Vietnam's largest city is named after the key political figure of the People's Army of Vietnam and the Việt Cộng during the Vietnam War. North Vietnam was victorious and was reunified with the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) in 1976. Saigon, the former capital of South Vietnam, was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in his honor. We stayed in District One at the Joviale Hotel for £22 per night with breakfast included. The location of the hotel was fantastic with many food markets nearby. On the rooftop, there is a pool that has a 360 degrees view of the city from 15 floors high. The breakfast buffet is pretty standard and opens at a reasonable time.
We planned a day trip to the Mekong Delta with Vietnam Adventure Tours. Our energetic guide called Alex talked briefly about the history of Saigon and his struggles growing up in the communist country at the time. His family of four were only allowed 10kg of rice per month with no other source of food. Restrictions were placed on people’s movements and you were definitely not allowed to question the communist party. In his history classes at university, his professor had to downgrade his work and warned him not to be political with his views or the party officials would throw him in jail. As you can imagine, it's not the easiest of upbringings.
He then, to my surprise, started talking about Bill Clinton and how he saved the country. When thePresident visited in 2000, he met with Le Kha Phieu, the communist party Secretary-General at the time. On the short visit, Clinton outlined how the USA could help with trade and building the infrastructure of the country. In return, Clinton stated he wanted free trade in the country and betweenVietnamese people, a democratic system, and most importantly, the next leader of the country to be from the south. The Americans believed the people in South Vietnam were more entrepreneurial compared to their northern counterparts who were more politically focused. At the end of the visit, the Secretary-General agreed to those terms and a new era for the country began.
The Mekong Delta was quite dirty with low levels of visibility. Stilted huts lined the banks with many fishing boats parading up and down the river. We visited a sweet factory that produced popcorn and other types of nutty treats. We got to see the processes the corn went through before being heated into what you and I would recognise as popcorn. It was a really interesting experience to see how the raw produce is turned into the end product.
We stopped for lunch where a cooking class was prepared for us. We used pre-cooked ingredients to make parcels containing vegetables and pork that were then fried and served along with a table full of other dishes. We then had 30 minutes to kayak on the river. The water had loads of plastic bottles and packaging floating on the surface, I was really keen not to topple the kayak. We then went mountain biking on a small track that went around an orchard growing dragon fruit and other tropical seeds. The bike only had one working gear, so I had to spin my legs like Chris Froome on a Tour De France mountain stage. The day itself lasted around 9 hours and gave a small insight into the community that live and work the land on the Delta. It wasn’t glamorous, but for the price, I would recommend it if you have limited time.
The food in Ho Chi Minh was some of the best I have tried so far. Near our hotel, Ben Thanh StreetFood Market has many stalls selling cuisines from around the World. We tried an Indian dish with naan bread that was over a foot long and chicken/ vegetarian burgers from a Chinese stall made with steamed buns. We could have stayed for 3 weeks and not tried all the food stalls. As a treat, we ate at a rooftop restaurant called Chanh Rooftop Bistro. The views looking down on Ly Tu Trong street were fantastic and I tried the duck dish for £6. Not bad for fine dining on a rooftop terrace. We also had Moroccan and Japanese food in surrounding restaurants each night for a really good price too. Most places don’t include the service charge and VAT on the menu pricing, so watch out for that.
For our only day exploring the city, we started at The Independence Palace. This was the home and workplace of the South Vietnam leader and contains underground bunkers that you can see on a guided tour. We didn’t have the time so we just took a few photos from the outside. We walked on to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon. The European style Catholic Church was built with French brick in the 1880’s. It looks very dramatic against the backdrop of modern glass buildings in the city.
As you walk past the French architecture of the City Hall and down the walkway where the Ho Chi Minh statue stands, there is a place called Apartment 42. This quirky building is a cluster of apartments with different cafes taking up each unit. From the outside, it looks very colourful and very distinguished from the surrounding area. At the bottom of the walkway, there is a wooden boat with three sails called the Elisa Floating Restaurant. It’s worth taking a look at the old fashioned structure even if you don’t want to eat inside.
On our last day, we walked to Hà Thờ Tân Định (The Pink Church). The Catholic church is the second largest in the city and was built in the 1870s. Although it was shut for renovations, it was worth the walk to see the fun exterior. That was the last sight we saw in the city before catching a flight to Cambodia.
