Sensory Overload: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

April 13, 2023 admin

Written by Ruth E. McBride

(March 11, 2023 on a recent three day trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on a Viking Neptune World Cruise).

A 3 day trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam sounds so foreign and exotic, but what is Vietnam really like today, 48 years after being a broken, fractured, war torn country?

Vietnam is traffic!  With a population of 98 million and 50% owning motorcycles, the traffic is absolutely chaotic! Traffic lanes, signals and signs, are all just ‘suggestions’ for motorcyclists.  Looking both ways before crossing the street is not good enough, you have to look in the rider’s eyes to understand their intentions!

Beyond the constant traffic, Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, is rich with stunning French grand colonial architecture, but also has unique touches of neoclassical architectural influences borrowed from immigrants who settled from Hong Kong, and China.

Cultural sights of the City do not hide the bitter history of the 20 year Vietnam war, but instead celebrate it. Independence Palace, also known fittingly as Reunification Convention Hall  has replica tanks on display commemorating the events of 1975, which led to the fall of Saigon and the reunification of North and South Vietnam. 

On another busy street corner in District 3 downtown Saigon, rather than hide a low point in the treatment of the Buddhist Vietnamese people, The Burning Man Statue reflects a moving tribute to the former history of religious persecution in Vietnam.

Venturing further into the back alleys of Ho Chi Min City, even coffee shops still bring the history and traditions of this fascinating country to life. 

One of the original 1938 Saigon coffee shops,  Cafe-Cheo still makes traditional iced coffee using a paper filter, strong medium to dark Vietnamese coffee and four pots, over an 80 year old charcoal fired clay stove. The coffee was deep, dark and delicious and served the traditional way with sweetened condensed milk on the bottom of the tall glass cup, ice, topped with rich coffee passed over the paper filter many times to bring out the delightful flavour. Coffee shops are abundant in Vietnam and Cafe-Cheo should not be missed.

For a modern, thriving country, the echoes and whispers of the past are not buried but celebrated throughout this thriving, bustling country.  Sensory overload occurred on virtually every street as we traversed on foot down back alleys;  through bustling markets, by cool taxi, slow bus and in the middle of the crazy traffic in a pedal cab. The three day amuse-Bouche of Vietnam was not enough; I hunger for more. 

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