SATURDAY in HCMC, ‘Nam: Dodging Motorcycles, Crawling through Tunnels, and Dunking Everything in Fish Sauce

On Saturday we explored some historical and architectural sites and attractions in the city center. The French influence was evident (Vietnam was a French colony) in the architecture of the Central Post Office, Notre Dame, the City Hall Building and the Opera House. We were able to go inside Notre Dame and the Post Office – which was surprisingly impressive – but unfortunately, the Opera House and City Hall were closed, as were the Wharf and the Reunification Palace.

After a quick morning of sightseeing, we went to the Ben Thanh Market – the largest in HCMC. Like many other markets we’ve been to (and love) in SE Asia, Ben Thanh had hundreds of vendors in pint-size stalls, selling everything imaginable that you could dream to put a price on. We stayed at the markets until hunger pangs and heatstroke kicked in, and we went to lunch at the highly-recommended Lemongrass, which did not disappoint – another delicious meal in Vietnam! We washed down our lunch with frozen yogurt at TuttiFrutti – the YogurtLand of ‘Nam, although no match for the real YL in LA.

Kevin and Melinda decided to cool off at the hotel pool while Dominic and I, who are a little bit shopping obsessed, continued to brave the heat and scour the streets for more great deals on Vietnamese art, gifts, jewelry, watches and food. Between the two of us in a few hours time, we bought 3 watches, coffee, candy, a wallet, CDs, 6 pairs of earrings, 2 sets of coasters, and wooden statues…and made “friends” (I don’t think they liked us) with the market vendors – they’re some real characters.

We stayed until the market closed down at 6pm and met up with Kevin, Melinda and Irma (who caught a flight Saturday morning to join us – and stayed in HCMC until Monday morning with Kevin) back at the hotel. We had a relaxed cocktail hour down by the pool and then whisked Irma off to Quan An Ngong (who said we can’t eat at the same place the entire time we’re in town?) for another outstanding meal. We sat next to the grill this time and the clothes I wore still smell like meat…I’m almost sad to do laundry tomorrow.

After nearly eating ourselves sick at Q.A.N, we went back to the hotel because we were all exhausted, and Dom, Melinda and I needed to leave for the airport at 4am to catch our 6am flight back to HK. We hung out watching the top 40 countdown of Michael Jackson’s greatest music videos, singing along, ordering room service cocktails and dessert, and getting an hour or two of sleep before starting the journey back home.

We said our goodbyes to ‘Nam with one last bowl of steaming Pho at the airport at 5am. I don’t know if I’ll ever find myself in Vietnam again, I’m not sure it’s a place I’d really want to go back to at the end of the day…but this weekend and the memories I made in HCMC, I will keep in a very, very special place in my heart.

Notre Dame

Post Office

Reunification Palace

Opera House

City Hall