Kem (ice-cream) - Monday, May 19, 2014

Dish of the day: Tropical ice-cream (Kem)

Where it’s found: Pinky’s (148 Le Thi Rieng, District 1, HCMC, Vietnam)

Breaking it down: Ice-cream (strawberry, coconut, pineapple, orange and lime), whipping cream, some sweet syrup, sprinkles, orange and chocolate wafer sticks and a cute umbrella for decoration

Today, Patrick and I finally checked out the notorious oddity, Suoi Tien Buddhist Theme Park (and Water Park), a place that left us scratching our heads in a mixture of intrigue and confusion.  Half the time, I wasn’t quite sure what I was looking at or why it was there.  Yet, for that reason, it’s also amusing – it’s an amusing amusement park.  See giant Buddha statues, a plethora of interesting temples, ornate palaces and pagodas, a 4D theatre, a Harry Potter-themed haunted castle (why it was there, I don’t know, but hey, I’m not complaining – I love HP!), a snow castle, an alligator farm, a roller coaster, ferris wheel and other small rides, a morbidly creepy (but fun-to-try-and-make-sense-of)  Buddhist hell called “The Unicorn” and so on.  There were also myriad bizarre scenes and statues throughout the park, ranging from stone-age humans making fires to Vietnamese people riding oxes to giant animals and representations of Buddhist symbolism. 

The highlight was definitely the water park, which has a jaw-dropping, yet bizarre backdrop of a giant Buddha on a mountain.  We spent a couple of hours in the wave pool, going down their dragon water slides and playing a bunch of random activities, such as water polo, paddle-board racing and other games reminiscent of the American tv show “Wipeout”! It’s a very kid-friendly water park as well, as there are lots of fun climbers and slides for children.

Do I recommend it? If you live here, then absolutely, it’s worth a visit.  If you’re traveling through, then maybe skip it, unless you are fascinated by Buddhism, appreciate visiting temples or just want to see something outright bizarre. Or if you want to try a new water park and don’t mind venturing further from the city centre, it’s worth it!  You will pay for entrance as well as separate fees for each attraction inside the park, so be prepared with more money than the $4-5 entrance fee.  We brought in our own banh mi sandwiches because we had heard that weekdays have a much lower food selection available.  It was quite quiet, so I suppose they have less staff than weekends and therefore less food stalls.

Suoi Ten is located at: 120 Hanoi Highway, Tan Phu Ward, District 9, HCMC, Vietnam

After a day out, Patrick and I went for kem (ice-cream) at a small ice-cream parlour near our house.  He ordered a strawberry sundae and I got the 4-scoop tropical mixture, which included orange, coconut, strawberry, lime and pineapple.  I didn’t know strawberry was considered tropical... The ice-cream was tasty, but we were hoping for some fresh fruit on top! Cute presentation though, so for around 40-50,000 vnd each, it’s a reasonable dessert.