InterContinental Saigon Hotel

Let's start with this short clip as I do not have many things to say about this hotel other than "great"!
But, since many of you my dear readers always insist that I describe where I stayed, let me attempt to do that. This is 'hard work' as I'm not good at describing places that I like. I'm better at ranting heheh!

The hotel's location is its biggest advantage over other accommodation services in the city, because it is right in the middle of Saigon's central business district, that every must-see is just a fun walk away.

And what else do I have to say about the hotel's services and facilities? It is an Intercon brand, an IHG flagship hotel, so everything's impeccable as expected by its exacting guests. So, nothing more to say!

Alright. Maybe I should tell you, I liked the room they assigned me to (that some of you may not like)! This tells me, that they do remember my choices and/or preferences - howsoever weird they may be!

Literally half of this room (1319) is glass-window. They probably noted it down in my previous stays (at their other hotels) - that I like rooms that are bright with natural light, with the biggest-widest view of the outside, whatever there may be (huwag naman sana concrete wall hehehe). I truly liked this room!

This was part of my views when I look out the front window (wall) - that's the side behind the TV set!

To the left...

To the right...

Down below...

Did you notice that there is the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon? Yeah, naka-sideview! And how about the Saigon Central Post Office, do you see it? Oo, ang likod nya, that's the one right below my window!

That antenna thing is the radio tower at the back of the central post office, right in-front of this hotel!

On the right-side window (wall) this was my view...

That's the hotel's swimming pool down there, that I never got to visit, as I was busier roaming the city by walking around or doing this thing called work! It's on the 3rd floor together with the gym and spa.

My room was 1319, that's on the lower left corner of this floor map. No wonder I had very good views!

But as I said above, some of you may not like it from the floor number alone - 13th. Bahala kayo hehe! Yet that doesn't mean Vietnamese people don't believe in that superstition. Many of them do, as they also have Chinese and other cultural influences. Maybe it's just this building or the hotel that doesn't!

I also have a friend, I call him Dracula, na ayaw sa maliwanag na kuwarto. This is not for him!

What else? Oh well, this little 'commercialist' corner of the room made me sarcastically smile.

Rightmost is the bread & butter knife wrapped in a table napkin, on a saucer. That's standard in many hotel rooms, even for those that do not have 'stars', therefore very common - nothing special in that!

To its left is what many 5-star hotels would call a "complimentary fruit basket" which is usually just a welcome gesture and not replenished during your stay. That is not a basket though, and certainly not a basketful of fruits, right? That 'container' btw is a Nón lá, the conical hat that's symbolic of Vietnam.

Nón lá means "leaf hat", which I think, is a clever way of infusing a Vietnamese cultural touch into the otherwise modernistic western-style room! While that's a real hat, it's of course small - a mini Nón lá.

Beautiful! But what didn't fit with my atrevida mind is/was syempre yung laki, dami o klase ng prutas. Hindi pang luxury o five-star hotel. Dalawang dalandan, dalawang maliliit na saging at isang maliit na mansanas lang? Very far from what I had at Intercon Bali Resort - me bulaklak-bulaklak pang kasama!

That was fine with me though, since even if they're of the same company, this is not a resort (this is a hotel in the middle of urbanity), and di ako mahilig. I know though, ang prutas nila parang sa atin din.

Okay now, still on the same picture above, let us move to the left - the box where coffee, condiments and other things are placed. Frequent travelers would readily know, there is a "catch" in that "setup".

That's why I said "commercialist" earlier above because, sine-setup ka ng arrangement na yan hahah! Setup para saan? Para (inadvertently) kunin gamitin kainin mo yun mga me bayad, kasama nung libre!

Only the lower-left-corner of that box (coffee, creamer, sugar, tea) are consumable for free. All others, katulad ng tsokolate, pringles, noodles, alak etc., me bayad ang mga yan! Sa likod ng bote ang prices!

Bagong style yan ng mga hotel para kumita. Eto sa baba, inilabas ko yung mga libre o pwede i-uwi!

If you notice, they all come from the lower left corner of that box. Oy nga pala, di ako mahilig sa tsa-a but I always take them home, since I have family/friends who like them. Mamahalin daw ang mga yan!

Under that table-top is the cabinet containing the refrigerator, glassware etc., that you can use.

Pagka-bukas mo, everything in that fridge is not 'for free'. Sa picture kasi meron na akong nilagay na 4 cans of SanMigLight (binili ko sa labas) and the 2 bottles of complimentary water (with InterCon logo).

Ahhh, childreeen reminder... I said everything in that cabinet is not for free AND lalong hindi pwedeng ini-uuwi ang mga yan na walang bayad! Lalo na yang brown ice-bucket. Leather yan, grabe ang ganda!

In the images above, you may not have noticed where the wardrobe is. It's at the foyer after the door!

For those who are not familiar, that's a very comon layout among hotels and resorts. Why? So that the bed and other resting areas (if any), can take advantage of the natural light and/or the outside views.

Here was my closet. I guess I took this picture when I haven't stowed my bag (or anything) in it yet.

Reminder to you (and me, since I often forget this!): luxury accommodations such as InterContinental Hotels & Resorts always have a flat-iron and ironing board in each of their rooms. Sa pipitsugin, wala!

Of course the clean, spotless and fresh-smelling white bathrobes are ever present in their closets. Oh maybe it is time for me to share this 'social-standard': in globally-accepted general-etiquette, wearing those robes outside the room (even if allowed by a hotel in going to the swimming pools) is faux pas!

Sabagay, I rarely see Pinoys wearing bathrobes outside their rooms! Mas madami ang "ini-uuwi nila"!

Anyway, another thing with luxury hotels, I always check the closet to see if the 'emergency flashlight' is there - because that is where most of them keep it. Others may have those in other places, such as the bedside. I always look for it, especially when I am on a high floor, in case needed for emergencies.

By the way, in other countries a "flashlight" is sometimes called a "torch" or "torchlight". FYI lang!

Let's go into, and let me show you the bathroom, toilet, CR, WC, banyo or whatever else it is called!

Aw that tub is special - because you'll go in it only if you really want to use it. Why? Because, unlike at other hotels, the shower is not anywhere there! It is at left (behind the glass door), soon as you enter!

True to their being a big chain of hotels and resorts, their bath amenities are the same as what you'd see at their other locations such as at InterCon Bali Resort. Agraria is an iconic home fragrance brand.

That weighing scale is under the lababo, 'di halata kasi transparent glass. Di ko nga agad napansin eh, buti nalaglag shaver ko, napunta banda dyan, kaya nakita at ginamit ko. Argh, underweight as of now!

One more thing... do you see the two 'switches' near the electric receptacle, where there are "up" and "down" arrows? Do you know what those are for? Oh yes my fellow taga-bundok, the 'dimmer switch' inside the bathroom! Not anymore the oldish dial or knob style na pihit-pihit. Pindut-pindut na lang!

I know you would ask, so eto ang sagot: oo pinaglaruan ko yan! Aba, walang ganyan sa amin 'no?

Back in the bedroom, this was my favorite 'nook' during my entire stay... the work desk, a real one!

Well uh... the room is rather small for the many things that the hotel wants to provide us with, y'know hehehe! At least it's a real table that I comfortably worked at - not a narrow countertop beside the TV!

I would've wished it faced the glass window (wall) behind the curtain, for the great views are there!

But I was fine with a few nights facing the door to my room, and the door to the bathroom hehe!

The night views of the city (behind me as I sat on that desk) were nice, so I just kept turning to glance!

By the way, if you look at the wall in the 2 photos above, you'll readily notice this is not an old hotel.

Yeah, gone are the days when electrical/electronic ports, switches or sockets were way down near the floor, where we often had to crawl (not just bend) to be able to plug anything! In here it is convenient.

Oh, probably because I discovered that I am underweight as of now... aba eh di nag-midnight snack!

That's what InterCon calls a "beef pho", though tingin ko lahat naman yata ng "pho" eh ganyan talaga! Maybe they just emphasized the 'beef' to mean they have other versions hehehe. Masarap yan, grabe!

I know many Filipinos are already familiar with this. Ganito ang bestseller sa Pho Hoa diba? Ganito rin generally actually ang Chao Long dun sa Puerto Princesa. Yung soup na napakasarap ng hagod sa dila!

I took nga pala this close-up shot hindi para maamoy natin ang sabaw na yan hahaha! I did that dahil na-curious lang ako bakit me butas ang mangkok nila! I asked online, ayay andaming iba-ibang sagot!

Di na ako nakapaghintay pa, masarap sanang ending yan pagkatapos ng SanMigLights!

Pero okay rin naman na pinagsabay ko sila. Parang lumalabas na ginawang kong pulutan yung beef!

Teka nasa Vietnam ako, bakit SML yan? Relak ka lang meron din sila nyan! If you did not know yet, our SMB does have breweries in Vietnam, Hongkong, Indonesia, Thailand at dalawa sa China. Ayos di ba?!

But of course, iba-iba ang presyo nyan, depende sa bansa just like dito, dito, at dito! In Saigon 19,000 VND isang can nyan which is mga 43pesos lang, at sa high-end supermarket pa yan (mPlaza) sa baba!

Okay now, since puro laman-tiyan ang topic natin, breakfasts are always a feast at InterCon Saigon.

It is a buffet like that everyday. And those are only the things that I took pictures of. Sarap ng langka!

They even have this specialty counter featuring local Vietnamese food. This day I caught Cơm tấm!

This was supposed to be a poor man's food. Com means cooked rice, and Tam means the fractured or broken grains in the course of milling. Low-quality (in texture, not taste) that can't sell at good market prices, since they're 'broken' or 'fractured' nga. Kaya yun ang kinakain ng farmers dahil sayang naman.

They put pork and many other ingredients that make the whole thing a meal. I think the taste is what caught up in popularity, not really the broken, fragmented rice grains. But yes, it is called broken rice!

It tastes good, and I think many Filipinos will like this dish. Actually, para nga syang pagkain natin eh!

Com Tam is commonly sold on streetside stalls and herearounds many call it Com Tam Saigon, maybe to distinguish that theirs has a different taste or feature whatever! But lucky for me I didn't have to go out to the streets to sample it. I tasted the popular dish at no less than the comforts of a 5-star hotel!

Now that's what I should call a "sosyalized Com Tam". Pina-sosyal ba! Saan ka pa!

Hey hey, before I forget, here's an important note to my foodie, blogger and vlogger friends: I woke up very early one morning, to shoot a lot of pics of the yet untouched buffet and without the crowds yet!

In summary, I enjoyed InterContinental Saigon Hotel more than I expected!

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