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After the rain last night, the temperature feels much cooler this morning. I get a convenience call from Vietnam Airlines to let me know that my early flight has been delayed an hour and a half due to technical difficulties, and enjoy a long and relaxing breakfast. At the check-in counter, I am asked if I’m fine with sitting in an exit row as they need somebody strong in case something happens: very reassuring. However, the flight is smooth and, as soon as we exit the airport with Mr. Tin (he adds that his name is pronounced like Tintin), my local Saigon guide, I feel a very different vibe than in Central Vietnam. The largest city in Vietnam is also its commercial capital and is fast becoming the nation’s window to the world. Buzzing with frenetic activity, cosmopolitan Ho Chi Minh City looks outward, listens to pop music, and drinks French wine. Existing alongside the high-rise hotels, shopping malls, and chic restaurants are ancient pagodas and colonial buildings, recalling a checkered but vibrant past. Originally established as a Khmer trading post, centuries ago, Ho Chi Minh City was destined for greater things. By the 18
th century, the city, then named Saigon,
had become the provincial capital of the Nguyen Dynasty. Today, under growing economic and cultural liberalization, the city has entered a period of modernization and is constantly evolving and reinventing itself. Populated by an estimated seven million people, the city is rapidly becoming the hub of manufacturing, entertainment, and cuisine in Vietnam.
With the flight delay, we skip Cholon, or Chinatown. Home to the ethnic Chinese, or Hoa, this is the best place to find herbs, traditional Chinese medicines, and other goods, as well as the city’s most ancient pagodas. Mr. Tin asks me if it’s okay to go tomorrow morning at 7:00 am; it’s the best time, he adds. I nod and am all smiles. Arguably the liveliest part of the city, the area around Dong Khoi Street is the very nerve center of Saigon. Dong Khoi Street itself became famous during the French era, and was then known as Rue Catinat. Home to my hotel, elegant boutiques, and cozy cafes that coexist with bars and brothels, it was at the center of most of the action in Graham Greene’s novel, The Quiet American. I visit the Notre Dame Cathedral covered with red ceramic tiles shipped in from
France, the General Post Office, one of the most handsome French-colonial buildings in the city, the People’s Committee Building, the erstwhile Hotel de Ville, the Municipal Theater known as the Opera House, see the various famous hotels (Caravelle, Continental, and Rex), the Reunification Hall, and stop at the Vincom Shopping Center, one of the largest modern shopping centers in Vietnam with an impressive collection of imported brands. The Mariamman Hindu Temple is a nice reprieve from the chaos and dedicated to the Hindu Goddess of Strength. It caters not only to the small community of Hindus, but also to the many local Vietnamese Buddhists, who worship here either looking for good luck or driven by superstition. The final and most emotional visit takes place at the War Remnants Museum. It is also known as the War Crimes Museum and documents atrocities committed by American, Chinese, and French soldiers in grim detail.
At night, as I walk the streets of Saigon, it seems upscale restaurants and cafes, offering a range of international delicacies are everywhere, while bars, clubs, and discos are at the center of a thriving nightlife. I am invited to enter each establishment with a passion and offered
free drinks, but I decline each time. They love American and French people. Since I am both, I seem to fit the bill perfectly. The best place to catch the action again is Dong Khoi and the rest of District 1. Attracting many tourists, the area is home to historical buildings and museums, sophisticated shops, and roadside cafes, as well as people of all ages zipping around noisily on motorbikes and causing gridlock. I miss the quiet laid back attitude of Hoi An already until I am finally able to find an isolated little street with a few calmer restaurants. I check the menu at one of them and decide to make it my Saigon dining experience. It consists of Tam To soup, green papaya salad with shrimp, pork, and prawn paste crackers, deep-fried shrimp tempura, deep fried bread with shrimp and pork, as well as sour vegetables, the unavoidable steamed rice, breaded fried shrimp, eggplant with minced beef sauce in a clay pot, sautéed shrimp and pork in a clay pot as well, and fresh fruit. With so much excellent food, I better walk this off or else I won’t be able to sleep. The intense noise and neon
lights quickly get the best of me and I retire to my hotel. It is almost midnight.
My final day in Vietnam is spent around the Mekong Delta and Southern Vietnam, but I’m up in the streets of Cholon by 7:00am. Home to Chinese traders and merchants for more than three centuries, Cholon, which means big market, has long been one of Saigon’s most vibrant commercial centers. Also known as District 5, its markets are always busy and brimming with a wide range of specialty shops selling everything from silks, spices, and medicinal herbs to hats, jade curios, and ceramics. With most of the city’s vast ethnic Chinese or Hoa community concentrated here, Cholon is also a religious hub and home to several Chinese-style pagodas and temples. After a frantic walk among sellers and buyers (there are always more sellers though), we head to the Mekong Delta, a unique region where life on the water has remained unchanged for centuries. Life on the delta revolves around the Mekong river, with its green expanses of paddy fields, thick orchards, and intricate patchwork of canals. Floating houses, markets, and fishing boats bob on the rivers, while the islands boast dense forests
and all kinds of exotic fruit. With its origins on the high plateau of Tibet, the mighty Mekong River meanders along for 2,800 miles (4,500 km), gathering silt from China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia, before splitting into the distributaries that give the region the name Song Cuu Long or the river of nine dragons.
We embark on a boat and traverse the main river before moving to a paddle boat on very narrow canals between various islands. We take a long walk on Phoenix Island where a small coconut candy factory operates. We taste all sorts of candy, ginger, peanuts, lotus flowers, and a huge plate of fruit. Dragon Island is home to beekeepers and boatwrights. Unicorn Island is full of narrow canals that irrigate lush orchards and Tortoise Island is known for its potent banana liquor. It is very strong but quite tasty. However, with the heat, it almost knocks me off my feet. Pineapples, jackfruit, mangos, dragon fruit, papayas, and rambutans are also grown here in abundance. The pungent aroma of dried fish and the fragrance of all those fruits fill the air. I am having the time of my life and have to add this
excursion as a highlight of my trip. For lunch, I am having an entire elephant ear fish (see picture) and it is absolutely delicious.
On the way back to Saigon, we stop at the Vinh Trang Pagoda, a religious center and a most noteworthy edifice in the town of My Tho. I see a huge laughing Buddha and the temple’s façade is embellished with mosaics made from broken pottery, a custom followed throughout Southeast Asia. Lily ponds and stone tombs surround the beautiful complex. It is a very peaceful and delightful setting. I fall asleep in the car and when we reach the city, it is pouring rain with very strong winds. Back at the hotel, I write this blog, go out for dinner, and make it an early night as I have to get up at 5:00am tomorrow morning for my flight to Cambodia.
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Yusuke
non-member comment
First pic of Yves!
That's the first pic of you Yves! I'm glad you are enjoying your trip. It is my turn now, though I am 120% sure I will not enjoy my trip to Japan as you have. You write remarkable blogs and I have enjoyed every single paragraph you wrote. Thanks to you, I feel like I was there and am taking a second vacation to Japan! Have a safe trip back! Yusuke