Saigon, round 2 - Days 215-221
- Meghann
- Apr 1, 2018
- 6 min read
We had a few free days until Papa Luc arrives in Saigon so we had originally planned to get our motorbikes back (still technically under our rental) and drive somewhere outside of the city. Ben Tre or Vang Tau were on the possibilities list. But Sicky McSickerson was still following us around so we rented an AirBNB in District 2 of Saigon instead. After getting swindled by our cab driver (and getting in a shouting match with him and the cab company manager), we get to our trendy little place to unwind. Nights activities: ordering barbeque sandwiches for delivery and finishing the Avatar series.
Ben didn’t leave the apartment today. Maybe got up to go to the bathroom a few times?
Wanting to get out of the infirmary, I took a Grab bike to the main part of district 2 to explore a bit - lots of neat little coffee shops, restaurants, and breweries. I can see why ex-pats often live in this district - much much better than the touristy, overcrowded, jumble of mess that is district 1. In my wanderings, I turned down a little dirt road that eventually lead to a charming, quaint outdoor garden cafe. Adorable. But the heat got to me fairly quickly so after a tasty iced peach tea, I retreated to an indoor coffee shop. As it usually goes after a few drinks with caffeine, nature calls. But I rudely found out that the water in this entire area of the district was turned off. Which means no running toilets. I ran around to a few different places but it was all the same story. I start to dance. Admitting defeat in this area, I attempt to order a Grab bike to take me back to the apartment. But, as you may recall, my phone was damaged in Thailand and I’ve had very poor reception ever since. I can’t get enough of a signal to order a Grab. I’m dancing real good now. So set off at a near-sprint back to the coffee shop to connect to their wifi and finally order a ride. Seemingly ages later and after going over all possible bumps in the road, I find sweet relief in the condo bathroom. Thats enough excitement for the day.
Finally, Ben starts to show some signs of life today. He put on pants (wow!) and we went out so I can show him around district 2 a bit. We got some tasty dumplings and coffee (Vietnamese style though because the water is still turned off). Back at the AirBNB we finally take advantage of the awesome rooftop pool overlooking industrial Saigon. It was quite relaxing until the condo maintenance workers show up to change one of the lights in the pool. Literally 6 maintenance workers working on one light bulb. And it still took about an hour. Unbelievable. That evening, we went to BiaCraft for dinner and finally some decent craft beer! I got a really delicious burger and Ben ate so many chicken wings.
District 2 was fun and it was nice to see a different part of Saigon, but we [unfortunately] have to move back to district 1 to wait for Dad - he arrives tonight! And when we did arrive at 3am, he tried his very best to quietly come into the hotel room. But he tripped and dropped his suitcase then slammed the door when catching his balance. Nice try, pops. Welcome back to Vietnam!
It’s Dad’s first time back in Vietnam since he left in 1975 due to the war. I’m pretty excited to share this experience with him! First stop: pho. Impressively, he jumps right in
and talks to the server in Vietnamese. He fit right in. The restaurant was fairly popular so food took forever to come out, but it sure was tasty. Next we took a stroll through the chaotic Ben Thanh market and while Ben was thoroughly annoyed by all of the solicitors, Dad truly enjoyed it. I think his favorite part was the wet market, with all of the fresh seafood for sale. Too smelly for me. We set out to check out the Independence Palace next. The building itself wasn’t overly impressive, but there were lots of signs everywhere explaining the significance of what happened there. Very interesting. Dad managed to leave Vietnam only a few days before the palace fell. Crazy.
Ben’s been wanting to try a famous bahn mi place in Saigon so we went to try it out for lunch. The line was huge! Far too long for the quality of bahn mi in my opinion. But then again, I tend to like the grilled meat more than the deli meat bahn mis.
Being New Years Eve, we take a quick nap before heading out to Bui Vien street for the night. It’s already quite crowded but we manage to find some seats at one of the plastic street stalls. The crowd kept growing and it was really fun to chat and people watch while ringing in the New Year. 2018 is going to be a good one!
How better to start of the new year than with dim sum? We slept in a bit later than expected so the hardcore dim sum places were already closed, but we found a place nearby. Once again, Dad did all of the ordering and he crushed it. Everything was delicious. We ordered far too much food but seeing as Dad never wants anything to go to waste, he kept going until everything was gone. Even Ben was impressed by his garbage disposal-ness. We spent the afternoon making our way through the War Remnants museum. It’s pretty heavy stuff. So interesting to learn about it from the Vietnamese perspective. And the photography was incredible. We decompressed at a craft brewery then showed Dad my favorite Vietnamese dish - bun cha, of course.
Ben was feeling a little burnt out so he decided to coffee shop hop and let the Luc’s go out and explore chinatown. Dad attempted to get an approximate address of where his childhood house was, but couldn’t get any concrete answers. So we just blindly explored. The main market was closed for repairs but all of the vendors had set up shop just outside of the building. The “aisles” were all incredibly cramped with overflowing buckets of goods and all sorts of smells but no soliciting and we loved it. Felt very authentic.
In the evening, we did a street food tour with Saigon Street Eats (highly recommended) and ate ourselves into a stupor. Vu and his gang scooped us up on the back of their bikes and took us to our first food stop: banh cuon. Little rice flour crepes full of goodies, freshly steamed in front of us. Dad’s loving chatting with our guide Vu and nearly interrogating him about all things Vietnam. Vu doesn’t seem to mind though and Dad’s having a blast. Back on the bikes for the next stop: banh xeo. Ben’s favorite of the regional foods. Large, crispy rice pancakes also full of goodies. This restaurant is a tiny little stall down a unmarked alley but man alive the banh xeo was delicious. Best we’ve had so far.
I’m starting to feel quite full already (keep in mind that we’re getting full servings at each of these places). Around the corner for stop #3: bahn mi. Bread was perfectly crispy/airy at this place, but not my favorite bahn mi overall. Deli meat once again. I only have a few bites to save room for later goodies. Next: com tam. Really delicious broken rice with pork chop that was grilled on a tiny ground-level grill in front of the restaurant. I eat as much as I can of this one because I was under the impression that this was the last food stop. Boy was I mistaken. Two more stops to go. #5: vietnamese chicken salad and glass noodle soup. The chicken salad was so juicy and good but we were all incredibly full at this point. Dad powers through, of course. Finally #6: che for dessert. Not quite sure how to describe this - some sort of drink loaded with all sorts of things ranging from beans to jellies to fruits. Someone even got a durian one. It smelled terrible. Mine was okay, but I can’t get used to having beans for dessert. Ben’s fruit one was pretty decent. We’re so full that we sleepily crawl back to the bikes and get dropped off back at the hotel. A really great night and fun (and incredibly filling tour). We fall asleep almost immediately.
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