Will & Kristine's Travel Adventures: Scooting around Saigon

Today we spent most of the day walking around Saigon. First we got up and had a delicious hotel breakfast. All of the hotels here in Vietnam are so cheap and they all include a free breakfast with lots of yummy choices! I actually LOVED the pho that they had at the hotel and both Will and I have been eating a ridiculous amount of dragon fruit. After breakfast, we headed to Ben Tranh market. While this market was billed as one of the must-see things in Saigon, we didn't spend much time here. Once you've been to a few markets around the world, you start to realize you've been to them all. This one had some fun food and snacks but for the most part, it sold fake goods and clothing, none of which we were all that interested in.

Afterwards, we ended up running into a fancy shopping mall. I don't think I mentioned this yesterday but it is hot AF in Saigon. We were making our way via walking to the Notre Dame Cathedral and stumbled upon this fancy mall (which there are many of of, btw- with multiple floors of stores), and decided we need an A/C break. In it, we found a fancy movie theater and being the movie buffs that we are, we decided to take a break and go see Mission Impossible: Fallout. This movie theater was really nice and even had some screens with "movie beds" where you could lay down and lounge with drinks and snacks but that didn't work out with our timing and movie choice. Instead, we decided to go to a normal movie screening. Now it's actually a random tradition that we see a movie in a foreign country. It is because 1) We love seeing movies and there's usually something out we don't want to miss and 2) We figured it's interesting to see how theaters are different around the world. However, like our normal tradition, we fell asleep part way through the movie. Or for me, for most of it.

After the movie, we walked over to the Notre Dame Cathedral, The Old Post Office, and then went by the War Remnants Museum. Again, as an American, it's interesting to see the Vietnamese perspective on a historical event that includes Americans. While I wouldn't say it was totally anti-American by any means, there was definitely heavy propaganda there but I suppose I understand, especially in regards to the use of Agent Orange and how it affected the people there for generations. And while some of the quotes chosen to be included were definitely skewed to show a certain perspective, there's no hiding some of the truth in the photographs from the war. Either way, it was an interesting experience.

At this point, we made our way back to our hotel to get picked up for our food tour. Our food tour was honestly the highlight of our time in Saigon and I would highly recommend it! It was through a company called Saigon Extravaganza and it was a 4 hour food tour via scooter. Luckily for us, there was a huge group of 16 that were booked with us so they decided to split us up. Therefore, Will and I plus our two guides (Vinh and Shirley) were a private group along with a photographer that took photos for us for free. They picked us up outside of our hotel with some rain ponchos and a helmet. Instead of a typical walking tour, we rode on the back of their motorbike scooters which I thought would be scary with the insane driving here in Vietnam but it actually felt super safe. Also, it was great because we went to 5 different stops all outside of District 1 (where we and most tourists stay) so it really enabled us to go to places that we wouldn't have gone to on our own (either because we didn't know about them or because they were too out of the way). We tried all different kinds of food and everything was SO good. Vinh and Shirley were also super fun and a good time so it didn't make it awkward or anything.