Streets of Saigon

Over our entire trip, we’ve spent about six days in Saigon, so it just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t touch on what makes this city so wonderful!  Aside from the motorbike incident and seeing the Ao Show, much of our time was spent walking around the city exploring the parks, shops, and restaurants and meeting the people.  We’ve managed to walk all over the city, including the highlights such as the Ben Thanh market, the Reunification Palace, the War Remnants Museum, the Post Office, and their version of Notre Dame.  We found some fantastic places to eat too including, Wang Hai Gnon (It actually means “Delicious,” but I guarantee I botched up the name.), Tandoor (Indian), Jaspers (Awesome Western breakfast, buy 1 get 1 free on Sundays), Pat a Chou (best pain au chocolat around!), and a fruit smoothie food cart in an alley near our hotel.

In Saigon, the street food culture is not as prominent as in Hanoi, but we definitely took a chance on some of the smaller restaurants or food stalls.  One in particular has the best Pho we’ve tried in the entire two weeks of venturing throughout Vietnam.  It was a small family-owned restaurant at the bottom of their home.   One of the best aspects of the Pho is that with each order you get a pile of mint leaves, bean sprouts, lettuce, basil, chilies, and limes to put inside of the Pho while you’re eating it! 

Our lunch was incredibly inexpensive.  We managed to have three Vietnamese coffees and two Pho soups for about six dollars.  And they were so nice that when I asked if I could use their toilet, they cleaned off the stairs to let me into their home to use their personal toilet since the dining section didn’t have one.   

Oh and the Vietnamese iced coffees, woo baby!  They are soooo good!  I could’ve sworn they had chocolate syrup in them or something!  But our friend, Huong (Helen) said that’s just the combination of the rich Vietnamese coffee flavor and sweetened condensed milk.  These are definitely a must-have when you visit Vietnam.

As our trip is coming to an end, here are some final thoughts...  I was most amazed at how well-kept and picturesque the parks were in both Hanoi and Saigon.  With the sporadic French architecture, at times it felt as if I was strolling through Europe. 

The War Remnants museum was a huge eye opener because it is the most Anti-American place I had ever been.  Any coy remarks I have ever heard while studying in France could not match the passive aggressive Anti-American approach of this museum.  The museum showed pictures of at least 20 other countries who supported northern Vietnam and wanted the USA out of Vietnam.  It posted photos depicting American soldiers posing cheerfully while holding the heads of beheaded Vietnamese soldiers.  This is only one example of the wretched things that American soldiers did while abroad… but this museum only told one side.  There was nothing said about Vietnamese soldiers torturing our Prisoners of War, nothing said about protests in America commanding the US to get out of Vietnam.  No, if I didn’t know much about the US, and visited that musuem I would think the worst of our government and people.  Growing up I had heard brief stories of the mental health issues and counseling that war veterans need when they return, specifically about the Vietnam War.  When in a war like this where the Vietnamese soldiers were essentially hiding underground and randomly popping up and surprising American soldiers time and again, I can imagine that it drove soldiers to paranoia and being immersed in this environment drove them to do things completely out of character for them.  How can they possibly return to their normal lives when their worst nightmares were a reality just months before?

Along the outside of the museum are American fighter planes and tanks that were captured after the war, very overtly stating the Vietnamese pride for winning the war.  Seeing all of this made me pretty uncomfortable, but the museum gave us such a different perspective on the war that we stayed there for over two hours examining every bit of it.  I must admit that I didn’t feel quite proud to be an American after leaving that museum.

After discussing the how the US was depicted, Eric and I agreed that there are many details that were not told in this museum, it’s only one perspective of the war, and was obviously trying to victimize northern Vietnam, by criminalizing all Americans.  This was a good learning experience, but it also reinforced the fact that you should take just about everything with a grain of salt, biased perspectives often skew reality. 

Prior to coming to Vietnam, I was a little concerned as to how Americans would be received.  Even before coming to this museum, Eric and I told a fair share of locals that we were Canadian.  This claim was a pretty good safe-guard against any people who may hold a grudge against Americans.  What we learned though is that aside from the head honcho at the police station, the Vietnamese were very pleased when they heard we were American, and I admired that ability for the people to let go of the past.  Especially when so often a country's history dictates people’s actions in the present… right or wrong.

Don’t’ get me wrong with all of this talk about the museum and posing as a Canadian at times.  I am still proud to be an American and strongly believe that the values and way of life in the U.S. are highly desirable.   We just know that not everyone is as fond of the US as we are and heed on the side of caution whenever someone, say our motorbike driver has our life in his hands.

Speaking of motorbikes, this is another big takeaway from the trip.  I am normally a big scared-y cat when it comes to riding a motorbike, but I really tried to leave this inhibition back at home in the States.  I’m glad I did because we had so much fun taking motorbike rides with Sai Oms (essentially unofficial taxi motorbike riders) who would take us just about anywhere in the city for a dollar or two.  It was always invigorating jumping on the motorbike and swarming around traffic like we were part of a school of fish.  This and taking that day-long motorbike ride with Eric have made me feel much more comfortable on a motorbike… who knows maybe we’ll eventually get that scooter Eric’s been anxious to buy!

Both China and Vietnam were amazing, but Vietnam was extra good because I had my favorite travel buddy with me!  We went on this trip because Eric was so infatuated with Saigon that he wanted me to experience the thrills too.  What a guy, right?  It’s been yet another amazing adventure, with it’s own flavor of discovery.  We’ve already decided that we need to come back and see the Mekong Delta, Hoi An, Sapa, Cambodia, and Laos.  So many places to go, so much to see.

Curiosity is a gift that needs nurtured to flourish so travel the world and watch your curiosity liven your appetite for adventure!