Things to know when traveling to: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Jill and I spent the April holidays doing a tri-city trip across Vietnam and Cambodia. Our first stop was Ho Chi Minh City, where we stayed for 2 days and 3 Nights (we arrived midnight April 3).

I haven't been able to finish the full blog, so here's short post on notable things that you should know when going to Ho Chi Minh. Some of these I read from blogs before going to the trip and some I learned as we were there.

Time

• The plane ride takes about 2.5 hours.
• Vietnam is 1 hour behind the Philippines.
• Take note of your plane's arrival time esp. when coming back to Manila

Money

• The Vietnamese currency is Dong (VND).
• Bring US Dollars (USD).
• I didn't notice any Peso rate for currency exchange so it's safer to have a stash of dollars. Also, USDs are more useful in Cambodia compared to other currencies, such as Euro.
• You can buy USDs from banks or money changers such as Sanry's. Just check which one offers the most favorable rate. 
• Some bank needs you to pre-order dollars for exchange, which might take a week to be ready.
• You can exchange USDs for VNDs at the airport or hotel. 
• Unless you carried an obscene amount of dollars, trying to find the best rate might not be worth it.
• Rate of exchange would be 1 USD = 21,000 VND
• The rate we got was: 1 USD = 21,549 VND
• The smallest Dong bill is 1,000 VND
• Quick trick for checking VND to PHP: 1,000 VND is approx. 2 PHP.

Laugh trip!

We met with a few friends last Saturday night to watch a Comedy Manila show at 121 Bar & Grille, Pasong Tamo Ext.

We were celebrating Mark's birthday and were there to support Mike on his 2nd paid gig. The show was titled: Comedy Hits Vol. 4 with Mike, GB Labrador, Derf Hebrado, Muman Reyes and Alex Callejas. I did not know anyone of them aside from Alex who has been a regular at Boys Night Out and of course Mike; PERO GRABE,

HOW TO: Get a U.S. Visa

My mom has been pushing us to get our US Visa for some time now so we can visit them and our relatives in the US. They were asking us to go to the US last August for a reunion but Jill and I was too busy [procrastinating] to process our papers.

After putting off our application and interview for more than half a year, we were able to get our visa last January 2015

Here are steps that we did to apply for our Visas. The US Embassy website has steps listed but it's not really that clear and details seem lacking that I had to do some guess work to complete.

The Search for the Scale-less Sardines

Have you ever wondered down the aisle where all sorts and brands of sardines are neatly displayed and asked yourself... hmmm... now which one of these doesn't have scales on them? Well, I have! And I kept forgetting which ones they were! So this time, I have documented all the sardines I could eat and rate them so as I won't ever forget again. Hopefully, you'll also find the perfect sardines for yourself as you read on.

Note: This is a work in progress... will keep updating this post till I find the perfect one! Enjoy!

Mega Sardines

Pros: - Easy to open can

Cons:

Resto Review: Little Quiapo, Quezon City

After my bread making class at World Citi College, we went to Little Quiapo, Quezon City to have our lunch. This place is well-known for their Halo-Halo and pancit palabok.

My husband ordered their Kalderetang Baka (Php 293) - rice not included. I so love its sauce, it was