Why I love my neighbourhood

Liz / / 9 Comments

Noodle soup at Tan Dinh Market (the local)

I sometimes get asked by fellow Saigonites why I live where I live. Some choose to live in An Phu or Phu My Huong (expat enclaves outside the city centre), others, far-flung local districts (actually I don’t know too many people who live in Binh Tanh, Go Vap etc. but a scattering of expats do), and then there are those who choose the chaos and colour of centrally located Districts 1 and 3 (my hood!). I like living in District 1 as it’s close to the city centre (read – bars, restaurants, shops…). That’s the main reason really – it’s like preferring the inner city vs. the burbs – but here are a few more things that I love about where I live:
  • There’s a general store right next door to my place that I often refer to as ‘the world’s cheapest shop’. I’ll buy a whole heap of cleaning products and the bill will only be a few dollars. The best bit is that they sell ice-cream and chocolate bars (Mars, Snickers, M&Ms..). I actually feel embarrassed sometimes that I go in so often to buy chocolate.
  • The cheap, fresh produce for sale a short walk away at the local market, Tan Dinh. The walk is a bit of an epic – it’s not far but there’s a treacherous road crossing with an endless stream of cars, cyclos and motorbikes that never actually stops – I just have to do the Saigon road-crossing technique of walking out into the traffic and hoping it parts. The scary thing is that I’m pushing my baby in a stroller while doing this! The trek is worth the effort though when I come home laden with fresh herbs, fruit and vegetables that are so cheap they’re almost free
  • My local coffee shop – source of gossip, ad-hoc Vietnamese lessons and inside info on what anything and everything should cost. Also a source of a never-ending stream of gifts. I then feel compelled to give something in return, they keep giving me things, and the cycle continues…I think it’s gotten to a point now that it’s not going to stop as long as I live here (gift suggestions anyone?!)
  • Quirky neighbourhood characters – banana lady, pineapple lady, over-enthusiastic streetside hairdresser, tattoed-on make-up lady, friendly girl with a baby the same age as mine, sometimes bossy general store lady (‘don’t get that ice-cream, it’s for children!’) and the rest who either wave cheerily or stare like I’ve just landed in Saigon from another planet
  • Cool places to discover on Hai Ba Trung, a main thoroughfare nearby. It’s jam-packed with clothing shops mixed with Vietnamese restaurants and random places like Bud’s ice-cream, (all the way from San Fransisco to Saigon), a doughnut shop, a Chinese medicine place, underwear shops, toy shops, florists, hairdressers and a new Korean restaurant that looks intriguing
  • And finally, that you can actually walk to the centre of the city, if you can bear the heat and crazy traffic (ok, I’ve only done this once, but it’s nice to know it’s an option)
I enjoy living in a ‘local’ area that’s also close to Saigon’s centre – it’s like the best of both worlds (streetfood one night, Cepage the next!).

Shoptalk: PI-CHANNEL

Liz / / 5 Comments


Wandering along Le Thanh Ton today I spotted what looked like a promising little shop sign – a modern, minimal black on white pi symbol. It immediately struck me as quite unusual and design-forward for Saigon. My curiousity piqued, I had to go inside.

Discovered – a small space displaying a gorgeous selection of writing accessories: pens, notebooks, desk accessories, funky clocks and leather agendas, passport folders and money clips. The leather used felt and smelt real, too.

Some of the finds:

Agenda cover
Flip clock
DAISY notebook

Passport cover
INFINITE notebook

The creative spirit behind the products is Do Thi Thuc Doan, a female Vietnamese designer. PI-CHANNEL is definitely worth checking out if you’re into stationery and organisers and great design. Most inspiring Saigon shopping find in a long while!

PI-CHANNEL, 31b Le Thanh Ton, D1, Saigon

Images courtesy pi-channel.com

Cha Ca – my latest food obsession

Liz / / 6 Comments

Cha Ca at Cha Ca La Vong (Saigon)

Fragrant herbs to enhance the grilled fish – yum!

Cha Ca, if you haven’t had the pleasure of trying it, is a delicious Vietnamese fish dish originating from Hanoi. Grilled white fish, turmeric, spring onion and dill are the essential ingredients, with sides of vermicelli noodles, lime wedges and abundant fresh herbs (basil, mint etc.), crunchy peanuts and condiments with a chilli bent designed to be eaten with the fish. Combined, the flavours and textures are a sensation. There are a few places in Saigon specialising in Cha Ca – fortunately, the ones I know of are walking distance from my place (Cha Ca Hanoi and Cha Ca La Vong). The latter is my pick – the fish here is somehow more fragrant and tasty than Cha Ca Hanoi’s. I’m not sure if it’s related to the famous Cha Ca La Vong restaurant in Hanoi or a copycat using the famous name, but it’s fantastic either way!
Cha Ca La Vong, Thach Thi Tanh (just around the corner from Vo Thi Sau, opposite the park), D1, Saigon
Cha Ca Hanoi, Tran Nhat Duat, D1, Saigon

Cafe Crush: Plie (a.k.a May)

Liz / / 4 Comments



Another week, another Saigon cafe crush! This time, it’s cute and comfortable hideaway, Plie, which also goes by the name of May. Tucked down an alley off a non-descript D3 street, it’s definitely off the usual expat radar. Catering to a younger demographic evidenced by the cushion strewn second floor playing host to a cool Vietnamese crowd in their late teens, Plie has a fresh contemporary feel. Cushiony couches, wall decals (like black on white tree branches) and coffee tables constructed from old packing crates deck out the ground floor. Loud (and lousy) love tunes aside, it’s the perfect spot to relax with a hot chocolate (or cacao nong as it’s known in these parts!) and a good book.

Go for: the hideaway factor, great fruit shakes, comfortable seats and cute decor
Not for: the music (huge speaker stacks – in a cafe?! Welcome to Saigon…)
Plie, 120/4a Tran Quoc Thao, D3

What to do on a short trip to Saigon

Liz / / 6 Comments

Treats at TIB Express
I’m a huge fan of the Asian city mini-break. Eating, drinking, shopping and jaunting around a cool metropolis, with a smattering of obligatory sightseeing thrown in – what’s not to love?! For those similarly enamoured with such breaks and perhaps planning a Saigon version, check out this piece I recently wrote for About.com’s Southeast Asia Travel site. It’s always hard to narrow down a great selection of restaurants, bars, shops and sites for one short itinerary but the article hopefully captures a little slice of Saigon’s ‘best of’!

Homogeneous Saigon

Liz / / 11 Comments

Cafe Terrace on the newly madeover Level 1, Saigon Centre
Saigon Centre (one of the city’s few ‘malls’) has had a makeover. Gone are all the baby shops on the first floor (to the dismay of all the parents), along with the handy little supermarket and not so handy pet accessory store, and in their place, a level devoted to fashion. Joining the sole original fashion store Mango are other international chains like Nine West, Kookai, La Senza, dermalogica and French Connection, along with outlets of local fashion heroes Valenciani and SONG. It’s shiny and new and there are funky chandeliers adorning the well-designed shops. It’s very chic and very un-Saigon. But I kind of like it.
American cafe chain The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf has also recently opened shop in Saigon (with the latest branch looking right across to Notre Dame Cathedral) and shoestore Aldo is on its way, currently under construction on Dong Khoi Street. Which makes me wonder – is the influx of western brands and chain stores a good thing for Saigon? Or does it erode its character? 
Vietnamese people appear to embrace such brands with a passion and surely, these are signs that Saigon is progressing and modernising. For expats, modern conveniences are a plus too, meaning trips home or at least to Bangkok or Singapore may no longer be in order to stock up on all these ‘essential’ things. But some people may yearn for old-world Asia in Saigon – a city of cyclos and crumbling colonial buildings and quaint old coffee shops and an abundance of food carts (actually, that sounds like Hanoi). There are of course still pockets of all of these things in Saigon and probably always will be.
Personally, I think a dose of modernity would tarnish the old world feel of places like Luang Prabang in Laos, but in Saigon, newness is much more fitting. Construction here is unrelenting and if it’s all about the new then I may as well embrace it – so here’s my wishlist for future Saigon openings: Kinokuniya, iberry, Oportos, H&M, Forever 21, Zara & Zara Men, Muji, MAC, Kiehl’s and Lindt. And an exact replica of Siam Paragon (best Bangkok mall) if that’s not too much to ask!

Cafe crush: My local!

Liz / / 1 Comment


Saigon is crammed full of cafes in every shape and form – from the shiny and new chain variety to funky, quirky hideaways – but for an excellent cafe sua da I can’t go past my local coffee shop. A little home away from home for me, the cafe ’round the corner is of the variety typically found all over Vietnam. Rows of plastic seats akin to beach chairs line the pavement, all facing out to the street (just like Paris! Sort of….). Coffee is served on little foldout card tables, and is always accompanied by complimentary iced jasmine tea, which the owner continuously refills.

Not only is my local a source of great coffee, but a warm and welcoming place with friendly, chatty owners whose extended family is often around. Although I love my Illy and Lavazza (and my Trung Nguyen!) and seeking out cool little Saigon coffee spots, I’m really glad I have a regular, local haunt too. This might be one address I keep to myself!

Chic Stays: Ancient House, Hoi An

Liz / / 4 Comments

Hoi An is definitely beautiful, despite its sometimes overwhelming number of tailor shops and traipsing tour groups. The mix of architecture is stunning and you can’t help being captivated by the colourful lanterns adorning the restored shopfronts, and of course, succumbing to a bit of retail lure. The choice of hotels is also quite overwhelming, and we manage to never stay in the same place twice.

On our last trip to Hoi An we stayed in a character filled hotel called Ancient House. A family-run hotel, they have a house on the grounds where they make rice paper using traditional methods (with extended family also living there). You can wander in and see them at work and witness the rice paper rolls drying on racks in the sun. The family even invited us in for a chat in their lounge room!



Stay for: the refreshingly unmanicured grounds with an abundance of tropical flowers and foliage, the comfortable rooms, the pool and the Ancient House itself. And the Vietnamese food in the restaurant (like the bo la lot – beef wrapped in leaves and grilled, yum!).

Not for: the location – it was a little too far out of the centre of the old town to walk so we took a taxi there and back, which kind of put a dampener on the small town/walking around thing. But without a baby or little kids in tow you could cycle or take a motorbike.

New look A Girl in Asia

Liz / / 8 Comments

A Girl in Asia has had a little cosmetic work done – in the form of a new blog header. Once upon a time I thought my black and white bird image best reflected my blog and what it was all about (a curious little bird seeking out new finds). I guess it still does, but as it turns out the image I used (adapted from a free WordPress theme called bluebird) was not so original – also used, it seems, by Twitter!! So a facelift has been long overdue. The lantern image (which is just like my blog – a little bit Asian, a little bit girly!) comes courtesy of an illustrator named Karin Knowlton who has graciously allowed me to use her design (a big thank you!). You can see more of her illustrations on her Flickr page, and she’s soon opening an Etsy store.