Last updated on January 14, 2024
I always find this to be the most luxurious experience. Of course, the loctitian washes my hair before interlocking it, but there is something particularly luxurious about getting a head massage and wash for no other reason than the pleasure of it.
On my last day in Ho Chi Minh City, I decided to enjoy some spa treatments. I got a package including hair wash, foot and hand care, and a manicure and pedicure with cat eye effect gel polish. It took almost three hours! Then it was time for lunch before getting a facial.
T and I had polish done in Hanoi at her favorite place. The quality was much better and similarly priced, but I’m still pleased with the results.
Food tour
I booked a food tour that was supposed to be 10 courses. I lost track of how many courses I actually ate, and we ended the tour a bit early, but it was a lot of food. I tried to restrict myself to 1/4 -1/3 of each dish.
I do not know the names of all the things I had, although I’m sure the guide told me. We also walked around the flower market and a tenement building that was built during the French occupation.
We skipped dessert, which was supposed to be coconut ice cream according to the guide, and I went for a frozen coconut coffee drink instead to end the day.
Exploring
I spent half a day exploring the city. My first stop was book street. I browsed through a couple of stores but didn’t buy anything. I wanted to get some postcards and found them at the Saigon Post Office. The Notre Dame cathedral is right opposite but it was closed for renovations.
I spent the bulk of my time at the reunification museum. There, I got to learn the South’s perspective of the Vietnam War and see many of the rooms used during that period. It’s an impressive building. Of course, I’d heard of the Vietnam War but I didn’t know much about it. Visiting the palace piqued my interest to learn more.
A Very Long Day Trip
On my second full day, I took a trip to Cu Chi tunnels and the Mekong Delta. Since I was staying at C’s home in District 2, I had to go to district 1 or 3 to catch the tour at 7:30. I left a bit early to get a frozen coconut coffee (although that turned out to be a bad idea before a long bus ride).
The tour picked me up around 7:45 and had two more stops to pick up people before we took off to Cu Chi tunnels. The journey was about 2 hours, with a brief stop on the way to visit a factory that employs handicapped people to create lacquerware using duck shells, and other materials.
At Cu Chi Tunnels, we visited various sights to learn how the Viet Cong fought the Americans. You can also enter some tunnels and underground spaces. That did not appeal to me although I tried one of the tunnels before backing out after about 20m. At the end of the tour, we had tapioca with a dry peanut and chili dip.
We had lunch at a restaurant at Cu Chi Tunnels before continuing on for another 2 hours by bus to the Mekong Delta.
At My Tho, we took a boat ride to a small island. There, we were served honey tea, fried honey-sweetened banana and royal jelly and given a chance to purchase them. Next, we saw one of the racks from a bee hive and could hold a snake if interested.
Our next stop was a coconut candy making factory where we saw the whole process, tasted and bought some candy.
Our last stop was for tropical fruit and tea. There was guava, mango, pineapple, papaya and dragon fruit. While we ate, some local performers sang and played traditional instruments.
After a short walk, we were back at the river and took small boats down a canal back to our boat. Each boat had two rowers.
It was interesting to see water coconuts. I had never seen that before. I also tried it and while the flesh is similar to coconut, I found it tougher and didn’t enjoy the texture.
Once on the boat, we went back to My Tho while our guide serenaded us with karaoke (another cultural experience). We had one more 2-hour bus ride back to HCMC.
By the time I got back to C’s, it was 19:30. A long day indeed.
I enjoyed my time in Ho Chi Minh City. It seems to be a big, busy city. Given my two tours, I only spent about a day sightseeing but it seemed like enough. There was a wide variety of food available and I enjoyed trying them. I especially love all thy e tropical fruits (except papaya).
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