Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) Vietnam

Nov. 11th – 12th: As mentioned in my previous posts, our stop in Nha Trang Vietnam was cancelled due to docking issues, so we had an additional day at sea before arriving in Saigon the morning of Nov. 11th.

We were excited to return to Saigon, especially since we’d be meeting up with Alice from Vespa Wanderers. Our connection with Alice goes back six years, when we first met during a night foodie tour organized by Scenic River Tours in partnership with Vespa Wanderers. We had such a fantastic time that I stayed in touch with Alice afterward, eager to recommend her tours to others. Over the years, I did just that—and always received positive feedback.

When we realized we’d be in port in Saigon for a couple of days during our East Asia trip, I reached out to Alice. She helped us organize three unique tours, and even made time to meet us for lunch. Reconnecting with Alice and taking the Vespa Wanderers tours turned out to be one of the highlights of our entire journey.

Day One of our two day stop in Saigon – Morning Tour with Vespa Wanderers: Alice arranged for a Vintage Mustang convertible, a driver and a guide “Mr Cat” – it was a fun way to see the city.

First stop was the markets.

A trip to Vietnam is not complete without an egg coffee (iced this time).

Next B/S Art Studio for a tea ceremony and private performance by Vo Hoang Phuong Uyen, a wonderful artist, musician and storyteller. Larry really enjoyed the flute performance.

We purchased a book written by Vo Hoang Phuong Uyen (pen name is Bam Bi) The story tells about the magical transformation and growing up journey of Golden Buffalo and the Boy.

We admired the beautiful artwork on the way out of the gallery, but we resisted purchasing.

It was so nice to catch up with Alice over lunch. We brought maple syrup and maple fudge for Alice and Alice gave us several gifts to remember our time in Saigon. Thank you Alice for making our time in Saigon so special.

After lunch we headed back to the ship and prepared for our evening Vintage Vesta Foodie Tour. Due to the number of photos, I have done our foodie tour as a separate post.

Morning of Day 2 in Saigon: Before we set sail on day two in Saigon, we did our last tour with Vespa Wanderers. Mr Cat was once again our guide and although it was a short tour (ship set sail at 1:00 p.m.), it was very enjoyable.

Next Stop was breakfast at one of Mr Cat’s favourite spots; as you will see from our photos it was more like a lunch time meal for us, but again so good.

Next we headed through the busy streets of Saigon and stopped at a flower market.

Last stop was a private workshop at The Arth to learn how to make egg coffee. It is a very long, precise process which involves weighing ingredients and heating to just the right temperature but the results were worth it. I took some videos in the hope that we can try it at home as we did buy coffee to bring home.

Saigon is the most populous city in Vietnam, with a population of around 10 million. The name Ho Chi Minh was given after the Fall of Saigon in 1975, and honours Ho Chí Minh, the first leader of North Vietnam; however, in southern Vietnam most people still call their city Saigon.

Saigon is a blend of old and new, where narrow alleyways lined with local cafes, markets, and street food stalls are in striking contrast to modern buildings like Landmark 81 and The Bitexco Financial Tower. It’s this striking contrast that makes Saigon so interesting.

As mentioned above, on our overnight in Saigon we did a night foodie tour with Vespa Wanderers. The foodie tour will be our next post.