Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City

Saigon is currently marked by the grand celebration of the 50th anniversary of Vietnam's reunification. The festivities seem to last the whole week and culminate on April 30th, the day we fly home. Large parts of the city center are completely closed off to anything but pedestrian traffic, so we've already booked a hotel right by the airport.

On our very first evening, when we arrived, many roads were blocked - even for pedestrians. Large groups of soldiers in various uniforms marched through the streets to the great cheer of the onlookers - especially the teenage girls 🥹 It felt a bit like rockstar status, and the young soldiers clearly enjoyed it 😄

The women are dressed elegantly, and red t-shirts with a gold star on the stomach, along with matching caps/hats, are also a common sight in the streets.

We're spending our time wandering around the city and just being. It's strange how quickly one gets used to the differences here compared to home. It becomes a bit ‘everyday’. However, there’s something I definitely won’t get used to - the heat! It is awfully hot here day and night with high humidity, and I find that tough. Not much energy, and in the middle of the day, it’s best indoors with air conditioning. I can also see that the Vietnamese take it easy and have a nap in the middle of the day. Whether it's in a hammock, on a motorcycle, or just on a staircase, they sleep. No fuss about that. I would have a hard time living under such weather conditions year-round.

One of the really fun experiences here in Saigon was a food street food tour on a scooter at night - that is, we sat on the back 😊 Oh my, how it flies - and to truly experience the traffic culture, our way out was right during rush hour. There's not much space, but if there's room, the scooter driver will find it. Everyone gives each other space - a mysterious form of system that is hard to decipher for us who are used to traffic rules for almost everything - and the road rage that we see more and more of in Denmark, we don’t experience here. The most important rule here seems to be to use the horn to signal: here I come. From the outside, it looks utterly chaotic, but somehow it feels natural when you're in the inferno. It was just so much fun! And yes, of course, we wore helmets - it's mandatory, but I don’t think the upside-down pot helmets they use here protect against much.

We were driven to a night market that we could never have found by ourselves. We had plenty of food from three different places. There was more than enough of it all, and it tasted quite wonderful. Spring rolls, soup, Vietnamese pizza, and we finished with coconut ice cream. After the meal, we wandered around the market and saw what the various stalls had to offer. Many exotic ingredients - many we don’t know how to prepare. See the pictures - then you'll understand better...

The next day, we were on a tour with a hop-on-hop-off bus. We usually enjoy these kinds of tours, but this time the ride could best be described as a bit trivial - too short and uninteresting. Maybe also a bit because it was pretty tough to sit at the top without a roof - the sun was mercilessly beating down on us, so I had to seek shelter below.

We have booked a trip to the caves at Nhuan Duc, and the transportation will be by speedboat on the Saigon River. We are looking forward to it. The last trip of the holiday is also booked - two days in the Mekong Delta just before we travel home.