Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) - Days 206-208
After 18 amazing and stressful days of driving down the Vietnam coast, we finally made it to Ho Chi Minh! Thank goodness. We have a celebratory brunch at the Deck in District 2 before saying our sad goodbyes to our Blades.
While Tay was making the most of his one day in Ho Chi Minh by visiting the War Remnants museum, we spent the afternoon resting in our hotel room and reveling in the glory of having successfully and safely made it. We met back up in the evening to stroll through Ben Thanh market, but got there a bit too late and half of the stalls were already closed down. It was still incredibly chaotic though with a ridiculous amount of soliciting/harassing. Our goal for the night was to get Tay some last chance Vietnamese street food. Both of our hotels recommended a particular area for street food and it was actually labeled “Night Food Market” on Google Maps. Seems promising. Unfortunately, it was very touristy/westernized and not quite what we were looking for. We wanted more of a street stalls vibe. The rest of the night was spent frantically trying to find a decent street food market with very little success. Maybe our expectations were too high. Eventually we grabbed some decent food at a street stall but we certainly didn’t do a foodie tour. We ended the night in a neat dive bar reminiscing about the last three months with Tay.
Today is our first day without visitors since before Tyler met up with us way back in Sri Lanka! Crazy. We spent the day relaxing, coffee shop hopping, and finally being able to gossip about Taylor (just kidding). And eating. So much food. We discovered delightful little bagel shop right around the corner from our hotel (Saigon Bagel) for breakfast. Lunch was a delicious and popular grilled pork banh mi. The lady opens up her tiny little stand everyday at 4pm. We joined the line around 3:45 and there was already a decent crowd in front of us. Worth the line and definitely lived up to the hype. Despite the late lunch, I was determined to get Saigon-style bun cha once again. Delicious as always. Needless to say, I’m obsessed. Also at some point in there we got lots of tasty pastries from one of the many bakeries. Mmmm.
Today was much the same as yesterday, but with less food. We did go to Saigon Bagel again though - so tasty. In an attempt to work off some of the food from yesterday, we set out on a long walk to check out the Notre Dame cathedral (which was closed for construction) and Turtle Lake (quite disappointing). So far, Ho Chi Minh hasn’t really impressed us. I much preferred Hanoi. Off to see how Singapore compares tomorrow!