We visited Ho Chi Minh City, Southern Vietnam in November 2024. Also known as Saigon up to 1975 when the Vietnam War ended, it is the is the largest city in the country, with 9 million residents. The city is split up into 24 districts, with District 1 (and 3) being home to the majority of the tourist sites. Here you’ll find a mix of French colonial and modern buildings, markets, museums, street food, fine dining, parks, nightlife, and more! The city is flooded with motorbikes that zip all around you. The weather was hot and humid with random rain showers.
We loved going cafe hopping trying all types of Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk or egg foam. No matter what time of year you go, Ho Chi Minh City can be pretty hot and humid so we loved spending our afternoons cooling off indoors with a cold coffee or teas. Coffee was first introduced to Vietnam by the French in the 1850s and Vietnam is now the world’s second largest coffee producer, after Brazil. The main bean produced in Vietnam is the Robusta bean. This has almost twice the amount of caffeine of Arabica beans (what you likely drink at most coffee shops) and has a more bitter and strong taste. Condensed milk helps cut the intensity, but it’s still pretty strong! We loved our egg coffee making class at Lacàph Coffee Experiences Space as we learned about the history and art of making egg coffee.
We ate the famous Vietnamese bánh mì sandwich which came from the French combining ingredients from the French like baguette, pate, jalapeno and mayonnaise along with native Vietnamese ingredients like coriander, pickled radish and carrots, cucumber and pork. The phrase bánh mì just means “bread” in Vietnamese, but it is actually a sandwich and has become one of the most iconic food items Vietnam originating in Ho Chi Minh City in the late 1950s. We also liked eating bún thịt nướng, a delectable combination of grilled pork, fried spring rolls, noodles, veggies, fresh herbs, peanuts and fish sauce.
It was our first time watching a Water Puppet Show in Vietnam. They have dragons, birds, ducks, turtles and people made of wooden puppets and live singers who play various instruments telling traditional folklore of harvest and fishing. Múa rối nước is a physically demanding craft. Puppeteers stand in water throughout the show, and use the movement of the water to create drama, perfect the illusion, and tell a story. The puppeteers’ secret lies in the material of the puppets themselves, which are made of buoyant fig wood and painted with lacquer. The puppeteers skillfully maneuver the puppet’s arms using bamboo sticks and strings. It takes decades to become a master water puppeteer.
The Reunification Palace also known as Independence Palace, was originally built in 1871, but was replaced by the current version of the palace in 1962. This building is the former South Vietnamese government building and was the scene of the end of the war when North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the front gate in 1975, signifying the fall of Saigon.
The French had a great influence on Vietnam. We saw beautiful French colonial architecture. The French occupied Vietnam from 1858-1954 or 166 years that's why there's so much French influence in language and architecture and culture. The French introduced new ingredients, culinary techniques, and coffee culture to Vietnam during the colonial period. This led to a unique fusion of French and Vietnamese flavors, with traditional French dishes being reinterpreted using Vietnamese ingredients and techniques. notice many buildings around District 1 have a European feel to them. And one of the most obvious is the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was built between 1863-1880, with the original materials all being imported from France. Right next to the Notre Dame Cathedral is Ho Chi Minh City Book Street. The purpose of this street is to provide a space to spread the love and habit of reading. There are alot of cafes around to take a break and read too.
The Saigon Central Post Office is one of the oldest and most iconic buildings in the city with its French architecture style with yellow and white colors. It’s a working post office, and a popular thing to do here is send a postcard or letter back home! Inside you’ll find a bunch of postcards for sale, plus tables to sit at and write. Mailing is pretty simple and there is staff that can help you with postage.
The Opera House is yet another gorgeous French building built in 1898 surrounded by modern city skyrises. This is the home of the city’s orchestra and ballet. You can even watch the Vietnamese Bamboo Circus here called the A O Show, a must see acrobatic show depicting the beautiful history of Vietnam in a creative way with rattan objects.
The Ben Thanh Market is the most famous and oldest surviving market in the city and has been in the same spot, in some form, since the early 17th century! t’s a bustling market with tons of vendors selling all sorts of items, like coffee, nuts, trinkets, souvenirs, household items, meat, and fish. Since this market is mainly for tourists, the vendors ate quite aggressive in selling their souvenirs or food.
For sunset, we went to the Saigon Skydeck in the Bitexco Financial Tower. This very unique, modern skyscraper is the second tallest building in the city. And it is not only cool to look at from ground level, but has a spectacular overlook 49 floors up! Seeing the city from above really puts into perspective how large and busy it is. This tower represents Ho Chi Minh City's rapid industrialization and economic growth. They survived inflation and their middle class is doing very well due to the economic growth and trade with the world. Youth in Vietnam all learn English in school and on Youtube. After a day of sightseeing, we loved being able to look down and pick out all the spots we visited!
Since I was born in Cholon, the Chinatown near Saigon after the war ended, I wanted to learn about the Vietnam war from the Vietnamese perspective as I only saw the American perspective from history class. We visited the War Remnants Museum. This war took place between 1955 and 1975 and was officially fought between North and South Vietnam, with the United States intervening heavily in the 1960's. The horrible war had many negative effects on Vietnam, including massive bombings, Agent Orange, napalm, village massacres, and more. The images in the museum were very graphic at times and hard to look at, but really important to understand what the Vietnamese went through and still experience the after effects of to this day. My father fought in the Vietnam war in the 1970's for 3 years for the South as there was a mandatory draft. Growing up he would tell me lots of stories of the war. If we don't learn from the past, the future just repeats itself. It's been only about 50 yrs since the war but look at the horrors of war repeated in Gaza and Ukraine. Do governments ever learn as it's the civilians who suffer the most in the crossfire as governments fight over territory, political or religious ideology.
Overall Ho Chi Minh City seemed to have modernized so much that it looks alot like some cities in Taiwan like Tainan or Taichung. Even their Crescent Mall is super modern with 5 stories of nice brands, electronics, restaurants, cafes and even a large supermarket with fresh produce. I will surely miss all the great food in Vietnam as their chicken, pork and beef are free range without it antibiotics and growth hormones and taste way better than meat in the US. Their fish and seafood are tender and fresh too probably not farm raised with chemicals and directly from the ocean.
We loved going cafe hopping trying all types of Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk or egg foam. No matter what time of year you go, Ho Chi Minh City can be pretty hot and humid so we loved spending our afternoons cooling off indoors with a cold coffee or teas. Coffee was first introduced to Vietnam by the French in the 1850s and Vietnam is now the world’s second largest coffee producer, after Brazil. The main bean produced in Vietnam is the Robusta bean. This has almost twice the amount of caffeine of Arabica beans (what you likely drink at most coffee shops) and has a more bitter and strong taste. Condensed milk helps cut the intensity, but it’s still pretty strong! We loved our egg coffee making class at Lacàph Coffee Experiences Space as we learned about the history and art of making egg coffee.
We ate the famous Vietnamese bánh mì sandwich which came from the French combining ingredients from the French like baguette, pate, jalapeno and mayonnaise along with native Vietnamese ingredients like coriander, pickled radish and carrots, cucumber and pork. The phrase bánh mì just means “bread” in Vietnamese, but it is actually a sandwich and has become one of the most iconic food items Vietnam originating in Ho Chi Minh City in the late 1950s. We also liked eating bún thịt nướng, a delectable combination of grilled pork, fried spring rolls, noodles, veggies, fresh herbs, peanuts and fish sauce.
It was our first time watching a Water Puppet Show in Vietnam. They have dragons, birds, ducks, turtles and people made of wooden puppets and live singers who play various instruments telling traditional folklore of harvest and fishing. Múa rối nước is a physically demanding craft. Puppeteers stand in water throughout the show, and use the movement of the water to create drama, perfect the illusion, and tell a story. The puppeteers’ secret lies in the material of the puppets themselves, which are made of buoyant fig wood and painted with lacquer. The puppeteers skillfully maneuver the puppet’s arms using bamboo sticks and strings. It takes decades to become a master water puppeteer.
The Reunification Palace also known as Independence Palace, was originally built in 1871, but was replaced by the current version of the palace in 1962. This building is the former South Vietnamese government building and was the scene of the end of the war when North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the front gate in 1975, signifying the fall of Saigon.
The French had a great influence on Vietnam. We saw beautiful French colonial architecture. The French occupied Vietnam from 1858-1954 or 166 years that's why there's so much French influence in language and architecture and culture. The French introduced new ingredients, culinary techniques, and coffee culture to Vietnam during the colonial period. This led to a unique fusion of French and Vietnamese flavors, with traditional French dishes being reinterpreted using Vietnamese ingredients and techniques. notice many buildings around District 1 have a European feel to them. And one of the most obvious is the Notre Dame Cathedral, which was built between 1863-1880, with the original materials all being imported from France. Right next to the Notre Dame Cathedral is Ho Chi Minh City Book Street. The purpose of this street is to provide a space to spread the love and habit of reading. There are alot of cafes around to take a break and read too.
The Saigon Central Post Office is one of the oldest and most iconic buildings in the city with its French architecture style with yellow and white colors. It’s a working post office, and a popular thing to do here is send a postcard or letter back home! Inside you’ll find a bunch of postcards for sale, plus tables to sit at and write. Mailing is pretty simple and there is staff that can help you with postage.
The Opera House is yet another gorgeous French building built in 1898 surrounded by modern city skyrises. This is the home of the city’s orchestra and ballet. You can even watch the Vietnamese Bamboo Circus here called the A O Show, a must see acrobatic show depicting the beautiful history of Vietnam in a creative way with rattan objects.
The Ben Thanh Market is the most famous and oldest surviving market in the city and has been in the same spot, in some form, since the early 17th century! t’s a bustling market with tons of vendors selling all sorts of items, like coffee, nuts, trinkets, souvenirs, household items, meat, and fish. Since this market is mainly for tourists, the vendors ate quite aggressive in selling their souvenirs or food.
For sunset, we went to the Saigon Skydeck in the Bitexco Financial Tower. This very unique, modern skyscraper is the second tallest building in the city. And it is not only cool to look at from ground level, but has a spectacular overlook 49 floors up! Seeing the city from above really puts into perspective how large and busy it is. This tower represents Ho Chi Minh City's rapid industrialization and economic growth. They survived inflation and their middle class is doing very well due to the economic growth and trade with the world. Youth in Vietnam all learn English in school and on Youtube. After a day of sightseeing, we loved being able to look down and pick out all the spots we visited!
Since I was born in Cholon, the Chinatown near Saigon after the war ended, I wanted to learn about the Vietnam war from the Vietnamese perspective as I only saw the American perspective from history class. We visited the War Remnants Museum. This war took place between 1955 and 1975 and was officially fought between North and South Vietnam, with the United States intervening heavily in the 1960's. The horrible war had many negative effects on Vietnam, including massive bombings, Agent Orange, napalm, village massacres, and more. The images in the museum were very graphic at times and hard to look at, but really important to understand what the Vietnamese went through and still experience the after effects of to this day. My father fought in the Vietnam war in the 1970's for 3 years for the South as there was a mandatory draft. Growing up he would tell me lots of stories of the war. If we don't learn from the past, the future just repeats itself. It's been only about 50 yrs since the war but look at the horrors of war repeated in Gaza and Ukraine. Do governments ever learn as it's the civilians who suffer the most in the crossfire as governments fight over territory, political or religious ideology.
Overall Ho Chi Minh City seemed to have modernized so much that it looks alot like some cities in Taiwan like Tainan or Taichung. Even their Crescent Mall is super modern with 5 stories of nice brands, electronics, restaurants, cafes and even a large supermarket with fresh produce. I will surely miss all the great food in Vietnam as their chicken, pork and beef are free range without it antibiotics and growth hormones and taste way better than meat in the US. Their fish and seafood are tender and fresh too probably not farm raised with chemicals and directly from the ocean.
