I just spent 2 days in Saigon with a friend of mine and I have mixed feelings about this city and culture. This was definitely something cool, not beautiful though. I spent a day in the city- Ho Chi Minh (old school name – Saigon), sightseeing, eating, and taking pics. Since the city isn’t full of attractions and places to see, for the next day we decided to buy one day trip on the Mekong river cruise. The prices of the same trip were different in every travel agency so we spent one evening to check them out and make a wise decision. We discovered that the only difference between them is the size and choice of lunch. The trip is definitely a must do in Vietnam. Although everything is very touristy and not well organised it is a very convenient way see the Mekong river and imagine their daily life.
After this trip – 1 day in the city and one day on this river trip I will share below 8 things that from now are very characteristic for me about Vietnam.
1. Motorbikes and… beeeeep!
Motorbikes are everywhere and they take half of the roads (not the small part of it as everywhere), they drive on the sidewalk, streets, against the stream and make “beep” every single second ! Basically it’s a very characteristic sound of the city and you can hear it even during the night. It comes from motorbikes, cars, buses and everything that goes on the streets. Easy to get used to though.
2. Robbery
Fortunately I haven’t been robbed in Vietnam, nor my friend, but we have got warned plenty of times that we need to be careful with our phones, bags and wallets! We met some people that experienced those incidents on their own and even local people were asking us to hide our phones and be extra careful while taking pics, because motorbikes tend to snatch the phones from tourists’ hands! While taking pics I was holding my phone with two hands and kept my bag very close to my body.
3. Small chairs
This was a very funny part that we could see in every restaurant, bar, pub and just on the streets! Plastic chairs are mini size and look like furnitures for children! People sit on them taking rest on the street, but they put them also to the restos so you can experience this “luxury”.
4. Cheap alcohol!
That’s my favourite thing about Vietnam especially after Malaysia, beer in bar for less than 1 $ make an amazing impression! Drinks are more expensive than beer, very light and usually full of ants ! That’s why after our discovery we sticked to clean, fresh opened beers in cans or bottles. You can have local red or green “Saigon” beer or “Tiger” at the same price. I am not a whizz at beers, so for me both were ok and quenches thirst perfectly. Bars are usually very local (hard to find fancy places in Saigon) and most of them are located in Backpackers Street.
5. Mess and lovely chaos
This city is really, really dirty. Drones are full of rubbish, the backpackers street is very chaotic and litter lies everywhere. But it has kind of atmosphere that makes this city wild and real.
6. So touristy
This part was very surprising for me! I thought Vietnam is still fresh and tourist- resistant, but a lot of places show you the prices in dollars (they have their own currency – Vietnamese Dong), they grab your hands to convince you to come to their bar, they speak ok english and try to sell you everything (from tissues, to lotus seeds, very cheap cigarettes to… marihuana!). They seem to be annoyed by tourists, but don’t try to trick you, although they ask for tips for everything.
7. Cheap manicure
You can find manicure, pedicure from 2 dollars ! They make it everywhere, in small art galleries or just the beauty salon. I can’t say the quality is very high but for this price is definitely worth to try! I paid for mani and pedi with OPI products 7 dollars and for foot massage 4 dollars.
8. Amazing food
I can say that I love Vietnamese food ! I haven’t tried much, because I spent only 48 hours there but spring rolls, fish and baguettes (thanks to the French!) are amazing ! So light, fresh and yummy ! Food isn’t spicy, which is quite surprising in Asia and it’s very cheap ! There are lots of veggies, tofu but also many meat dishes like turtles and crocodile. I tried the last one and it tastes like chewy chicken. I also love fruits and fruit shakes there. They are very juicy, sweet and natural, because they don’t add sugar for everything unlike Thailand. If I could stay there few days more, I would definitely devote this time for eating!
I am glad I used one of my last free weekends ( before launching my billion dollar application :D) to go to Vietnam! It is definitely worth to go there and experience it on my own but I am not sure about going back there. If I will, I will discover Hanoi next time!
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