If you've been following our adventures so far, you've seen what it was like backpacking through Istanbul . The Turkish metropolis was just a stopover on our way to Asia. With sleepy eyes and tiredness, we arrived at Istanbul Airport close to midnight. Here was the first big surprise! The guys from Turkish Airlines upgraded our economy tickets to business class.
As we are not used to traveling in this class, I will describe the experience. You are received as an honored guest with champagne or natural juices of your choice, and the chef, who will prepare your dinner and breakfast, comes to meet you personally. For example, I chose fish dishes and the traditional dessert (baklavale) for dinner, and Loredana chose pasta.
The hearty meal and the fatigue of the more than 18K steps in Istanbul had their say. Just half an hour after take off, the seats turned into the most comfortable bed and we found ourselves close to landing in Saigon. The flight of around 11 hours is really much easier in this class.
Christmas Eve found us in the entertainment capital of Vietnam
Before any description of the Saigon (Ho Chi Minh) experience, we want to thank our friend Andrei, who planned this trip extremely carefully. In other words, if you have a friend who has been to an "exotic" destination several times, convince him to help you. An honor at a restaurant is even recommended!
The first thing that pleasantly “hit” us in Saigon was the temperature. The 24 degrees, with very low humidity, gave us the energy to explore Saigon in the evening. If you want to use a transportation app similar to UBER, download Grab Superapp . You can use it to order a driver, a piloted scooter, food. We chose the accommodation at Nhat Ha 1 Hotel , located at a reasonable distance from any point of interest. And now let me tell you why we were unable to rent a car and we kept getting refused by rental companies! As Europeans, there are extremely small chances of driving on the streets of Vietnam . It is an organized chaos, with thousands of scooters mixing with cars. Everything seems unreal!.
A festival with everything held on one street
The Thai dinner (Lore has a big problem with food) gave us the energy to continue exploring the streets of Saigon. Young Vietnamese people , but also tourists, are attracted like a magnet to the clubs on Bui Vien Walking Street. Dancers on cubes, mixed with bicycles with display cases of squid and salted fish, beggars, waiters who want to convince you to sit on the terrace where they work, music, as loud as at a festival and drug dealers who harass you. Be careful – in Vietnam, drug-related crimes are even punishable by death! I think I captured the situation on this street best in this reel.
Prices? Higher than in Romania for spirits. For example, 7 shots of B-52 cost 602.000 VND. To put that into perspective, 25.000 VND is one euro. As for food prices, a table for seven people cost between 1.700.000 VND and 2.700.000 VND depending on how touristy the place is. My salad, for example, was almost 5 euros.
I hope we don't leave with caracals behind us to the next destination
I don't think Saigon is a destination for more than 3 days. There are a few museums to visit and other testimonies of the bloody war, but the 30+ hours here were enough for us. I am writing these lines in the airport in Saigon. We are heading to Da Nang! Until we fly, we protect our luggage from several uninvited guests.
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