Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City (with a visit to the Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta)

July 11th-14th, 2023

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon) on July 11th. Another delayed flight, but we got to our hotel OK. This started the family part of our trip - we met up with my sister and her family! It's nice to travel with family, especially because our kids get along so well, and even though the 5 of us travel pretty well together, sometimes my kids need some "new blood" in the mix. Haha.

We stayed in District 1 in an older hotel/hostel. It's one of those narrow tall buildings that have a winding staircase and NO elevator! We carried our luggage about 4-6 flights of steps. The hotel staff are all really nice and helped us, but with the heat and humidity, it felt like 20! 🥵 

Once we settled in, we went out to eat with my sister, Linda, and her family, husband HK, and kids, Chloe and Keegan. We went around the corner to a Pho place that was pretty yummy. All they do is Pho and only one kind. You order your noodles with choices of pork, spring roll and/or a combination of the two. That's it. That's the whole menu. They bring your bowl of goodies and the greens you can add in, but they have the broth sitting on the table with a ladle. You just ladle the broth over your noodles and you eat! 75% of our group opted not to use the communal broth, but I needed a little soup to break up the sticky noodles. And since I didn't get any belly troubles, I guess it was all fine! =)

On July 12th we did a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels and the Mekong Delta. During the war the Vietnamese built this intricate tunnel system as a way to protect and hide from their enemies. These tunnels included living areas, meeting rooms and various traps, which all seemed to end with a huge spike in your body somewhere. Eek! 

Then we did a tour through the Mekong Delta where we visited some local specialty manufacturers of coconut candy, honey and chocolate and did a short boat ride on Unicorn Island.

The next day, we just wandered around the city for a bit. We had lunch in a contemporary mall and then went to the famous old Ben Thanh Market, which is a hagglers heaven. We didn't do much shopping but rather went for the experience - they have everything from fish to shirts and statues to banh mi. Basically they have everything there.