We touched down at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport early morning of the day before Christmas and have several hours to kill before standard check in time at the Duc Vuong Hotel which I was pleasanty surprised to know is located along the Bui Vien Walking Street [Ho Chi Minh's equivalent of Khaosan Road but with more sleaze].
There's not really much to see within Ho Chi Minh City proper and a quick visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, the French-era Saigon Post Office beside it, and an unexpected pit stop at the book shops and library cafes of Durong Nguyen Van Binh consumed half of the time we need to kill.
The other half we spent revisiting the only war the Americans ever lost so far at the War Remnants Museum then inducting the family to the basics of Vietnamese cuisine [spring rolls, beef noodles, fried pork and duck] at the Ben Than Street Food Market before scouting for souvenirs at the nearby Ben Than Market.
Selena's group of student guides and scooter drivers [Jasmine, Joy, Tuong] arrived at 6 pm to pick us for a street food tour that would become our Christmas Noche Buena, and to a scary first hand experience of Ho Chi Minh's insane traffic.
In the next 4 hours, we counterflowed and navigated narrow alleys for the bun bo hue or beef noodles soup from Central Vietnam [served with a plate of herbs, thinly sliced banana blossom, lime wedges and a mean soup that evoke hours of slow cooking the beef]...
...banh cuon or steamed rice roll, a Northern Vietnam classic [seasoned ground pork and diced cassava rolled into delicate steamed rice sheets and served with a slice of pork sausage, fried dough, diced cucumber, bean sprouts and doused with a sweet fish sauce-based dip] that packed to overflowing whatever space I still have inside me; and finally a dessert of banh flan or Vietnamese custard which thankfully came in small servings and flavors of blackberry, kiwi, machiatto and cheese [the equivalent of the Philippine leche flan but less sweet, served with syrup like we do, and with crushed ice which we don't].
Adding value to the food trip is a quick stop at the memorial for the Burning Monk who more than 56 years ago set himself on fire to protest the South Vietnamese government's anti-Buddist policy that led to the downfall [and assasination] of President Ngo Din Diem; zipping through the colors, fragrance and chaos of the Ho Thi Ky Flower Market; and getting a glimpse of Ho Chi Minh's inner city life.
Our Street Food on Scooter Tour is an exceptional one-of-a-kind Noche Buena experience which we could have never had on our own, and at a surprisingly cheap price considering the volume of food we ate and the incredible experience we had.
There's not really much to see within Ho Chi Minh City proper and a quick visit to the Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon, the French-era Saigon Post Office beside it, and an unexpected pit stop at the book shops and library cafes of Durong Nguyen Van Binh consumed half of the time we need to kill.
The other half we spent revisiting the only war the Americans ever lost so far at the War Remnants Museum then inducting the family to the basics of Vietnamese cuisine [spring rolls, beef noodles, fried pork and duck] at the Ben Than Street Food Market before scouting for souvenirs at the nearby Ben Than Market.
Selena's group of student guides and scooter drivers [Jasmine, Joy, Tuong] arrived at 6 pm to pick us for a street food tour that would become our Christmas Noche Buena, and to a scary first hand experience of Ho Chi Minh's insane traffic.
In the next 4 hours, we counterflowed and navigated narrow alleys for the bun bo hue or beef noodles soup from Central Vietnam [served with a plate of herbs, thinly sliced banana blossom, lime wedges and a mean soup that evoke hours of slow cooking the beef]...
...the charcoal-grilled banh trang nuong or Vietnamized pizza [rice paper in lieu of dough, hints of eggs and probably mayonnaise in the toppings, amazingly delectable]; the banh xeo or savory Vietnamese pancake where pork, shrimp and bean sprouts are folded into a rice flour-based batter which once cooked were finger-torn into bite sizes then wrapped with herbs ala spring rolls in lettuce or wasabi leaves [the magic is in the fish sauce-sugar dip without which the dish won't survive]; banh mi or Vietnam-style baguette sandwich, a legacy from Vietnam's French colonial past which is now a breakfast staple in the country, halved with each side slathered with pate and butter then sanwiched with pork [plain meat and sausaged], cucumber, pickled carrots and winter radish, and cilantro [it's all about the bread, feshly baked, crusty yet delicate inside, can stand alone as is or as a sandwich]...
Adding value to the food trip is a quick stop at the memorial for the Burning Monk who more than 56 years ago set himself on fire to protest the South Vietnamese government's anti-Buddist policy that led to the downfall [and assasination] of President Ngo Din Diem; zipping through the colors, fragrance and chaos of the Ho Thi Ky Flower Market; and getting a glimpse of Ho Chi Minh's inner city life.
Our Street Food on Scooter Tour is an exceptional one-of-a-kind Noche Buena experience which we could have never had on our own, and at a surprisingly cheap price considering the volume of food we ate and the incredible experience we had.
This year, we had an amazing Noche Buena and greeted half of Christmas Day in Ho Chi Minh!
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