Vietnam - Part 1

As many of you know, we just got back from Vietnam last night. I wrote a ton about the trip while on the trip, so I already have a bunch of posts ready to go. I'm going to break them up into sections. This will probably be the longest single part - First days usually have the most things to write about. Still unclear how many parts there will be. I'm still finishing up the last few days. But I promise the next few parts will be shorter.

Our Vietnam Christmas trip got off to a bit of a shaky start. We were catching the red eye direct from Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh city, leaving at 1:30 am and getting in at 6:30am, local time.

Aside: some of you may not realize this, as it's sort of hard to tell on maps, but Australia is a massive country. Land-mass wise, it's actually not that much smaller than Canada. It's just rounder, whereas Canada is kinda long. Melbourne is at the very bottom of Australia, which means that even countries that are relatively close to Aus are still quite a trek. Case & point, the flight from Melbourne to HCMC is about 9 hours.

As per normal for Justin & I, we checked in online in the 24 window before our flight. We even printed our boarding passes because that's what the instructions said to do. When we got to the airport (early, because years of budget air travel has made us anxious and over prepared), we saw the lineup to check in for the flight. Because we already had our boarding passes, and didn't have any checked luggage, we headed straight for security.

We made it through security in record time, and only encountered a slight hiccup when he realized his hat must have gotten caught in the x-ray machine. We used the mysterious “missing property” phone to call and ask them to look for it. A few calls and about 20 minutes later, the hat was found and we were in our way.

Still very early, we posted up at our gate while taking turns running airport errands: picking up snacks, getting more water, obsessively using the washroom. Finally, it was time to board the plane. They were running a bit behind, and it was a very big plane (the kind with two aisles and three blocks of seats) so it was busy but things were proceeding relatively smoothly. Until we got to the attendants who asked us for our boarding passes. We handed them the printouts, only to have them tell us that these weren't boarding passes. Vietnam only accepts airport printed ones. Which is why everyone is required to check in at the desk, regardless of whether they are checking luggage. We had a moment of horror when the attendant told us we couldn't get on the plane with these. She must have registered that we were truly shocked, because she sighed and looked at our passports. She confirmed we were Canadian and we told her that the process was different in North America. She directed us to a counter behind her, where they very quickly checked us in, confirmed we had Vietnamese visas and printed our boarding passes.

The plane was very full, and being right before Christmas there was a lot of luggage. But we managed to find a spot for our things. We were a bit delayed at the gate, and didn't end up taking off until closer to 2 or 2:30am. This wouldn't have been a big deal, except that the 7ish year old behind us found the whole situation to be very distressing, and made his feelings known.

Regardless, it was nothing that a hefty dose of gravol could fix. We both slept for a decent chunk of the plane ride. It was plane sleep, so I would call us well rested, but we were feeling okay by the time we touched down in HCMC.

The signage in HCMC airport wasn't great, but we managed to find the right lineup to get our visas & passport checked. After a slow but ultimately uneventful wait to get through passport control, we made it through to the other side. We grabbed a sim card for Justin's phone, exchanged some money, and we were ready to go.

It was still very early in the day (maybe 9:30am?), and we weren't in any huge rush to get into the city, so we stopped for our first of what I expect will be many, many Vietnamese milk coffees.

A very brief history of Vietnam: up until about WWII, it was colonized by the French for over 100 years. Obviously the French are no longer in Vietnam, and haven't been for ages. But their influence can still be seen in the architecture and the food. Banh Mi, probably the most famous Vietnamese sandwich, uses Vietnamese ingredients on a french roll. Coffee in Vietnam is very popular. There a couple of different variations. Milk coffee is made by combining espresso with condensed milk, and serving it over ice. Egg coffee is made with egg yolk, condensed milk and espresso. It's whipped into a custard or sorts, and is served with a candle so you can heat it yourself. The setup looks like an oil diffuser - tea light on the bottom, and coffee on top. Its the only coffee we tried that is usually served warm. Everything else is over ice. Coconut coffee is made with coffee & fresh coconut milk, and served over ice. Finally, salt milk is made with some kind of salted sweet cream & coffee. If the idea of salted cream sounds gross, think about it as the dairy equivalent of salted caramel. You mix the salty cream together with the coffee, and it makes a very tasty drink that is more akin to a coffee milkshake than an actual coffee. I should also note that condensed milk is very popular here, probably because it lasts a little bit longer in the heat & humidity.

So there we were, sitting outside the HCMC airport at 9:30 am, drinking our milk coffees. It was already 28 degrees with very high humidity. Even from the airport cafe, we could see how lush and green the city was. There were palm trees & other unidentifiable broad leafy plants everywhere. After taking a moment to appreciate where we were, it was finally time to descend into the chaos of the city centre.

Many countries in southeast Asia, Vietnam included, use a company called Grab instead of Uber. It's essentially exactly the same thing. If anything, grab is better. They have way more transport options. For anyone curious about the safety of Grab taxis, they feel a lot safer than taking a cab at home. The app has numerous security features. Not only can you track the car while it's on its way to pick you up and during the trip, but they include an option to audio record the duration of the trip. If the app notices an unexpected stop (due to extreme traffic congestion for example), it sends a notification to your phone to make sure you are okay. There is also an emergency button on the app if things were to go sideways. Basically, grab is a very very safe mode of transit. Which is good, because it was clear early on that we would be using them a lot.

Our hotel was in district 1 of Ho Chi Minh. District 1 is the city centre, the oldest, busiest part of the city. Lots of the locals call district 1 Saigon (HCMC’s old name). The trip from airport to hotel was only about 4 kms, but it took about half an hour. There was traffic! Not gridlock traffic, but the traffic that comes from a seemingly endless number of motorcycles coming and going in all directions. Rarely were we at a complete stop, but often we would slow down just due to the sheer number of vehicles all going in different directions. We had been warned about the traffic in Vietnam, specifically as it relates to crossing the road. But it's one thing to hear about, and a whole other thing to experience. It was mesmerizing to watch. Interestingly, despite the volume and abundance of honking, there was a distinct absence of anything even resembling road rage. It's like the drivers all knew what they were getting into as soon as they entered the road. And they were all fine with the pecking order: buses and trucks get the most clearance. Cars generally give way to them. Then Motorcycles give way to cars. But everyone is happy to get as close as possible to the vehicles around them without physically touching.

We got to our hotel at around 10. Obviously it was too early to check in, but we were able to store our bags and get some preliminary recommendations about where to go and what to see. 

Our first stop was a coffee shop, where we had croissants and even more coffee. I had another milk coffee, but Justin opted for the egg coffee. It was thick and super creamy. When it was cold, it tasted a little eggier, kind of like custard. But as soon as it was warmed through it was more like a coffee mousse. We also got some iced jasmine tea, which we hadn't ordered. Later we learned this was called welcome tea, and often comes free with whatever you order.

Once we had eaten, we decided to do some exploring. The first step to making this happen required us to learn how to cross the street. How to cross the street was a topic of much lunch room discussion before our trip. Lots of Australians have been to Vietnam, so they shared tips and warnings for how to stay safe. Essentially, traffic does not stop for you. So you have to kind of frogger your way through. But there is so much traffic, this is easier said than done. There is some strategy though. For the most part, motorcycles are happy to weave around pedestrians. Cars and trucks will not. As soon as you step into traffic, you are committed. It's actually dangerous to step backwards - the drivers are only expecting you to move forward, so that's the only direction you should be moving in. You raise your arm in the air as you crossing to make yourself easier to see. Then it's just getting comfortable with being close to vehicles. And not taking it personally if they honk. They are just letting you know where they are. Avoid the cars & trucks, and give the motorcycles enough time to go around you. It was super intimidating the first few times we tried it. But the more you do it and see others doing it, the easier it gets. 

And so off we went, to explore the city. 

How do I describe what it's like to walk around Saigon? It was exactly what you would expect from a bustling South East Asian urban hub. It was very busy, very loud, and very hot. The streets are filled with tiny shops and vendors. Wares and offerings spill into the sidewalks beside tiny carts selling all kinds of foods, some identifiable, some not. People sit on little stools or swing in hammocks and smoke, chat, or play games. All while motorcycles zip by just feet away, cutting through alleyways and down short cuts. There is so much going on, it's hard to take in all at once. We walked alongside the river for a while, stopping in a couple of different Buddhist pagodas (the Buddhist version of a church). The Pagodas were beautiful. Decorated with yellow and gold, with big statues of Smiling Buddha everywhere. We explored a couple of them, but since Vietnam is our first majority Buddhist place we didn't really know what we were looking at.

After walking around the city for a couple of hours, we decided to find a place to grab a drink and snack. After two tries we managed to find a spot. Justin had a beer and we split some kind of grilled beef wrapped around lemongrass skewers. We headed back to the hotel to check into our room because it was HOT and we were tired. We both rinsed off and napped before our evening adventure: motorcycle food tour!

We had booked the food tour for our first night so that we would have a good introduction to Vietnamese food. And it did not disappoint. We had two guides: Nhu and Phat. They showed up on motorcycles with extra helmets for us. After some introductions, brief instructions for riding on the back of the bikes, and a quick overview of evenings activities, we were off! Both guides commented that traffic was especially bad that day. It probably was, but honestly, Justin & I were having too much fun to notice. Despite the hectic streets, being on the bikes felt surprisingly safe. Both guides were really good drivers. Everything was very smooth. It probably helped that you can't really go more than 30 km/hr because of the congestion. But it was still really fun! We zipped down side streets until we arrived at our first stop, a place called Bánh Khot. Nhu had pre ordered some food for us, so there was a table waiting. Soon they brought over a pile of greens and a yellow pancake looking thing.

Nhu explained that this was a Vietnamese pancake, called Bánh xèo, which you eat wrapped in a bed of greens. Kind of like a taco with a lettuce wrapper. But all the greens were different. One plant at a time, he tore off some leaves and gave them to us to taste and smell. There was coriander, mint, basil, anise, something that smelled oddly fishy and a couple others. After we tried them all, he stacked them all on top of each other, put a piece of the pancake (which was yellow because it had turmeric in it, and contained mung bean sprouts and shrimp) in the middle, and rolled it all up. He then instructed us to dip it in some kind of sauce he had put in front of us. It was amazing! All the flavours of the greens blended together and made for a really fresh taste. It worked nicely with the creaminess of the mung beans and crunch of the sprouts. Nhu made us both our first roll, and then showed us how to make the second roll (he still picked out all the greens for us because we could not tell the difference).

Once we were done with the pancake, we hopped back onto the bikes and were off to the next place. We went down a bunch of alleys and short cuts before stopping at what seemed to be a random spot on the street. As we got off the bikes, they explained that this time Phat would have to stay with the bikes to make sure they didn't get stolen. Nhu led us to the corner, where there was a stall with a bunch of rice patties on the grill. Nhu requested something and soon handed us a dish of something with two spoons in it. It was called Chuối nếp nướng: new bananas, wrapped in sticky rice and grilled over an open flame. It was cut into pieces already, and had thick coconut milk (more like yoghurt than milk) over it, with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. The sticky rice was chewy and sweet, while the banana inside remained relatively firm and creamy. The coconut milk was rich, but still quite light and complimented the banana flavour nicely. Justin is historically not a banana person, but he liked it. Though he did admit it wasn't really his thing. I loved it. It was somehow decadent but not too heavy, and creamy and chewy at the same time.

There is only so much food you can eat all at once, so we took a little food break while Nhu explained where we were, the Nguyen Thien Thuat apartments. The apartments were built by the US in the late 60s to house military personnel. Post-Vietnam war, they were bought/rented by the locals. They were rectangular, poured concrete and 4ish stories tall. To us, they looked like the South East Asian version of socialist block housing, not dissimilar to what we saw in Romania, Bosnia, Serbia, Hungary and every other socialist/former socialist country we have been to. There were some differences though. The outside stairs to get to higher levels had a solid part in the middle so people could wheel their motorcycles upstairs. Nhu said that overnight parking in the streets and  courtyards was expensive, so people brought their bikes up to their apartment. He said the apartments were mostly 1 room, 4 meters by 10 meters, and would often house multiple generations for a family. Because they were in the center of Saigon, they were expensive to rent or buy. He also pointed out the power lines coming into the apartment blocks, which were an absolute mess of wires, tied together with string, zip ties, or whatever else was around at the time. It looked terrifying, but somehow it worked. He also pointed out that one of the corner apartments on the top floor was designated as a Buddhist temple. They weren't showy, but you could tell by looking in the screen less windows that the space was used as a place of worship.

We headed back to meet up with Phat and we were on to our next stop. Nhu warned us that this one was a bit further away, and we would need to cross one of the bigger roads to get there. He was not kidding about crossing the bigger road. From a small alley way we had to cut across multiple lanes of traffic in both directions to get to an alley on the other side. I'm going to say there were at least 3 lanes in either direction, but if I'm being honest I have no idea. Nhu and Phat were not hesitant about cutting into traffic. And while their boldness was impressive, again I felt very safe on the back of Nhu’s bike. After a slightly longer ride, we arrived at a noodle shop that was fully set up in an alleyway. Nhu had texted them to let them know we were coming. He said they are very busy, so sometimes it's hard to get seats. There was a table all ready for us though. This time, Phat was able to sit with us. I thought that this was because the bikes were in the alley with us, pretty much across from our table. But then halfway through our meal some guys came by and moved them. Nhu and Phat didn't flinch at this, so I assumed it was fine. When I asked about it later, Phat said that was the security guard the restaurant hired to watch the bikes. This explained why during the day we saw security guards all over the place. They brought some welcome tea and Nhu and Phat taught us how to cheers in Vietnam (it is wildly complicated, which is to say, it's more than one word).

We chatted for a bit while we waited for our food. They asked about Canada, and Canadian English. We taught each other slang. They both admired Justin’s visible arm tattoo, and Phat commented that his parents wouldn’t approve of him getting a tattoo. He said his family thinks people with tattoos are gangsters. We asked about what they were in school for (they were both university students), and they told us about the military service requirements for young people.  It was a lovely chat. Soon our food came. Justin & I both got a bowl of noodles with crispy onions, meat and probably some other thing that I couldn't identify. And then a bowl of broth on the side. Phat and Nhu showed us the proper way to eat this dish (which I think was called Saigon noodle): add some soy sauce, and a few spoonfuls of broth, along with some pickled garlic with chilis (if you are brave). Add a squeeze of lime, then mix up all the noodles & enjoy! It was so good! The noodles were thin and fresh and the broth was flavourful and salty. It was like the most flavourful ramen you have ever had, except the noodles were way lighter and not deep fried. It's very hard to describe what it was like other than very, very good. Phat & Nhu both got different dishes, because they do the tour pretty often and get tired of eating the same thing. Phat got a soup with wontons. Nhu got some kind of soup with noodles and shrimp. They asked what we eat in Canada when the weather is cold and we explained poutine to them. We asked why Vietnam eats so much hot food given that it's such a hot place (apparently they think hot food is good for digestion).

After the noodles we were starting to get pretty full. We hopped on the bikes again and headed to the flower market for a little walk before the next round. The flower market is exactly what it sounds like: a market full of fresh flowers. They were beautiful and lush, clearly picked that day. There were some strange looking flower-less things that we asked Phat about. He said they were lotuses, and would bloom soon. He also said the flower market is sometimes called the ‘sorry market' because that's where people go to buy flowers for their girlfriend when they are sorry about something.

From the flower market we headed into some kind of street food market. There were carts of food and little plastic tables set up everywhere. They pointed out some highlights: chicken feet, duck eggs (with duck fetus inside), oysters, things on skewers, things wrapped in banana leaves, etc.

Finally they lead us to a small table with 4 stools. First we had what Phat called Vietnamese pizza: some kind of rye base, grilled and topped with scallions, sausage, corn, chili sauce, and mayo. It was really tasty! Then they brought over two kinds of grilled beef, one that had lemongrass stalks in the middle, and one wrapped in some kind of leafy greens. They had an assortment of sauces and pickled vegetables to go with the beef. Nhu arranged things in a particular order and instructed us to try them like that. The lemongrass beef in particular was very tasty. 

Finally, it was time for our last stop. We walked back through the food market to a dessert stall that was tucked away around a corner. The dessert was a flan custard, but with chocolate on top instead of caramel. It was served on top of shaved ice. You scraped the chocolate off of the flan and mixed it with the ice, and then ate them together. Again, it was super tasty. Turns out that the chocolate they use is actually Milo, which is the Australian version of malted chocolate powder (think Ovaltine, just the Australian version).

Once our flan was done, we got on the back of the bikes one last time and headed back to the hotel. We sincerely thanked Nhu and Phat for their time, tipped them. And waddled our way up to our room, very satisfied with our first street food experience.