Days 43-45: Ho Chi Minh City

Following our culinary delight in Bangkok, it was on to Vietnam, a land which Heather (who had been fortunate to visit before) promised had amazing flavors as well.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon) and took a cab to an apartment we had rented on AirBnB. This was our second foray into renting something on the website and won't be our last. The website is like a much more user friendly VRBO site or for those that don't know, a place where people can rent out their apartments/rooms to guests. The apartment we found was ideally situated in District 1, a popular area in the city. Mainly blue collar workers lived in the complex so the corridors leading up to the room were dark and dingy, but the room itself had been newly renovated/modernized and was a great home base to have.

Having arrived at lunchtime, our first order of business was to get some food! We didn't miss a beat finding a street food stall in front of the apartment that came highly recommended. A walk around the corner to another stall where we just ordered by pointing to random objects, and our meal was complete! Tasty lunch for under $5 for the both of us. For some reason in Vietnam, eating street food isn't nearly as gastrically worrisome as everything just seems cleaner (so far, so good). Since we saved so much at lunch, we splurged with some ice cream at Fanny.

Street food in front of the apartment. The dark hall is the entrance to our apartment!

Splurging with some delicious green tea ice cream.

After our delicious meal, we set to explore the city's more popular sights. The best mode of travel in a city congested by traffic? Motos! Motorcycles are able to navigate the streets and weave through the cars effortlessly. Of course when you watch it action, it's a wonder you never see accidents. The best part was, each ride cost us about $1 a person (perhaps we bargained a little hard as evidenced by one sour-faced cab driver, but he still took us).

Moto riding with the rest of them.

We headed over to the War Remnants Museum, a museum dedicated to the Vietnam War. It was actually a rather intriguing depiction of the war, obviously from the Vietnamese perspective. Of course, neither Heather nor I were alive during this time but needless to say the choice words for the Americans were not kind. Perhaps some of it was Vietnamese propaganda but after visiting the museum, it's a wonder that they allow any Americans to visit at all. From the claims of Agent Orange to the loss of life, it was a very somber experience.

Walking around town, we encountered plenty of folks that knew how to sell. Take for instance the guy who was hawking coconuts. We politely declined, but next thing you know, he has me carrying all his coconuts and then, buying two of them even though we only wanted one (if any at all!).

Carrying coconuts the traditional way

The next day, we took a trip to the Cu Chi tunnels, an elaborate system of underground tunnels that the Viet Cong used cleverly in their resistance of American forces. It was great that we had visited the War Remnants Museum the day before as we had a much better perspective. Overall, the tunnels were kind of touristy and cheesy - the highlight of the tour is the ability to shoot an American machine gun (no thanks, I'm Texan but a gun meant for killing people and probably confiscated from American captives?). It was interesting to see the tunnels though and how small they were. I crawled 10 meters through one in pitch darkness with my shoulder rubbing the walls. Good thing I'm not claustrophobic! It's no wonder that the Viet Cong were able to put up such a resistance. For $5, the trip wasn't a waste, but for that amount you can buy an awful lot of street food!

Obligatory tourist photo showing the entrance size to one of the tunnels.

Heather looking forlornly as we descend into the "tourist" tunnel, one that has been widened to accommodate the western tourist.

As for the street food, well there was lots of it. It was after all our primary reason for coming to Southeast Asia. For every meal, we ate some kind of different regional dish, and most of the time at some street side stall/restaurant. The flavors were even better than I could have ever imagined. I came with high expectations, but the food surpassed them all! The food is so much more inventive and expansive than I thought. We get a fraction of a fraction of "Vietnamese cuisine." Below are just some of the dishes we tasted.

Eating our morning pho, the customary breakfast food, in an alleyway.

One of the nicer places we stopped in at, but no matter, Vietnamese coffee is divine everywhere

Having a rich bowl of soup with the locals. (Don't tell Heather about the giant rat that ran by!)

Cute banh beo, steamed rice cakes

Vietnamese crab, by far our most expensive dish in Vietnam but tasty enough