Vu picked us up at the hotel for the ride to Da Nang airport where Peter was waiting to assist with the check-in for our flight to Ho Chi Minh City. Peter has been great and is our favorite guide so far. As with all of our guides, he has intimate stories of the war years and the impact on his family. Difficult times.
Da Nang airport is very nice and modern although hangers left over from the war are visible near the main runway and appear to still be in use. In a moment of weakness, we hit up the Burger King for American food. The menu was faithful to that here in the States and the food tasted surprisingly the same.
Our new guide and driver (Thang & Hoi) met us at Saigon’s Tan Son Nhat Airport. The airport baggage collection area is HUGE. We’ve never seen anything even half the size before (a least 3 football fields or larger). Our hotel, La Siesta Premium Saigon, is nice and typical of hotels in larger cities. Our room is pretty small but fine for the few evenings of our stay. We are right in the middle of the city and within walking distance of the Pasteur Street and East/West brewery outlets. Yay!
We booked an evening ‘Vespa Foody Tour’. As in the other SE Asian countries we’ve been in, traffic laws in Vietnam seemed to be suggestions not the rule and very rarely followed. Even from the backseat of a SUV, it’s a little intimidating. Saigon has 14 million people and 10 million scooters & motorbikes. They must have all been out this night as things were a little sporty. You get great appreciation for the traffic ‘dance’ from the back of a scooter, it’s just like watching synchronized swimming.
There is an Antique Vespa Club that restores old scooters and pairs with the tour company to offer this adventure. Our guide, Vi, and several of the club members took us to a fun selection of joints featuring Saigon specialties. One Vietnamese specialty is ‘Bahn Mi’, a sandwich served in a fresh baguette with pate, sliced roasted pork, sliced ham, pickled vegetables, cucumber and Cilantro. We had tried it at another restaurant and didn’t think much of it, but at ‘Madame Vin’s’ we had the real deal. We also enjoyed a large meal at a seafood restaurant along with a banana/coconut milk dessert from a food cart. We finished off the tour with a hand crafted cocktail at ‘The Iron Bank’ a hidden bar tucked away in an old bank building. Mary said it was the most fun she had in years.
After the tour, we finished off the evening at the Sky Bar atop our hotel. The city views were fantastic.
