31°C in HCMC, 13°C down under

The daily downpour in the late afternoons during this raining season does bring the temperature down a little. It feels like 34°C in the noon but feels like 31°C or lower in the evening. It is summer almost everywhere in July except for some countries like Australia and New Zealand. A few years ago on this day, I remember freezing my ass down under...

Great Ocean Road

Flinders Street Station in Melbourne

Skyline of Melbourne's financial district

Federation Square in Melbourne

The famous Sydney Harbour Bridge

The famous Sydney Opera House

The town hall of Sydney

Queen Victoria Building in Sydney

Skyline of Sydney's financial district

Tons of seafood at the Sydney Fish Market

See creatures from Monster Inc. & the Tiffany Co. boxes behind? These are wedding cakes!

Surfers Paradise in Gold Coast

Casino in Brisbane

The All-Star Parade at Warner Bros Movie World

Mediterranean food...at what price?

There seems to be only one mediterranean restaurant in HCMC - Skewers and it seems to be popular with mainly the foreigners. After reading about it in a few magazines and websites, I decided to give it a try.

I like its ambience and setting - very romantic. As for food, I didn't take its mediterranean dips quite well but its famous vodka-flamed beef skewers was not bad (no vodka taste though). The bill cost over VND1 million for 2 persons - 2 soft drinks, a soup, an apetizer and 2 mains (beef skewers & pork ribs).

Another Parkson coming your way

Parkson as we know, originated from Malaysia and it has never been the most popular shopping destination back in its home. However, in HCMC where shopping malls are scarce, Parkson has developed a niche of its own here and apparently doing so well that it is opening its 3rd branch near the airport (First branch in the heart of district 1 while the other is in the busy district 5 - very popular among movie goers as it is housing HCMC's biggest & newest MegaStar Cineplex on its top floor)

Parkson's newest branch - view from the airport