Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam: Tips for Saigon

Stay: Bui Vien, District 1

We stayed in District 1, where most foreigners stay. Bui Vien is the main road, and every taxi driver will assume you're staying there if you're white. We stayed at the Beautiful Saigon Hotel for $33/night, (breakfast included). The rate is average for the area, but if you're on a budget you can easily find places for $10/night.

Bui Vien is relatively quiet during the day but transforms to chaos at night. It is THE PLACE to eat cheap, drink cheap, and party all night.

During the day you can shop for cheap shirts ($2) or travel pants ($3) for better prices than nearby mega-market Ben Thanh. The best place to eat is at Donor Kebab. For 25,000VD ($1.20), you get a delicious kebab and can hang out with this guy:

For a good photo op, take a ride on a cyclo:

If you're looking to have a suit made, visit the tailor SY TAN. The old man has been making suits for over 50 years, and his shop produces about 90 suits per week. Ian didn't really know what kind of suit he wanted when he first entered the shop. Sy Tan listened to Ian's concerns and created the perfect suit that Ian had imagined. The craftsmanship was so amazing that Ian ended up having THREE SUITS made. The price was around $175 for a whole custom made suit, including material. (When we purchased the material elsewhere, it was about $135.) He also made three long button-down shirts for Ian. I cannot recommend this tailor enough!

 

Close to Sy Tan is a store dedicated to old war propaganda posters. It's worth a visit.

 

You'll find many painting shops along Bui Vien where you can purchase reproductions of famous paintings or have a custom painting made. We had paintings made from a few different shops, and the best shop by far was Minh Anh Art Gallery. You just send them a picture you want painted, they'll print it out on canvas and paint over the picture... pretty foolproof!

Vendors walk up and down the street trying to sell bracelets, sunglasses or souvenir Vietnam fans. They will start the transaction asking for WAY more than then item is worth, but they'll eventually haggle to about 1/10th the original asking price. Motorbike carts drive by with different snacks, most often flattened squid jerky. Most restaurant have you sitting outside facing the street, providing great people-watching opportunities. 

 

We were offered weed A LOT around this area during the day. At night, the menu extends to heroin and ecstasy. 

White expats carry around balloons and what looks like industrial-size cans of whipped cream. They fill the balloons with nitrous. We didn't dabble.

There are a lot of hookers and ZERO cops in this area.

Shop:

Ben Thanh is the major tourist market close to Bui Vien. The market has a lot of the usual food, trinket and scarf souvenirs. If you go, remember to haggle! The prices at Ben Thanh are known to be the most expensive. There is a good variety of fabric to choose from, and most of the vendors can hook you up with a tailor. Some of the stalls promise suits can be made in one day, but we've heard those are very clumsily put together. These shops depend on people being in a rush, not looking over the details and not having enough time in town to tend to imperfections.

Ben Thanh closes at 5PM, and new vendors start to set up shops outside. The Night Market opens at 7PM, and it circles Ben Thanh. Most of the booths are purses, Nike/Addidas athletic clothes, or suitcases.

Saigon Square is close to Ben Thanh and has mostly clothes. You'll find a lot of real and a lot of fake items. It's great for girls who like fast fashion.

Note that a lot of the items in these markets are REAL. Many companies manufacture their products in Vietnam, like Nike. If you see Nike items at these markets, they are probably real, but just because they are real doesn't always mean they are the best product; sometimes they make it to these markets because of quality defects, misspelled tags, etc.

 

There are also a few specialty streets in HCMC. In District 2, there's a guitar street. In District 10, there's a street dedicated to wedding dresses.

Do's & Don'ts:

Do try Vietnamese coffee. The local favorites are Trung Nyguen or Phuc Long. Enjoy choosing from the different variety of coffees; some inspire creativity while others are said to give you ideas. 

Do exercise! The park near District 1 has free workout machines and aerobic classes in the evening.

 

Do monitor your credit/debit card transactions. Ian withdrew money from an ATM on our first night, and his statement showed that he took out much more than he actually had. It happens fast.

Do eat street food. You can't visit Saigon without having a banh mi! (Get one with a fried egg!)

 

Do be careful when you cross the road! Putting your hands up in the air signals to drivers that you are crossing the street.

Don't tip your servers. You're not expected to tip in Vietnam unless you have a server expressly dedicated to serving you. Most restaurants have many servers splitting responsibilities. You don't tip them.

Do tip masseuses. You should tip your masseur at least 50% of the total price of the massage unless you are in a big, fancy salon. Most masseurs only make money from tips.

Don't get your hair dyed by someone who doesn't speak English. I wanted my blonde roots touched up... and this happened:

Do be careful when you get off a motorbike. The exhaust is extremely hot and you will get burned!

Do yourself a favor and get clothes made. Oh, you're not rich? You don't have to be. Ian's long sleeve, button-down shirts cost only $18 ($12 when we provided the fabric) to make! Less than $20 to feel like a million bucks = worth it.

 

Lastly, and most importantly... DO MAKE FRIENDS!

Friends:

Vietnamese people are the sweetest people you could ever meet. Let one of the students in the park talk to you. Make friends with your hotel staff. The locals know the good (and cheap) spots to eat, and they're more than willing to offer advice. Let them in your life and you wont regret it!

  

HCMC, Vietnam D106-110: New Friends (2)

In the morning we headed over to Thao's college, Ho Chi Minh University of Technology. He was a petroleum engineer major, meaning he'll be filthy rich the next time we see him!

We grabbed a dozen roses for Thao outside the school entrance for a mere $2.50USD.

We didn't attend the ceremony but we got to see the aftermath of graduation. It was similar to any US university graduation with happy students and parents everywhere. When we met up with Thao, he introduced us to a lot of his engineering buddies. Everyone at his college has to pass an English test to graduate, so luckily we were able to have basic conversations with his friends. (Though we were asked over and over the usual "Where are you from?" "How many siblings do you have?" and "What is your profession?")

Thao took us around to all of the important spots on campus. He showed us his faculty building, a significant rock, and a drill statue. Pictures, pictures, pictures!

They thought it would be really funny if Ian and I dressed up like graduates. Others took notice, and soon we were taking way too many pictures with strangers dressed like this:

After graduation, Thao and Thuy offered to cook dinner. I told them I could buy ice cream for dessert and they stared at me blankly. "How will we keep it?" they asked. That's when we discovered that Thao has no refrigerator, and apparently it's rare that someone in Vietnam would. For one, the electricity to keep a refrigerator running is costly, and two, everyone goes to the market daily for fresh ingredients.

And so we went to the market with Thao and Thuy. The market was another epic Asian market- everything was fresh and every part of every animal was on display. We picked out all the ingredients we would need for dinner, including a live fish that the vendor gutted right in front of us.

 

 

I pointed to some fruit from the Mekong Delta and told Thuy I'd like to try it. Thuy asked the vendor how much the fruit was, then sharply spoke to her and walked away. I asked her what that was all about, and she said she was quoted a foreigner price because we were with her. She suggested Ian and I go wait by the motorbikes for the rest of the transactions. It's no secret (and not even frowned upon) that foreigners get charged more.


Thao's place was awesome. We were SO excited to get to see how a local lives. He shares his studio apartment with two other male students. Each occupant has a desk and a chair and a mat to sleep on. Just like anyone inviting guests over for the first time, Thao was apologetic that his place was dirty, though it was totally clean.


The best part of Thao's apartment is that he's on the top floor. He and his roommates have a huge balcony all to themselves. You could see most of HCMC from up there.

Thuy cooked a fish soup, a traditional dish from her and Thao's hometown. It was delicious! Thao offered us the fish stomach because that is the "best part" of the meal. I ate it. I did not think it was the best part, but to each his own.


We wrapped up the night by watching the movie Megamind. They're both working towards speaking perfect English. It's genius to watch a PG movie for adolescents where the dialogue isn't difficult and the words are clearly spoken. Plus the movie was hilarious.They drove us home... and guess what? We decided to meet the next day. Their friendship=our crack.

The next evening Thao and his friend Loi took us to a beautiful coffee shop called Stone Garden. Here we had delicious Vietnamese coffee and enjoyed the beautiful landscape. There were gardens and stone sculptures, huge trees with weeping vines, and lights that changed colors. Perfect photo opportunities. Ian even had his guitar with him, which was an excellent prop for everyone.
  

For dinner we have beef hot pot at a local restaurant. We're seated in front of a hot pot and the server brings broth to a boil. Once boiling, someone comes by to add the meat, then it's up to us to add different veggies and the instant noodles. Everything cooks relatively fast, and we feast!

The next evening, the girls and the boys split up. Ian went with Thao, Han and Loi to a Korean hip-hop concert. His favorite group had a song called "I'm a good boy."


While the guys were at the concert, Thuy drove me around to different wedding dress shops. There are two different streets in HCMC that are lined with wedding dress boutiques. I know what you're thinking-- stop being cheap, get your dress in America. But, wait! A lot of wedding dresses sold in America are actually made in Vietnam. These dresses were as good (if not better) than the dresses I could find at home. And the kicker? $300-$450 on average. I'm talking beads, ballroom, lace... the works! Better than David's Bridal. I was in heaven. 

Until... I asked to try on the dresses. Shop owner after shop owner would literally approach me and grab my gut, then say something like "FATTY FATTY FAT FAT WANT CAKE" to Thuy. Thuy was sweet, and kindly informed me that they would have nothing in my size. 

I could have had a dress custom made for me, but then it would have been a final sale regardless of the results. I considered gambling the $300, but the dress would take two weeks to be made, and that was just after we were leaving the country. We left empty-handed and met up with the gang at a coffee shop.

On the seventh day of seven dates, we meet Thao and Thuy in the park. They were leaving on a night bus to spend their holiday in Da Lat. They brought us banh bot loc, which is shrimp in a tapioca dumpling, wrapped in banana leaves. You open the leaves and eat the chewy dumpling covered in fish sauce. Not my favorite, but I'm down to try anything. (Plus it's rude in Vietnam to not eat what someone offers you.) They also brought us rambutan, one of my favorite tropical fruits, and banh mi, a sandwich.

Thao and Thuy's bus didn't leave for another hour, so we decided to tell jokes to each other. It was HILARIOUS. Seriously, try to teach a knock knock joke to someone who has just learned English-- there's just no translating why it's funny! Also, we found out that they have some of the same jokes that we do! During one of Thao's jokes he just sighed and acted all defeated-like... and I realized he had finished the joke and Ian and I didn't get it. It was so funny to find out it didn't translate (probably funnier than if we had even understood the joke). As always, the perverted jokes were the funniest ones of the night.

We walked them to the bus and said goodbye. It was sad to see our friends leave, but we were exhausted from all of our dates- SEVEN IN A ROW!


Having Thao, Thuy, Han and Loi be our tour guides was invaluable to our stay in HCMC. We learned so much about the city and the culture with their guidance. No doubt they will be our friends forever.

Me, Loi, Han, Thao, Thuy, Ian