Trip Report: Eat, Sweat and Feel Like A Royalty in Saigon…

With minor exhaustion (at least on my part), Vanessa and I boarded the budget carrier Tiger Airways bound for Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon) from Singapore Changi Airport. I had flown for about 20 hours from New York and had arrived in Singapore the night before. Vanessa is a friend of mine from elementary school and had traveled from Kuala Lumpur to meet up with me in Singapore. We both love to travel and had decided to pay a visit to the economic capital of Vietnam that is quickly becoming a favorite holiday destination of many travelers.

After two hours on the new Airbus 320 with in-flight service that will put any American carrier to shame, we finally arrived at Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). The first thing that greeted us as we stepped out of the airport was the intense heat. The humidity was so thick that a knife would not do the job of cutting it. You needed a cleaver to do so. I was sweating within seconds of stepping out of the terminal (not surprising for those who have seen me eating spicy food before).

On our cab ride from the airport to the hotel, we saw throngs of locals riding their motorcycles without helmets. Like Hanoi, this is definitely a city of motorcycles. We saw families on it, we saw women in their farmer hats and Ao Dais (traditional Vietnamese wardrobe for women) on it, we even saw three guys sitting on it (yes the Vietnamese men are skinny – ugh!). Also like Hanoi, the challenge in this city, besides the heat, is crossing the streets. These motorcycles will fly by without slowing down, and it seems like they have the right of way more so than the pedestrians do. Vanessa and I had to adopt the local way of crossing the streets quickly within one day of being there – just keep walking and the motorists will swirl past you and avoid hitting you. The locals didn’t even look as they crossed the streets. Amazing to say the least.

HCMC is located by the river and is divided into a few districts. District 1, the oldest district, is known as Saigon. This is also the unofficial name for the city preferred by foreigners. HCMC is a city with about 7 million people. It is here where the rapid economic changes sweeping Vietnam, as well as their negative social implications, are most evident. There were not many sights to see in HCMC, nor were there great places to shop (clothing wise), but there were many great restaurants serving very inexpensive and scrumptious Vietnamese cuisine for those who love them.

Vanessa and I love to eat. So the highlights of our trip were the many great restaurants we went to, ranging from a hole-in-the-wall restaurant selling Pho (traditional beef/chicken noodle soup) to a five-star French restaurant with bad dressed waiters. The cost of food was unbelievable too. We had appetizers, entrée, desserts and beverages at an upscale restaurant and the check was only US$18 including service charge for the two of us. A glass of fresh fruit juice would cost US 50 cents or so. A manicure would cost US$2. A pedicure, US$3.5 (don’t ask me why I know this). I remember tipping the bellboy at my hotel 20,000 dong (US$1.30) for carrying my bags and he was so happy and appreciative. I later learned that amount could be half a day’s wage for a local here. A dollar can really go far here.

Besides eating, Vanessa and I did manage to do some sightseeing (only some, since our primary focus was on the food). We went to the Cu Chi Tunnel, the Ben Thanh Market and the War Remnants Museum. Cu Chi Tunnel is definitely a must see for tourists who visit this city. The tunnels of Cu Chi were built over a period of 25 years that began sometime in the late 1940s. They were the results of a poorly equipped peasant army trying to beat the high tech ordinance, choppers, artillery, bombers and chemical weapons of its enemy (namely the Americans). It is located about 40 miles from the city so we hired a tour guide to take us there (transportation and tour guide for, get this, US$10 a person including tips). After touring the sites and climbing into the narrow tunnels that I could barely fit in, it dawned on me that in order to be successful in guerrilla warfare, you will need a typical slim Vietnamese body. After all you cannot be agile in the tunnel if you are five feet eleven and weight two hundred pounds like me. Jokes aside, I really have a lot of admiration for Vietnamese people after touring the tunnels. These people are tough. The tunnel army really demonstrated wit and perseverance.

The War Remnants Museum was quite an unforgettable visit too. Looking at the pictures of the victims from the Vietnam War was gut wrenching. This was once known as ‘The Museum of the Chinese and American War Crimes’ but was later changed to its current name in order not to offend the Chinese and American tourists. Vanessa didn’t have the stomach to view those pictures and documentaries so she was sitting outside checking out other more important objects (like guys) while I learned the ugly side of war. I could not believe some of the atrocities coming out of this war. Wonder if Iraq will have a similar museum a few years from now.

Ho Chi Minh is a city of great fun, if you look past the heat and the typical setbacks that a developing country would have, like women offering you messages on every city block, kids selling you chewing gums, or panhandlers grabbing your arms and asking you for money. You don’t really come here for the sights, but you come here for the food, entertainment and the experience to live like a royalty without burning many holes in your wallet.