There's very little in Ho Chi Minh City from a sites perspective that I hadn't done before on one of the prior trips. In fact, most things I've probably done more than once. I don't really come back and back for the sites, but for so much else that is great about Saigon - the people, the food, the nightlife, the vibes. I will say one thing I won't do again - come in April. All of the places on this trip would've had better weather had I kept my original dates in February, but alas that wasn't meant to be.
I had a list of things I was hoping to check out today in HCMC, with a well designed schedule to pair up outdoor / lack of AC sites with a stop with AC right after. AC is the elixir of life and places that have it in HCMC blast the shit out of it (thankfully). The first stop in that respect is a weird one - The Ho Chi Minh Museum of Fine Art, which is a nice six minute walk from the AirBNB. The museum itself is always quite nice, a good mix of standard offerings with rotating exhibits - some of which were just excellent this time. The weird part of the museum is only about a third of the rooms have air conditioning - usually reserved for the special exhibits. But the ones that don't are right next to the ones that do - its just weird why they couldn't have spent for AC throughout. If anything, the way it is setup, the rooms without AC despite having fans feel hotter than normal outside does given the ever so slight breeze that was there. Anyway, I won't complain about the AC in every one of these - especially since the real wild card in that respect was fully air conditioned this time in the War Remnants Museum.
As for the Fine Arts museum it is all Vietnamese artists and many exhibits and sections where you can feel the impact of the war - the colors, the imagery, the sadness, but also the life. Art commemorates these moments so well. The best exhibit featured a mix of tapestry, metal-work, sculpture and more from one singular Vietnamese artists who died a few yaers back, and it was all stunning. Equally so was their side building which had a great showcase of sculpture, a place I would've loved to spend more time at if not for the fact that that particular building had no air conditioning.
From there, we took a cab up towards the heart of HCMC, to the Independence Palace, which is a must do that I somehow never did until my last trip. The palace is laid out wonderfully, adorned beautifully with large, vibrant meeting rooms, the private quarters, and of course a fascinating walk through the bunker below. Also we got tickets for the side exhibition (within the grounds of Independence Palace, which doubles as a park basically) which was a combination exhibit on the building of the initial palace by the French and it being taken over by Dinh Diem after Vietnamese Indepenence though the infighting and uprisings against Diem would see him killed as the final form of the palace that exists today is getting built. Again, one of the weird ironies of this building is the palace was only actively used as such by the head of the South Vietnamese, who would lose the war.
From there, we were a bit spent (no AC in the palace...) so headed to lunhc at Bep Me In, which is a really well reputed restaurant but also a block from our AirBNB allowing us a chance to get a few minutes of R&R. Bep Me In is a fascinating restaurant just serving street / normal Vietnamese dishes but served just perfectly. Our best was a sesame and bamboo fried pork strips, or a rice noodle & lettuce wrap caramelized pork belly. When you come here, you realize how much of their food focuses on pork over other meats.
In the afternoon, we first did the War Remnants Museum, which I was considering skipping and definitely would've if they kept the AC off (as they did in my visit in 2024), but alas, the ACs were blasting in every room so if anythign I spent more time here than I have in years/visits. It was packed of people doing what is still the reaction I have after seeing these a few times now - just astonishment, sadness and reckoning. The museum never pulls any punches - exhibits like the one which just has photos taken by photojournalists from all sides is marevlous, but more impactful when you see the plaque towards the end of it that lsits out all the journalists & photographers killed or presumed dead.
There was a new exhibit which spotlighted on one particular lady who rose the ranks from first a spy to then an ambassador for the burgeoning country, and just told her life story - which was lovely. Their normal rotating exhibit on the ground floor this timew as about the key C1 transport sea lane near Saigon and how kids were used by both sides to send material across in hops they wouldn't get attacked (which for the most part, they weren't). Overall, my friends were gobsmacked and I was similarly happy I went.
From there, we split up, with them seeing a few Wats / Temples, of which are all outdoor / no-AC, and things I've seen a few times by now. Instead, I walked around the heart of the city area, past the still-being-repaired Notre Dame Cathedral, to the charming book street that is housed right behind it. Hard to find a better people watching / spot in Saigon than this. By this point, there was a close by mall that I walked through for a few minutes just to cool down before I headed back towards the main thoroughfare as it neared dusk to do some last bits of shopping. I wasn't planning on getting anything, and resitsted all sorts of temptation at a nice stonework store named Grade B, but did end up getting one small thing at a different souvenir shop. I have a problem, clearly, that compels I must get at least one souvenir from any place I visit.
We met back together or a few brews at Pasteur, which again the original location was essentially empty except for us and a couple other folks who came and went. The brews were as great as always, as was the pork jerky which we shared. Overall, Pasteur Street is still to me the premier craft option in Saigon, even if I do worry about quality control with their expansion to more gastro-pub style resteraunts.
What I worry less aboiut the quality of is fine dining in HCMC, with us going for an amazing meal at Coco, which is one of the other michelin spots in town hat isn't Anan, which I had been to previously. Not that Anan is bad - it is excellent, but recent reveiws seemed to highlight a lack of changing of dishes and some staleness - hopefully places like Coco and others can force a reversion of course for Anan. Anyway, to Coco - it was an 11-course meal going from North to South of Vietnam, with a lovely train map motif to spread through the meal. Now, most of the dishes were clustered in the Southern half of the country (the third course was from Danang, which is very much right in the middle of the country) but who cares - not like I know the specificities of Northern v Southern Vietnamese food (other than Pho being from the North). The food itself was pristine and inventive and I'm already mentally gearing up for my tasting menu reviews at the end of this trip.
We had all agreed we were going to stay out late tonight, a combination of it being our last night together (we all have slightly different flight paths back), wanting to stay awake even longer than normal to get a bit closer to US time, and maybe most importantly because HCMC is a fun, fun spot on a Saturday. We did intend to try a new cocktail spot (would be new for me) in Death & Happiness, but they were re-opening after a two month renovation and had some live DJ for hte occassion and were packed - we could've stayed and stood but given we were probably only htere for two drinks, we just headed back to Summer Experiment, which stays just awesome. I was able to coax one of the bartenders to let me take a menu home with me - convincing him that I've both been here a bunch and am now bringing people over. Took some negotiation, but that is part of my job so I won (plus we bought a round of shots to take with the bartender staff as well). Summer Experiment is probably rising oa notch or two on my list.
And of course, we ended the nigth with the famous (for me) The Observatory and Pho Quynh combo. I don't know what it is about the dichotomy of the two rooms for The Observatory, but being able to every now and then step onto the terrace and listen to still very good house music and take in a view of HCMC from above, and then go back and get your faster stuff just works. It works without the balloons. I do probably need to ask myself is it still my favorite EDM club in the world if balloons aren't a thing - but even if I do drop it down, it maybe goes down only a handful of spots as so much of it is still just awesome. I've had so many great nights here over the years, and it was great to enjoy it with friends this time. Same thing with Pho Quynh, where I had to wait for a table to 15 minutes (hurts when you ened a 4-person table), showing just how popular it was even at 3:45am. Overall, same for HCMC on the whole. When we planned the trip, for me it felt a bit tacked on, but I think 1.5 more days to traipse around a place I'm so at home with (the Cape Town of Asia, I called it) is never not a good idea or capstone to a trip.
