Saigon Stories

As much fun as traveling can be, it gets tiring moving around all the time. It's exhilarating to see new places, but sometimes you just want to sleep in the same bed for more than two or three nights. Bearing this in mind, we decided to slow down our pace and stay in Saigon for a little over a week. We figured we'd really be able to explore the city, and with so many food and sightseeing options, we were sure to stay occupied.

We split up our time visiting some of the more classic sights like the Reunification Palace, which has been left in the same condition, since 1975. My favorite rooms were the shooting gallery

and the eerily empty type writer room.

We made sure to set aside some time to tour the beautiful temples in Chinatown, filled with pink slips for good luck
and huge cones of incense hanging from the rafters.

Having had a lot of fun at previous zoos, we were excited to check out the HCMC zoo. Unfortunately, it turned out to be pitiful, as it was filled tiny, unclean cages and with animals that were hotter than we were.

We spent an afternoon at the ridiculously kitschy Dansen park, whereMorgan posed with the stone sculptures,

I barely survived a dinosaur attack (seriously the ride was TERRIFYING)

and we chanelled cool thoughts at the ice sculpture park.

We visited Cholon, the Chinatown section of town, where every section of the market was jam packed with specific goods. Witness the shoe/flip flop section,

the wok section,
and the rope section.

We attempted a multi-day motorcycle Mekong delta trip, but it was foiled due to passport issues. Note to future travelers: make sure you ALWAYS have your passport if you want to stay in a hotel in Vietnam, they're real sticklers about it. We got as far south as Ben Tre, and made sure to pick up some famous coconut candy while we were there, but unfortunately had to turn back around and head home the same evening.

Lastly, the best part about being someplace for a while, is starting to feel familiar with the streets and restaurants. Since we can't cook for ourselves, we're always looking for meals that are so good we can't wait to go back.
The slam dunk of Saigon was Nhu Lan, which we found through the amazing blog eatingAsia. We quickly became addicted to the yummy spring rolls and

some of the best doner (it tasted a lot like NYC pastrami) I've ever had.

We ended our time in Saigon, having dinner with a fellow couchsurfer, who is a food scientist for Nestle. He took us to a delicious banh xeo restaurant and we followed it up with milk tea near the park by our hostel. We had a wonderful time in Vietnam, despite the incessant heat and humidity. We've got one more country to explore, Cambodia, before we head home in June, so stay tuned...