Vietnam Trip

Saigon Trip July 18 to 22, 2008

I am about to cross the street and soon as I reached the middle of the road, the light changes color. All of a sudden, packs and packs of scooters, motorcycles, their two stroke engines humming and purring like chainsaws about to cut me down, smoke belching from their exhaust pipes like fumes from a dragon’s nose are quickly inching their way towards me,  and a couple of old ladies on bicycles wearing pointed straw hats start zooming in towards me. I panic and freeze in fear. I experience a flash back and suddenly I’m back at grad school and I’m being torn apart by my business statistics professor for a tardy case study. “My dog ate my case study. I swear” I said out loud in protest. “Not good enough Mr. Bendijo. You have to take the class again” she replied.  “What! No. I can’t go thru that again. Please” I wailed begging for sympathy. The flash back fades and I’m back at the middle of the street  in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), dodging scooters and bikes. Thank God it was just a dream. I’d take getting bumped by a scooter than take business statistics all over again.  Pardon the creative exaggeration. It’s really not that bad but its one of the things you’ll notice right away in Vietnam. There’s probably a million scooters in Ho Chi Minh City alone and rush hour is quite a sight to behold. And crossing the street is an adventure in itself.

July 18 to 22

Our friend Jennie who has been assigned to Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh) invited us to visit. After sitting on the fence about the trip (I’m usually indecisive about vacations) we were finally able to schedule the trip.  It also helped that Cebu Pacific had a promo, Php 888 to Ho Chi Minh . (not inclusive of other charges) Our flight left Manila at 11PM Manila, and took a little over two hours. We arrived in Saigon at half past midnight. (Ho Chi Minh is an hour behind Manila)  The flight was uneventful. Seats and leg room was quite cramped compared to what we’re normally used to. And no snacks were served on the two hour flight. No major drag really. At least the flight left on time and arrived in Tan Son Nhat ten minutes ahead of schedule. The airport is quite new, very clean and processing was extremely fast. I guess it helped that we arrived at 12 midnight too. I have to say that Tan Son Nhat puts NAIA to shame. And that’s a totally different blog entry itself.   

 

Ho Chi Minh is  a treasure trove of fabrics and fine linen, hand made wallets and bags, fabrics, woodcrafts among other things. All within walking distance. You could take a cab but Ho Chi Minh is better explored on foot.  You just need to watch out for the scooters though. It’s a bit like the wild wild west with these two wheelers on the streets.  The tip we were told is never to step back. Either you stop or go forward and have them avoid you when you cross the street. A bit counter intuitive specially when you’re used to the crazy jeepney drivers in Manila,  and took some getting used to but we eventually got the hang of it.  

 

Food

We fell in love with the food. My wife and I are already big fans of Vietnamese cuisine. We love eating at Pho Ah on the weekends.  Our first lunch was at Wrap and Roll. Interesting concept.  They serve wraps, similar to spring rolls   but not deep fried and with lots and lots of  vegetables, herbs and spices . You also have the option to order and make your own rolls. You make a wrap with a very thin piece of rice paper, you place the leaves and bean sprouts, marinated grilled pork, and a crab/shrimp meat mix which is just to die for, and dipped in a sweet and sour sauce. I recall having three different types of sauces to dip and enjoy the little roll of heaven. You can really see the emphasis of using fresh vegetables on Vietnamese dishes. It’s like a very healthy burrito without the ground meat and the gas.   We also had Banh xeo (I hope I spelled that accurately) which is like a really thin crepe with shrimp and pork stuffing.

Bunta is another restaurant we enjoyed immensely. I think we went there twice. We had a bowl of rice vermicelli,  rice noodles, vegetables, mint and herbs and marinated pork that was simply delicious. Bunta is definitely a must go for anyone visiting Ho Chi Minh.

Trung Nguyen Coffee

We also developed an addiction to Vietnamese Iced coffee. In between shopping sorties to Behn Than market and Saigon square, we’d have coffee at Trung Ngyuyen Cofee, the Vietnamese equivalent of Starbucks (yes, there’s almost always one around the corner), and we’d have café sua da which is a unique Vietnamese coffee experience which involves mixing black coffee with sweetened condensed milk and then pouring the mixture into a tall glass with ice. It is served with condensed milk in a cup, on top of which is a silver coffee drip filter where the coffee ground is placed with hot water and it drips slowly into the cup. Normally takes about five minutes or so for the coffee to drip completely.  There are other coffee variants but café sua da is our favorite. We liked it so much we bought coffee grounds and drip filters so we can make our own café sua da at home.

Lemon Soda

Another thing we enjoyed was lemon soda. It is made with soda water (schweepee’s and the likes), squeeze in lime and add white sugar or syrup to sweeten. Tastes like 7 Up only better. Can’t explain it. It just is.

Shopping and Bargain Hunting

The main attraction for us to go to Vietnam is the shopping. My wife had a blast. Shops are all over and pretty much all are in walking distance from where we were staying. Behn Than market is just a couple of blocks away.  Good deals on fruits, delicacies, fabrics, handicrafts, vegetables, herbs and spices (staple part of Vietnamese cuisine) can be had.  There are plenty of shops in the proximity. I got a very good deal on North Face and Columbia jackets. Practically a third of the retail price of what you’d normally find in Manila Malls.  Are they the real McCoys? Let me just say that I walked out of that shop with a big plastic bag and a wide smile on my face.

War Remnants Museum

On our last day we visited the war remnants museum. Various displays of Vietnam era tanks and planes were displayed in the grounds.  Walls and walls of photographs of the conflict were on the walls also. They also reconstructed a mock up of the jails and torture instruments used during the period. A guillotine used during the French occupation of the country is showcased as well. Really an eye opening visit for us.

Unfortunately we were there for only three days which is not enough time to really take in the sites of Vietnam.  But a train ride to Hanoi in the northern part of the country is definitely on the itinerary on our next trip back.  As well as a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels.