For tourists visiting Saigon for the first time, many of whom come clutching one of just a handful of printed tour guides currently on sale, even those picking their own way around the city might start to feel like they’re following some organised group tour.

When similar faces begin to pop up at each restaurant, bar or sight-seeing attraction, it’s time to get off of the beaten path and seek out your own undiscovered gems and dig beneath the surface of city life.

On the other hand, if you live in Saigon (or any city for that matter), seeking out these ‘off-grid’ places can completely alter one’s perception of the urban environment. City life can feel like quite an impersonal affair at times, with little, if any, opportunities for finding your own private adventures and discoveries in what may seem like a well-trodden city.

Here are some of Saigon’s best-kept secrets for an urban adventure with a difference:

The Secret Weapons Cellar

In 1967, Saigon resident Tran Van Lai began digging a hidden cellar beneath his home on Nguyen Dinh Chieu Street, in Saigon’s District 3. Lai was a secret operative for the Viet Cong and used the cellar to amass an arsenal of weapons and explosives in the lead up to the deadly Tet Offensive, a large-scale, finely coordinated surprise attack on US and South Vietnam forces that took place up and down Vietnam. [Read more…]

Saigon is a jigsaw puzzle, a mosaic of districts, either named or numbered, with each of those broken down into smaller wards denoted by name or number again. As the largest city in Vietnam, and one of the largest cities in Southeast Asia, choosing which area to base yourself in, either for a vacation or to live and work, can be a daunting task.

Of course, most tourists will, quite understandably, flock to District 1, drawn to the hotels and bed & breakfasts that surround the main attractions such as the Reunification Palace or the famous Ben Thanh Market.

But Saigon has so much more to offer than a square kilometre or two of postcard-friendly sights. For those who choose to confine themselves to the tourist-friendly part of town, you risk missing out on the best this energetic metropolis has to offer.

Here is our guide to the most central of Saigon’s 24 districts, each harbouring its own distinct vibe, its own secrets, and its own small piece of the puzzle.

District 1

The big one, the point from which Saigon grew from being a sleepy riverside settlement to what it is today. District 1 is (very roughly) an upturned ‘L’ shape, with the backpacker district in the far south end; the old town, the downtown and financial areas in the middle, and a cluster of more local, more sedate neighbourhoods in the north.

The backpacker area, which revolves around Pham Ngu Lao Street and Bui Vien Street, is home to hundreds of hotels, guesthouses and hostels of varying degrees of comfort, quality and price. Despite its nickname, and particularly when you move a block or two away from the main strip, it’s an ideal base for tourists of any budget or travelling style, backpackers, flashpackers or otherwise. [Read more…]

For those visiting Saigon (officially known as Ho Chi Minh City) for the first time, uncovering the city’s local food scene can take time, patience and a few dodgy dishes before that ultimate bowl of backstreet pho is found. Unlike Hanoi’s tourist-friendly Old Town, Saigon doesn’t give up its secrets willingly. With a bit of research, however, the city quickly becomes a food lover’s paradise for those seeking the best of the best when it comes to local cuisine. But that’s for another day and another article.

A combination of low costs, easy access to high quality ingredients (both imported and locally produced), and relatively little red-tape and bureaucracy when it comes to opening new businesses, Vietnam’s southern metropolis has, in recent years, become as much a destination for international cuisine as it has for the local fare.

“I’ve heard visitors from other parts of the region singing the praises of the abundance, the quality and the authenticity of Saigon’s international restaurants compared to cities like Bangkok,” says Daniel Gamwell, a Saigon resident, school teacher and self-proclaimed foodie. Indeed, it seems like a month doesn’t pass without at least one or two new international restaurants opening up.

In August 2016, Saigon Centre, a downtown shopping mall owned, in part, by Japanese investors, swung open its doors to offer a vast range of eateries never seen before in Vietnam, from century-old Japanese restaurant chains making their first foray into international territories, to Korean table-top barbecue joints and an award-winning pizzeria.

So, when the time comes that you fancy a change to the pho, the noodles and the banh mi sandwiches, here are some of the city’s top international eateries: [Read more…]

Even if you’ve never even visited Vietnam, the chances are that you’ve already consumed its coffee at some point in your life. As the world’s second-largest coffee producer, its beans can be found all over the world in some form or another, though you may not know it. It’s output, until recently, had a reputation for being of low cost, and of low quality.

Having been introduced to Vietnam by the French during their colonisation of Indochina in the late 19th century, as both a lifestyle and an agricultural commodity, coffee is now deeply ingrained in Saigonese culture.

Traditionally consumed over ice, with a spoonful of canned sweetened milk (both of which were also introduced to Vietnam by the French), it is said that while Saigon’s 9 million motorbikes run on petrol, its 8 million people run on coffee. They call it ca phe sua da, “coffee with milk and ice”, and no trip to Vietnam is complete without having tried it. Another popular style is ca phe den da (black with ice), or swap “da” for “nong” (meaning “hot”) if the weather turns chilly.

But despite the massive export quantities, topped only by Brazil, Vietnam’s coffee never quite made a name for itself in terms of quality, Robusta being the bean of choice for many of the nation’s farmers due to its resilience and high yield. In fact, Vietnam sits at the top of the table for global Robusta output alone.

It is for this reason that Nestlé has become the biggest customer for the nation’s coffee farmers, purchasing approximately 20 percent of its entire crop in 2014 and turning most of it into cheap instant granules. It’s a trend, however, that’s on the turn. [Read more…]

Vietnam’s southern metropolis, officially known as Ho Chi Minh City, may not have the picture-postcard charms of its northern counterpart Hanoi, but as a melting pot of cultures, cuisines, old meets new and East meets West, where shimmering skyscrapers rub shoulders with colonial-era mansions, it has much more to offer than many first-time visitors give it credit for.

Here’s a rundown of how to make your trip to Saigon a success (just click on one of the links below to jump directly to the section you’re interested on).

• When to visit Saigon

• Visas for Vietnam

• How to get there

• Upon arrival

• Where to stay in Saigon

• Money in Vietnam

• Getting around

• Safety in Saigon

• What to see in Saigon

• What to do in Saigon

• Where to eat in Saigon

• Where to drink in Saigon

• Price guide for Saigon

• Where next?

[Read more…]

While we get on the night bus that will bring us to Hué I look at Jelen and tell her:

“I’m happy we are leaving Hanoi. I was craving a bit of peace.”

It wasn’t because of the insistence of the street vendors or the screams of the pseudo-backpackers that cross the world to get drunk in an hostel 24/7.

It was the traffic that exhausted me.

I had heard some horror stories about the traffic in Vietnam but I wasn’t prepared for it. I mean, I’ve spent the last two years and an half between Beijing and Shanghai.

What the hell could possibly affect me? [Read more…]

Bui Vien, the most touristic street of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City).

The approach

“Do you know how to eat it?” I hear from the table behind.

“No idea,” answers one the two girls that are sitting at the table beside mine.

“I was sure you didn’t,” keeps going the guy. Now that he has established a contact his voice has gained confidence.

“See, you have to put the shrimps and the salad inside. Then roll the bread around it.”

“Ohhhhh,” react the girls.

I switch my attention from the typhoon Haikui [Read more…]