Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

Visit to Saigon

Danny and I spent 3 nights in Saigon because of a complication with our visa so we needed to leave Thailand and then come back for a stamp in our passport. 

We chose Saigon because I had been before and enjoyed it. We stayed at the same hotel - Saigon Prince Hotel. Our room was not as big or posh as the one I stayed in before and I noticed some areas were a bit worn (closed during Covid), but overall it is a very nice hotel. The breakfast buffet had a huge variety of dishes and was very good. The location was perfect as it's in the main district on the main street. 

The 9th annual Ao Dai festival began on the day we arrived and was just across the street from us. Ao Dai is the traditional Vietnam silk dress/trousers. 

Traffic and crossing the street is mind-boggling! Traffic OMG

The population of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City is 9 million. There are about 7 million motorbikes/cycles.

The currency is hard to get your head around! 1 million VND is about $42 or £35. You can get an entire meal for 2 for 160,000 or a million. We had 2 lattes at the airport for 278,000. 

The Vietnamese love US dollars. And at some places you can purchase in $$. We did so at the Hop on Hop off double deck bus tours. At the airport all the gift shops have prices in $$. 

We ate at a corner street market several times. A very popular and busy place which also has some seating inside so we can sit on plastic stools at the tables and eat. Delicious! And very cheap. 

The traditional dish in Vietnam is called Pho. It's a bit different in the north and south. We both enjoyed it - a rice noodle soup in herbs, onions, your choice of meat. In some areas the word Pho is pronounced differently. But in Saigon and the south it is pronounced 'fuh'. This is the tshirt I bought in one of the huge markets: 

Yummy treat watching the action on the
busy street and park

Found a craft brewpub

View from the Skydeck near our hotel

From Skydeck. Our hotel is in the lower left.

(not my photo) the light-coloured building in the forefront is ours. Boulevard below where events take place. The festival had tents and chairs directly in front of our hotel. River in the upper left.