Getting a Taste for Vietnam: Surfing in Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, was the capital of South Vietnam before the country’s reunification in 1976. As the site of so much history, and as one of Vietnam’s biggest cities, there is a lot to see, learn, and taste in the city that is now beloved Uncle Ho’s namesake.

One word for HCM City's streets: Motorbikes!

After our three weeks in Cambodia, we traveled from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City ($10, 6 hours), the former capital of the Southern republic of Vietnam. The three things that soon came to embody my experience in Vietnam—food, history, and new friends—were overwhelmingly present in this busy, bustling motorbike city!

Our five days in Ho Chi Minh City are basically a testament to the wonders of Couchsurfing. We surfed with a host family in Thu Duc District, a 30 minute bus ride from District 2 (in the city center). Our hosts, a 22-year-old university student and her family, gave us an introduction to Vietnam we will never forget! They went above and beyond, showering us with Asia’s famous hospitality, especially in the form of food—tons and tons of wonderful Vietnamese food! We met our host’s university friends and were even invited to big family dinners with extended relatives, where we sat in a large circle on the floor and ate, drank, and laughed for hours on end. Much of our time was spent with our new friends, buzzing around on the backs of motorbikes to out-of-the-way pagodas, street food stands, and local coffee shops. One of my favorite nights was spent on the roof of a cafe near the airport, where the planes flew right over our heads as they came in for landing! We truly had an unforgettable experience, and looking back on our five days in HCM City, it seems like two weeks. Because of Couchsurfing we were able to experience much more in a short amount of time than if we were on our own, and we left feeling as if we were leaving family. Because of our new friends, I learned that Ho Chi Minh City can be an engaging and dazzling place with the right people guiding you. The lesson here? Make local friends whenever possible! Couchsurfing.org is the perfect place to do this. I will never forget the amazing hospitality of our Vietnamese family in Ho Chi Minh City! Here’s a little of what they taught us:

Kim and our host sister Queeny eating street food in University Village

Vietnamese street food:

Street food is a normal part of most Vietnamese people’s daily lives, and local eateries with their own specialties can be found almost everywhere. Some of my favorite meals in Vietnam were on plastic chairs and concrete, and our hosts in HCM City took a lot of time in teaching us about local foods. Here are a few of my favorite street foods we tried in Ho Chi Minh City:

• Phở (pronounced “fuh”): This classic Vietnamese rice noodle soup is a staple throughout Vietnam, but you’ll find it tastes different in the North and the South (it’s a bit sweeter in the South). It is customarily served with fresh herbs, like basil and mint, halved limes, and fish and chili sauces that you can add to taste, and can include chicken (phở ga) or beef (phở bo). Many people eat it for breakfast, but it can be eaten at any time of the day. This is a must-try anywhere in Vietnam!
• Bánh tráng nướng: This is made with a round, thick piece of rice paper filled with various ingredients, rolled, and cooked on a small grill. We ate this delicious snack in University Village, and it contained a simple medley of veggies, chili sauce, and a healthy dose of the staple Vietnamese fish sauce.
• Ram bắp: Delicious Vietnamese hand rolls, usually with meat inside. Our host mom made these often for dinner and I could never get enough of them!
• Tàu hũ đá: This is an iced soy drink our host introduced us to that can include various candied fruits and flavored gelatins. A unique desert!
• Cà phê: Vietnamese coffee is some of the best in the world, and is uniquely prepared in Vietnam with a phin, a drip filter similar to a french press that filters the coffee straight into the cup. It can be served over ice (cà phê đá) and is normally prepared with sweetened condensed milk. This sweet milk coffee can be hot (cà phê sữa nóng) or iced (cà phê sữa đá) and is another must-try anywhere in Vietnam!

What to do in Ho Chi Minh City:

Reunification Palace

We split our time in Ho Chi Minh City between the city center (mainly districts 1 and 2) and Thu Duc district. While most travelers don’t find a reason to head to Thu Duc, I loved our time in this part of the city. Thanks to our wonderful new friends, we had the opportunity to experience Ho Chi Minh City in a very different light. During our five days, I didn’t see a single other tourist in Thu Duc. It’s a great place to try traditional Vietnamese food and chat with the super friendly locals! Local bus fare from Thu Duc to the city center is around 25 cents.

This isn’t to say we didn’t get our tourist on in HCM. We started at the Reunification Palace (or Independence Palace), which used to be the administration center for South Vietnam’s government. The palace has been kept exactly as it was when North Vietnamese troops breached the main gate on April 30, 1975, down to a replica of the tank on display toward the front of the palace. Admission to the palace is 30,000 dong per person and includes a free guide. Our tour took around half an hour and we got to see all the most important parts of the palace, including some very vintage and important-looking underground control rooms! It definitely feels like stepping back in time!

Beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral

Just a few blocks away from the Reunification Palace is the beautiful Notre Dame Cathedral, constructed in the late 1800s by French colonists. The beautiful brick red building was made with materials imported from France, and the statue of Mary at the front of the cathedral is stunning. This cathedral will definitely be a welcome taste of home for Catholic or European travelers, and it’s a great place for photos! There is an English mass every Sunday at 9:30 am and the church is surrounded by some very classy restaurants, coffee shops, and bakeries.

A protest poster on display at the
War Remnants Museum

About ten minutes’ walk from the Reunification Palace and Notre Dame Cathedral is my favorite tourist site in Ho Chi Minh City, the War Remnants Museum (admission 15,000 dong). If there is one must-see attraction in HCM, I’d say this is it. The museum was created as an anti-war museum and aims to raise awareness about the atrocities of war, specifically the atrocities and war crimes committed during the American-Vietnamese war in the 1970s. The museum includes exhibits on worldwide protest of the Vietnam war and war propaganda, American war crimes, and a heartbreaking and informative exhibit on the use of chemical weapons by the U.S. Army. Those expecting an objective and detached approach from museums won’t get this at the War Remnants Museum; the pain, destruction, and insanity of war experienced by both the Vietnamese people and U.S. soldiers in Vietnam is boldly on display in this museum with a very specific agenda: to encourage peace in Vietnam and around the world. I would especially recommend this museum to American travelers to get a Vietnamese perspective on the war.

A short walk in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City is enough to discover the importance of a single man in the history of divided and unified Vietnam. The image of the city’s namesake, Ho Chi Minh (or Uncle Ho as he is affectionately called by locals) can be seen on red banners throughout the city, especially around the Reunification Palace. Our friends recommended we learn more about Uncle Ho by visiting Dragon House/Ho Chi Minh Museum. This isn’t a very popular tourist stop, and we saw almost no tourists there when we visited. While it’s not the most exciting place, from what I gathered from our friends, it’s an important building to locals because of it’s relation to Ho Chi Minh. This building, which Uncle Ho himself passed through on his way to his famous sojourn to Europe and America, is named the dragon house for its architecture. The museum includes personal items of Ho Chi Minh and a detailed history of his life and political path organized chronologically into several rooms on the second floor. My favorite part was the top floor, where many poems Ho Chi Minh wrote while in prison are on display—a very beautiful exhibit! Admission to Dragon Palace is 10,000 dong.

Shopping in Saigon:

The main shopping hub in Ho Chi Minh City is Ben Thanh Market, a sprawling shopping center with clothes, handicrafts, textiles, and local food. The market is in downtown HCM City across from the main public bus terminal in an impressive pale yellow building. You’ll be able to find just about any souvenir you need here, but expect to haggle. Our friends suggested we go to the old post office, just across the street from Notre Dame Cathedral, to buy souvenirs at fair prices. There are just a few small shops inside, near the entrance of the post office, but for those uncomfortable with haggling, the prices are fixed and fair.

Happy traveling!