Saturday 29th October 2022
There are a lot of sights in the central district 1 of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) so we thought we’d do our own little self guided walking tour. On the way to our first stop, we passed by what looked like a farmers market, right by the central market, so we thought we’d have a wander through it. Outside of the central market we’re several groups of kids, practicing various dance routines. This seems to be a common thing in public spaces in Vietnam, and is quite interesting to see.
Our first stop on our walk was the The Ho Chi Minh City Hall or People’s Committee Building. It’s a very grand looking old French colonial building, in front of which is a big statue of Ho Chi Minh and the Nguyen Hue Music Fountain. I believe at night there’s some kind of sound and lighting coming over the fountain, but it still looked pretty nice in the daytime.
The fountain is at the top of Nguyen Hue Walking Street. Again, due the name, I was expecting a pedestrianised street but there was actually a fair bit a traffic. There was a wide boulevard in between the two lanes of traffic, so I guess maybe this is where you’re expected to walk?
At this point Pete spotted a promising looking ice cream fridge. It did indeed have his beloved banana, and even a new variety – result! I went for a Häagen-Dazs green tea and almond, very tasty but a little overpriced.
Next we went to the Saigon Opera House (also known as the Municipal Theatre of Ho Chi Minh City), which was just off the Nguyen Hue Walking Street. It’s another impressive looking French colonial building.
As we continued our walk, we got another view of the People’s Committee Building, this time from a different angle.
Our next stop was the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica of Saigon, which (as you may have guessed) was established by the French. I already knew that the cathedral was temporarily closed and we wouldn’t be able to go inside, but was disappointed to find it also surrounded by scaffolding. Apparently it’s undergoing restoration.
The Saigon Central Post Office is just across the road, and unlike the cathedral was fortunately open to visitors. It’s beautiful both inside and out. The inside is now used by tour guide companies selling tickets, and also has a few souvenir shops.
Just down the road from the post office is Ho Chi Minh City Book Street. No vehicles are allowed down this road and it’s so quiet and peaceful, a proper oasis away from the bustling city. As well as book stores, there are a lot of little cafés, it’s a lovely place to relax with a drink.
From here, it was a 20 minute walk to our next sight, the Jade Emperor Pagoda, an ancient Taoist temple with some colourful Chinese architecture. This was the only place we’ve been to in Vietnam (so far) where mask wearing was compulsory. Luckily I’d been carrying mine around with me in my rucksack, and the guy at the gate took pity on Pete and offered him one to take for free.
The Pagoda itself was huge, and impressive to walk around. Outside was also a pond area with some huge catfish.
About a 5 minute walk from the The Jade Emperor Pagoda, we came across another temple by chance, the Tran Hung Dao Holy Temple, so decided to have a look inside. It was much smaller, but also much more quiet and peaceful than the Jade Emperor Pagoda. The inside was adorned with a lot of gold of red, as well as some big statues of horses. It was definitely worth a look inside.
Our final stop on our walking tour was the Tan Dinh Church, an extremely pink Catholic Church built during the French colonial period. Unfortunately we weren’t allowed inside, but it was still worth seeing the exterior.
We had a bit of time to kill before our scooter street food tour, which we’d booked for this evening, so found a bar to relax with a couple of beers. We decided to get a snack too, as hadn’t eaten all day and ordered some fried prawns with shallots and fried pork sauce. It wasn’t at all what we were expecting and was a bit disappointing. The “sauce” was actually just deep fried shallots and pork fat / pork floss, and the prawns had been deep fried in their shells (this seems to be quite common in Vietnam though)
We’d booked a group tour, but there ended up being just the two of us. Our guides were Logan and Dan, both very friendly and with an excellent grasp of English. I’ve never ridden on a scooter or motorcycle before, so was slightly nervous as we set off for the first stop, but was soon put at ease on the back of Dan’s scooter – I think they deliberately started off very slowly and carefully!
Our first stop was Bún Bò Xưa, a little noodle shop that only sells beef noodles. The meat was on the bone, but was so soft and tender it was literally falling off, and the broth was rich and fragrant. A good start to the tour!
Just along the road from Bún Bò Xưa is the Thuc Quảng Đức Monument. Logan explained to us the history behind it. Thuc Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese monk who became famous when he set himself on fire to protest the persecution of Buddhists by the government. Malcolm Brown took a picture of him, alight with flames but remaining in a calm state of meditation, and this photo grabbed the attention of the worlds media and led to government reforms.
We then continued to our next food stop, this time our beloved Bahn mi. It was a little food cart called Ong Ba Co, just opposite the Lam hotel, which did amazing Bahn Mi. It was probably on a tie with the incredibly busy grilled pork Bahn Mi, which was the best we’d had in Vietnam so far.
I shared half a Bahn Mi with Logan, as Pete wanted a whole one for himself (we had the option of half or full on the tour).
Next we went to Chợ đêm Hồ Thị Kỷ, a night flower market, with neighbouring street food stalls. It was very atmospheric and fragrant wandering through the market and admiring all the brightly coloured flowers.
We stopped for a drink in one of the neighbouring street food market stalls – sugar cane juice with kumquat. We’d already tried sugar cane juice in Can Tho, but that was with orange, so this made a pleasant change. As expected it’s extremely sweet, I’m more of a savoury person so wouldn’t order it again but am glad I gave it a go.
As we were chatting to Logan and Dan, Pete mentioned we’d tried “Vietnamese pizza” in Can Tho and weren’t massive fans. Unbeknown to us, that was actually meant to be the next stop on the tour but as it was just the two of us, Logan very kindly suggested we swap it out for coconut ice cream.
It was great ice cream, with strips of coconut flesh running through it. I was less convinced by the green avocado sauce at the bottom, but it was certainly interesting to try.
Just across the road was a fresh spring roll stall. I think this was the least favourite dish for both myself and Pete. The texture was just a little too slimy (I prefer the crispy fried spring rolls) and the flavour was also bland. While we eating these, Dan went to a stall nearby and bought back some crispy rice paper based snack things, one had banana chips in and the other was coconut flavoured. Again, these were interesting to try but not things I’d rush to buy again.
It was then back to the scooters and a short drive to Bánh Xèo Ngọc Sơn, a restaurant that specialises in pancakes filled with prawns and pork. We watched them make the pancakes at the front of the shop. They seemed to be throwing the prawns in whole, with their shells on, so we were a little surprised to find peeled prawns in ours – perhaps Logan had asked them to do this especially for the Western tourists. Logan showed us how to eat the pancakes – you wrap them in lettuce and various other foliage before dipping in the fish sauce based dip. I actually preferred the pancakes just on their own with the dip (Logan assured me this was also a perfectly respectable way to enjoy them) – after all, you don’t win friends with salad!
Our final savoury stop was for Bahn Bot Chien, washed down by a nice cold beer. I preferred the version we’d had from the street food market in Can Tho, although I must admit I was struggling a bit by this point, which may have affected my enjoyment – by this point we’d had a lot of food!
It was finally time for dessert, a Vietnamese flan type thing at Thế Giới Tàu Hũ. The cafe was so busy, we ended up sitting outside on the balcony. It was quite nice overlooking the street below. I was so full at this point, I could only manage a couple of spoonfuls, but Pete heroically finished it off for me.
We travelled back to our hostel on the back of the scooters and slept very well after all that food!
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 