Ho Chi Minh City

If the rest of Vietnam is anything like Ho Chi Minh City I am really looking forward to exploring it. 

We arrived late Thursday night and arrived at our hotel around 10 pm.  Neither of us had eaten so we went to the hotel bar to grab a drink and some food.  Here is the view from the hotel bar:

We stayed at the Hotel Majestic Saigon.  It was built in the 1920s and has a very French feel to it.  (If you weren't aware, the French had control of most of Vietnam from the mid-1800s until the mid-1900s.  As a result, there are many buildings in Ho Chi Minh City that have a French influence.)  They have done a really nice job of maintaining the original look and feel of the hotel.  I had planned to take a bunch of pictures around the hotel but totally forgot to do it.  I did get one of our room as we arrived so I'll share that with you (check out the old fashioned phone on the table between the beds).

As you can tell from the first picture, the hotel is right across the road from the Saigon River.  It was great watching the barges and boats and ferries along the river.  I'm not sure why but I get mesmerized watching boats traveling on a river.  I could sit and watch them all day long.  

The part of Ho Chi Minh City that we stayed in is actually still referred to as Saigon.  It is a safe area to walk around and explore.  As with all of Asia, there are some great markets and lots of shops with deals on items that are made locally and exported. 

Friday was a leisurely day for us.  We slept in and then just spent the morning and early afternoon walking around the city.  We did a bit of shopping at the local market.

If you notice the in the bottom right-hand corner of the picture above, you'll see that the woman is wearing the typical conical hat you see in pictures and on TV.  I'm always interested to see if what we see on TV and in movies is actual truth or if it is just Hollywood hype.  There were women wearing them all around Ho Chi Minh City as well as in the countryside.  They are a nice way to shade your entire face from the blaring sun.

Speaking of the women in Vietnam, let me just take a moment to tell you how friendly the people in Ho Chi Minh City were.  They were so welcoming and helpful.  I did not run across anybody (except the annoyingly rude immigration guy as I left the country today) in the city who did not have a smile on their face and was not super nice.  They all seemed genuinely nice.  If we entered a shop and just browsed around they wished us well on our way out the door.  If we happened to purchase something they were amazingly friendly.  And, the staff at the hotel were just exceptional.  Not rude and not in-your-face either.  It was great!

On Friday afternoon we took a cooking class at the hotel.  We learned to make a shrimp salad, spring rolls, and chicken pho.  It was not as detailed of a course as the one we took in Bangkok last year but was still fun.  The woman who taught us had a good time showing us tips on Vietnamese cooking as well as laughing with us when we weren't as good at it as she was.  The next time you eat pho be appreciative of the fact that in order to get good stock for the base you have to spend 8 hours keeping an eye on it while it cooks.

Me...I'm not such a great cook so I was busy watching the boats go up and down the river...

Friday evening we went to a wonderful spa and had a massage.  My friend was celebrating her birthday on Friday so we thought she needed a little pampering.  We went to this great spa which would have been considered high end in the US and it only cost us $38 for an hour long massage.  If I lived in Ho Chi Minh City I'd be there every week...maybe a couple of times a week.  I'll definitely go back to the spa on my next trip.

We finished the evening back on the rooftop bar to have a cocktail to toast her birthday!