Sunday 5th evening…

Managed unwittingly to eat at a Michelin guide restaurant last night, although you would never have guessed from the appearance. Banh Xeo looks like a street food cafe, all spilling out onto the pavement and the kitchen itself looks like something out of the dark ages with a myriad of chefs weirding woks / frying pans cooking over clay pots. I did happen to see a small honoury plaque to Anthony Bourdain who know doubt ate here at some point… Anyway, we just ordered a few spring rolls as neither of us were particularly hungry. Very delicious and all very entertaining people watching as well as seeing the owner keeping his ten dogs under control. On our way back we’re caught up with the big match as Thailand are playing Vietnam in their equivalent of the World Cup so everyone is in a party mood and everyone seems to be crowded around a TV somewhere. Vietnam beat Thailand 3 vs 2, so the vuvuzelas can be heard throughout the night.

Monday 6th January
Day 2 in HCMC

Slow start to the day, was awake early reading about the history of Vietnam, and inevitably the Vietnam war and reunification.After filling my head, I crept up on the roof terrace (also the laundry area) rolled out my mat and spent an hour doing yoga. Back down to grab J for breakfast he wants to head out to grab a real Vietnamese coffee to wake up. Then we’re off on a walking tour by ourselves for the day, planning to go and see the Jade Buddha Pegoda and the Independence Palace… after a good bit of waking we head to a nail spa to get my feet attended to as they’re starting to look in need of help, J heads off for a walk and gets totally lost ad has to get a Grab car back to me. He’s a bit disoriented so I go and buy some water and a fresh coconut juice as I think he’s dehydrated. We walk back to the hotel for a bit of a breather and then it’s out again, this time to the Saigon River, where we hop on a ferry which takes us several stops up river just as it’s starting to get dark (we had hoped to catch the sunset but it’s a big overcast this afternoon, but still a very balmy and humid 31 degrees!). We head up to a roof top bar that Nana (always makes me chuckle, and makes me think of my lovely ‘real’ Nana). We then sample a crepe, Vietnamese style (basically an ultra thin crepe (referred to locally as Bahn Xeo) stuffed with bean sprouts, egg, shrimp or pork and served with lots of salad leaves, herbs and spices) delicious! We then head back across the river to our hotel. Need to pack up as we’re moving on tomorrow and as I’ve managed to completely re-launder the contents of our backpacks everything needs rolling and stuffing back in.

We’ve really enjoyed HCMC, despite the noise, chaos etc on the roads, the feeling you could get run over at any moment, the people, place and food are incredible, particularly given their history it’s amazing that they’re so friendly and accommodating. To sum up in the words of the great Antony Bourdain “Going to Vietnam the first time was life-changing for sure; maybe because it was all so new and different to my life before and the world I grew up in. The food, culture, landscape and smell; they’re all inseparable. It just seemed like another planet; a delicious one that sort of sucked me in and never let go.”