How Many Motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City?

I want to share a few snaps with you from our visit to Ho Chi Minh City over the Easter long weekend.

Yes, I had to have the hat

I was seriously excited about my first Vietnamese adventure, primarily because I love Vietnamese food so much!  A bowl of phô and some fresh prawn spring rolls is pretty much my idea of food heaven – fresh, healthy, fragrant, tasty... (I could go on and on...)... 

So first things first, the food:

First up we wandered around the Ben Tanh markets – a chaotic mix of fresh food (vege and meat), souvenirs, clothing, luggage... whatever you want, it’s there.  I love fresh food markets (some of the best ones are in India, but that’s another post entirely), and I’m one of those weird people who likes to take photos of food.  I thought it was brilliant that the stereotypical Vietnamese hat is not actually so far off the mark – everyone wears one – and the women there all seemed to be wearing matching pyjamas as day wear (oh god, how un-PC am I?!).



The hat, the hat!



Obligatory phô, first sampled from Phô 2000 (named after Bill Clinton phô-ed there in 2000) lived up to expectations.

On the Saturday we took a day tour on the Mekong Delta.  Our tour guide was excellent – good humour, not too cheesy and in-your-face with lots of interesting information.  If anyone is heading there, the tour company is called Tuan Travel and our guide’s name is Diem – she’s a keeper.

Our Mekong tour had us off and on the boat, motoring through where they hold the famous floating markets (we missed them – not dedicated enough to get out of bed at 5am) and jumping ashore to see how locals make the various Vietnamese delights – banana/rice wafers, puffed rice coated in caramel, coconut caramel, candied coconut and rice paper.  I’d always wondered why dry rice paper rolls had a criss-cross pattern on them – you can’t see it in the finished roll, so why bother?  Well, now I know...

We feasted like kings for lunch on our tour – fresh spring rolls, fresh fish and veges washed down with a cold beer.  Delicious!  Some of our fellow tour-mates were a bit taken aback by our fish dish, but I didn’t think we were being particularly intrepid when we chowed down on our fish.  Why would you not try it right?

Look at those lips!

I think it is durian season – the durian trees were laden with big spiky green fruit, and the unique durian smell (pungent vomit/poo) lingered in the air.  I haven’t tried it yet (I can’t get passed the smell), but it’s considered a huge delicacy and is really expensive (and also banned on public transport due to aforementioned smell).

Pay by the gram for seriously stinky fruit

We also had some delicious meals out in HCM over the three nights we were there - Ngon Restaurant and Temple Club.  I just can’t get passed the (sadly standard) level of service I seem to come across in Asia.  So attentive that I’ve barely taken my last bite when my plate is whisked away, even if no one else on the table has finished, or constantly refilling my wine glass so it’s ¾ full the entire time, or finishing off the bottle on one person’s glass and presuming we want another bottle instead of spreading it evenly around the table.

Ngon Restaurant

Another highlight was the Cu Chi tunnels – very touristy, but very impressive.  I tried to make it through the tunnel, but claustrophobia kicked in about a meter into the tunnel and I backed out in a huge hurry.  Luckily no one else was behind me because they would have been flattened.  And these tunnels have been enlarged for tourists – the original ones were smaller!!

Too much for me!

I think the activity which was the most fun for me was driving around on motorbikes.  HCM is Motorbike City.  A quick Google estimates a 2.5 million motorbike population!  Our motorbike rides had us ducking and diving through traffic, pedestrians, down narrow back-alleys and along motorways – excellent!  I was thankful I had a driver though – he had nerves of steel.

Where's Wally?

Ho Chi Minh definitely surprised me with how green it was – lots of trees, balcony plants and heaps of flowers being sold on every corner.   We had a few hiccups – scammed by a taxi driver and one of our friends was pick-pocketed by a lady-boy prostitute, but that’s all part of the experience right?

This weekend I’m heading home to New Zealand for my first visit in over a year.  I’m so excited!  Expect to see a few surprising blog posts if all goes according to plan.... stay tuned!