We arrive to our hotel and the room is tiny, much like Hong Kong, but it does the job and we're right in the middle of District 1 where everything is. Our hotel is called The An An 2. First stop, banh mi stand. We have food stands in each corner. Banh mi is basically a Vietnamese sub made with a Vietnamese baguette with different Vietnamese sausages sliced, pate, butter, pickled veggies and corriander. The baguette of course is an influence from the French. The banh mi here is a little more of what I am used to back home. They fill it with tons of meats, veggies, and herbs. The main difference here is different vendors will use diff ingredients and many of them prepare their own meats unlike in Toronto where its just easier and cheaper to buy it, usually they all buy from the shame suppliers too. It cost 12.000 dong which is about $0.60.
Next we start to explore and walk the streets. I see tons of food vendors and I want to try everything in sight but I keep reminding myself that I'm here for 4 days.
I kept hearing and reading that vietnam has a ton of tailors but in Hanoi I didn't see any. Saigon however has as many as we have Tim Hortons. We go into one and could not believe the prices to have clothing made. They specialize in suits, dresses, shirts, pants and jackets but can really make anything you can show them a picture of. The prices were so cheap, we didn't bother shopping around. Shirts were between $15-$18, suits ranged from $60-$120 and pants $15-$30 depending on material. They charged me an extra $1 because I'm bigger than the average person :) I ended up ordering 5 shirts and 2 pairs of pants. Jess got shirts, and a suit with pants and skirt. The the reason we went with this store right away is because their prices were listed and had signs that said 'prices are fixed, no bargaining'. This tells me they're prices are likely pretty low already. They tell us to come back the next day for a fitting.
Next, dinner time. We continued our exploring of the surrounding streets and stumbled on a strip of restaurants. We settled on one that had the biggest Vietnamese menu. I don't know why people travel to other countries in search for hamburger, pasta and pizza. There must be a big demand for it because many restaurants offer North America dishes. I guess maybe locals want a change from their traditional foods too? We got goi cuon (fresh rolls) to start; vermicelli, shrimp, pork and veggies wrapped in rice paper; vermicelli with goat curry; bun bo hue. Bun bo hue is a vermicelli beef noodle soup from the city of Hue. It tastes different from pho. The noodles are a bit more firm and stay firm. The beer is about $1 for a liter bottle. The goi cuon was ok but I've had better. The goat curry vermicelli was very good, I've bender had this dish before. The bun bo hue also was good but I've had better. Our whole bill came up to under 200.000 dong ($10) and that's considered expensive but we 'splurged' by sitting at an actual restaurant rather than a make shift street restaurant. Food in Vietnam is absolutely ridiculously cheap.
For dessert we stop at another restaurant (Bistro 333) for sinh to (milkshakes). We get these shakes at home a lot. Jess got chocolate and I got coconut. The chocolate tasted like ovaltin or milo, basically a malt chocolate taste. Usually Jess isn't a fan of the malt chocolate but she liked the shake. My coconut was very good. It's different from the ones we have at home. This had very little sugar and lots of coconut. It seemed like they cut up coconut in little pieces and put it in a cup with condensed milk and ice.
The next day was a planned hair say for Jess. She's always wanted to get her hair permanently straightened but it costs up in the hundreds of dollars at home. In Vietnam, it only cost around $35. Pedicures and manicures cost 42.000 ($2.10) each. At that price, why would anyone do their own nails?
We started the say with pho at a restaurant that makes different vegetable noodles daily. The noodles take the color of the vegetable and we thought it was an interesting concept. They mix it with regular vermicelli noodles as well. I don't really notice a difference in flavor but definitely in texture. Since they make the noodles in house, they have a nice bounce to it, much like fresh pasta compared to dry pasta. Cost was slightly more per bowl but even then, it was only 55.000 dong ($2.75) per bowl. Broth was good like everywhere else in Vietnam. I'm willing to bet that if your broth isn't up to par, you wot be in business much longer. What I liked about this place is i was able to have a bowl with all of the fixings I'd have at home; tripe, tendon, beef balls, rare beef, brisket. Vietnam is also very well known for their coffee, unlike the rest of Asia known for tea. This again is an influence from the French. Apparently they are the #2 exporter of coffee in the world after Brazil. Vietnamese coffee is much like espresso. It's made with a slow dripper and you can have it black or with milk and sugar (condensed milk). The coffee at this restaurant was nice and thick much like a milkshake but had a slightly different taste to it that we really like. I later realize they use soy milk in their coffee.
Across the street from the restaurant is another tailor shop with many dresses on display so we went in to inquire and Jess came out ordering 4 dresses ($50 each) and a winter coat ($70) and I ordered a 3 piece suit ($140) and winter coat ($80). The cost is so cheap how do you say no?
Finally we make our way to the salon. Jess was going to be a few hours so I went roaming the city on my own. There are many rickshaw and vespa/motor bike local 'tour guides' on all street corners ready to take you around the major touristy spots. Usually I like to walk around a city but since Jess was going to be a while, I decided to take a rickshaw around. Their sales pitch to me is that its a waste of time to walk and I'm stupid for choosing to walk :) He charged me 100.000 dong ($5) per hour. He ended up taking me around for two hours breaking his back. It's not easy riding those bikes around. First off, he's peddling my hefty ass around and with the constant traffic, its stop and go all the time. Anyone knows that starting is the toughest part and he's doing all of this on a one speed bike.
Foodie Tour
When we first landed, Jess did some research on tours we could take and she found a foodie tour which was rated the number one tour on trip advisor. It's a 4 hour tour taking you around Saigon to all the local favorite hot spots riding on Vespa's and motorbikes. The tour doesn't take you for the typical Vietnamese dishes like pho and banh mi so don't expect that. The tour also includes a tour called 'Saigon by Night' as well where you are taken to many of the other districts that most tourists don't visit. The cost was $58USD for the tour with an optional $20 for the tour to be filmed. To be honest I was a bit hesitant at first because the cost of tours and especially food in Vietnam is very cheap and I got used to paying such low prices. But how could I argue with over 170 excellent reviews. I was also nervous to get on the back of a Vespa, especially since all the drivers are Vietnamese women (who are tiny). My thought is there is no way she's going to balance with me on the back not to mention the ridiculous traffic in Vietnam. The drivers come to your hotel to pick you up and drop you off as well.
Our tour guides Anh and Thu arrive early to pick us up to start our adventure. Side note, Vietnamese tours and cabs are always early. Both the ladies are of course tiny and greet us with friendly smiles. They gave us a quick guide to being a passenger and we were ready to go! In Vietnam, male passengers shouldn't hold the waste of the female driver so you hold onto the seat or your knees. There was no way I was letting go of the the seat! First stop, one of the many make shift street restaurants in an alleyway. On the menu is bun bo hue. I grew up eating this so I wasn't all that impressed until I actually had it. Tung, the coordinator of the tour was there every step of the way educating us on why he was taking us to the places he was. He explained his dislike of pho and that this tour would not be consisting of the traditional vietnamese foods. This was different from what I'm used to. In Toronto, it's made sometimes with tomatoes and this wasn't. The broth was so good I wanted to finish the entire bowl but I knew we had an evening packed of food.
Next we drove through Chinatown where all the trading happens. I drove went by during the day and it's a mile of textiles. Next on the menu is BBQ. We stopped at a huge outdoor restaurant the size of a 200 car parking lot. You grill your foods much like Korean BBQ but this is on charcoal. This place is known for their goat breast. Apparently, the combination of goat breast and their marinating style removes that distinct goat odour. It's very much like beef tongue; it has a bounce to it. I liked the goat but Jess was indifferent to them. Next was shrimp with a spicy marinade. We both really liked the shrimp and get this, our tour guides did all the cooking and peeling for us. I felt bad actually. Cooking I understand because not everyone knows the procedure. Next we had frogs, not just the legs. These were already cooked. This is the first time that we had the whole frog. Again, as cliche as it sounds, it tastes like chicken wings but juicier. Jess usually doesn't like the idea of frog but had it and liked it.
Next we drove through a few more districts in the worst traffic they have ever seen, even our tour guides have never seen traffic like this. It's xmas eve and everyone from the nearby suburbs are traveling into the city to see the lights and go to the big cathedral in Saigon. I always thought most Vietnamese people are catholic because most that I know are but apparently only 10% of Vietnam is Catholic and 80% are buddhist. Kudos to the tour guides for their driving skills. They drove around in this mad traffic, mounted curbs and drove on rocky spots with me on the back and she weighed no more than 110lbs.
An interesting fun fact; we were taken by a spot where couples go to hook up. It's located behind a gas station where there is a long strip of beach chairs hidden in the bushes that you can rent for $1USD. Because the average income is very low, it's very common to have several families in one house so to get some privacy, people rent these chairs for alone time ;) You always see couples just hanging out in parks, on their scooters, and in coffee shops.
Next on the menu was a seafood restaurant. We started with sugar cane juice and fresh scallops topped with green onion, peanuts and fish sauce. I will definitely add this to my menu at home. The combination of sweet, spicy, crunch of peanuts on the scallops were just right. Then we had razor clams with morning glory. They serve this a lot in Vietnam. It has a very unique texture to it. It's a hollow vegetable much like green onions but thicker and with a crunch to it. Spicy salt crab was up next. The spice was very good but like always the spice stays on the shell that you peel off. They serve this with a dipping sauce of just salt, pepper and cumquat. On the way to the this restaurant in the hectic traffic, Anh (Jess' tour guide) asked Jess if she had ever had Balut. Balut is a fertilized duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell. I know, I know, it doesnt sound the most appetizing. Jess also said she likely wouldn't ever try it but hey, we were on a foodie tour and she already got on a bike in this crazy traffic and had frog on the last stop, so why not? Anh got a Balut for her to try. I've had this many times as a kid but haven't in since and to be honest, the thought of it makes me not want it again but here we go! First you crack the top and make a small hole at the top creating a cup/bowl like function for the shell? You drink the juice first. Sounds horrible but very good. If you like chicken broth you will like this. It's the most natural form of chicken/duck broth you will have. Next you eat the rest of the meat with salt and pepper mixture. It tastes just as good as when I had when I was a kid and Jess really liked it too. I'm very proud of her; she came to Asia and road on the back of a bike with no traffic laws other than you can only have a maximum of two kids but no limit to number of passengers, ate frog and balut. A few others on our tour from Italy and the Netherlands gave balut a go too. They all finished it so they didn't find it that bad. For dessert we had a very tasty flan and a coconut dessert. This had two levels/textures. One was a translucent coconut jelly and the top lay was a thicker white coconut milk consistency and is served in a coconut. Amazing! I wish I had more space to eat more but I was busting at the seems. This was our last stop and then we headed back to our hotel.
This was the best tour we've ever taken. Unlike most tours, they didn't try to cater to non local pallet by feeding us generic BS foods like Manchu Wok or like us Chinese like to call it 'fool the Caucasian cuisine'. They also don't take you to place to spend money on souvenirs at high prices. The tour was a 4.5 hours long and was more than I anticipated at first knowing the price of things in Vietnam but it was worth every penny. The types of foods, service and knowledge supplied was beyond expectation. It's no wonder why it's the number one rated tour for Saigon on TripAdvisor. Thanks to Tung and his wonderful staff!
The next morning we start the day with hu tiu at the popular make shift street restaurants. Hu tiu is a noodle soup but unlike pho which uses chicken or beef broth this uses pork bone broth and no fish sauce. It's made with different types of noodles but we had it with rice noodles. It's topped off with pork, lettuce and fried onions. Across the street is a lady to sells ice coffee so she comes over and sells us drinks. The bowl of noodles cost 20.000 dong ($1) and the coffee the same. The cost of food in Vietnam is unbelievable! Be ajar they're street restaurants they have to do their washing there too so they have a few buckets of water with soap so if you're germaphobe, you might be turned off but it didn't bother me all that much. I assume there are many restaurants in Toronto that have worse practices. They also have a communal water station. One cooler with water and one cleaning bucket and one bucket of mugs. Locals will take a mug, dip it in the cleaning bucket and then dip and fill their mug with Water and then back to into the bucket of mugs when they're done.
Today we had a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels. During the Vietnam war, they built a whole underground world to live and sneak up on their enemies. I was so amazed with the things they came up with. They had underground kitchens that vented smoke miles away so enemies would bomb away from them. Eventually the Americans would use German Shepard's to sniff the smoke exhausts so the Vietnamese would put peppers and spices around the area to confuse dogs. As they killed American soldiers, they would place their bodies nearby the exhaust vents along with spices to further confuse the dogs. Another interesting fact is the Vietnamese had no access to metals and very limited access to firearms so they reused metals from bombs that the US used to create traps and weapons. Of course they would also take guns from American soldiers they killed. It also wasn't uncommon to have women in battle as well. I attempt to Crowley through the tunnels but only made it to the second level. I was top big to fit in the 3rd level and I bet I would have felt a little claustrophobic. Before we left the tunnels, we stopped by the shooting range portion. You get to choose from many types of guns and you must buy a minimum of 10 bullets and they range in process. Jess and I shot an AK-47 and it cost us 300.000 ($15). It was our first time shooting so we really enjoyed it but neither of us hit the target. The tour was good and only cost us $10usd each but the ride there was just brutal. It's only about 75km away but took 2.5-3 hrs each way.
After the Cu Chi tunnels we had our fittings for our tailored items and then it was time for dinner. On the menu tonight was calamari made with rice flour, banh xeo (Vietnamese pancake) and bo kho (vietnamese beef stew) with a banh mi (baguette). Jess has been on the hunt for some good bo kho since we arrived in Vietnam but I think what shes looking for is my moms because she hasn't been satisfied with any of the ones we've had. The banh xeo was nice and big and filled with chicken. Growing up this was a popular dish at home but my mom would make it with shrimp. Inprefer the shrimp over chicken.
The next morning we went to our make shift restaurant for bfast again but this time we got banh cuon and hu tiu. The banh cuon wasn't as fluffy and fresh as in Hanoi but wasn't bad. After bfast we took the rickshaws out on a quest to find my moms old home but no luck. The drivers didn't know where it was but it was a good relaxing morning of touring before we get ready to head to Phuket, our relax leg of the vacation. Today we also pick up our tailored items and before we went to the airport we bought a few banh mi's (Vietnamese subs) to take on the plane.
Saigon was a great place to eat but the constant horn honking and the crazy traffic finally got to me. Will I ever go back? For the food, definately. But there is still too much of the world to see. I would return if my mom wanted to go back and see the change in her country. Thanks Saigon! I left with a full belly and a sense of the city where my mom came from. See you in Phuket!
Phu'd and Travel
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