Ho Chi Minh is my kind of city - just enough chaos to keep you on your toes; packed with people, and yet full of quiet avenues; gritty and welcoming - like Cairo and Bangkok, only with its own special quirks.
Friendly faces were in every cafe and on every street - men smiling and laughing, sitting on tiny plastic chairs in groups on the sidewalk sipping sweet coffee much like men sat on plastic chairs in groups in whatever space was available sipping tea in Cairo.
As Vietnam is so big, and I'm getting too old to deal with the chaos of city bus terminals - of which I have never been a fan - this trip I booked a few day tours to mix in with the city wandering.
Les Rives took my friend and I on a fantastic tour of the Mekong Delta. The boat took our small group of 15 or so people down wide and narrow canals to a few temples, a market, a snake farm, and a few villages. The tour operators were especially keen on supporting the local people who live in the delta - passing out extra sandwiches from our breakfast to local children and families, paying delta families to show us into their homes or buying food from the families for our lunch or snack. The tour even included some local moonshine (which I sadly had to decline due to being sniffly) in a tiny shack-bar run by a little old woman.
Saigon Cooking Class took us on a Street Food Tour on the backs of scooters, which was both terrifying and amazing and included some of the best food I've ever had anywhere.
The tour also took us to a local flower market...
There was also a bit of wandering around Ho Chi Minh - which is fairly difficult to just wander around - again, like Cairo and Bangkok, you sort of have to know where you are going and take a cab or walk with purpose and a map to get there because it's just so spread out. Of course, most wandering was in markets because FOOD!
I think Vietnam was one of the best vacations I have had in a long time and I hope to make it back to SE Asia at least once more while I am in Korea.
