It’s our last night in Saigon and at the moment, we are all getting pedicures. Day and our friend K, are getting eyelash extensions as well, which means for the next few days, Day will bat her eyes at me 20 times a day, and I will have to tell her how pretty she looks (I should probably compliment her more often than I do). After this, we have a food tour with Xo Food Tours, which I’m pretty excited about, but for now, my thoughts on Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City.
We arrived just in time to see the fireworks on New Year’s Eve, down by the riverfront. We got within two blocks and turned around. I have never seen so many people, and scooters. It was overwhelming. Google says there are 15 million people in the city, and 10 million scooters, and I believe it, they are everywhere. The traffic is insane, and it never seems to stop, it’s all day long.
After 20 plus hours of travel, Day and I slept pretty well on New Year’s Eve. New Year’s Day started with breakfast; Banh Mi sandwiches and Vietnamese ice coffees at Bahn Mi Hong Hoa. So, prior to our trip Day and I did tons of research on Vietnamese food, and where to get it. Bahn Mi sandwiches were on the top of everybody’s list of “must eat.” One Youtuber said, “the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten.” Well that’s a lot to live up to, and they were good, very good, but not the best sandwich I’ve ever eaten. What was amazing, was the price, four sandwiches and four ice coffees, for $8.00!
After breakfast we headed to the Ben Thanh Market, the Saigon Central Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, then back to our AirBnB. In total, a 2 mile walk that was welcomed, after 20 plus hours of sitting on a plane.
The market was fine. Unlike other markets we’ve been to, this one was strictly for the tourists, no locals there. Everything is way overpriced, 2 or 3 times what you’d pay outside the tourists area. The post office was perfectly fine as well. It was a pretty building, and it’s still a working post office, so you can mail friends and family post cards from Saigon. The Notre Dame Cathedral was going through renovations, so no visitors, oh well. It’s hot in Saigon, so we slowly made our way back to our AirBnB, cooled off in the AC, went to dinner, and called it an early night.
I don’t usually sleep very well, jet lag will screw me up for days, so I was up pretty early the second morning, and as usual, went for an early morning walk. I headed east, towards the river and the Bach Dang Harbor Gardens. It was a nice chance to be by myself and I made it in time for the sunrise. I should note though, I was without Day, K and J, the rest of Saigon was up and out. Apparently the Vietnamese are early risers and Saigon is incredibly busy at 5 am. The river walk was beautiful, I highly recommend making your way down there at some point during your stay in Saigon.
Once I got back, the four of us headed out for breakfast again. Eating in Vietnam usually means street food and sitting on little plastic chairs or buckets on the sidewalk, just like all the locals do. This morning we had Banh Mi sandwiches, Banh Bao (steamed pork buns) and Cam Tam (broken rice). After breakfast we went for another short walk to the War Remnants Museum, Turtle Lake and then to the Xa Loi Pagoda. According to TripAdvisor, these are some of Saigon’s top attractions, along with what we did yesterday.
Hindsight, maybe the Ho Chi Minh City Museum may have been a better choice than the War Remnants Museum. Up until 1993, the War Remnants Museum was called the Chinese and American War Crimes Museum, and that’s exactly what it is, and it’s incredibly depressing.
The top attractions, according to TripAdvisor, were a bit underwhelming in my opinion, but I kinda feel like we could’ve done Saigon a little better if we did a little more research. Saigon was tough. It was bigger than I imagined, it was busier than I ever imagined and there were so many street food vendors, everything in that sense, was overwhelming. What we did get right in Saigon, was our food tour with Xo Food Tours.
It was our last night in Saigon, and I guess we were all hoping for a winner, surely I was. I picked and booked the tour, and Xo Food Tours did not disappoint. Actually, they were freakin awesome, the most fun I’ve ever had on any tour! Yes, the most fun I’ve ever had on any tour!
The tour was done on scooters, the drivers were young attractive Vietnamese women, who were fun and incredibly knowledgeable, and the food was awesome!
We usually book tours in the beginning of our stay, but because of the holiday, we didn’t have that option. If we were able to book our tour in the beginning, I think our stay in Saigon would have been better. Please don’t misunderstand me, Saigon was great, it was us that were not fully prepared for the size of the city. Hell, I’d go back just to do another tour with Xo Food Tours! Thank you to our guides Hang, Tu, Anh and Diem for a wonderful experience!
Saigon is just a small part of our trip. From Saigon we take a riverboat cruise to Phenom Penh, the capitol of Cambodia, then we go to Siem Reap. I’m pretty excited about our itinerary: city, riverboat cruise, city and temples in Siem Reap, it’s broken up quite nicely. I understand it may have sounded like I wasn’t too impressed with Saigon, but that was not my intent. I think it was just a bit overwhelming for me, for my first time. I will say this; the people were friendly and wonderful, the food was awesome and, Xo Food Tours was the most fun I’ve ever had on scooters.
Luv ya,
Curly
