Saigon: Socialist Republic of Vietnam #1

It was in the fall of 2019, that we decided to visit this "S" shaped, long narrow nation in Southeast Asia. It was one of the two countries, the second being the temple town of the world, Cambodia, on our touring agenda for those 10 days.

And as always, the trip to Vietnam began with some snacks at the Kempegowda International Airport at Bengaluru. We had planned to go to Saigon and Hanoi, the two big cities of Vietnam, and at the opposite ends of this long country.

Saigon is a city of 13 million people, and is the most populous city in Vietnam. When North Vietnam won the war, Saigon was named Ho Chi Minh after the communist leader and prime minister, who led them to victory. Now it looks like Vietnam is as capitalist as any other country. Another realization was that the Sarjapur Road way of "crossing the road" was to be maintained, as traffic was almost as bad. Nobody cared about the pedestrian crossing here as well. Welcome to Vietnam, my friends!

Route: Bangalore - Kuala Lumpur - Ho Chi Minh

Airline: Air Asia

Travel Time: 11hrs including 4hrs layover at Kuala Lumpur

Stay: Steve’s apartment, Icon 56 building - 3nights

4hr Layover at KL was made easier, thanks to the Air Asia lounge. Not great, but decent enough for people to take a quick nap. We landed in Saigon at a very good time, but unfortunately the visa fee payment and immigration took a couple of hours.

The first thing you notice when you enter Saigon is the sheer number of two wheelers. Cars are apparently heavily taxed and only the rich can afford them. But then when in Vietnam, you always Grab a Grab. Grab - the green helmet guys give you a ride, and can bring you food like Swiggy does in India (slightly different business model though)

Woke up at 7pm, and decided to walk to Ho Chi Minh square and the Nguyen walking street. That meant crossing the pedestrian bridge converted from the road bridge designed by Gustave Eiffel’s company. Yes, the same Eiffel Tower - Gustave. The bridge now only smelled of pee. Some friends, few couples and many homeless guys sat there enjoying their food or just killing time. And believe me, when I say we saw rats running past all the garbage on that bridge. Not that it dampened our spirits, this is just FYI. Maybe we were visiting the bridge a little too late in the day.

There is nothing better than a super awesome bubble tea to start our exploration. While we order, Shanaya hangs out with the locals next door. and then we all try our hand at winning some toys in the gaming salon. Well, not much luck. The game is rigged. We bought a floppy rat from this old lady. She was so sweet, that when we came back with an almost dead rat, she gave Shanaya a brand new one, and kind of taught her how to take better care of it. Behind us on this walking street was the Times Square mini look alike, also called the Times square (wink, wink)

The rat was a hit. So, we ended up buying a snake also. It was a weekday so not many people were around. But still reasonable hustle and bustle at this square.

And then an “all of us” photo - thanks to the guys sitting outside the gaming salon

The Opera House: We walked past the Ho Chi Minh square and reached the Opera House. It looked beautiful in the night light, and seemed to be a favorite hangout spot of local Vietnamese people. Although the staircase was packed with people during night time, in the day time, it stood there all by itself.

There was a bamboo circus that was to happen there, and just then, the truck started to unload their bamboo props. We wished we had time to watch the show. For now, we had to make do with watching the preparation.

Had a meal at Ngoc Chou Garden Cafe, just because the lady outside was extra nice to explain the full menu to us, and it had excellent ratings. It was our first meal here. The 4 tablets that grew to become 4 wet towels were amazing. We are planning to buy some before we go home.

Going back home from the same small food and fish street market, we caught some guys fishing on the Mekong River.

Probably the same guys are selling those fish in this market. Check out the large crabs and the bubbling water to keep the fish alive and fresh. This is literally on the road side.

We all slept very well that night. We woke up at 10am, and after some quick breakfast bought from a Vinmart (a 7-Eleven or Circle K of Vietnam) downstairs, we were all set to check out the city’s main attractions. Besides the war remnants museum, we had planned to go to the independence palace, Saigon post office, and the under-renovation Notre Dame Cathedral.

Well- the first one we did go to. You can see the kids with the American planes captured by the Viet Cong in this War Remnants Museum.

When you hear about the Vietnam war and you read that 3-4 million Vietnamese and about 70000 Americans died then; they still tend to be just numbers. Only when you read the stories, see the pictures of people who lived through that horror, do you realize the severity of it.

Mass slaying in villages by the US troops - blindly killing children and women alike, when not being able to find the Viet Cong (Also known as VC, for Vietnam Communists) - was far too prevalent. They started getting covered in American newspapers and resulted in massive criticism from across the world. Agent orange or herbicides/chemicals were also used to completely reduce everything to nothing - Plants and humans alike. You can see what happened to the mangrove forests in that picture. So much was the devastation, that several thousand US marines revolted from within, stopped reporting to duty, started newspapers with real on the ground information. Some burnt themselves in front of the US Capitol building to protest against the US invasion of Vietnam.

3 kids hiding in a small well shown above, were also killed. Shanaya asked so many questions looking around that well, followed by pictures of hundreds of dead people, that it became impossible to carry on. Shanaya started off being scared, then walked out, refused to go in again, and finally cried. She could not sleep well that night either. It was one of the most heart wrenching museums of all. Berlin was tough, this was tougher. May be because of her questions. The mood was too somber in this area. Nothing was working, even the sight of those majestic planes

The message that instantly struck a chord with us was - “No man is good enough to be another man’s master” whatever be the situation or time.

This picture is of the 9-year-old “Naplam girl” who got burned as a result of the Naplam chemical bomb dropped by the US troops. This is one of the most influential photos of the 20th century.

Ashif took her out to the US planes and ammunition, while Dia and I went to the Agent orange room. It was attached to a room where kids did paintings to show the effects of agent orange on generations to come. All with deformities of the body. The souvenir shop was being run by some of the suffering and disabled victims.

After I came out, it was Ashif's turn to complete the tour on his own, while I managed Dia and Shanaya’s anxiety with some icecream.

Rain started as soon as we stepped out. So, we couldn’t go any further on our plan, and decided to just go to the Artinus 3D museum, a thing to do for kids. We were hoping to change the mood. And that we did! To our surprise, there was nothing in the museum, except walls painted in a way that when you take a picture, it will be like you are in that scene.

In this 3D art gallery, each painting is created with modern 3D art technology, and we could interact with these images, in our own creative ways, and make our own creative and fun images and videos. Here are some of our great works! It just got better and funnier with each room.

Ashif and I did not like it much and were glad it got over soon, but kids loved it, and wanted all kind of photos there. I cannot post all of them, but I'm just kind of trying to post some top ones. Yes, I have many more!!!

This was more like a play of mirrors. Not much to do with 3D pictures. Kids would just pose there, and then run back to us to look at their pictures

Dia ensured that she was in every possible picture, so much so that Shanaya couldn’t go on saying “me too”. Well, one of Shanaya’s “me too” moments again!

Dum laga ke hai shaa!!

How can Ashif and I be left behind? We too took turns to be in some of them. We did all possible zones on our map, Aqua to love, animals to egypt to fantasy.

Now we were really hungry. We were supposed to meet our ex-Neighbours/friends for dinner. They had moved to Vietnam a few years ago. But we couldn’t really wait till then. So, we went to Marcel burger for a quick snack and the first dig at the black bun. And what delicious burgers and fries.

Sarah and the kids were there at D’Maris for a super elaborate buffet. Seoyoung and Dia were meeting after 1.5years but it was like they were never apart. They were inseparable in Elan, our apartment complex in Bangalore. Dia realized how she had not found any friend like her since. Trying to Video chat with Smita Vanam and Ramya Sundarajan, our common friends from here - was awesome too!

A fare well with the promise to meet again. The kids were so happy that Sarah said she would try to bring them again the following day, if possible.

Our stay in Saigon was getting better and better. Ho Chi Minh had so much more to offer. I don’t think we even scratched the surface in these 4 days. The city starts from the airport itself. The next two days were split into a long-distance tour to Cu Chi tunnels, the boat ride into the Mekong Delta passing by several islands, and walking around the city to cover our rain interrupted attractions.

We woke up early to catch the tour. Yes, that was the early morning view from our apartment. The tour guy messed up our request for an individual car, and so we had no vehicle when we got there.

Lucky for us, we had 45mins to get breakfast, and a gem we discovered right there, Goc Hà Nội, Little Hanoi Egg Coffee.

We didn’t just love the tiny little setup, in a difficult to find alley, we loved the food. We had to order some more bread because even Shanaya wouldn’t stop eating. Egg coffee however wasn’t such a big hit with Ashif. He thought it would be egg with coffee, but it was actually egg inside the coffee :).

A tempo traveler came just for the 4 of us. Quite a waste we thought, but what could we do? No complaints though. This one hour we not only managed to get a good breakfast, we even got to walk around Bui Vien, the backpacker's street, famous for its busyness. It wasn’t that busy at 8am.

If not the egg coffee, something did work for Ashif, his camera! He got some good shots here. That picture of Shanaya climbing up the stairs, has been framed and kept in her room.

We started off by visiting a lacquer factory run by the government to employee war victims of agent orange called Handicapped Handicrafts, who are not employable at other places, but would like to work to earn a living.

Lacquer painting is a famous ancient art in Vietnam, dating back to the third and fourth centuries, later evolved into a distinct form of fine art painting, known as sơn mài in Vietnam. These guys lay out tiny pieces of egg shells or mother of pearl on treated wood, design, paint, and polish them to make these really nice paintings in black lacquer. Our “Women of Vietnam” collection is from here! Expensive but worth every penny. You can find much cheaper ones outside of this factory. But you are contributing to a cause. And getting some good quality handmade paintings.

Next stop was Cu Chi tunnels, located in the Cu Chi District of Saigon. These are an immense network of connecting tunnels lying beneath much of the country. However, Cu Chi district was strategically chosen by the Viet Cong to run their operations, hide underground and fight the Americans from here. As it was close to Ho Chi Minh, so they could get their supplies, and was also next to the Mekong River, so they could find an escape route

Very smart and unique traps were designed by them to capture and kill the enemy. Covered with grass, if somebody stepped on those, they were to be pierced by bamboo sticks or metallic knives.

I was able to fit in one of those hiding spots. And yes, I did get myself out also (without any help)

They had smart ways of camouflaging their air vents. Not only did they look like ant hills covered with moss, they covered them with chilli powder so the dogs would start sneezing and wouldn’t detect anything. Sometimes they would load it up with stuff stolen from Americans, so the dogs would not come close, assuming it’s their master's smell.

The display of shoes, which are worn in the opposite way, to leave a reverse footprint (very clever indeed) goes on to show how strong the human spirit is. They lost millions of people, but they never surrendered, and finally won the war.

American tank captured and destroyed by the VC, and Shanaya hanging out with the Viet Cong

Funnily, when it came to that 100m long Cu Chi tunnel that we had to go through, it was just Dia and I who could do it all. It was too short for Ashif. He didn’t want to crawl much, and he escaped after 20m with Shanaya. Actually, very few people were doing the entire 100m. We were so proud of ourselves. Shanaya and Ashif were waiting at the other end to applaud us. And we celebrated with some boiled yam and crushed, salted peanuts dip, and some tea!

This video is just to show how tight it was. There was an escape route every 20m. Last 40m, the tunnels got even narrower and shorter. We were literally duck walking.

After the factory, Cu Chi tunnels and a 2hr drive to Mekong Delta, we were really tired and hungry once again. Food was a set menu at a humongous restaurant.

The shrimp salad, the tofu Pho, some fish fry and beef with greens were all extremely delicious. Kids just always stick to white rice, with the least flavorful meat. I feel so bad about the food that I eat double just to make up for it.

“Elephant ear” fish was the highlight of the menu, although all of what was served tasted amazing. The hostess was like, finish taking the pictures first, and then I will begin. She went on to make some lettuce wraps with fish, pineapple and some rice noodles. They were yummy with the honey chili sauce.

Mekong delta is where the Mekong River that starts from China and passes through various other countries, splits into various branches. We were at “My Tho” - where one of those splits happens. As luck had it, we were again just the 4 of us, so we all got to sit right at the edge of this big boat, with the cool breeze blowing on our faces. I even got a Swades like shot of them!

We got down to get to the Canoe, but first some touristy things. We wanted to NOT do those, but were kind of stuck with the tour. Honey farm - the lady was nice, gave us some honey tea and told me the anti-aging effect of Royal jelly from queen bee. Too bad for her, I prefer to age naturally

They even had python for people to put on their heads and take pictures. My girls could hardly touch them.

Through the water coconut plantation and houses of the locals, we get to the tiny river stream. And we finally made it to our 6-seater boat. They had nice Vietnamese hats for us to wear.

The water was not clear, and although it was short and fun, it wasn’t really one of our top experiences in canopy covered waters. Much better experience in a place close to Trivandrum.

The whole day tour package thing just kept getting worse. Duy, our guide took us to listen to traditional Vietnamese music. But again, just the 4 of us. 3 people played music, while 7 of them came one by one and sang for us. We were again served with tea and some fresh fruits. It was really torturous for them and for us. Not the singing, but this whole touristy set-up.

My favorite picture of the two!!

Rạch Miễu Bridge in the mekong delta, over the Mekong River is one of the longest bridges in Vietnam. The water throughout was brown and muddy. Because it is full of sand. This sand is dredged from here, and exported to Kerala (or other places that don’t have much sand) for construction.

The unwanted visits to random factories weren’t over yet. He took us next to a cotton candy factory on one of the 4 islands. Our guide claimed that there is another religion here, where they worship the coconut God

Anyway, the best part here was that the kids got some random toys, and Ashif got some sweet banana chips, and we all got some rain.

Running in that rain to get back to our boat, and boat ride in the rain, drinking cold coconut water, made us forget all about the silly pit-stops.

The Approachable Traveler Recommendation:

If you were to ask me, I would NEVER recommend this tour. Just go to Cu Chi tunnels yourself, and do a small boat ride on the Mekong River. No tour needed. You can do it all by yourself. We just suffered from the side effects of last-minute booking and zero fore-planning

We reached home and the kids were all thrilled to find that their friends were coming over for dinner. Sarah came in all that rain to make sure the girls got to spend some more time together.

We ordered in! And we had some awesome catching up together.

Last day in Ho Chi Minh, and we still had not seen the independence palace or the post office. We knew we would have plenty of time after checkout. We were packed and the kids were all set to go to the rooftop pool, before saying bye to our home for 4 days. 30mins of playing with water in that heat was enough. enough for me I mean. They wanted to stay in water forever. Check out how Saigon looks from the roof-top pool. 13million people in this town! It is really that dense.

Our travel backpack, our partner for 2.5yrs (we bought it in South Korea) finally gave up. And hence started our search for a new bag. We were carrying passports in Ashif’s pockets. So, Ben Thanh, the market had to be our first stop.

We went past the Ben Thanh, the street food market, and several other streets packed with hardware stores and things. Most were identical to what we see in India. The street food market had Indian food stalls also, but we were looking for some AC

Sarah mentioned Saigon square, a market which had rip offs of all brands. As soon as we saw that it was air conditioned, we decided to buy our bag from here itself (It was so damn hot outside). Ben Thành and Saigon square has rip offs of almost all famous brands. Saigon square ones had excellent quality also. You couldn’t tell if those were fake or seconds. Seconds could be a likely option since most top brands are anyway made in Vietnam.

Ben Thanh, seemed to have rip offs of rip offs - from touching something, you could tell it was fake. But then the prices at both places also varied.

TAT Recommendation: Go to Saigon square if you are looking for good quality brands (fake or seconds or overstock, will leave it to you to decide)

Discovery from Saigon Square! Not my daughter, her sun glasses. Discovery from street in front of Independence palace, the giant leaf!

We were hungry again after some shopping and walking in the heat. So we decided to have some bubble tea again. The closest was in the Saigon center, the mall with the real brands in them. Here, some trick or treat by Vietnamese

Like we were not meant to see the independence palace, it started to rain again, and by the time we got there, they shut it down. A couple of pictures we could get here, squeezing past the security guy. One with the fountain still on, and one when it turned off

Anyway, we ran so we could get to the post office, which was like a 10min walk. We had only done 4 mins that the rain started to come down real hard.

Took shelter in this government building. Again, identical to any sarkari office in India.

The leafy umbrella accompanied her everywhere. The sarkari office, past the Notre Dame cathedral, and inside the post office. It did protect her from rain, I am assuming

After a good 20min wait at the front desk of that government building, we walked in the drizzle to get to the post office.

We also got to see the under-renovation Notre Dame cathedral with Mother Mary in the middle. Couldn’t get rid of the helmets, because those two wheelers were everywhere. Also constructed by French in the late 1800s, it is right in the middle of Saigon downtown. This cathedral is where the chair of the Archbishop of Saigon is located. Both the post office and the independence palace are in close proximity. Plan to visit all three together, at a time when they are open ;)

Post office, again designed by Gustave Eiffel (Not really! He is wrongly credited for it), was definitely worth a quick visit. The colonial architecture outside and inside is pretty awesome. Constructed in the late 1800s, and designed by a French architect Alfred Foulhoux, shows some features of Gothic, Renaissance and French colonial design.

And what is amazing is - tourists keep flocking to it, with the center of the post office being a souvenir shop. Despite all that, the post office work happens as usual. Check out people buying stamps or sending posts. Pretty neat!

Anyway, we grabbed a grab here, and got back to our apartment to collect our luggage, and another grab to get to the airport.

Chaotic traffic, rain and water clogged streets, mess at the airport, and 4 hr delayed flight (VietJet apparently has the worst history in delayed or cancelled flights). We finally did get in the plane to get to Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam.