The Wandering Hart

Ho Chi Minh, or Saigon as many here still call it, is the largest city in southern Vietnam and had been the seat of government and base of operations for the south during the Vietnam War. It’s now a sprawling metropolitan area with great museums and an awesome food scene.

We started our first day here with a coffee at BAN Ca Phe, an adorable cafe hidden upstairs in an apartment building (as it would turn out, this is a theme for businesses around here – a lot of mixed-use buildings). Once we were caffeinated we headed to Ben Thanh Market for a shopping spree. Ben Thanh Market is a large market with a variety of goods and some food stalls but has become increasingly geared toward tourists so you can expect a lot of souvenir stands and a lot of people hassling you to stop at their particular stand. Haggling is expected except at the outer edges of the market which has fixed price stands. We managed to get a lot of souvenirs here as well as some cheap clothes, but I’m sure (as usual) we overpaid for everything!

After dropping our souvenirs off back at our AirBnB, we went to Banh Mi Huynh Hoa, which was featured on Netflix’s Street Food series for its excellent banh mi. It was really good and the serving was huge!

Once we were done with lunch we embarked on a series of museum visits starting with the Independence Palace, which was the southern president’s house and base of operations during the Vietnam War. There were a lot of very interesting displays of the rooms and a great extra exhibit on the Diem regime.

From there we went to the War Remnants Museum, which displayed many of the US military equipment that was left behind as we pulled out of Saigon. It also had an excellent display of Vietnam War photography and a very informative exhibit on Agent Orange and its lasting impacts. This was my favorite museum of the day and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Ho Chi Minh.

After that we were all museum-ed out and ready for a break so we stopped in the taproom of Pasteur Street Brewing, a local brewery, for a sampler of craft beers. We actually went back to this brewery for dinner on another night and found they have amazing sausages and burgers! Such a great find and perfect for when traveling has started to wear on you (at least as an American), which it was for me by this point.

One thing I’ve definitely realized is that we’ll need breaks and to be okay with not always eating local cuisine as we go through this trip. Travel exhaustion is real and sometimes you just need downtime and something familiar. By the end of week 1 I was definitely already feeling that way. But with a little patience and rest (and the help of a burger and beer) I can be ready to keep traveling!