Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

Vietnam had a lot to live up to, because it was one of the places I was most excited about visiting, mainly because I love Vietnamese food. Our first taste of the country starts with Ho Chi Minh (Saigon). After a long old bus journey from Cambodia and an interesting border crossing, we arrived a little dazed but were welcomed by a clean and fresh hotel room with a hot shower (bliss). Our first day we ventured out into the city and found it to be a lot cleaner and westernised than our previous stops, which I must admit was a welcome sight. We first visited the famous post office which in all honesty wasn’t a lot to fuss about but still offered some pretty architecture and an introduction to the French influence the country has adopted. The interior of the building reminded me a little of Waterloo station.  

We then went next door to another significant building, Notre Dame, which I believe was built/designed by the same architect that built the Notre Dame in Paris. It was unfortunately closed for refurbishment so we were not allowed inside, but I can confirm it did look like it’s French twin.

We then visited the war museum, which I don’t have any pictures of but I can promise you was a hard hitting experience. There were many images of people affected by the war including lots of civilian men, women and children who had been needlessly harmed by American soldiers. The museum was perhaps a little biased but it was a very frank and stark insight into the realities of war. I’d very much recommend any traveller a visit if they had the chance, whether it’s ‘your kind of thing’ or not. The next day was Valentine’s Day which we dedicated to a lot of eating and relaxing. We decided we fancied a pool day so found one online that was available to pay to attend and absolutely lucked out! We arrived at a beautiful hotel and were told to get the lift up to the 24th floor. We were then directed up some steps to the pool. And saw this...

It was pretty neat, we also ended up not having to pay because they assumed we were guests. We also had the best sun beds in the house directly on the edge of the glass wall which made us feel a bit guilty about not paying. Anyway after some prime tanning time we went back to our hotel and got ready for a slap up meal at a restaurant called propaganda. The food here was so delicious, especially the chicken spring rolls and the chicken fried rice, we visited three times!

To top off our day we then went to a sky bar, eon helibar, which appeared to be on top of a shopping centre. It was pretty neat! I had an espresso martini, it had been too long since the last... 

Food The food as I’ve said was something I was most excited about in Vietnam. Our first taste however was not so successful. On our first night we went to a street food market that was a little like shoreditch’s boxpark. We had a beef Pho and I’ve never been more disappointed in my life, but we recovered by disposing of the meatball soup and picking up a delicious pork steamed bun and some local Saigon beer. We met an American couple at the street food market who sat and chatted to us about some of their travels and gave us some top tips for when we visit Japan which was kinda cute. Anyway, the pho was a blow but I’ve got my fingers crossed for the rest of Vietnam to offer up the goods. Next stop: Hoi An, I think it’ll be a good one 🤞🏼 

#food #vietnam #travel #travelblog #city