGE for pho starts rising and 30 minutes before it was time to board my flight I run upstairs to the restaurant area and frantically search for some pho. haha! I figured it would be a while since I could get some good authentic pho in Vietnam so I should get one more farewell bite. =P Though airport food is not known to be the best ever, I figure it is still a Vietnamese airport so the pho should still be pretty above par.

airport pho

airport fried spring rolls

I was wrong. The pho was very average. The fried spring rolls were slightly tastier. Not the best, but still tasty. The size of those spring rolls reminded me of filipino lumpia.

Anyways, overall had a good trip. I didn’t really go to Vietnam to do anything crazy or do too much sight-seeing. I just moved on from my job and finally had a chance to take a small vacation for myself and I hadn’t seen my friend Andy in a while so it was the perfect timing. I got to see his pad and personally see and hear what he’s been up to in Saigon (and he’s been up to a lot). It was a good breather in the sense that I didn’t worry about work, training, housing, planning, etc for those few days.

On the other hand it was still action packed because we squeezed in so much in these few short days. So the journey doesn’t end here. There was a reason this trip was cut short. Originally I was planning on staying 1-2 weeks, but life slapped me in the face and said I had things to do.

Find out what was so important that I had to reduce my pho eating days in my next post! – The Life of a Stuntman in China!

Breaking News: 2010 Winter Olympics CTV Report

Last I left off, my friend Audrey and I were running into Olympic athletes by the Olympic Village. Well, it just so happens that we ran into a few more.

Canadian Olympic Aerialists

There were a whole bunch of street performances and we bumped into a couple of athletes on their day off. The guys above represented team Canada in skiing and aerials.

My old roommate Matt also kept raving about this delicious hai nam chicken at his friends restaurant so Audrey and I went to check it out.

It was in fact the most delicious Hai Nam Chicken I have ever had!

Hai Nam Chicken

Just looking at it makes my mouth water… =P

So crazy story- The crazy friends I ran into decided to invite me over to their apartment (right over downtown/robson st) to watch the US vs Canada hockey game. This was a huge game. The US started off with a lead and then the score tied, but right before each break the US would be up by 1. As you all know Canadians LOVE hockey and the streets were filled with Canadians (by the way I got love for Canada, but of course we were thrilled to be supporting team USA). We decided to run down to the local bar downstairs with blazing Red White and Blue cheering amongst the “Go Canada” cheers.

USA vs Canada Hockey Game

Well some drunk fans decided to follow us home after we drank our beers at the bar. At first no one else in my party noticed that people were running after us (2 guys and 1 girl.. and the girl was like the first to get aggressive with us) and then as we got to the apartment gate I said hey turn around guys.. as we turned around they slowed their run and then said.. “oh hey, u live here?.. umm you must know the score right?” Anyways, as the conversation progressed it got more heated. In the end the last part of the game was about to start and I told them to relax and and we decided it wasn’t worth it to argue with some drunk people who were looking to start shit. In the end the US won 5-3 and it was an exciting game. My friends had to go catch another game live so right after they packed up and head out. I think if we ran around the streets in hardcore USA gear after that game there definitely would’ve been more heated confrontations. haha all in all exciting day though!

The last day of my trip was a little more calm. Lydia’s mom works for Fairchild Media Group on a radio station FM96.1 and also has a TV show on channel 180 that broadcasts throughout Canada so when we met and she found out about what I’ve been up to lately with wushu and acting she decided to have me on air as a guest.

Here’s a clip of me in the studio.

The interview was mainly in Chinese and it made me continue to realize how important it is for me to practice my Chinese. We also did a separate taping for a TV show where she has guests come in. She has interviewed hundreds of celebrities including DONNIE YEN.. so yeah, I was excited to be a guest on her show! =)

Here is a pic of me and aunt Carmen.

Fairchild Media Group

If you’ll notice my shirt.. it’s pretty funny. I bought it in Vancouver, but its apparently a US brand – called David and Goliath. I bought some shirts for a few friends. Here is a really funny one that I didn’t  end up buying, but I had to take a picture.

gold digger

My return to LA was quite smooth because they check all your immigration information over on the Canada side. That was quite interesting. I’m back in LA for the third time this year and been getting back to work.

Upon my return I immediately jam packed my schedule and met up with a producer friend to watch a rough cut of a pilot we worked on. I was a little afraid of the outcome because it’s supposed to be funny and if I didn’t think it was funny, I would be pretty let down. It’s not done yet, but I was definitely laughing so I am looking forward to the finished version. We have to do some pick ups and film more next weekend, but then it should be done and ready to pitch to some networks in a month or two.

Lastly as a favor to my buddy Andy (CEO of an online gaming company), he asked me to help him get some professional pictures that he could use for newsletters and press releases. I wanted to put my Nikon D60 to use so I snapped away. He seemed pretty satisfied with the results and I feel a lot more comfortable getting the shots that people want and finding a look that people want to see. This is not the final profile shot he chose, but it’s a picture that I could imagine in some entrepreneur magazine, so I went ahead and slapped this picture together for fun.

Alright, that’s it for the epic last minute Olympic Adventure. I will update you on the latest work and business developments next time! Cheers!