Things to do in Ho Chi Minh City -part 1

This is our first time in Vietnam and we pretty much are prepared on what to do and where to go. We'd like to thank our friend, Mel, who gave us tips for our journey as she and her friends also did the trip a year before.

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly called Saigon, is the most populated city in Vietnam. We only stayed for a couple of days but we did quite a lot of things. Let's start of with part 1.

1. Taste Vietnam Coffee and Baguette

We decided to  have breakfast in the place where we also purchased our tour booking. While waiting for our pick up, Wincee ordered Hot Vietnamese White Coffee. The white thing at the bottom of the glass is condensed milk and the dark substance on top of it is coffee from the filter above it. It continuously drips on the glass until you pull it away. Fill the glass with hot water from the flask beside it. Stir and welcome the sweet tasting coffee.

Not a fan of hot coffee, I ordered the Iced Vietnamese White coffee which did not disappoint me. I am not a coffee lover but when I tasted it, I could not get enough of its flavor and fullness. Along with our drinks, we ordered a baguette. It's pretty famous as I observed from people on the streets bringing a piece or two.

I was contemplating what size of baguette I wanted to eat and even insisted not to share with Wincee. There were a lot of baguette sandwich varieties on the menu. Finally chose Ham and Cheese and ended up eating only half a piece of this 1/4 meter Baguette Sandwhich.

The baguette section of the menu book. I'd say book because there were literally pages and pages of food options.

By the way, the place where we bought our tour booking and where we had breakfast was Albatross Travel. In this tourist filled district, the restaurants had most of their tables and chairs facing the streets. This was our street view while eating. Our breakfast cost us a total of 80,000VND (around 4 USD)

2. Visit Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels

We booked a whole day tour for Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chi Tunnels which cost each of us 110,000 VND (7 USD). Cu Chi Tunnel has a separate entrance fee of 5 USD. By the way, this tour did not include lunch. We were taken to a local restaurant to eat  halfway through the trip. 

First of our tour was Cao Dai Temple. Cao Dai is a fusion of the teachings of Taoism, Buddhism and Confuscianism with elements of Christianity and Islam which was founded in the 1920s. They have many temples but the grandest one was what we visited. It is said that the structure of this temple is part pagoda, part Cathedral and part Mosque- representing the ideology behind the religion. The bus ride to the temple was about 2 hours.

Before going into the temple, we had to remove our shoes. Services are held 4 times a day. We arrived just before the 12nn service started. We were allowed to watch their service from the balcony where the gongs are and their choir was chanting their hymn.

Explore Cu Chi Tunnels

Cu Chi Tunnels was the next site for the trip. It took another 2 hours to get there.

The tunnels are very extensive that it reached as far as the neighboring country, Cambodia. These are underground passages built by Viet Congs in their fight against American soldiers. After purchasing the entrance ticket, we were led to a hut for a short film depicting why and how the Vietnamese made these tunnels. 

This glassed representation shows how vast the tunnel is. It even reaches up to 3 floors below the ground. Rooms such as dormitories, weapons room and sleeping quarters are outlined. The Vietnamese even dug a part where they can escape to the river.

A section of the cave is open for tourists and we tried this for ourselves. This is Wincee excited to go in towards "first floor".

I didn't know that I have claustrophobic tendencies until I crawled into one of the tunnels. It was dark (read: scary) and damp inside but it was worth to try and wiggle through it. This was me going towards "second floor".

My view while crawling inside.

We were also shown how the Vietnamese soldiers were able to fight the Americans with their tricky weapons. Most of them were hidden on the ground with grasses on top that slid out and expose enemies to sharp blades tearing their body parts away.

Our guide is showing the traps and different types of sharps and blades inside the traps made by the soldiers.

There is also a part where tourists can try and fire a variety of automatic weapons for an additional fee. We didn't try this because we didn't feel like it. Our tour ended at around 5pm when we arrived back to the city.

3. Visit their Market

Usual merchandise like Vietnam shirts, and souvenir items are sold here. A lot of bags and batik pajamas can be found too. We bought ref magnets for our friends back at home. A dozen ref magnets were offered at 120,000VND at first. Thinking that we could get a much better offer out there, the vendor lowered the price to 80,000VND and finally 60,000VND (3 USD) to which we agreed.

The skill of friendly haggling is put to the test here in addition to the competition of the vendors to sell their things. Wincee got a wooden Vietnam lady carving for 30,000VND (1.5USD) from the original price of 60,000VND. The sad part is that, these vendors are quite aggressive. Wincee again, out of curiousity, asked for the price of a batik pajama but because it was too expensive, she decided not to purchase it. The lady even haggled to lessen the price but we were already on the way out. Rudely, she pinched Wincee's arm telling her that if she asks for the price of a merchandise, she must buy it after. Really? We just hurriedly walked away from her, stunned and confused as to why she said so.

4. Feel the vibe of the tourist area in District 1

Walking back from Benh Than Market, we found a lot of people sitting on chairs facing the street. There were many beer promotions advertised and people were either eating, drinking or talking but nevertheless having a good time.

On our self made itinerary, we had an allotted time and budget for evening fun (translation: hang out). We planned to chill out at one of the famous bars near our guesthouse which was named Red Buffalo. A lot of people were having a good time there since the place is right in the intersection. Unfortunately we had a long day from our tour so we cancelled this plan. Anyways we planned to roam around town the next day, so we had to be prepared.

Thank you for your time. Next up will be part 2 :)