Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Per usual on Blogging From Paradise, I will not rehash the 40 billionth post on popular things to do in a major city.
I do things differently here.
I prefer to give you simple, practical tips or some genuine insight native to each location.
For example, I delved deeply into the supercar culture of London as it is just about the supercar capital of the world.
Prague revealed far more than the over-covered, common tourist spots everyone visits.
HCMC is unlike anywhere on earth – in part – for tip #1 below.
Keep these ideas in mind when you travel to HCMC.
1: Learn How to Cross the Street
I published a blog post about how to cross the street in Ho Chi Minh City.
In most cities this requires one to look both ways before casually crossing the street.
Saigon involves a more detailed process.
Millions upon millions of motorbikes whiz around the city. Crossing the street is an art to learn because the traffic never ends; seriously.
Watch locals. Baby step. Have faith in experienced motorbike riders. Avoid being Frogger.
2: Eat on the Cheap
HCMC is a cheap city even though it becomes more cosmopolitan by the seeming year.
Sure it is rough and ready too, but for a fairly developed city it is downright inexpensive.
Eat on the cheap from local haunts and stalls. Kelli and I enjoyed 2 vegetarian banh mi for $1.50 USD from a kindly vendor in District 2. Ya can’t beat a 75 cent lunch.
As always, trending to local neighborhoods well away from tourist spots makes an inexpensive city even cheaper.
We ate for $8 USD at a local restaurant in a backpacking neighborhood. Fare included tofu and tomato sauce, Vietnamese yellow curry with tofu and vegetables, a banana shake and mango shake.
But if you eat from stalls or local restaurants you will probably pay $2 to $3 per dinner with beverage included. Or less.
Get lost. Wander. Check out eateries both on and off the beaten path.
Vietnamese food is healthy, delicious and not at all spicy like my beloved Thai food.
Solid Western fare is also easily available.
Coffee Culture
Coffee culture is huge here in HCMC.
Shops pop up on almost every block. I mean that.
The Diamond Island section of District 2 is just being developed at post publish date – where we did our house sit – and the dizzying array of coffee shops for a somewhat uninhabited area boggles the mind.
Try the egg coffee.
My favorite is rich Vietnamese coffee with sweetened, condensed milk.
3: Drink Water by the Gallon in Hades Chi Minh City
The heat index typically reached 114 F daily for our first week in HCMC.
Stifling hot temperatures combined with impossibly high humidity levels makes for a south Vietnam sauna masquerading as a city.
I drank 1 to 1.5 gallons of water daily.
Walking and jogging 1-2 times daily bumped up consumption a bit. But you better drink water like a fish to remain hydrated.
HCMC is easily one of the hottest, most humid places on earth. I checked all the top rated cities in terms of humidity and HCMC had ’em beat daily.
One particularly intense day reached a heat index of 122 F, or 50 C.
Drink 2 glasses on waking.
Keep the water coming all day long.
Two Considerations
Number 1: water is super cheap. We paid $1 to $1.40 USD for a gallon.
No, not Bali cheap or Thailand cheap – where buying an entire office cooler sized jug is less than a buck in local villages – but cheap enough.
Drink away.
Number 2: I know how travelers resist drinking water for the fear of needing to urinate in a spot without public toilets. I am not advocating for public urination but saw many Vietnamese men being “whiz kids” all around the city in plain view of traffic in quite stunningly open fashion. One dude whipped it out “on the sidewalk” beside a high traffic road and started his own little Mekong as motorists and pedestrians glanced on. He pissed like a racehorse after the Kentucky Derby. Kelli was mildly displeased. I could not stop laughing.
If ya really gotta go, try to find a restaurant and buy a drink before using the restroom…..or creep sneakily (look around a few times before doing the deed, like a cartoon or movie) to a quiet, relatively sheltered spot, be discrete and let fly.
(Editor’s Note; I did this once to indulge in the local custom…..and because 1.5 gallons of water consumed and no toilets in sight were a poor match. I found a semi-sheltered spot to relieve myself while a massive cockroach danced dangerously by my feet. When in Rome….)
4: Use Grab to Get Around
Grab is a super cheap, easy rideshare app highly popular in HCMC.
We used it to get around seamlessly.
A 20 minute ride from the outskirts of District 2 into the heart of the action in District 1 cost about $4.00 USD.
Drivers are courteous, polite and a fair number seemed to speak somewhat fluent English.
5: Never Assume that Most Everyone Speaks Only Vietnamese
Minus Myanmar and Malaysia with their former British colonialism, most assume SE Asian locals speak only the native tongue, with perhaps some French in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Even being well aware of the US presence during the Vietnam War, I was still surprised by how many Vietnamese speak English fluently, especially out in the Boonies of District 2.
Sure a small but growing expat community lives on the outskirts of HCMC in District 2. But hearing convenience store employees, staff working at restaurants and other locals speak clear English took me a bit off guard.
You will hear English more than you likely expect.
6: Take Advantage of Wide Sidewalks to Traipse about the City
Wide, easy to traverse sidewalks proved to be a change up from big SE Asian cities like Bangkok, Phnom Penh, Yangon and Vientiane.
I expected motorbike madness to spill over on sidewalks all over the city.
However, incredibly wide sidewalks combined with narrow motorbike lanes beside walking paths made for easy schlepping around town.
Capitalize on this convenience to explore a brilliant city rich with sights, sounds and oozing with culture.
I literally explored almost all of gargantuan District 2 on foot. Grabbing my phone for GPS and wandering around town consumed more than one afternoon for me.
7: Bui Vien Street Is a “Take it or Leave it” Deal
Ok guys; it may sound odd for someone who got a kick out of Khao San Road in Bangkok to not be resonant with its sister neighborhood of Bui Vien Street in HCMC.
But oddly enough, touts on Bui Vien Street were more aggressive, touchy feel-ey and a bit over the top, compared to Khao San Road.
This surprised me because KSR has the reputation of being too Sodom and Gomorrah for most traveler’s tastes.
Truth be told, Bui Vien is far cleaner, more colorful and visually appealing than gritty Khao San. But the touts yelled at us, touched us frequently, and made weird kissing sounds similar to calling a dog. I did find that funny, admittedly.
I respect their desire to get business but the stronger physical contact and yelling was too much for me to make a trip back.
Like anything though, make sure to visit and experience it for yourself. Perhaps I was there on a bad night.
I will say that the behavior on that road was highly out of character for the polite, pleasant, helpful locals we encountered outside of that tiny walking street.
Most everyone was sweet, smiley and genuinely kind in our interactions.
Give it a look-see if you wish and report back to me.
Conclusion
There you have it, folks.
HCMC gets less pub than its far northern neighbor Hanoi.
But spending even 5 minutes in HCMC city proves that this bustling urban center deserves a visit….even if for just crossing the street a few times!
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