Travel Notes on Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City

Since I have a blog now, I guess I'm just going to write this post completely unrelated to fibrecraft, since it was still a cool holiday and this seems like a good way to incorporate notes and photos together. We had 5 nights in Saigon and it was an excellent mixture of sight-seeing/touring, and drinking and eating.


Airport food. Because, why not eat out of a pineapple?!

Our holiday started once we landed in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). It's the largest Vietnamese city and absolutely bustling. We arrived at about 11pm, so 2am Australia time, and went to the hotel to drop our bags before heading across the road to what became "our" Tan Lap beer spot. We stayed at the A&EM Art Hotel, which had an average breakfast but delightful staff. I took an envelope with the hotel address for my purse-invaluable when asking non-English speaking taxi drivers to take us back there.

The Reunification Palace was our morning activity the next day. Built by the South during the War in preparation for their victory, and to welcome government officials to their capitalist country. Of course, none of that eventuated, and it's now open for tourists, all the rooms preserved with the furniture and decor, gifted wall coverings and game tables, the president's private residence and enormous garden grounds. I wish I had had a more rounded knowledge of the political factors of the Vietnam war before I went, but this and the other tours we took provided an ample crash course. We went a few streets too far when walking back into the city centre for our first rooftop drinks (juices, at that time of day). More on those later.


These are the iconic gates
And the iconic architecture


The War Remnants Museum was the next morning's destination. This was an emotional place to visit in parts, but again very educational and had a wealth of exhibition content over 3 floors. This ranged from a timeline of the politics of the 60's, to journalism during the war, the effects of agent orange, and of course an outdoor artillery display. 



Cafes are a massive part of Vietnamese culture, thanks to the French colonisation, and coffee is excellent (says my mum, the coffee drinker). Rich, thick and inclusive of sweetened condensed milk. I would like to note here that we walked almost everywhere throughout our stay, except in the evenings when we would catch a taxi, so we didn't get too sweaty in our nice clothes. Which is to say, we got very hot and sweaty throughout the day, of course necessitating a cafe stop once our morning activity was done. Highlights included L'Usine, where Mum loved her coffee sorbet drink, and Mockingbird, site of my first ever coffee (in the form of a coffee and sweetened condensed milk milkshake no less). Again the French have left behind a legacy of excellent baking, and our morning sweets were uniformly incredible. (I know there are issues with Western colonisation and I'm not trying to imply these can be washed away with good coffee and food, but they are a feature of modern Vietnam which is why I'm writing about it). 






Rooftop bars abound throughout Saigon, the perfect way to catch the breeze and enjoy a cocktail at the end of a humid day. We were so proficient at this activity we did manage to cover 3 in one day-The Rex Hotel, the M Gallery, at the Hotel Des Arts, and the Caravelle. We walked from the M Gallery to the Caravelle in the rain, cooled and excited to be able to navigate proficiently. Crossing the road was a slight leap of faith the first few times, with pedestrian crossings present in name only, and an incredibly varied and never ending stream of traffic to navigate. On this evening, a woman grabbed my hand while we stood considering how to make our way across a large busy road, said "come with me" and took us there! She turned to me partway through, saying "don't worry, it will be ok". And it was. Our route passed right in front of the Opera House near the Caravelle, which was beautiful, lit up and through the rain, and also a pedestrian zone out the front so we could really look at it as we went by. I wish I had bought my copy of The Quiet American with me-as soon as I move it's on my to-read list! The Majestic was fabulous as well. If you have a head for heights, my dad and brother can recommend the Bitexco Tower for a view which cannot be beaten. 

Late in our stay we did a day tour to Long Tan and some of the associate Vietnam War sites including Nui Dat. Tunnels are definitely not for me (anyone else read Birdsong and become claustrophobic? Just me?), so I can't tell you about them. It was fun to see the runway at the Australian base, still in pretty good condition after 50 years. Our guide has taken many Aussie veterans to these sites, and said they recognise the shed they built on one side-it's a factory now. The area has grown massively since the War, and farming and quarrying surround what were conflict areas. The Long Tan memorial itself I found deeply peaceful, with fields around and a slight breeze. It is the only co-memorial between Vietnam and Australia, hence the incense bowl with the cross. We held incense sticks to honour and remember the Vietnamese soldiers. Our guide recited the Ode to Remembrance and we had a moment of silence for ours. This is a couple of hours drive away from Saigon, and our long-legged family was glad to move from the car to the pool at the end of the day. 



Food..what about the food?! It was very delicious-we ate a lot at Tan Lap, where the dishes were bought across the road from one of their more high class branches. Fried rice, egg squid with chilli, fried rice with crunchy sweet fried garlic, duck in orange sauce, fried rice with dried fish... you get the idea. Order fried rice. One night we went on a street food tour, walking around tiny streets packed with motorbikes in District 4, where there isn't a lot of English spoken, with our tourism student guide Tim. Bahn mi, fried ice-cream, sugarcane juices, local shellfish (don't choose the bloody mussels; I had scallops and they were delicious), and lastly the famous pho, with broth from an enormous pot. We got the sense they never turned it off. 


Under those umbrellas down there is Tan Lap, purveyors of cold beers, ice for your beer, and fried rice.

This was a great way to get a sense of day-to-day life for the Vietnamese. The houses are narrow and multi-story, to accomodate families and withstand typhoons. There's no way cars would fit down these streets, with their shops outside houses and restaurants tucked along the kerbs. Life in Vietnam is lived on the back of the motorcycle scooter. The bike sleeps in the front room of the house. There are ramps up most steps to allow the bikes up. Nuclear families can fit on a motorcycle. Couples can hang out on a motorbike. The Vietnamese changed their jumpers, checked their phones, chatted, did their hair, had a cigarette, and had a sleep on the back of these things. We even saw a woman carrying a tray with two open bowls of soup whilst driving her motorbike! All in constant traffic with beeping horns and trucks and buses. 

Saigon-I want to come back! If only to be served icy cold $1.50 beer on the street while bicycles advertising shrimp and couples on motorbikes flow past me late in the evenings. Life at it's best.

Next stop-Hue! (Actually I will be away for a couple of weeks so maybe in a month I will be back with more travel notes). 

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