This is my second time in Vietnam. Every city in the country seems to have an attitude of their own, and Ho Chi Minh is no exception. It feels like a place trapped in between Western modernisation and old school laid-back Vietnamese charm. Here's a list of ten things I love about Ho Chi Minh city!

1. The café culture. There are hundreds of small quirky cafes around the city, and when you sit in them, you'll feel like you're kind of in low-budget Woody Allen movie.

2. I don't like coffee. Unless I'm in Vietnam. The coffee here costs around $1 per cup, and even better than Starbucks. I tend to drink coffee here during all mealtimes and in between, then come back to the hotel dehydrated.

3. The fact that motorcycles are like ants, and they drive up to the pedestrian walkway then honk you for blocking their paths (???).

4. Its war-torn history. If you pay a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels (the 200+ km underground tunnels where Vietnamese hid to escape from the genocide) you'll wonder how they ever survived. It'll remind you how willpower can beat everything.

5. Pho. Pho (pronounced ‘fe’) is a type of noodle soup that everybody eats in Vietnam, everywhere. It’s a clear broth with mainly meat, rice noodles and a LOT of side herbs. Pho is good, but it only becomes great if you eat it by the street while almost getting hit by a motorcycle.

6. The streets behind the streets. If you are walking down a main street, chances are there is another street sandwiched behind it and another main street. You’ll find small, cheap hotels, or hidden cafes up an empty staircase. Or a dude trying to sell you ‘best one original’ jade stones.

7. Ho Chi Minh, the guy. He’s pretty famous around here. It’s worth getting to know the man behind the name.

8. The skinny locals. If you need to feel like a fat, greasy ogre, come to Vietnam where everybody is slim and has great skin complexion. Even the guy who sold me a t-shirt looked like he's just stepped out of a skin care ad.

9. The fact that the city is obsessed with French Tintin.

10. Walking around the city. Strap on a bag, put on some glasses and go for a long walk around the city. It’s beautiful out there.

The first thing I noticed about Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon, as the locals like to call it, is that it is not at all like Hanoi. If Hanoi is a reminiscent of old Shanghai, Saigon looks like a capital, with a lot more infrastructures and modern building. I loved walking around the city at night – we did this after having some late night drinks on the Rex Hotel café, which is a café on the rooftop of the Rex Hotel. The weather was cool, and by 12 am the city had toned town most of its traffic, so it was like walking in a lonely city. The Opera House and Parliament and Notre Dame Cathedral were sparkling beauties, with luminescent lights and a still air about them.

We didn’t do much sightseeing here. I wanted to go for the Mekong cruise, where we could supposedly see the life along the Mekong River, and how people process rice to make rice crispies out of them (I didn’t know they were actually made by real rice!), but there wasn’t enough time. We went café crawling, by which we went to visit a few different cafes because that’s one of the things Saigon are most famous for.

And then of course, we (I) went on a shopping craze around town. There’s a shop that can make you any dress right out of a magazine for USD60, and so I tried my luck in making a dress that was worn by Gwyneth Paltrow – reasonably plain with a peach undertone and a very well cut silhouette, and hey, the seamstress did a really good job! There was the Ben Tanh market which sold fabrics and home décor and shirts and imitations of all kinds, and art shops are everywhere around the city. I wanted to buy a piece of drawing, which had a ballerina dancing by the window, but I had only 50 dollars left, and that was supposed to pay for my dinner, my taxi ride to the airport and my excess baggage upon checking in,  so that was that.

Saigon is great city of you’re looking to relax and spend some good cash on some awesome clothes and things. It certainly didn’t have the cultural air as Hanoi, but in a way it has its own identity of being a modern city with a twist of Vietnamese. Highly recommended for the bored.

Places To Eat: Saigon somehow feels a little more hygienic than Hanoi, so I wouldn't mind eating anywhere. If you need Halal food, then the Du Dong street offers a row of Halal restaurant options, from Vietnamese to Middle Eastern to Malaysian menus. Otherwise there are bakeries along the main roads that sell excellent baguettes, which are awesome eaten with scrambled eggs, meat slices. And how about some street pho? Awesome! 

The Opera House at night.

Eating Pho and baguettes by the street!

The Notre Dame Cathedral

One day in Mid June, I was sitting around the office with my girlfriend Mariah, reminiscing on the fact that when were younger we would pack our bags and travel everywhere as long as our bank account has not emptied. Now, all we ever do is sit around the office and look at postcard pictures on the internet.

“Let’s go to Vietnam,” I can’t remember which of us said that first.

Two months later we have booked our plane tickets, gotten three more friends to join us for the trip, and accumulated papers of research on places we would go and things we would do. The thing about me is that I don’t like to be ‘touristy’. I don’t like going to other places around the world, only to end up in some overrated tourist beach and eating common western food and spending two days in the main city while claiming that I have visited the country. I like to get right under its skin. Eat its local food and visit places where everyday people do everyday things, while gawking in awe at the same time.

We decided to visit Vietnam – and by Vietnam, I don’t mean visiting the main city and peering at the museum windows. We wanted to backpack across the country, and so we planned our trip from North to South of the country, covering two large cities, one small town and one large bay.

Here are some things that you must, MUST BRING WITH YOU when you go on a backpacking trip

1.       Clothes that can be worn at least two different styles. Who says you have to look like a slob when travelling? Then again, you don’t want to be dragging three suitcases filled with clothes.

2.       Cash. Apparently, it’s hard to use a credit card in Vietnam, so this was a good move.

3.       A small blanket – this can double as a blanket for cold plane/bus/train rides, a towel if necessary, and a mat if u need to have a small picnic at parks when you’re discovering a city.

4.       Disposable undies – Super light in the bag, and nothing boosts your mood better than a pair of clean dry ones!

And here are some things YOU SHOULD FORGET ABOUT BRINGING with you.

1.       Makeup – bring a lip balm, mascara and a compact, and that’s it. NO NEED FOR THE FOUNDATION.

2.       Suitcase. It’s called a backpacking trip, bimbo. Not only does it make your life difficult by having to drag it everywhere, it screams ‘princess’ instead of ‘adventurous’. And nobody likes princesses in a backpacking trip.

3.       Heels.

Bon voyage!

Trip Itinerary!

My first impression of Hanoi was that is was Shanghai 1987. The buildings in the French Quarter was so closely built together, with lanes zig-zagging across it, with more smaller lanes creating an infinity of maze within it. My second impression of the place was that the road is a war zone. Apparently motorcycles outnumbered the number of rats in the city, and there is nothing a motorcycle couldn’t carry – we saw one carrying four full grown adults, one with six sacks of potatoes, and even one with a large tree, although don’t ask me how the hauled that one up there.

The French Quarter resembled a French-influenced city with authentic Vietnamese culture, where vendors boiled animal intestines by the roadside, a full pig was being roasted by the shop that sold dresses, and a sidewalk doubles up as both an aisle and an eating joint – stools and small tables are placed right by the road where motorcycles passed by the inch of your nose.

We walked for the most part of the city, except for the trip to the West Lake, which is a large lake located in the outskirts of the city. We had some iced coffee at a café that overlooked the whole of the lake at sunset, and afterwards walked around and joined a group of ladies doing aerobics by the lake. By the time I got back I was positive that I had sweated off the whole of my French fries and hamburger I had the night before.

That night we decided to catch a Water Puppet Show. I was watching Samantha Brown in the Travelling Channel the other day and she said it was a marvelous experience, so we wanted to go for it. On our way to the show hall we stopped by a souvenir shop by the Turtle Lake to get ourselves some t-shirts. Note to self and others: when travelling to a foreign country and you’re not familiar with the currency, always bring a calculator around. My friend Amar and I ended up arguing over the currency exchange while trying to buy a pair of shirts, and by the end of it the shop owner looked at us like we were a bunch of idiots.

The Water Puppet Show was definitely interesting. It was a mixtures of songs, dance and story-telling on the myths and legends surrounding Hanoi. I couldn’t understand a word of the performance, but the English-translated pamphlets and the colorful puppets swimming around in the water definitely helped.  Well, in my case in did. In my friend Mariah’s case, it sent her dozing off the minute the drumroll started.

We wrapped up the night by going for a night cap at a rooftop café between the West Lake and the French Quarter, called the City View café. Mariah’s Vietnamese friend, Vu, joined (and bought us!) in for some drinks and the café’s view was pretty amazing. As we walked back to our hotel (Mai Hotel, located right in the heart of the French Quarter, beautiful small place with amazing customer service) we saw that there were rows and rows of stalls selling late night snacks with people relaxing on the stools while listening to some teenagers belting out their vocals to a karaoke machines which was strangely located in the middle of the street. My friends and I thought, hey, what the hell, and decided to join this crowd before going back home. We shared a plate of dried squid which was grilled on a charcoal and served with a bowl of red, flaming chili sauce. Needless to say, I didn’t require any digestive assistance that night.

Places to eat: Plenty of places to eat if you’re up for it, but if you’re a Muslim, there are two restaurants worth checking out.  Nisaa Restaurant, which is an Indonesian/Vietnamese place (try the iced coffee and the beef pho, a type of Vietnamese dish.) and also Namaste Restaurant, which has the best butter chicken I’ve tasted so far! All of the cafes serve really good coffee, especially the ones along West Lake. And if you’re adventurous enough, give the dried squid snacks by the roadside a go. They look weird, but they really do burn your tastebuds!
Places to eat: Plenty of places to eat if you’re up for it, but if you’re a Muslim, there are two restaurants worth checking out.  Nisaa Restaurant, which is an Indonesian/Vietnamese place (try the iced coffee and the beef pho, a type of Vietnamese dish.) and also Namaste Restaurant, which has the best butter chicken I’ve tasted so far! All of the cafes serve really good coffee, especially the ones along West Lake. And if you’re adventurous enough, give the dried squid snacks by the roadside a go. They look weird, but they really do burn your tastebuds!

One of my friends trying out the selling baskets. Afterwards the girl who lent it to him charged him 5 bucks.

The West Lake. A bit off from the city center, but with many interesting cafes overlooking the lake.

The Turtle Lake, another one of the many lakes in the city.

Watching the water puppet show. Thank God for the English translated pamphlets.

The trip to Ha Long Bay from Hanoi did not start off well. The bus picked us right in front of the hotel at 8 a.m. sharp, and because it was still early, I dozed off. Well, that would’ve been fine, except the fact that when I woke up, I found myself sleeping on a Vietnamese guy I sat next to in the bus. Embarassed, I apologized, but he didn’t speak any English. We got to the harbor at noon, and a small boat transported us to our cruise, ‘the Poseidon’.

Yep, I realized that this was also the name of that ship that sunk in the movie where everyone died miserably. So of course the first thing that I checked was that I knew where the floaties are (that way I can beat the competition and kick everyone else away from it and swim my own self to safety).

As the ship sailed away from the shores, we entered a region entirely different altogether. I was transported into a world of Avatar. No, seriously, I’m not kidding. All of my friends concluded that this must be the place where they got inspired to make the movie. It looks exactly the same!

In the evening the tour guide took us caving. Apparently there are hundreds of caves in Ha Long Bay, some of which remains undiscovered. Caves are considered sacred for Vietnamese, and many of the stalagmite formations are associated with the shapes of animals that they could worship. We came across a stalagmite that was shaped like a (excuse my language) man’s private parts. “This is shaped like a man’s private parts,” the tour guide said. “People come to get blessings from it so that they may produce lots of healthy children.”

“There’s the penis, but I don’t see any balls,” A white British woman pointed out. The tour guide pretended not to hear this, because he probably didn’t have the answer. My friends and I pretended not to hear this, because it was embarrassing.

Afterwards we went kayaking in the heart of Ha Long Bay. We went through caves into hidden lagoons that are amazing, and when we screamed it echoed all around. The water is green, though not very clear, and the limestone formations made crooks and hidden lagoons and small shores that were beautiful to explore. By sunset we were sitting at the sunning decks watching the sun disappear behind a clutter of limestone hills.

One word: mesmerizing. If I have to list down 100 places to see before you die, this should definitely be one of them.

Places to eat: The cruise offers dine-in meals. Upon booking the cruise, we specified that we wanted vegetarian meals and seafood only. In return we were served some really nice stuffed crabs, stir fry squids and veggies. The food is overall simple but delish.

The Poseidon cruise! Looks like an old style junk, which plays well with the environment.

Within one of the gorgeous caves around the bay.

Kayaking around the hills, lagoons and caves. Amazing experience.

Sunset on the cruise. Quite nothing like I've ever seen before.

In order to go to Hue, we needed to return from Ha Long Bay back to Hanoi, and then take a train to Hue. Hue is a town located in Central Vietnam, and it took us 13 hours to get there. As we got to the station, it was dusk and nobody was around to help out. We finally found out in a nick of time that the train had already arrived, and to get there we had to cross five railways by foot. We ran across it with our backpacks and got on the train. The minute I saw the inside I was instantly reminded of the image of an Indian train. The train officer was almost of no help either – he ended up pulling my scarf to see where my hair is at (wtf?) and as I pulled away, he rudely muttered something in Vietnamese and left.

The size of the cabin was 2x4 meters, and in it were six beds, stacked three storeys high each side. The top one looked more like drawer to me. We sat on the bottom bunks and played cards for hours. All the while I had this thought in my head that this must what it feels like to serve in a prison cell for raping 30 women. If the government is looking to reduce sexual crime rates, they should put the boys in these train cabins overnight. That should do the trick.

Hue is small town, with much of its central attention put on the Perfume River, where the Citadel is also located. The Citadel is a Forbidden City, where the emperor lived with a whole separate facilities system from the rest of the world. We went on a little cruise along the Perfume River to watch the sunset, at which we found a little boy pooping by the river while his elder brother swam next to him. Five meters away, a woman was cleaning her kitchen utensils.

On a more optimistic note, Hue is a peaceful city with friendly people who were always eager to help you around, and this includes the men eating at a restaurant who helped us with the maps and directions. My guy friends also made custom jeans that cost them less than 20 dollars a pair. The food is also generally delicious, especially their bread and vegan choices.

Places to eat: There is a vegan restaurant call Lao Hen, which is famous among the monks who reside in the town. The food is so good you’ll hardly even realize you’re going vegan. The soups are flavorful and delicious, while the stir fries are spiced amazingly well too. Be sure to try their aubergine dish, as well as their bamboo shoot salad.

 

The thirteen-hour train ride. Not advised for the non-adveturous.

Inside the Forbidden City, Citadel. Pretty awesome to think that it was filled with eunuchs ones.

If every meal is like this, I'm pretty sure I can be a vegan. For about a week.