Vietnam: Things to do in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)

It seemed to me all drivers in Ho Chi Minh City had their hands on the horns most of the time. As I stood in front of Ben Thanh Market in the heart of this Vietnamese city, I could no longer determine who was honking at whom. It was a typical day in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Once called Saigon, I found myself lost in its cosmopolitan hustle and bustle, drowned by the incessant beeping and the noisy motors of the thousands of motorbikes, cars and buses that crowd its streets.



Ben Thanh Market is actually walking distance from Pham Ngu Lao. And to any visitor to HCMC, the street and surrounding areas is synonymous with backpackers, budget accommodation, hole-in-the-wall restaurants, affordable tours and land transportation to other parts of Vietnam and Cambodia. So if you're on a limited budget, Pham Ngu Lao is the place to be and it's the best place to find options for your stay in Saigon.


What's to do in Ho Chi Minh City anyway? Here's a list of things I did over several visits to Ho Chi Minh City. The list of course includes interesting trips close to HCMC:


1. Enjoy a Vietnamese food trip
What I like about Saigon is that food is everywhere from hawker stalls, local fast food to fancy restaurants. Food is good almost anywhere and I'd usually buy bánh mi from the street or find the nearest hole-in-the-wall for a cheap but authentic Vietnamese meal. In the evening, the streets around Ben Thanh are transformed into makeshift restaurants.


During my trip to Ho Chi Minh City this year, Viqui del Rosario sent me an interesting list of places to eat in Saigon. Here are some of her suggestions plus others I also got to try out:
▪ Lemongrass Restaurant, 4 Nguyen Thiep Street - a good place to try authentic Vietnamese food
▪ Brodard Bakery, 11 Nguyen Thiep Street - a small bakeshop just across Lemongrass that sell French pastries but only take out
▪ Ngoc Suong (Le Marina), 19c Le Quy Don - a seafood restaurant, try their deep-fried crabs
▪ Quan Nem, 15e Nguyen Thi Minh Khai Street - a good place for spring rools
▪ Wrap and Roll, 62 Hai Ba Trung Street - another good option for spring rolls
▪ Pho 2000, 1-3 D Phan Chu Trinh Street (beside Ben Thanh Market) - while you can get phở almost anywhere, their claim to fame is that Bill Clinton ate here when he was in HCMC for an official visit
▪ Nhu Lan, 50-64-68 Ham Nghi Street - try out their bánh mi or bánh cuốn
▪ Nhà Hàng Ngon, 160 Pasteur Street - bánh hỏi thịt is recommended
▪ Quan An Ngon, 138 Ky Khoi Nghia Street


2. Hire a xe om and explore HCMC like a local
If you're comfortable in the passenger seat for a motorcycle ride through the wild hustle and bustle of HCMC, then this is the best way to absorb the sites of the city. Best to ask your hostel to look for a xe om to take you around. The good thing about a xe om tour is that you decide where to go, what to see and how much time you spend at each attraction.

Make sure you drop by Saigon City Hall, Saigon Opera House, Saigon Post Office, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Reunification Palace among many other attractions.


3. Join an HCMC city tour
If motorcycle rides are not your thing, don't fret since it's easy and cheap to book on an HCMC guided bus tour. It's usually less than US$10 for a day tour. But note that it does not include ticket costs to museums and other attractions. And that lunch is really not included since they'll bring you to a restaurant and tell you that you have a US$1 budget and anything beyond that you pay for. But it's all good. These tours are value for money.



The city tour I took this year included stops at the War Remnants Museum (which tells the Vietnamese version of the atrocities done during the Vietnam War), Thiên Hậu Temple and Bình Tây Market in Chợ Lớn or Chinatown (the market is their version of Divisoria, it's very interesting to Westerners who are amazed with the cheap goods, but maybe not to Filipinos who see this kind of market quite regularly), lunch at Pham Ngu Lao Street, a visit to a lacquer factory (which is staple in almost all tours for you to shop so that they could earn commissions), and the Reunification Palace (the former residence of the president of South Vietnam).




4. Watch a water puppet show
This is one craft that is uniquely Vietnamese. If you like watching cultural stuff, then you might want to reserve a night for a Vietnamese water puppet (múa rối nước) show at the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre, 55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai (beside the Reunification Palace). Shows are 50 minutes long and show times are 5 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.


5. Hop on a Mekong Delta day-tour
There are actually a lot of options for Mekong Delta tours. There are day-trips to My Tho and Ben Tre, and other areas on the Mekong River. During my tour of My Tho and Ben Tre, we visited a coconut candy factory, a bee-keeping farm, got to bike around rural Vietnam, were given a shot of snake liquor, and ate local fruits while being serenaded with Vietnamese folk songs. You'd realize that this is very much like rural Philippines and ask yourself why we aren't bringing foreigners to the countryside since many Westerners like these countryside tours that they don't experience everyday.

You can actually opt for overnight or multi-day tours which will bring you to other attractions including some of the Mekong Delta's famous floating markets. The Cai Be Floating Market seems to be one of the most famous. And most of the activity happens between 6 to 8 a.m. So it's best to be in the area the night before.



6. Visit the Củ Chi Tunnels and Cao Đài Holy See in Tây Ninh
The Củ Chi Tunnels in HCMC (the Viet Cong's base of operations for the Tết Offensive in 1968) and the Cao Đài Holy See in Tây Ninh are two popular attractions. There are half-day tours to Củ Chi Tunnels (but note that they get you back in HCMC at about 4 p.m.) and whole day tours that include witnessing the noon ceremonies at the Cao Đài Temple.



For the Củ Chi Tunnels tour, you actually have a land or river option (the river option is thrice more expensive) to get there. But the travel time is just the same. For the river option, you take a boat on the Saigon River going there and take a van going back. I spent US$18 for that trip. While the land trip was just US$6 (price varies depending on agent). Note that there is a VND80,000 entrance fees to the tunnels that are not included in the tour price.

If you hate tour groups, there is a public bus option. Take Bus 13 to Cu Chi (VND5,000) from District 1; and Bus 79 from Cu Chi to the tunnels (VND4,000).



7. Shop at Ben Thanh Market
If you're looking for that souvenir or want to take home an export overrun or an expert fake, then shopping Ben Thanh Market is for you. Make sure you keep your valuables out of sight though if you don't want them to go missing. The market also has some interesting food stalls you might want to try out if adventurous.


8. Walk around Saigon's historic center at night
If you've seen many of Saigon's iconic buildings during the day time, you must see them at night! They are elegantly lit early in the evening. So walking around HCMC's historic center at night is worth your time.


9. Beach bum at Mui Ne
Mui Ne is a popular beach resort town of Vietnam, four hours from HCMC. It's best to stay there for a night or two to enjoy not only the beaches, but the town's famous sand dunes, with colors that range from pure white to gold in Bau Trang (White Lake), to a fiery red in other areas. If you don't have that much time, there are sunrise day-tours to Mui Ne which leave early in the morning and give you time to enjoy the beach before returning to HCMC.

Transportation to/from Tan Son Nhat International Airport
Tan Son Nhat is the airport of Ho Chi Minh City. It's about seven kilometers from Pham Ngu Lao and the city center of HCMC. There are regular buses during the day time (Bus152). But in the evening, you will have to take a taxi to get into town. Note that there are safety and honesty issues with taxis (beware of the flying meters that charge low flag down rates but fly while the taxis move). To be safe, limit yourself to the SASCO Taxi inside the airport, or the regular Mai Linh, Vina or Vina Sun Taxis (between US$5 to 10 depending on your haggling skills). Make sure to agree on the price before hopping in. You can also as your hostel to pick you up (this will cost more but it's safer and you won't have problems with directions).

Vietnam: Water puppet show (múa rối nước) in Ho Chi Minh City

If you can spare a night while in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam you might want to watch a Vietnamese water puppet show (múa rối nước). It's a craft that is uniquely Vietnamese. And if you have kids with you, they'll surely enjoy this wonderful element of Vietnamese culture.




I got to watch the water puppet show at Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre twice on two separate trips. The shows are about fifty minutes long with no intermissions. It could get a little bit boring for some, but this something you have to watch if you're interested in local culture.

Puppets are carved from wood and then lacquered. The puppeteers control the puppets from behind a screen. Water is waist deep and they use rods to move the puppets around. The water thus creates the effect of a lake, river or rice paddies in various scenes. I actually bought myself miniature versions of these water puppets at Ben Thanh Market.






There's a live Vietnamese ensemble which plays music and narrates, with everyone in traditional Vietnamese costumes. Everything is in Vietnamese so you'd have to refer to the English guide at times to understand what is happening. It's definitely something you'd want to watch even just once.

Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre
55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, District 1
Ho Chi Minh City
Showtimes: 5 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.

Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hue, Hoi An & My Son

It was my sixth time (technically seventh if you count immigration stamps) to visit Vietnam. And finally, I had the chance to fly over to Hanoi from Ho Chi Minh City. Too bad there are no direct flights from the Philippines. I also got to return to Hue and Hoi An and visited Ha Long Bay and My Son for the first time. I actually coined my own term and refer to Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Hoi An and Ha Long Bay as the 5Hs of Vietnam, the five must-visit places when planing a trip there. So before I forget again, here are photos from the trip which are now in the Ivan About Town FB page.

June 23-25 - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
June 25-27 - Hanoi, Vietnam
June 27 - Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
June 28 - My Son and Hoi An, Vietnam
June 29 - Hue, Vietnam

Vietnam: Mekong River boat ride

During my second day in Vietnam, I decided to go on a Mekong River tour. The thing I like about mainland Southeast Asian destinations is that it’s so easy to book tours even if you’re just alone.

I spent US$7 for a whole day tour which included lunch. I was picked up at my hotel at 8 a.m. and we were off to My Tho City, one and a half hours away.

We took a small roofed pump boat a few minutes from the city center. The river was very wide and we got to see many fishing boats, ferries and floating houses. Most of the tour was going to be in Ben Tre province across the river. Our first stop was a small coconut candy factory in Turtle Island where we got to see how they made the local delicacies.

From there, we went back to the boat and stopped over a fruit orchard where to my surprise, we were given bicycles for a ride around the area. Nothing fancy actually, it was the typical rural life in Vietnam which one can see here in the Philippines. But I’m sure the other foreigners in my group were excited with the new experience. We have better rural scenes in the Philippines. But there was no grassroots tourism program like this where the locals benefit directly. Our DOT is focusing too much on big resorts and golf courses, local residents don’t get to benefit too much from the tourism boom.

After the bike ride, we were served lunch in the fruit orchard. It was a small serving of spring rolls, pork, soup and rice. You could order more but it was a bit pricey. From there, we boarded our boat again and rode to Unicorn Island where first visited a bee-keeping farm to taste the honey, honey tea and honey wine. But we got more than that since we got to play with their pet python too. But the highlight of this part was that each of us was given a serving of snake wine!

We walked down the path to another area of the island where we enjoyed the local tropical fruits while being serenaded with Vietnamese traditional folk-song music performed by the locals. On the way back to the boat, we had to ride small paddle boats from the restaurant which took us through narrow river creeks shaded by nipa plants. We boarded our boat and headed back to the port.

From the port, we boarded our van and made a brief stopover at the bonsai garden in My Tho. Didn’t see much but I got some jackfruit snacks to munch on. We were back in Ho Chi Minh at 5:30 p.m. More photos in Multiply.

Vietnam: More from Ho Chi Minh City

The following day, I decided to take it slow. I wanted to get away from the pulsating beat of orderly disorder that characterized Saigon. So I booked myself on a trip to the Mekong River that would take me one and a half-hours outside Saigon to the city of My Tho and Ben Tre Province. The van passed by for me at my hotel at 8:00 a.m. and we were back in Saigon’s urban chaos exactly at 5:30 p.m. I'll discuss that in a later entry.

Back in Hồ Chí Minh City, as soon as I stepped down the van, I rushed back to my hotel to change and drop off my stuff since I wanted to catch the 6:30 p.m. water puppet performance. I took a cab from my hotel to the Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre to catch one of Vietnam's cultural symbols. It was a brief 50-minute show which is a must visit for culture vultures like myself.

I realized I had been so stingy like always that I had a lot of funds left. So I decided to check out the Vietnamese restaurant my hotel recommended called Hoang Yen Restaurant. I had minced meat soup, spring rolls and chicken wings. It wasn’t as cheap as what you’d get from hawkers or hole-in-the-wall establishments. In fact, it wasn't even close! But it’s worth a try if you have some extra money to spend.

From the restaurant, I walked to the Ho Chi Minh City Hall to check out this wonderful work of art well lit at night. The intricate detail of this charming French colonial government building never fails to enchant me, even more when it is lit up in the evening.

I didn't stay too long since I had wanted to sleep early. But a college friend, who I met in the plane on the way to HCMC, sent me a message that we meet up. So it was another night at Allez Boo (this time I downed a bottle of Saigon beer and a pizza). But we decided to go around and we moved to Gossip to check out the clubbing scene. It seemed the young, rich and trendiest of HCMC were all there on a Wednesday night. It was one big parteee!

The next day, I woke up early for some last minute shots around HCMC before my flight back to Manila. I got myself a xe om (motorbike for hire) for an hour to take me around District 1.

Of course, I dropped by the Ho Chi Minh City Hall again and the nearby Saigon Opera House. I watched as the city woke up with joggers and old folks doing their morning rituals; and motorbikes started to increase in number. But I didn’t have that much time since I had to be at the airport by 8 a.m.

I wish I had more time to explore. But at least I got back to Manila in one piece since I felt that I was in the middle of a giant traffic accident waiting to happen. If there’s a next time, I definitely will rent my own motorbike and join the fun!

Golden Dragon Water Puppet Theatre
55B Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, District 1
Ho Chi Minh City
Showtimes: 6:30 p.m. & 8 p.m.

Vietnam: Experiencing old Saigon and cosmopolitan HCMC

Day 1 in Ho Chi Minh City. I arrived at 9 a.m. after a two and a half-hour flight from Manila. Although I was at NAIA as early as four, the lack of sleep did not deter me from rushing out to explore this dynamic city.

First impressions do last. I was pleasantly surprised that a new and modern Tan Son Nhat airport welcomed me. How I wished that the Philippines opened its new terminal sooner since all other ASEAN countries have modernized their own gateways. Outside was an orderly line of taxis waiting for passengers. I was expecting to argue with the driver as one travel guide warned. But as soon as I sat down, he turned on the meter. I was booked in a hotel along Pham Ngu Lao Street, Saigon’s backpacker haven.

Most guides to HCMC always recommend a visit to its many pagodas and temples. I thus decided to drop by one or two to get the ball rolling. I took a cab to the Giac Lam Pagoda, believed to be the oldest in the city. It was quite a distance from the city center. And the trip made me a spectator to the organized chaos that passes through the many tree-lined motorcycle-choked boulevards of Saigon. There was not too much activity in the temple as what I’ve seen in other Buddhist temples in Southeast Asia. But there were a few devotees doing rounds around the different images with their joss sticks. By the time I exited its gates, it was time for lunch.

Since I was on the run, I tried to look for the neighborhood bahn mi vendor. These are the local sandwiches which may look Western but definitely taste Vietnamese. I just love the way the pate, meats, and herbs mix very well with the baguettes, a culinary blend of East and West indeed. After walking under the sun for several meters, I finally found a stand. Until now, I still cannot fathom how a sandwich that costs only VND5,000 (approximately 15 pesos) in the streets of Vietnam is sold for ten times that much in Manila!

After that quick bite, I visited nearby Giac Vien Pagoda. The first thing I noticed as I entered was a number of shrines on each side with photos of the departed. I walked around the hall for a while and was resting on a stool, preparing to leave, when the lone monk in the hall blurted out something in the vernacular, as if calling me to come closer. When I got to his table, he threw a few questions at me which he asked in English, albeit with a bit of difficulty. He stood up, picked up a few joss sticks, and asked me to follow him. He toured me around and I made my rounds around the temple like the locals.

It was another cab ride to my next stop, the Reunification Palace. The former presidential palace of the defunct South Vietnam, it was where the Vietnam War was said to end when tank number 843 rammed into its gates on April 30, 1975, the day Saigon surrendered. It has been left the way it looked on that momentous day for Vietnam. Even the command center in the basement of the building still has its war maps, telephone and radio equipment, and other items on display in the different rooms as if the war had just ended yesterday.

From the palace, I walked to the nearby Notre Dame Cathedral and General Post Office which stand beside each other. The red-brick neo-Romanesque cathedral, built between 1877 and 1883, towers over the area. Right beside it is the well-preserved post office building, one of the more elegant French colonial buildings of Saigon. There are in fact many more buildings like it.

Further down the road was Ben Thanh Market, the best place to start shopping in HCMC. I’ve gone shopping there before. But for this trip, I had no plans of spending on anything. So I decided to skip it since warnings and tales of bad experiences are very familiar to me. No matter how alert or good you are at protecting your things, sticky fingers around the place can get really sneaky. And I didn’t want to lose my camera or wallet while even just a few seconds caught off guard.

So I walked back to my hotel in Ð Pham Ngu Lao to get some rest before going out for dinner. The streets around Ben Thanh are also alive in the evenings. As soon as the shops inside close, those outside set-up tents for the night market. Right beside the market building, a row of stalls offers fresh seafood which they serve dampa style.

Right beside my hotel, was Allez Boo bar where I got to chill out, watching people and motorbikes go by this busy bamboo-walled street corner. I ordered the house special, Allezboo Slammer, a mix of amaretto, sambuca, brandy, lime juice and cointreau. Check out my photos in Multiply.