Scratching the Surface of Saigon

Hello and xin chào!

My time in Vietnam is rapidly coming to an end, but I managed to fit in one last trip while I'm here. A week and a half ago, I made a quick one-day trip down to Vietnam's largest city, Saigon. (Saigon's population is 8.6 million, compared to Hanoi's 7.8 million.) I flew down after class on a Tuesday night, and I flew back very, very early on Thursday morning (more on that later). Officially named Ho Chi Minh City, it's still called Saigon by nearly everyone in Vietnam. It was a fascinating contrast to Hanoi—as Vietnam's commercial hub, Saigon is far more modern and cosmopolitan.

Overall, I left with a pretty mixed impression. As an expat, I loved all the trendy cafés and bars, but as a tourist, I was pretty underwhelmed. At the end of the day, it seemed mostly like a whole bunch of city, and "big city in Vietnam" is something I'm obviously pretty familiar with. That said, I had a wonderful time hanging out with my good friend, Erin, who used to work at my school in Hanoi and just started a new teaching job in Saigon.

Saigon's iconic city hall. (Technically the People's Committee.)

My flight down was probably the most bizarre flight I've ever been on. I was looking down at my phone while waiting on the jetbridge, and then just before getting on the plane, I looked up and saw two white flight attendants standing there. Turns out the airline I booked with—VietJet—had contracted this flight out to an airline called FlyOne from the small Eastern European country of Moldova, both plane and crew included. Three out of the four flight attendants on board were Moldovans who did not speak a word of Vietnamese on a flight with 90% Vietnamese passengers—and on an airline that's the cheapest of the four flying this route, so very few of the passengers had much experience on a plane. The older guy sitting next to me, for example, loudly answered a phone call as we were about to take off, and put his bare feet up on the back of the armrests of the seat in front of him. But none of that stuff fazed me, especially compared to the shock of the white flight attendants.

The best part of the whole experience was sliding my foot across the carpet and getting a splinter of inexplicably sharp, hard plastic lodged in my heel. A few minutes after yanking it out, my heel still hurt quite a bit, so I rubbed the spot and discovered I was bleeding. It wasn't an insignificant amount of blood, so I then had to get up barefoot and get my backpack out of the overhead bin, standing on only the ball of my right foot, and get napkins to stop the bleeding. I kept the plastic shard and bloody napkin as evidence, but it dawned on me that even if this were a normal VietJet plane, no one would do anything about it. A bit after midnight, we arrived in Saigon, and I wandered out to the road to get a motorbike taxi to my hostel for the night.

The famous main entrance of Bến Thành Market.

The first stop of the day was the landmark Bến Thành Market, which is most commonly used as a reference point when measuring distance from the city center. While I waited for Erin to arrive and have lunch with me, I wandered all around the packed, bustling stalls.

Produce at Bến Thành Market.

We ate inside the market, and I got to try the southern Vietnamese dish known as bún thịt nướng—which translates as "grilled meat noodles." I didn't remember to take a picture until I was mostly finished, but it's basically rice vermicelli mixed with herbs, greens, and pickled vegetables; topped with juicy, grilled pork sausages (nem) flavored with garlic and sugar; and dressed with fish sauce. And except for meat, it's all served cold. It was a refreshing mix of sweet and sour, and the nem were so delicious and caramelized that I ordered more.

The rear of Bến Thành Market, with the Bitexco Tower rising in the background at the center.

After lunch, we headed from Bến Thành to the nearby Independence Palace. The former residence of the President of South Vietnam, it is perhaps most famous for being the site of the Vietnam War's conclusion on April 30, 1975, when a North Vietnamese tank dramatically rolled through the front gates.

North Vietnamese tanks on the front lawn of the Independence Palace on April 30, 1975.

The president, who had taken office only two days prior, was waiting in the cabinet room to transfer power to the revolutionary army. The North Vietnamese officer famously replied that the president had no power to transfer. The palace's interior has remained more or less untouched since 1975, and it's now open for visitors.

The cabinet room where the war came to an end.

The ambassadorial reception room.

The lower floors were clearly home to the palace's more formal, governmental functions. The upper floors, meanwhile, had the living spaces, which included a movie theater, two bars, a dance floor, and the most ridiculous luxury furnishings that the '60s and '70s could offer.

The living room on the top floor. My favorite part is the bar behind the couch that looks like a giant barrel.

After winding our way through the massive building, we went down into the underground bunker, which was pretty eerie with its low ceilings, fluorescent lighting, and rooms full of massive radio transmitters and telex machines.

A room in the bunker. The chart on the wall lists the number of troops in South Vietnam by country in June 1968. The United States is the top row, with 541,933 troops.

After passing by some blocked-off steps down into a concrete hallway heading further underground, I overheard someone's guide telling them that there were tunnels leading to the Saigon River nearly a mile away. Since I had just finished watching the Ken Burns/PBS documentary about the war, this was a really fascinating visit.

The Bitexco Tower and its absurd cantilevered helipad on the 52nd floor.

Up next, we headed back towards the city center, which, unlike Hanoi's, has quite a few skyscrapers—like the iconic Bitexco Financial Tower. The city controversially does not prioritize architectural preservation except for a handful of prominent buildings, such as the city hall, Bến Thành Market, and the opera house.

The opera house as seen from L'Usine.

Erin and I eventually wandered our way to a trendy café I wanted to try called L'Usine. It was everything I would want from a hip café in a cosmopolitan city, right down to the massive branches wrapped with string lights.

Bruschetta drizzled with balsamic and homemade mango coconut popsicles.

Not only did we get some nice afternoon snacks, but happy hour was every day before 7pm. The plan was to stay out late that night, and then I could just stay up till 4am and head to the airport for my 6am flight. The cocktail list (all half-price) was too good to pass up, so like an idiot I did the one thing I could possibly do to make it difficult to stay up late and ordered a drink.

Naturally, it was time for a little nap back at Erin's place. Later, on Erin's recommendation, our first stop for the night was this fancy (at nearly $10 each) burger place called Soul Burger. Extremely questionable branding notwithstanding, it was fantastic—I actually got to choose a medium rare burger rather than the standard medium well! It came on a brioche bun and had caramelized onions, so all in all I was beyond pleased—to say nothing of the garlic fries with truffle mayo.

The opera house at night; Saigon Saigon is the strip of lights atop the 10-story building on the right.

From there, we headed to this super nice rooftop bar called Saigon Saigon. It was above the 10th floor of the original wing of the Caravelle Hotel—home to the Saigon bureaux of ABC, NBC, and CBS during the war. I can’t remember what my first drink was other than that it involved passionfruit and had a sliced-open chili pepper in it. My second drink, a lychee caipirinha, was my favorite. The views were nice, and the breeze was even better. We stayed there for a long time and only left because a storm was coming and we couldn’t sit outside anymore. (The storm never materialized.)

The bar whose name I'm not sure I ever knew.

Finally, we headed to this super lovely neighborhood place by Erin’s apartment, which was dive-y in the best way possible. They closed at 1am, so after a stop by the 24-hour convenience store, we made it back to Erin’s place. I successfully kept myself awake until my 4am departure (Erin did not), and then, exhausted and disoriented, I got a cab to the airport. I made it home around 9:30am, slept from 10am-3pm, and taught at 6pm. Like many of my trips, it was a whirlwind, but it was a good whirlwind.

This was my last trip while living in Vietnam—as of writing I've only got 10 days left! Look out for a final goodbye-to-Hanoi post. In the meantime, I'll be riding out the tail end of this tropical storm—we got 6 inches of rain in 24 hours yesterday—and trying to get the most out of every day I have left.

Till next time,
Gray