Talon Lang: Walking Tour of HCMC

I set out early to buy our Cu Chi Tunnel tour tickets and bus tickets to Siem Reap from Sihn Café, which I read to be a pretty affordable and reliable tour company. I noticed that people in HCMC wake up early and like having coffee in the streets sitting on small monobloc tables and chairs. I found Sihn Café and got the Cao Dai Temple + Cu Chi Tunnel tour for $8 each and round trip bus tickets to Siem Reap for $27. Next is to find a new place to stay. I was in the backpacker’s area so I figured I won’t have a hard time looking for a decent place to stay. I made a right onto Pham Ngu Lao street where I was greeted for the first time with the sight of dozens of motorcycles at the intersection waiting for the green light. Man, were there a lot of them! Anyway, walking down the street I saw Lele Hotel which I remembered from my researching prior to the trip. I walked in and asked if they had available rooms for the next two nights. They said yes and so I asked if I could check them out. I was showed the room in the same price range as Phoenix’ and it wasn’t much better. I asked what the next biggest room was and for $20 (or $6 more than the small box I was shown) the room had two double beds with a big bathroom and ample room to do cartwheels. I was sold and so I booked our rooms and texted my friends the change of plans and the address of our new hotel.

Breakfast

Motorcycles everywhere!

While waiting for my friends to arrive I walked around in search of breakfast. This was when I had my first encounter with Ban Mi – the French baguette deli sandwich sold in roadside carts for 15,000VND. Except for the coriander, it tasted great. They even use Laughing Cow cheese which makes it perfect for me! This was the first of many Ban Mi sandwiches I will consume during the trip.

Ban Mi stall

After my friends arrived and got settled in the hotel we set out to do the walking tour of HCMC armed with printouts of maps and notes of where to go and what to eat but with no fixed route to follow. One of the things I like doing when I’m in a new place is to just walk around and taking in all the sights at my own pace. Getting lost is a fun part of walking around too and thus should always be factored in when making schedules.

We started the tour walking towards Ben Than Market although we didn’t go in yet as most of the stores were still closed. Lunch was at Quan An Ngon restaurant, which was basically a one-stop shop of all Vietnamese hawker fare. There are stalls lining the courtyard where you can point at what you want and see your food being prepared before you or you can also just order from the menu and the waitress shall be the one to place your orders and just have your food delivered to your table. This was where I had my first taste of Vietnamese iced coffee. It was love at first sip.

Ben Than Market

Food at one of the stalls inside Quan An Ngon

After lunch we continued our walking tour of the streets of HCMC. We walked past the Reunification Palace and decided to head towards the War Remnants Museum first since it was farther. Of course we stopped for a beer at a small store along the road first. The War Remnants Museum experience was something else. I’m not really a museum person and most of the time I find myself just going through the motion of passing thru all the exhibits, but this time was something else. Seeing all the pictures and reading the horrifying accounts of the victims of the war and most especially all the details surrounding Project Orange was particularly disturbing for me. I wonder how all those American tourists who were there with us felt while reading about the dastardly acts committed by the Americans then. Anyway, happy thoughts. Next stop was the Reunification Palace and then the Notre Dame Cathedral and lastly the Post Office where we bought post cards and sent them back home. Since we wanted to try to squeeze in some shopping we hailed a cab and asked to be dropped of at Saigon Square where we bought a few North Face backpacks and other stuff. There are a lot of face TNF bags in Saigon Square as well as in Ben Than Market but there are also factory overruns being sold. Interestingly, the sellers are honest about saying if the bag is a copy or original. They don’t understand it when you say fake or “class A”. We had a quick dinner before passing out in our hotel beds. Long and tiring day but this is just the beginning. We have to wake up early for our Cao Dai Temple and Cu Chu Tunnel Tour tomorrow.