We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, which is often referred to as its former name, Saigon, and that is what I will call the city in these posts, as that is the name still most often used amongst the locals. We flew from Da Nang, where we had a great time, and since we were traveling domestically, did not have to face the nightmare of customs we had heard about at the Saigon Airport. We have learned it is much easier going through customs when entering a new country at a smaller airport/city than the capital or the biggest city.
As we had already gone through customs in Da Nang, we breezed through the airport and out into the drizzling rain, to the taxi pick up location. Our taxi driver was late, and was not friendly; he was in a big hurry for some reason and didn’t offer to help with the bags, which usually the taxi drivers do over here. He did not make for a welcomed first impression, but that is sometimes how it is in big cities.
Saigon is a big city, with 14 million inhabitants, and is the capital of Vietnam as well as the economic center. People have inhabited the area for more than 1,500 years, and it has been an important city to Vietnam for hundreds of years. The French took over and ruled the city from 1862-1955. It was the capital of South Vietnam during the Vietnam-American War, and has been the capital of the whole country since 1976.
The city is divided into many Wards(113 in total), that used to be called, and sometimes still are, districts. Most tourists stay in District 1, which has the famous Opera House and a lot of high end shopping. We stayed in the Binh Thanh District (which was created in 2025 and combined 3 former Wards), which is near the river and was very much in the busy city. Our hotel was named the Maison De Camille, and we saw many French tourists there during our two week stay; we think they chose it due to the French name. The homey quilt on our bed reminded Jessica of her grandmother and the place definitely had a certain charm we liked.
Nearby, the main street was the four-lane Dien Bien Phu road, full of cafes, restaurants and convenience stores. Here are some pictures of the street from our walks. The amount of Art Deco inspired and designed buildings is really impressive. You’ll also notice how many buildings are tall and skinny, which reminded us of the buildings in Amsterdam. We learned that property taxes are charged by the width, not height, so they build up, literally.
Usually, the night we arrive we order food in, but I convinced Jessica to venture out with the promise of Mexican Food and good cocktails (at least that’s what the online reviews said). It was only a 12 minute walk, though it was barely drizzling, so we headed out. However, it was 5:30pm on a Wednesday and that meant rush hour. So many bikes and cars, so much honking, barely any sidewalks to walk on…it was an intense and overwhelming experience for the senses just getting to the restaurant.
Crossing the street, as I mentioned in the Da Nang posts, is not for the timid in Vietnam, and that is ratcheted up to 11 in Saigon at rush hour. Bikes whizzing by, cars honking, trying to find the right time to try and cross. The crosswalks, as in the below picture, are a suggestion, and one that is usually ignored, even with a light. Below is the only picture I took from the walk as I only had one mission: to make it to the Mexican place in one piece.
We finally made it to the restaurant, and earned our cocktail and Mexican food. We discovered that the owner and man who started the restaurant was from Southern California, which is our favorite area for Mexican food. It was great, and after we ate, we decided to take a taxi back to the hotel.
The next day we woke up to the sun shining, as it did most days we were in Saigon. It did rain in the afternoon occasionally, but we only were caught in a downpour once, and that was on our last day. We headed out in the hot sun, 90+ degrees (32+ Celsius) but with the humidity felt like 108 (42 Celsius). We walked to a nearby tributary of the Saigon River, where there was a river walk path. It was a little less chaotic and there were benches where we could rest.
We looked for a park nearby and found the botanic gardens were close, so made our way there. We paid the entry fee, and as we started in, realized it was also the zoo. We have tried to avoid zoos as none we have seen treat the animals very well or provide large enough enclosures, and we had heard this one was bad. It was definitely not great and the giraffes and rhinos looked so depressed and defeated, so, we concentrated on seeing the flowers and trees instead. We saw some massive trees, bonsai, and some peacocks just wandering about through the park, too.
Covered in sweat, we took a taxi back to the hotel, needing to cool off in the A/C, before getting ready for our food tour later that evening, that I will talk about in the next post from Saigon. As a bonus, here are some fun pics from around Saigon that didn’t fit neatly into any of the coming posts. Enjoy!
Phil's WayPastCool 