Week 7 – Sunday 1st Febuary – Saturday 7th Febuary 2026
Finally back together this week after Del spent a week in Portugal working, and Hayley moved around Vietnam all on her own. We are now here in Vietnam for the next three weeks. This week sees the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam. Which will be nice...? We intend to do some history this week…
Sunday 1st Febuary
It’s February already! H has breakfast in the huge hotel restaurant; in fact, it’s so big that she has trouble locating the table where she left her coffee! Del is currently on his way back to Asia from Portugal and will be back tonight.
H has a wander around the local streets of Saigon, which is more nerve-racking than it sounds due to having to cross the mad, crazy roads here. She has put together for our dear reader this cut out and keep, step-by-step guide to crossing the road in Saigon. This can be applied to almost anywhere in Vietnam.
Beginner’s guide to crossing the road in Saigon…
- Find a crossing (This is optional, as all road users completely ignore them).
- Keep scanning the roads and look for a 2-second gap in the torrent of mopeds, cars, scooters and buses, but mainly mopeds.
- Step out into the traffic (Pay attention, looking in ALL directions for riders on the wrong side of the road).
- Keep walking at a constant speed while maintaining eye contact with the moped riders. Do not stop, or you will be run over, as they predict your progress and flow around you like water.
- Pray!
- Once you get on the other side of the road, take a deep breath and go on your way. Congratulations.
You can spot the newcomers to Vietnam; they stand by the crossings looking nervous and hoping the traffic will stop. It won’t. It’s terrifying the first time you do it, and it still makes us nervous after 4 trips here, but it all seems to work, and we’ve never seen an accident yet, apart from a couple of years ago when a guy with a fridge/freezer on the back of his moped overbalanced going around a corner.
She can’t find her first choice of restaurant for dinner, so she goes to one that looks and reads nice on a busy corner. She is the only westerner in here, and she peruses the menu of brains, chicken cartilage and ‘fake dog’(?), eventually opting for a pork and aubergine clay pot minus the brains, cartilage and dog! It’s very tasty.
Del finally arrives from his 20-hour slog, and we have a glass of wine in the hotel rooftop bar overlooking the city of Siagon. Very nice.
Monday 2nd Febuary
Del has slept very well considering and is rested and ready for the day. After breakfast, he unpacks properly and dishes out some of the goodies he’s brought from home.
We have been to Saigon a few times, but we decide to visit the Independence Palace again. It’s a very famous building, and it’s where Saigon finally fell in April 1975 when the tanks of the North Vietnamese army (No. 843 and 390) stormed through the gates, ending the Vietnam War.
The building is preserved in its original state inside and has a very 1960s feel about it, and it serves as an excellent piece of history.
It’s hot here today, though, and we are feeling the heat walking around. We fancy a bit of lunch and jump in a cab to go to one of H’s favourite places to eat. Bo Ne Ba Nui. It’s a very basic local street cafe on a busy street corner with stainless steel tables and miniature plastic chairs. They specialise in Vietnamese steak and eggs served sizzling on a hot plate.
The sauce is delicious and rich, and it’s served with the best Vietnamese baguettes ever. The inside of the bread is light and fluffy with a delicate, crispy exterior. It’s fabulous, and it is just as we remember. Nothing has changed, not even the chaos and noise of the entertaining junction.
Del is desperate for a haircut, not having had one since mid-December, so we find a barber, and soon he is looking much neater, and according to the barber, 10 years younger. Ok, 5 years. Alright… A couple of years younger with his £4 haircut.
Time is getting on, and so is the heat, so we jump in a cab and head back to the hotel for a freshen up and a rest. We spend the afternoon sorting out the blog and pictures.
Very soon, it’s 7 pm, so we head up to the rooftop bar for a cocktail. The view is great up here. Saigon is immense and sprawls in every direction.
For dinner tonight, we will visit the street food market that H passed 2 nights ago.
It’s a short cab ride. When we arrive, we take our time and walk around the stalls trying to decide.
H goes for a local dish of crispy fried rice cakes with a pork and mushroom filling, while Del has barbecued chicken with a side of spring rolls. Del has chosen wisely; his dinner is delicious; however, H isn’t happy with hers as it’s all a bit tasteless.
Next, we opt for a dessert each. Del has coconut with pandan jelly, and H has a Thai sweet soup. Again, Del’s is a winner, H’s includes a stealthy bit of Durian purée hiding on top. Oh dear, she still hasn’t grown to like durian, no matter how many times she tries. Del has a taste and pulls a disgusted face, saying it tastes like propane. Which isn’t far from the truth.
Tuesday 3rd Febuary
Today we spend the morning at the hotel, visiting the gym and sitting by the pool. The infinity pool on the roof is huge, and it takes H 10 minutes to explore how vast it is. It goes on forever. “All that weight”, she says when she gets out, she’s always concerned about engineering logistics.
While we are lying in the sun, enjoying the heat and the light music, we are interrupted by a huge swarm of insects that has appeared and lingers for a while before they fly over us and away. The staff are out and looking concerned; we’re not sure what they are, but glad they have gone. Asian Hornets are here, and they are deadly! Just saying.
We get showered, dressed and freshened up and head to the Landmark 81 building, which is the 2nd tallest building in SE Asia (after the Merdeka 118 in KL) and the tallest observation deck currently open.
The ticket is only £10, and we get access to the observation deck, which is deserted, a tethered walk outside, a VR experience and 2 photos. It’s a great value ticket and a fantastic view of the sprawling city. We can’t figure out why there is no one here.
Back at the hotel, Del has a work call that lasts for an hour or so. We get freshened up again and set off for dinner. H has found a nice French restaurant very near the hotel. The entrance off the street is a little quirky, but once in, we are welcomed by a very professional and courteous staff. We start with a salad, then duck with orange sauce, dauphinoise and a lovely cheese board, all helped along with a delicious French red. Remember, the French once colonised and held onto Vietnam until 1954, so there is some good French stuff still to find.
We finish off with a tea and coffee, and Del has a superbly smooth Remy Martin brandy. It has been a delicious dinner and for Vietnam, expensive at £80, but it has made a nice change and is the first western food that H has eaten in 6 weeks, so it was well worth it.
When we checked into the hotel, we were given a $25 voucher to use in the casino here, but only on the slot machines. We are not visitors to casinos, so we thought that the slot machines might be a nice, easy way to lose the credit that we were given!
However, the machines don’t resemble anything we have seen before. Gone are the familiar BAR, CHERRIES, ACE OF SPADES pictures and a simple Play and Hold button; we could just about deal with that. No. Now they are replaced with noisy, confusing graphics of dragons, turtles, fireworks, and noises that resemble a toilet emptying or a cat being sick! We have absolutely no idea what is going on, or what we are pressing or why, the two large displays just keep flashing and bleeping and gurgling as we just randomly touch the bright colourful displays and buttons.
5 minutes later, we cash out, and are staggered when a ticket is spat out of a slot announcing that our payout is $153…!! Surely not, we don’t believe it even when the cashier is counting out the money.
We leave, but we leave quickly, waiting for a hand on the shoulder and to be escorted back in! We can’t quite believe it…! But here it is below… 153 US dollars. That’s paid for the expensive French dinner and some!
Wednesday 4th Febuary
It’s another hot day, and we head out to visit the memorial of the monk Thich Quang Duc. We saw his famous car when we were in Hue about a week or so ago, and it was here in Saigon at the memorial where he set fire to himself.
It’s a large, impressive memorial with pictures showing that terrible day. It’s a very sobering moment. What we found out later was that despite setting himself on fire, the only part of his body that was not damaged was his heart. Strangely enough, there were copycat events by other monks, where again their hearts were the only undamaged remains from their self-emoliation. Time for an iced salted coffee to cool down.
Our next historical stop is the War Remnants Museum. We’ve done all the war museums here and in Hanoi before, but we’ve learnt a lot more about the Vietnam War since our last visits, so we have a look around.
The outside area is full of old US helicopters and tanks, and a prison area dedicated to the South’s torture and capture of the North Vietnamese soldiers. There are no niceties here; the photos and descriptions are brutal and probably the worst we have seen.
The photo displays carry on inside the main building, but are not the same intensity of the prison area. Still, they are very disturbing, showing war crimes and the effects of Agent Orange and Napalm, which were both widely used in their millions of litres. Some areas of Vietnam will take 100 years to recover from the deforestation effects of Agent Orange.
The museum is heavy-going and is also very hot; it does not have AC. We are worn out now and return to the hotel.
Dinner tonight is in town, and a traditional Vietnamese pancake for Del and beef wrapped in betel leaves for H. Both are wrapped in rice paper with an abundance of herbs and dipped in a tasty sauce.
Thursday 5th Febuary
Today we are catching the high-speed ferry down the river to Vung Tao, a coastal town. The ferry takes 1hr 45, the alternative is a 3-hour trip in a limousine van, but the traffic in Saigon is terrible at the moment. We nearly miss the ferry as the hotel cancels our cab to the ferry pier so they can get their driver to take us after we had a bit of a moan about smelly AC and a far too busy breakfast. Here in Vietnam, especially in Saigon, they are mortified by any bad reviews on the internet, and they are taken very seriously, so much so that establishments have been known to ‘rugby tackle‘ customers to change or even delete anything that might be close to a bad review… Del was asked to delete his Google review, but refused. They still provided the car and gave us some very nice cakes…! The review was a good review apart from the AC and the breakfast crush…!
As a note. The ‘review thing’ these days is becoming the new ‘currency’. It’s a slippery slope, and one that we should all be watching out for. Everybody wants you to review them. The day will come when you will be denied service if your review is not liked by whoever you have bought a product or service from. Don’t say it can’t happen…! It’s not long now. If you want a taster, have a look at an excellent Black Mirror episode called Nosedive. Anyway, we digress…
This free car and cake goes well until we get stuck in traffic, and then the driver takes us to the wrong pier. He doesn’t understand us, and it takes a while to get him to take us to the correct jetty. We are 25 mins late for check-in, and we just make the boat with just 5 minutes to spare!
After about 2 hours, and a very bumpy end to the boat journey in the bay, we disembark and go to our next hotel. We have a deluxe sea view room, and it’s lovely, lots of room, a massive balcony with a spectacular view of the bay of Vung Tau. It’s a refreshing change from Saigon as it’s quiet and coastal. Nice.
It’s so quiet at our end of the town that there’s not a huge choice of eateries, but we find a nice BBQ place nearby and eat well.
Friday 6th Febuary
Del has some work paperwork to do today, lots coming up in the new year, and opts to stay at the hotel on the rooftop cafe/bar, where he will be hard at work. Yeah right. Look at his view…
H walks down the beach and sets out exploring some of Vung Tau. The front here is relatively new, and they have spent a lot of money on it. Clearly, they are expecting a prosperous future.
It’s all beautifully manicured and has art installations all the way along the stretch of beach. It’s all very impressive. After an hour of walking, she gets a cab to the older part of town and has a delicious bahn mi for lunch and attempts to walk it partway back to the hotel, but enough is enough, the sun is too hot with no shade. She gets a cab.
After a beer in the rooftop bar with Del, he suddenly declares he wants a pizza tonight! H is ok with that as it will make a nice change, and she knows just the place, she passed it on her walk about earlier today… Handy.
The pizza place is oddly enough called David’s Pizza. It’s a wonderful place, full of locals and served by locals. The pizzas come in three sizes; the medium is more than enough for us. We start with a shared salad and a glass of chilled red each. It is all delicious and comes in at a rather expensive 25 quid for a salad, two pizzas and two glasses of red…! Outrageous… Kidding. For vietnam it is ever so slightly expensive, but for us, it’s still good value.
We take a short cab ride back towards the hotel, but we stop on the beach and walk back, taking in the “LED art fest” that’s on the beach. The locals set up karaoke machines that anyone can have a go at, as well as ice-cream carts and drinks. It’s all very nice, and all very community spirited.
A very nice end to the day.
Saturday 7th Febuary
This morning we have woken up to another bright, warm day. There is a prevailing wind here in this part of Vung Tau, which is quite refreshing and pleasant.
Del wants to see the town, which he missed because of yesterday’s work, so we set off in a cab and have a look around the beach and busy town area. We are keen on finding a salt coffee, which we find in a very basic-looking, rustic place.
As usual, it is delicious. You look at some eating and drinking establishments here, and you do wonder about how they look and what the level of cleanliness is, but we are surprised at how hygienic they really are. They are very good. Most are family businesses and news travels very fast now if things are bad. We have found the quality of all the food and drink here excellent, despite some appearances.
We have wanted to try “Com Ga“, chicken and rice, a famous Vietnamese dish. During our long walk about, we find one. Run by a couple, he cooks the rice, she looks after the chicken.
There’s no English menu, but we have Google Translate to help us. It’s so cheap at £1.20 each, made in front of you on a gas burner in the street, and it is maybe the most delicious chicken ever. The skin is crisp and marinated with a crispy sugar, soy sauce and five spice mix. Wow!
The place is supposed to be closing, but there’s an endless stream of Grab delivery bikes and people turning up, but not a westerner in sight. We are it!
Tet is coming soon, and many shops are decorated in red and gold, and are selling drinks and food at discounted rates.
The Tet holiday is a big deal here; we now know what it is, but we have no idea what it will be like. We will find out on the 17th February when it all starts…
It’s our last night in Vung Tau, but instead of traditional local food, H has found a very local restaurant that specialises in Western food called D’Lisa & Lida, so we think that we will give it a go. It’s an unusual place, an ex-library which has been converted to a restaurant, a “book coffee shop” and a wine gallery. The wine gallery alone is quite impressive, with a good collection of world wines, brandies and whiskies.
It doesn’t disappoint. We start with excellent calamari to share, followed by Fuji steak, rare, served with a beetroot mash and French fries. To go with it, we have a Chilean red. The food is very well-cooked and well presented.
We are both a bit tired tonight, so we leave it there and take the short walk back to the hotel for showers and bed.
We have enjoyed our three-night stay in Vung Tau. It has a lot to offer and is very popular with the Vietnamese. Would we come again…? Yes, we would. It doesn’t have a lot of attractions or things to ‘to see‘, but it does offer a nice change from the madness of the major cities. It’s calm, peaceful, the people are nice, and the beaches and the beach walks are lovely.
Tomorrow we are taking the ferry back to Saigon for a 1-night stay, and the start of week 8. Many thanks to our reader for following us this week. It has been a busy week, but one we have enjoyed.
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