The Heat Is On in Saigon
One Week in Uncle Ho’s Socialist Paradise

BEFORE LEAVING, YOU have the option of perusing the guidebooks or clicking around the Wikipedia entry for Ho Chi Minh, known to locals as HCMC or simply Saigon.
        Why Saigon? Two words can sum this up: Banh mi. Banh, meaning ‘flour-based product,’ is derived from the French word for bread, pain (pronounced ‘pan,’ not ‘pain’ as in ‘gain’). It becomes Banh mi with the addition of a number of fillings, including grilled or fried meat, cheese, Vietnamese pate, mayonnaise, vegetables, and a generous helping of other sides. Sold in booths on street corners for the equivalent of $1.50 (U.S.), it is a prayer answeredfor the budget traveller or the penny-pinching tourist, aside from tasting heavenly.
        Saigon is a haven for anyone who loves food. There’s pho or rice noodle soup being ladled out of gigantic vats that just seem to sprout out of the sidewalks. Little old ladies on bikes peddle ca phe or dark espresso with an entire can of condensed milk, a drink designed to make your head fly off your neck — on virtually every corner. To cap this all off, there’s an endless amount of dessert options and outdoor  dampa style establishments.
        If hawker stalls aren’t your thing, you can experience authentic Vietnamese cooking at the practical level with cooking classes at Hoa Tuc. Here, a famous chef will walk you through the region’s cuisine which perfectly integrates the city’s colonial past with its oriental present. This is, after all, the city that No Reservations host Anthony Bourdain liked so much, he had to visit it twice.

Arrival
From the airport, expect to spend a little over 200,000 VND (Viet Nam Dong or about $10 U.S. dollars) to get to District 1, where you will find Ben Thanh Market – that infamous source of everything cheap, from shoes, counterfeit designer bags, to overruns from the many American firms which had moved their operations to Vietnam. The bustling block is home to rows and rows of stalls selling clothes, souvenirs, local food, coffee, tea, and jewelry, with an atmosphere similar to that of the Greenhills tiangge. Here, shopkeepers aggressively fight for your attention — and your money. Take note that certain areas of the market are devoted to fixed price stalls, while other areas are friendlier to those looking to haggle.
But if you really want low prices, the best place to go would be the Cholon market in District 5, where you can score rare finds at Divisoria rates. This is, after all, the district that Saigoners consider Chinatown.
        Along the perimeter of Ben Thanh are a handful of respectable accommodations,  including the A and Em chain of hotels, which has about four different branches along the stretch between Ly Tu Trong and Le Thanh Tonh. For less than $50 a night — with free breakfast!  — this part of Ho Chi Minh cuts a sweet deal. This is clearest in location, as District 1 is also where you will find the Opera House, the City Hall with its gardens
and Champs Elysees-esque boulevards, the Post Office, and Notre Dame Cathedral; all of which are relics of the city’s French Colonial past. It is also in this neighborhood where you can find shopping centers like Vincom Center along the elegant Dong Khoi Avenue (which is a hotbed for the city’s expat community), and Diamond Plaza across Notre Dame, both of which offer upscale alternatives to the bargains found at Ben Thanh.
        For five-star treatment in this Socialist Paradise, there are alternatives to the hotels surrounding Ben Thanh. Along Dong Khoi Avenue, right by the Opera House, you will find the Park Hyatt along Lam Son Square, which offers majestic views of the most beautiful parts of the city. Near this is the historic Hotel Caravelle, which served as a second home to journalists dispatched to Vietnam in the ‘60s, and from where they could even observe
the frontlines of the war without having to leave their barstools. If it’s the city’s history and culture you’re looking to soak up, the Museum of Fine Art, the War Remnants Museum, and the Museum of Vietnamese History are all neatly arranged within a radius of no fewer than a few blocks from Notre Dame cathedral.
        If you’re on a tighter budget (and lucky enough to possess a stronger stomach), you may opt out of the high life of District 1, and Lam Son Square in particular, and head to the infamous backpackers’ district along Bui Vien and Pham Ngu Lao streets. This is where one may get cheap beer, cheap eats, and cheap beds at $6 to $8 a night. Just make sure to bring a padlock with which to secure your belongings while you’re out on the town. And maybe a pair of earplugs, in case you end up with roommates who nore, because at this kind of price, you’d be really lucky to have a room all to yourself.

On the Road
If you really wanted to, you could see all of HCMC in one weekend, with the motorbike, known to Saigoners as xe ôm, or ‘hug vehicle,’ the cheapest (and arguably the best) wheels for getting around Saigon.
        If the idea of touching another human being gives you the chills, then there’s always the option of getting around by taxi (which is the only option on your way to the airport, as motorbikes are banned on some major thoroughfares). Most guidebooks, though, warn that Mai Linh and Vinasun are the only cab companies licensed to operate within Saigon.
        Much of District 1 though is easily accessible on foot, as the city’s charming boulevards do a great job of making space for leisurely strolls and aimless wandering — that is until you decide to cross the street. Saigon is also notorious for its droves of motorcyclists, mercilessly cutting their way through intersections and weaving around frazzled pedestrians. Thankfully, there are officials assigned to help tourists with croszsing — at the expense of your ego.

Final Boarding Call
What trip to Vietnam would be complete without venturing outside of the city? For this, you may easily book trips to the Cu Chi tunnels (the 121-kilometer long network of underground trenches used by Viet Cong guerrillas to win the war) for half-a-day’s worth of fighting a hard battle –against claustrophobia. And if that’s not your thing, there are day trips to the Mekong Delta, for some serious river-based R and R.
        A closer riverside alternative would be to hop in a cab over to District 2, where you will finda charming restaurant called The Deck, HCMC’s only restaurant that offers al fresco fine dining by the Saigon River. Famous for its sunset cocktails, this would be the perfect spot to wind down, and reconfigure your system
just in time to catch the next flight.
        Until the next adventure! - Alice Sarmiento

 

Other Reasons To Visit Vietnam

Halong Bay. Proclaimed a World Heritage Site by UNESCO (above), the limestone karsts-peppered bay is a popular travel destination located in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam. Aside from limestone karsts, the bay also features isles in various sizes and shapes. It was also named as one of the New 7 Wonders of Nature by the New 7 Wonders foundation along with the Amazon’s Rainforest, Argentina’s Iguazu Falls, our very own Puerto Princesa Underground River, South Korea’s Jeju Island, Indonesia’s Komodo, and South Africa’s Table Mountain.

Hanoi. Vietnam’s capital was named Hanoi (The City in a Bend of the River) by Emperor Tu Duc in 1831. From 1902 to 1953, Hanoi served as the capital of French Indochina. Asia’s dragon is a picturesque city that still holds Parisian moments from the smell of baguettes and café au lait. Discover the mansion-lined boulevard of Old Quarter and take photos by the One Pillar Pagoda and Temple of Literature (Vietnam’s first University).

Spa. Vietnam offers several of the world’s best spas and centuries-old massage techniques such as a hot stone massage on a private beach, hydrotherapy, mud masks, and facials. One of your best bets for treatments are the spa resorts along Hue, the fabled China Beach – Danang, old port city of Hoi An, and the beach town of Nha Trang. The Vedana Lagoon Resort and Spa offers signature therapies that are sourced fresh from its own herb gardens. The French Colonial Furama Resort integrates organic Vietnamese and Western products into its signature massage and beauty treatments. The Nam Hai offers Ayurveda-based treatments aside from standard massages. The Evason Ana Mandara and Six Senses Spa on Nin Vanh Bay in Nha Trang tops the list for luxe treatments complete with treatment rooms and Jacuzzis. For affordable luxury, Life Wellness Resort Quy Nhon’s (as shown) has the 15-minute detox Dry Sand and Salt Sauna Therapy. For $10, get buried up to your neck in warm sand and sea salt to improve circulation.

Handicrafts. Vietnam has kept a rich tradition of handicrafts which are world-renowned for excellent handiwork and rich cultural characteristics and diversified designs. Traditional artisanal products include earthenware and ceramics from Bat Trang village, prized Ha Dong silk woven from mulberry-fed silkworms from Van Phuc village, and embroidery from La Dat village (above), among others.

Food. When in Vietnam, never leave without trying its baguette sandwich, banh mi, which consists of cold cuts, pate, mayo, cucumber spears, and pickled veggies hawked on the streets via carts. Another must-try when in Vietnam is the pho or noodle soup which comes in two variants, the pho bo (beef) and pho ga (chicken), and is seasoned with hoi sin sauce and nuoc mum (fish sauce). And there’s the pho bo dac biet or pho ‘special’ which gets you beef tendon, beef flank, and beef tripe. Aside from these, must-tries are the street snack banh xeo which means ‘sound of sizzling crepe.’ This crepe is filled with rolled-up leaf of lettuce and dipped in lime-scented sauce, Vietnamese coffee, and its many veggie and meat wraps and rolls.