Last February , i stepped on the airplane to go on a holiday together with my wifey @fernwehninja . I flew in from Amsterdam , with small layover in Abu Dhabi . And she flew in from Cebu , with a stopover in Kuala Lumpur.
She arrived at Ho Chi Minh airport an hour before me , and it took a lot longer , because i had to wait for my visa.
After this was taken care of , we were finally able to hold and hug each other again , after not seeing each other for 6 months.
A lovely moment i can tell you !
After arranging a cab , we went on to our hotel , which was located in District 1. Once we arrived at the hotel , we decided to have a small rest as we both had a long flight . I flew for over 16 hours , and she had an 8 hour flight.
After arranging hour luggage and get a little rest we decided to strawl the city , looking for the Benh Thanh market .
I night market we both read a lot about !
We were amazed by the energy this city offered to us ! There were scooters literally everywhere , and crossing the street was one big adventure ! As you can see in the next videos :)
After risking our lives a couple of time , we finally reached the Benh Thanh market. Now it was time for food !
I was craving for a few weeks already for the famous Vietnamese dish Pho Bo . After looking for a bit we found a good place and sat down to have some dinner , our first dinner together in 6 months :) A very special moment !
After this we decided to strawl back to the hotel , exploring a bit more and taking in the energy of the city while doing it. We both had long flights as mentioned before , so we went to bed early to make the best out of the next day.
After waking up , we went out to get some breakfast and coffee , and do some more exploring . We got some traditional Vietnamese coffee , and let me tell you ! It was the best coffee I've ever tasted . It was really strong and bitter at first , but with a nice sweet chocolaty after taste ! It was delicious , and i love the way how it was made.
We sat at a lovely place , a bit quite , away from busy streets , and it was amazing to see how the Vietnamese started of their mornings. We set at a place connect to our park , which was really peaceful.
One coffee further it was to do some more exploring of this amazing buzzing city , and we went out on a hunt for food. Since we are both food lovers :)
We heard a lot about the Lunch Lady , in Anthony Bourdains TV show , and also in some other travel blogs , from Mark Wiens and some other people. So we entered the data on google maps , and on we went :)
It was actually a very long walk , and the temperature was in the 30 degrees celsius. So it was quite a challenge for the both of us.
Finally after 1 hour of walking and dodging scooters , we found the famous Lunch lady !
She only serves one dish each day , so the ordering wasn't a hassle . We ordered here famous bowl of soup , together with some spring-rolls and some fried batter with shrimp in it.
The food was absolutely delicious , i can advice anyone visiting Ho Chi Minh city , to look for her when you have the chance !
After the food dropped in our stomach a bit , we walked back to the hotel , to make up our mind on what to do next. Scoring some fresh coconut along the way for some much needed energy after a very long walk.
Our decision was to book a half day tour at the Cu Chi tunnels for the next morning , at a tourist agency in front our hotel. A trip i will write an extra blog for !
On again to do some more exploring of the city ! Always walking , as we both like to do that :)
We typed in the Notre dame on google maps , and we started walking.
An half our later we reached the place and took some pictures .
I was very attracted by a big skyscraper which was hard to miss in the distance , and since i love to see night time skylines , we went on our way to the Bitexco tower. A beautiful skyscraper of 258 meter high counting 68 floors !
We bought tickets , for around 11 dollar , which is actually pretty expensive for Vietnamese standards , we got in the elevator , and went on the the 50th floor i think it was. Sadly , the skydeck had no open balcony. Which made it hard to make good pictures , since i couldn't use the flash because of the reflection in the windows.
It was time to fulfill another craving of me , the Banh Mi sandwhich . We walked another half hour to find the best Banh Mi in Saigon . I've seen the place on TV , and the waiting line told me i was up for something delicious !
It was amazing to see , how fast they were working . And the sandwich was absolutely amazing ! But after this we were still really hungry , cause of the long distances we walked , and the calories we burned.
It was time for food again ! We found a lovely rooftop bar which also served some lovely food , to give us some much needed energy after a long day
Time to get back to the hotel now , and get some well deserved rest. Since we booked a tour at the Cu Chi tunnels , the next day , we would be picked up at our hotel , early in the morning.
I will write a report about that trip later , because this report i getting a bit long now :)
I hope you all enjoyed reading about our experiences in Ho Chi Minh , and don't forget to upvote , resteem and follow if you enjoyed !
Thank you for reading and have a great day !
Nice post. Now you have a new follower!
Thank you very much for that ! Greatly appreciated !
Nice post, my family and I lived in Saigon for 3 years! Loved every piece of it. You surely know you are alive in Saigon! One thing to note is Hanoi is capital of Vietnam, though Ho Chi Minh City is where all the energy is! I love travelling and have lived in many countries, feel free find my introduction post here or follow me @mbrownvn
You are totally right , will edit it ! Thanks for the info hehe :)
Very informative. Thanks Rowdy! Upvoted & Resteemed.