Ho Chi Minh City - (Spring 2025) - Day 2
Walking Tour
Started the day with a walking tour starting at the Bitexco Tower
No one else was on the tour so it was like a private tour
Vietnamese Coffee
Coffee is quite the thing here and the guide had us stop here at a shop on the promenade to sample some. I gulped the sweet cold drink down pretty fast on a hot day.
Ho Chi Minh Statue on Promenade
There were a lot of people already in town ready to celebrate the April 30 Independence Day
Lotus - the national flower of Vietnam
Saigon Opera House
Old CIA Headquarters Building
The top of this building is famous for the photos of the last helicopters leaving Saigon after the US withdrawal
I guess for a while it was a coffee shop but there doesn’t seem to be anything up there now and we couldn’t find a way to access the top
Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon
Post Office
This building is famous for the French architecture but it is still a fully functional post office. It also has the old style phone booths from back in the day before everyone had mobile phones.
Book Street
This is a kind of touristy street with book shops and souvenir shops.
The guide showed us this mural on a building that is depicting Ho Chi Minh’s birthplace
Independence Palace
The main tour ended at Independence Palace. A lot of preparation was going on for the April 30 celebration. In the second photo you can see in the background the tank that breached the wall to basically complete the reunification of the country back during the war.
Bunker
If you wanted you could pay the taxi fare to go look at one of the hidden city VC bunkers from the war. They had displays showing how the VC’s hid the weapons in preparation for the Tet Offensive and you could crawl under the floor to the bunker with the weapons. They let you handle, cock and fire the empty weapons if you want and there were some inert explosives laying around. They said that some of the grenade displays were locked because they were still live (to which I’m like WTF why not disarm them?).
Hokkaido Coffee
After the tour, we went to this coffee shop. It was not just because it was a nice place to take a break and have a coffee but the area where we left the bunker didn’t have cell service for the plan that I purchased. As a result, we found a shop that had Wifi so that I could call a car to go back to the hotel area.
Pho An
Even though most people think of beef pho when they think of pho (and this is true in Vietnam as well), I actually preferred the chicken pho (or pho ga) here. I just felt that the chicken was more flavorful and tender here and the beef sometimes was not as good a quality as the chicken. This place had excellent chicken pho with lots of side fixings for the soup.
Bitexco Tower
After having the pho lunch, we headed back to the Bitexco Tower to get good views of Saigon from their observation deck. This is the second tallest building in Ho Chi Minh City. The tallest is the Landmark 81 building but the cost to go up the Bitexco is far more reasonable (and more convenient to where we were staying). Definitely a great stop on a nice clear day.
Cheese Coffee
A coffee break is always a good idea on vacation. This was an upscale place that was a nice place to take a mid-day break.
Ben Thanh Market
Ben Thanh Market is the most central and most famous of the markets in the city. It is pretty big with everything from fish, meats, groceries, spices to the knockoff fashion goods. They have some stands that sell food and drinks as well. There were also plenty of bottles of snake and lizard infused alcohol that are supposed to “make man strong.”
Definitely worth a visit for sightseeing but if you are looking for the knockoff shopping experience, I would recommend going to Saigon Square instead for the main reason being that it is air conditioned.
Sun Setting on the Promenade
L’Entrecote
Not exactly a Vietnamese choice for dinner on this day but a very French one. I first discovered the L’Entrecote restaurants in Lyon, France. It was an excellent affordable delicious steak in France. It was a super affordable in Vietnam. They also had a bigger menu with offerings with more appetizers, like the prosciutto salad. The restaurant was on the second floor and you had to access it by going up some sketchy looking stairs but the food and atmosphere were great once you get there.
Walking Along Nighttime Saigon River Waterfront
Saigon Japan Town
We went in search for some nighttime cocktails and headed over to Japan Town. I guess it is also one of the red light districts in town which became apparent as you stroll through the alleys.
Rika’s Bar & Coffee House
Way in the back of Japan Town is this cool little spot. Very good whiskey selection here. I think they are a coffeehouse during the day and a bar at night. They actually had a sitting fee (like some Tokyo spots) but it was a very fun place. The bartenders were engaging and we hung out with some Japanese businessmen and we Google translated with them and exchanged buying drinks for each other. The businessmen gave us some chocolate as they left because there is probably some Japanese etiquette thing.
The First Bar
The last stop of the night was a cocktail bar also located in Japan Town. Good cocktails and from what I’ve heard of the bar from other bartenders, the last photo is probably the only time the very serious owner of the bar has ever smiled.