Tag Archives: south vietnam

Asia, Trips

Day Trips from Ho Chi Minh City

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Ho Chi Minh City is an excellent base location for one-day trips in South Vietnam. We went for two such trips – Cu Chi Tunnels and Mekong Delta.

Day 1 – Cu Chi Tunnels and Cao Dai Temple

We booked this trip online through Get Your Guide. The pickup point was in HCMC District 1 like most day trips from HCMC.

The first stop was the Cao Dai temple where the religion of Caodaism was founded. This religion started in Vietnam as recently as 1926. It combines teachings from some of the major religions of the region – Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

  • Cao Dai Temple – the one where the religion was founded

You can also find Jesus and some Hindu Gods sculpted inside the temple halls.

  • The pillars have colourful sculptures of dragons winding around them
  • Notice the statues of the great teachers on the back wall near the ceiling

We got to witness their prayer session in the afternoon where dozens of people congregated to chant the hymns. It was certainly a unique experience – it felt more like a cult than a religion – which got us thinking how every religion was a cult to start with!

  • The afternoon congregation

The best part of the trip was our next stop at the Cu Chi tunnels. There are two sections of the tunnels which have been opened up to visitors – Ben Dinh and Ben Duoc. The first one is more touristy, and some parts of the tunnels have been widened for people to fit through easily. Ben Duoc would give you a better perspective on history as it is mostly preserved as is. We were lucky that our tour had the Ben Duoc section.

  • Abandoned planes, tanks and artillery on display outside the tunnels’ entrance

We spent almost 2 hours walking around the dense jungle and crawling through the tunnels. If you wish to understand how it was for the people here during the Vietnam war, this will give you a better sense than any museum. The entrances to the tunnels were concealed in the ground with mud and leaves. The tunnels were tiny and dark with spiders and bats lurking in the corners. It is a claustrophobic person’s nightmare. It is mind boggling to imagine how the Vietnamese fighters lived in these jungles and tunnels for years at a stretch – with imminent threat to life!

  • The entrances to the tunnels are quite narrow and concealed under the mud and leaves
  • This was one of the bigger sections – the smaller ones were tiny and dark and we had to crawl through them
  • An underground room which was used by the guerrillas to plan their strategy

The tunnels are a must-visit if you are in Vietnam and especially HCMC. If you get a choice on which tunnels to visit, go for Ben Duoc without a doubt.

As we reached HCMC, our tour guide, Tram, suggested we should check out the football match screening at the Ho Chi Minh Square – it was totally worth it!

Day 2 – Mekong Delta

The next day, we went on a day trip to the might Mekong Delta. We booked it online again, this time on Klook. The tour agency((TNK Travel) was however the same – and we were more than happy as their service was really good and so were their tour guides. Our guide on this trip, Tam, was especially enthusiastic – he even sang many folk songs for the group!

The Mekong is the 12th longest river in the world and it originates in Tibet and runs through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and finally drains into the South China Sea through the extensive delta system in Vietnam.

  • The mighty Mekong river

The drive from HCMC to the town of My Tho in the delta takes about 2 hours. This trip is perfect if you want to explore the country-side of southern Vietnam. Our first stop was the Vinh Trang Pagoda where we met the giant statues of the laughing Buddha, Amitava and the reclining Buddha.

  • The laughing Buddha at Vinh Trang Pagoda

We were then taken on boats to an island for a simple Vietnamese lunch. We enjoyed some fresh Pomelo juice picked right from the gardens around us.

  • A simple lunch with some amazing fresh Pomelo juice (the pink one)
  • Fresh Pomelo in the orchards on the island

We then visited a coconut candy factory and had snake wine (it also had scorpions, lizards and spiders!). Not for the faint-hearted!

  • Snake wine anyone?

This was followed by the much-awaited boat ride through the narrow canals of the Mekong.

  • Relaxing boat-ride in the canals

The final segment was a traditional song performance accompanied with honey tea and more fruits.

It was a day filled with culture, food and fun! If you have an extra day, you can visit the floating markets at Can Tho.

Read more about our trip through Vietnam in our blogs here. If you liked this one, do drop a comment below to share your thoughts. You can also catch all our latest stories on Instagram at @fridgemagment.tales.

Asia, Trips

Ho Chi Minh City

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Ho Chi Minh City, or popularly, Saigon, is the biggest metropolitan city and the financial centre of Vietnam. It was the capital of the erstwhile South Vietnam and was renamed after the unification with North Vietnam. Though things have changed over the last few decades, you can still see how the vastly different political ideologies have shaped the cultures of Vietnam as you move from North to South. We flew in from Da Nang for what would be the third and last part of our Vietnam trip.

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is like most other metropolitan cities and the area of interest for visitors is District 1 (this district is still referred to as Saigon). We had booked an Airbnb studio apartment in the same district (tips on booking places to stay and local travel) for proximity.

Here are some things you can do in HCMC:

The Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon: It is one of the most impressive structures left behind from the French colonial times. They actually imported bricks all the way from Marseille in the late 1800’s!

  • Notre Dame Cathedral of Saigon

Saigon Central Post Office: This post office is situated right next to the cathedral and is also from the colonial period. It is an impressive building – what’s most amazing is that it is still a functioning post office!

  • Saigon Central Post Office

Ben Thanh Market: Right in the middle of the city, in District 1, is the famous Ben Thanh market. You can find almost anything in here from fruits & vegetables to meat, souvenirs, clothes, dry fruits, handbags, ceramics, street food and much more! Once again, the key is to bargain, bargain, bargain. But we found the shopkeepers to be quite rude to window-shoppers – we were happy we finished all our shopping in Hanoi.

Ho Chi Minh Square: On the walking street of Nguyen Hue Boulevard is the Ho Chi Minh Square. It begins at the City Hall and stretches all the way to the Saigon river. This was our favourite place in HCMC!

  • Ho Chi Minh Square with the City Hall in the background
  • Kids playing in the water fountains

We spent a lot of time here walking around and sitting next to the fountains – it was fun watching kids running around in the water. It is a perfect place to observe local life. It wasn’t on our plan initially – our guide from the day-trip to Cu Chi tunnels told us about the football match which was being aired there at night – so, we decided to give it a shot. What we saw was a huge screen right in the middle of the street with over a thousand people sitting on the road watching.

  • Vietnam vs UAE screening in the square

We moved forward to realise that there were 4 more screens which were equally crowded one after another! It seemed like the whole city was here for the match (it was Vietnam vs UAE in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers) – it felt like we were in a gigantic stadium which erupted every time Vietnam hit a shot at goal (Vietnam won 1-0)! We also found a really nice rooftop restaurant here which we ended up visiting twice!

  • It was as if the entire city was here!

Museums: HCMC has the War Remnants Museum which you can visit to learn more about the Vietnam war. You can also visit other museums and the Reunification Palace to learn about the culture and history of the land. We had it on our plan initially but decided to give it a skip and instead spend time walking around the city and doing what the locals did.

Another thing we must mention about HCMC is the scooter! The streets are flooded with two-wheelers – make sure you check multiple times before crossing a street if you don’t want to get hit. Despite being from India (where people don’t pay much heed to traffic rules), it took us some time to adjust – Vietnam is different animal altogether!

  • Fountains on the Nguyen Hue Boulevard

There are a lot of good places to eat in HCMC and you can read more about the places we recommend here.

  • Beef Noodle Salad

We would also recommend not to spend too much time in the city as you only get to do more “city-stuff” which you could find in most other big cities in the world. The above-mentioned places can easily be covered in a day. We planned it in such a way that HCMC was our base location for a couple of day-trips. Over two days we went to Cu Chi Tunnels, Cao Dai temple and Mekong Delta and relaxed in the evenings in the city.

Hope this helps you plan your trip better – do let us know in the comments below. If you like our blog, do share it on your social pages – the more the merrier! Follow us on Instagram for more pictures, videos and our latest travels at @fridgemagnet.tales