Time for us to see a new country, Vietnam. It is in Ho Chi Minh City (abbreviated HCMC) that we arrive, with a 7 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh.
Easy border crossing and noisy arrival in Ho Chi Minh
The border crossing is by far the easiest one we did in Southeast Asia. The bus driver is the one waiting in line with our passports to get the stamp while we are getting lunch. Awesome.
We arrive in Ho Chi Minh City late afternoon. And right away we are struck by the incredible motorbike traffic in the city. There are apparently 7 million motorbikes and 10 million people. Pretty amazing.
Reuniting with our friends
Maider’s parents will be here in 2 days, so in the meantime we go to Flo and Mathilde’s place. Flo and Matt studied engineering together and both played basketball for the university. Flo and Mathilde have been living here in HCMC for over 5 years and have a little 1 year old girl, Leonie. They live in the district 2, district home to many expats that live in the city.
We are super happy to reunite, they welcome us with open arms in their apartment.
After an evening spent catching up, we spend the next day working on the blog while they go to work. We also take advantage of the pool on the rooftop in the afternoon.
Here again it is super hot outside, refreshing in the pool feels amazing. The view on the city and the river from here is incredible.
Mathilde, with the very cute Leonie, come to join us in the afternoon. We spend an hour together enjoying the pool until sunset.
A last evening spent all together where the boys reminisce on old videos they made when they were students.
The next day we leave to go to the city center because Maider’s parents are arriving around noon.
Reuniting with Maider’s parents this time
Everybody is super happy to reunite after spending 9 months without seeing each-other.
Brigitte, Maider’s mother, has a Vietnamese friend, Jean-Marie, who lives in HCMC and takes us out for lunch.
He brings us to a food court where we will taste our first Vietnamese specialty (yes we ate only western food with Flo and Mathilde…). Bun Cha is a specialty from the North of Vietnam, made from noodles and grilled pork.
We shared a tasting meal with spring rolls and a crab based specialty. Delicious !
Wandering around district 1
We then wander around district 1, the backpacker and tourist area, walking through the public gardens.
We then walk through tiny narrow streets in the middle of the city. Very different from the huge commercial avenues, we discover a new, more typical, side of the city.
In particular a tiny shop, where a family sells fresh spring rolls. The entire family works here making spring rolls all day long. Jean-Marie tells us that these are the best fresh spring rolls in the city so we order some for tomorrow’s dinner. We are excited to taste them! A nice hidden place.
We continue to walk to the Ben Thanh market. This is the oldest and largest interior market in HCMC. The building was built back in 1914.
Here we find everything : meat, fish, vegetables, spices, dried fruits, fresh flowers, clothes, etc. Maider will take advantage of Jean-Marie’s ability to talk Vietnamese to negotiate a pair of fake Ray Ban sun glasses for $5.
Late afternoon, because it is way too hot, we sit down in the park to have a cold beer, while watching the locals play their favorite games : badminton and Da Cau. Da Cau is a sport that isn’t known at all in the West but absolutely loved in Asia. It’s basically a sort of badminton but played with the feet.
Visiting the must-see of Ho Chi Minh
The next day we go visit HCMC a little more in depth.
HCMC city is the economical capital of the country. At first sight the city is loud because of the never ending traffic.
But after getting lost in the tiny streets we learn to appreciate the city. We love wandering around all the avenues and small side streets full of life.
HCMC, that many people here still call Saigon, was under French rule for almost 100 years. And then supported by the USA government before finally falling the the communist rule from the North. After a long economical sleep, Vietnam, and HCMC in particular are now developing at a crazy fast rate. Buildings are being built absolutely everywhere.
First we meet up with Jean-Marie for breakfast where we taste Vietnam’s favorite : ice coffee with milk.
We leave Jean-Marie and go get lost in the side streets. Each street corner offers a new view on the incredible activity in these areas.
We then arrive at the Notre Dame cathedral, one of the emblems of the city. The outside is very pretty, even if it doesn’t really look like Notre Dame in Paris, after which it was modeled. Unfortunately we will not be allowed inside because it is under construction.
Right next to the cathedral, stands the central post office.
A true gem from the colonial architecture. It almost looks like a train station.
It was actually built by Mr Eiffel. The colors of the walls and the tiles make for a very old school vibe. The old wooden telephone cabins are still here. And we have fun taking a few pictures.
After the post office, we walk to the city hall nearby.
Built between 1900 and 1908, it’s architecture is Neo-Renaissance. Today, used as the Party’s headquarters, it remains as one of the most beautiful colonial buildings.
When we were walking in the area we ran into a little shop making needle paintings. This weaving technique is a true art in Vietnam. Some “paintings” can take 1 to 2 years of work! It is incredible to see how these women work.
For lunch, Maider found a restaurant called Secret Garden. The name comes from the fact that we have to get to the end of an alley and climb 5 stories in a creepy residential building before arriving in the little peaceful haven.
The place is just incredible, at the top of the building in the middle of the city.
And the food is just as excellent. We have a few typical salads, like a papaya salad, or one with squid. Delicious. The whole accompanied by a ginger ice tea.
During the afternoon, to get away from the heat, we decide to go visit the Palace of the Reunification.
This “young” historic site truly became part of Vietnam’s history on April 30th 1975 at 10:45 am when tanks from the North Vietnam army (communist) crashed into the front gates and took over the palace where the president lived. Thus taking over Saigon and marking the end of South Vietnam as a country and of course ending the terrible 30 year long war.
We visited the palace with the help of an audio guide during an hour and a half. We visited the the different rooms and reception halls, the president’s office, the ball room but also the president’s bedroom.
The interior of the palace is really nice. From the 3rd floor there is a very nice view on the park.
We then go down, under the palace to the bunker. Here most of the military operations were taking place.
Finally we climb back up through the kitchen.
Very nice visit of the palace, where we learned a ton about the important events between 1970 and 1975.
Our tickets also included an exhibit about the construction of the palace and some important people during the colonial times in Saigon.
Because it isn’t getting any cooler outside, we decide to go grab a cold beer in a nearby craft brewery. The Pasteur Street Brewery is a micro brewery located at the back of a small alley that brews tasty beers using local ingredients (spices, herbs, fruits).
The tap room is small but full of charm.
We taste beers brewed with passion fruit, ginger or even jasmine. A great moment.
After sunset along the river, we meet up with Jean-Marie and his girlfriend Yen for diner.
It is in a tiny family owned shop that we visited yesterday that we are having diner. Only one thing on the menu here, fresh spring rolls. Delicious.
We spend a great time all together.
We also taste a local drink made from calamansi juice, a tiny but tasty local citrus fruit.
After diner we walk around Bui Vien, the backpacker’s district, where the bars blast loud Western music.
We continue along the illuminated streets of the city.
Short stop at the town hall, that looks very nice at night.
And we continue down the Nguyen avenue, a main pedestrian street that gets very animated at night. Very nice to walk around the city at night. We are surrounded by tall illuminated buildings. It looks beautiful.
We walk back to our hotel along the river to end an excellent first full day.
Day on the Mekong delta
The next day we leave for a day trip on the Mekong Delta. Unfortunately we don’t have time to spend more time but we still wanted to check it out. Even if it means being with a large group of tourists.
We are a group of 15 to leave HCMC at 8 am with a guide who seems very nice and is pretty funny.
We start with an hour and a half bus ride to get to the beginning of the delta at My Tho, 45 miles away from HCMC.
From there we hop on a boat to the Unicorn island.
We walk a little bit around the island as the guide points out all the different fruit trees that grow here.
Brigitte also stops to say hi to a very particular inhabitant of the island.
We then visit a bee farm where we are able to taste some local tea with delicious honey.
Before continuing with a tasting of local fruit like papaya, dragon fruit, pineapple or logan. Very tasty.
All of this accompanied by traditional music and songs, sung by locals.
After the tasting, we continue inside the island around the fruit trees.
Where we hop inside “sampans” and go down the canal.
Pretty fun and unique experience.
We put on the traditional Vietnamese hats and start taking pictures. A nice moment together.
We then hop back inside the boat that takes us to coconut island, where we stop to taste their famous coconut based sweets. We can also learn a little about the fabrication process.
Before taking a different boat in the middle of the jungle to go to lunch. The ride is very beautiful.
In the afternoon we come back to My Tho where we hop back in the bus.
Before driving to HCMC we stop to visit the Vinh Trang pagoda.
Built in 1849, this is the largest pagoda in the Tien Giang province. This pagoda was built using the 3 most important styles in the country : Hinduism, Chinese Buddhism and Colonial architecture. The pagoda houses many sculptures carved in fine wood, in particular the one representing the 18 Arhats. Carved in 1907, it represents the high point of carving in the Mekong delta.
We are back in HCMC late afternoon. Even if the tour today was super super touristy (we ran into a lot of groups doing to exact same tour), we still enjoyed it and honestly for the price, we can’t complain. It was nice to get out of the city and see some of these uncommon landscapes.
We are pretty exhausted when we get back to our hotel. So we decide to eat in one of the street stalls right outside our guesthouse. Here there are absolutely no tourists. We find a place where we sit down for some delicious fried noodles at a very reasonable price. 4 beers and 4 dishes for only $8 !
The next morning Matt and Maider have a very important task… They have to mail in their tax returns. So we go to DHL early in the morning before meeting up with Brigitte and Justin.
Visit of the traditional medicine museum
For our last full day in HCMC we decide to go visit the museum of traditional Vietnamese medicine.
Vietnam is a tropical country, that is very humid and gets a lot of rain. This helps plants grow, which explains the very high density of medical plants in the country.
The museum showcases over 3,000 objects linked to traditional Vietnamese medicine from the Stone-age to nowadays.
The visit starts with a documentary film of 25 minutes explaining a little bit what the traditional Vietnamese medicine is.
We then start to visit of the museum. The collection of objects is spread all over the 6 story building.
We find for example instruments used to make the different preparations like mortars, jars or scales. As well as other objects that we can find in a traditional pharmacy with cupboards, tea pots and other ceramic objects.
There is also a super long list of all the plants used and what type of illness they cure.
We even change into traditional clothes and act as if we were doctors from the past. We are all alone visiting the museum and have a lot of fun.
The interior of the museum is pretty incredible, with an architecture reminding the ancient Vietnamese style.
Very interesting visit that ends with a tasting of mushroom tea. Brigitte will find a few nice things in the shop to bring back to France.
For lunch we meet up with Flo, Mathilde and Leonie to have brunch. A last great moment spent with them before having to definitely say goodbye. It was awesome to see them on the other side of the world, and share a little bit of their life with them.
Relaxing afternoon at the pool
Because it is still very hot outside, we decide to go to the public swimming pool in the Van Tanh park.
This park is located on a small island in the middle of HCMC. A nice little haven of peace, ideal to escape the noise of the city.
There is almost nobody there when we arrive. Great! That means we have the pool almost to ourselves. And the view on the surrounding buildings is pretty amazing. We will spend a couple of hours swimming and relaxing. It feels great.
For our last evening in HCMC, we go eat with Jean-Marie and Yen in a small traditional restaurant located inside an alley far from the craziness of the big avenues. This is the type of restaurant we love in Asia. Where a completely different life seems to go one, right next to the luxurious apartment buildings and all the construction sites.
On the menu small rice pancakes that we fill ourselves with pork, beef or even squid and some pickled cabbage and green mango.
It was delicious. Justin struggled quite a bit using the chop sticks, which made everybody laugh of course.
What made the diner fun was that when we needed a new pancake we were given a new plate. Which means we were able to count how many we ate at the end of the meal. Brigitte, Maider and Jean-Marie had 10 each, Justin and Yen ate 12 and finally comes Matt with a total of 17.
Before saying our goodbyes we walk one last time around Ban Vieng and it is crazy. We are Saturday night and the street is closed. There are so many people outside that we can barely walk.
All the bars have tables outsides and everything is packed. The music is loud as hell. It is pretty amazing.
We had an amazing time for our last day in HCMC. Tomorrow we fly to Danang before going to the city oh Hoi An. These few days in HCMC were a great start to Vietnam, where we spent great moments with friends and visiting this very animated city.