Saigon 101

Saigon – or Ho Chi Minh City if you like – for beginners. I planned exactly this: just the basics to see and feel if Southeast Asia is still a good fit for me.

My flight was pretty long and I felt supertired when finally landed in Saigon after waiting a couple if hours in Bangkok. It turned out that I had to leave the tranzit zone via immigration, get my passport stamped in and after half/an hour later stamped out. Never figured out why. But let’s get back to me arriving to the city.

It is really easy to get into the center. Cheapest option is the local bus No. 152 for local price, if you have a big suitcase, you pay some extra (5-14.000 VND). Or there’s the tourist version of it: bus No. 109 for a fixed price. I hopped on the local one leaving some disappointed taxi drivers behind, and after 40 minutes I was in district 1. There are some construction work going one that left me confused for a minute, but soon figured out my way and got into the backpacker zone searching for the alley where my hostel is located. And about the accommodation: don’t expect much for 3 USD, but it does the job.

Even though I felt I could fall into sleep in a second I managed to stay awake till around 10 PM, walking around the neighbourhood, watching the traffic, having dinner, enjoying the heat and feel the pulse of the city. I was searching for a vibe called Saigon, but I only found HCMC.

Next day I covered the main sights, but it was not too much. I started the day at a local market super close to the backpacker area, but I was the only non-local. I love these places, the unmistakable smells, the simple life locals live. And it’s fun to know already at least the half of the local fruits, so it is not a complete mystery like it was 2 years ago.

I visited the War Remnants Museum, that I couldn’t manage without crying. I can’t ignore the past of the country as suggested by many travellers. I needed to see, process the things I didn’t know before and have it settle a bit.

I walked by the Notre Damme Cathedral (renovation works going on), visited the old post office building, walked by the Opera and the City Hall, through Uncle Ho’s Park till the river. This part of the river is pretty new and rich, full of nicely dressed people running to meetings and every corner has a famous fashion store: a totally different world compared to the one I saw the day before.

Here I found a specialty coffee shop as well. I swear I was not looking for it, but as it was there, I had to try it. They had no light roasted coffee and charged more for a cortado, than I paid for my night in the hostel. I guess I wouldn’t be a regular guest here. Though I don’t like the local super sweet coffee, I tried the egg coffee, that is said to be a speciality here. How to describe it, well: I have the childhood memory of my mom baking sponge cake, and me eating the remaining mixture from the mixer bowl – I got the same taste here. And it is actually the same, except the flour. Egg mixed with sugar and put on top of an espresso. I even surprised myself with this, but I kinda liked it.

I visited the Reunification Palace / Independence Palace, that reminded me to the socialist design of my country. I got comfortable in this area of the city, felt the rhythm of the traffic and found easier and easier to cross the streets. I felt I had about enough time here, I walked home and bought a bus ticket for the next day, some suncream (I obviously got sunburnt) and ran into Rafael as I changed money in a gold shop. He just finished his 2-month motorbike trip in Vietnam, sold his bike and exchanged his many million dongs back to euros. I learned from him, that instead of buying a less reliable, old, used bike for 200-250 USD there is another option, if I ever actually do a North to South Vietnam bike-trip. For about 700 USD you can buy a brand new bike, and after a month the retailer buys it back for 70%, after 2 months for 60%. It is just s little bit more expensive option, but in exchange you can have a super reliable bike.

And I realized again how much easier it is for western europeans to maintain an easygoing, flexible, traveler lifestyle even while doing simple jobs. Rafael lived already in the USA, in Australia and New Zealand, in Barcelona and in Malta, and travelled to many more places. We definitely had experience to share. He did his travels with jobs in between, working as a barista, working in hotels, bars and constructions, or in the last year as industrial alpinist. We discovered the city with the night lights on, he even convinced me to go up to the iconic building of Bitexco, where you can enjoy the view of the city from the 49th floor on the Skydeck for a pricey entrance fee, or from the 52nd floor from the Helio Bar with some drinks you buy there. I didn’t go during the day, but together we went up, and of course we didn’t like the only available table, but spent there enough time so that I could enjoy the view. And also got some tips what to visit and what not. I have so many plans, but I decided to just think about the next day. So, the next day I travel towards Tran De.

Prices

• Local bus No. 152. from the airport to downtown: 5.000 VND (0,2 USD)
• Local bus No. 109. from the airport to downtown: 20.000 VND (0,9 USD)
• War Remnants Museum: 40.000 VND (1,8 USD)
• Independence Palace: 40.000 VND (1,8 USD)
• Bitexco Financial Tower Skydeck entrance fee: 200.000 VND (8,7 USD)