Ho Chi Minh City at first glance

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We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City at peak hour and the first thing you notice are the streets are overrun by motorcycles merging in every different direction and ceaseless horns honking. Although we’ve travelled quite a bit, at first glance, Vietnam can give you quite a shock. The craziness of the streets is nothing like I’ve ever seen before. However, once you settle into the place in a few hours, you realise that the Vietnamese are friendly people and you never feel unsafe. Although you’re always going to get someone marketing to you or trying to sell something, they’ll always do it with a smile.

We didn't do much the first night in Hoi Chi Minh City as we were tired from our long day in Singapore and all the travelling. It was about 7pm and we were quite hungry so as we didn’t want to eat at the hotel, we decided to go for a walk around the streets to find somewhere to eat. It was quite difficult to find somewhere as we were craving some kind of western meal. Having walked around and trying to pick somewhere that would taste nice, we gave in and went to Korean BBQ. Eek, what a disaster! This was probably the worst choice we could make. We ordered all this fried chicken, as there was nothing on the menu that we liked and it to make us feel horrible. To try and make us feel better we then went and had a full body massage at the local spa. It cost on US$12! This was an experience in itself. Trying to communicate with your masseuse who can’t speak English! After that we decided to call it a night and save our adventuring for the next day.

The next day on Tuesday 9 November, we headed out for some exploring of the city by foot. It was a really humid day but quite easy to navigate around the city. We took our map and Lonely Planet and off we went. We took it easy and enjoyed watching the daily lifestyle of the locals as well as taking in the main sights. These sights included the War Remnants Museum, the Reunification Palace and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Then Reunification Palace is a landmark of Ho Chi Minh City and was once the symbol of the South Vietnamese Government. We walked through it’s deserted halls and explored the basement which was quite eerie. It was full of vintage 1960s phones, radios and office equipment and is supposedly left exactly as it was found when the North Vietnamese took over.

We made our way to the War Museum, where we saw and took photos of these massive U.S Army tanks, helicopters and planes. We went inside and it was quite disturbing as we saw lots of photos of victims of the Agent Orange attacks (chemical they sprayed on Vietnam which made the Vietnamese deformed for years) and the various torture techniques that were used.

After a full day of discovery, we were exhausted. We walked around everywhere, took lots of photos, brought coconut drinks off the locals – getting ripped off, but I like to refer to it as a donation to the people.

In the evening we walked around the city trying to find a bar to have a drink at before dinner. We went to quite a few bars and each were interesting. The drinks here were so cheap, except for wine. I’m not a beer drinker, but after so many cocktails, it’s good to try something else. And at $1 a beer, why not? We ended the night at a yummy restaurant where we enjoyed Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls and chicken satay on skewers.

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Photos

Notre Dame Cathedral
Notre Dame Cathedral

Comments

[Genevieve]

Great writing
You are a fantastic travel writer, you should absolutely submit stories to travel magazines - love reading about your adventures! :) xx

[Charmain]

a dress or long top ? lol
a dress or long top? lol. very nice!

[Spicey Pricey]

Thank you
Ah, thanks hun. I love travel writing. Many more stories to come ;) xx