2015 Vietnam

Cocktails, Cooking and Cycling

14th October 2015 – 22ndOctober 2015 (9 days)

Getting started
It was an early start to catch the day time flight from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) in South Vietnam. Getting to the airport just became a bit trickier as our local buses had stopped terminating at Wynyard Station. Instead we got a scenic trip over the Cahill Expressway followed by a bumpy suitcase run downhill to Circular Quay Station. Arriving at the airport inplenty of time we found the departure lounge areas were being extensively rebuilt. The ‘improvements’ meant that we had trouble finding anywhere to complete our breakfast. We finally ended up with a big breakfast and a squashed ham and cheese croissant. It was good to start the holiday on a gastronomic low.The Vietnam Airlines flight was barely half full; as soon the doors closed Megan moved across the aisle so we both had two seats. The in flight service was uninspiring and lunch didn’t move us far from the gastronomic low, but we both enjoyed watching Far From The Madding Crowd on the small screen.

Eight hours later we were dodging thunder clouds and making our approach to Saigon airport. Adrian entered Vietnam on his UK passport as it didn’t require a visa. Megan came armed with an expensive stamp in her Australian passport. We followed the “arrival at Ho Chi Minh” Trip Advisor guide, changing money ready for a cash economy. Ignoring the touts offering overpriced transfers to the city, we handed our hotel name to the taxi rank supervisor, and got a cheap metered taxi ride to the Liberty Central Riverside.

Although it was late afternoon when we checked in to the hotel it felt a lot later as we had lost four hours, so we had to push ourselves to go out to eat after unpacking. We ended up in a chain Vietnamese restaurant directly below our window –but we had to walk round the block to get there. We could only muster the appetite for soup. Adrian had a kumquat and tamarind soda which was the first of many interesting refreshing drinks on our holiday.

Our itinerary
We sampled South Vietnam with two contrasting segments. Our short holiday started with five nights in the heart of the city, District 1, right by the Saigon River. After seeing the sights, learning about Vietnamese Cooking, and sampling the cheap cocktails we then moved to the rural Mekong Delta for two nights, staying by the Mekong River.
Segment 1: Ho Chi Minh
[14 Oct] Sydney – Ho Ch Minh (Hotel Liberty Central Saigon Riverside)
[15 Oct] Street Food
[16 Oct] Cu Chi Tunnels
[17 Oct] Cooking School
[18 Oct] War Museum
Segment 2: Cai Be
[19 Oct] Ho Chi Minh – Cai Be (Mekong Lodge)
[20 Oct] Exploring the delta by boat and bicycle
[21 Oct] Cai Be –Ho Chi Ming Airport – Sydney
[22 Oct] Home!

Segment 1: Ho Chi Minh City


Street Food Tour
We had pre-booked an introduction to Saigon’s street
food by scooter from the Saigon Cooking School. In the cool of the early morning we hopped on the back of two scooters, then wobbled and weaved our way through the traffic. There were a couple of moments when it was better to not be looking at the traffic on a collision course with us – but there was safety in numbers being part of a fluid traffic jam of two wheelers. Being on a scooter also helped us avoid some of the busy streets as we headed down narrow laneways. Our first stop was the local Vuon Chuoi Market in District 3 – well away from the tourist circuit.

Our guide from the cooking school introduced us to the foodstuffs on sale – some familiar and some not so. We sampled the vegetable health drinks thendived down a side alley way to sample freshly cooked dishes being prepared on simple hawker stalls. Sitting on tiny stools we sampled North Vietnamese kebabs and coconut pancakes (Banh Khot). Both were served with an overflowing bowl of salad greens and dipping sauce. We were shown how to serve the food by wrapping it in leaves giving a fresh (and healthy) taste.

Back on our two scooters, we needed a pause to let the food digest, so the next stop was for our eyes only – the Hồ Thị Kỷ wholesale flower market in Ly Thai To street. Most of the flowers in the market are imported, or grown in the highland regions of Vietnam. We often saw the floral displays being delivered precariously on the back of scooters to hotels, weddings and funerals. Back to eating and to BánhCuốn Hải Nam to sample a popular Vietnamese snack – Bánh Cuốn –minced pork stuffed rice paper rolls. We also tasted the fermented pork neck sausage – Nem. It looked distinctly unappetising wrapped in plastic (particularly after you had been told how it was made) but had a pleasant taste that complemented the rolls.

Our next street food experience was from one of the many vendors outside the university selling lunch to the students. We sampled a quail egg salad (Banh Trang Tron) freshly prepared before us. Instead of using noodles Banh TrangTron is made from left-over strips of rice paper – nothing is wasted in Vietnamese cooking!

With all this delicious food we needed a break, sowe popped into the cool of a modern Dao Cao Dai temple. Caodaism is the third largest religion in Vietnam and the temple shrine presents an all seeing eye.There was a large orderly crowd outside the temple waiting for a free meal handout.

The final stop of our tour was in time for an early lunch of Bún bò Huế – a beef soup (like Pho) served in a central Vietnamese style. Once again the soup came with a mountain of fresh greens.

Cu Chi
Most visitors take a long coach ride out of Ho Chi Minh to visit the Cu Chi tunnels – the underground headquarters of the Viet Cong at the end of the Ho Chi Minh trail. We decided to spend a bit more and make the trip north by river speedboat. The fare with Les Rives included a simple breakfast (before we set off at speed), and lunch at a restaurant before we returned. The river wharves opposite our hotel had been abandoned (presumably to make way for some redevelopment), so we had to take a short minivan trip to board our boat just a bit upstream. The boat was seriously fast and overpowered – it carried just ten passengers. Luckily the section of the Saigon River we went up wasn’t particularly busy so there wasn’t much other water traffic to avoid.

By the sides of the river there were a few high concrete block houses built to attract swiftlets to nest. The nests are treasured for the supposed medicinal qualities of the bird spittle. We arrived at the Cu Chi complex ahead of most o fthe coach parties, though the site was clearly well designed to handle large numbers of visitors. The circular tour started with a surprisingly good propaganda film presenting the Vietnamese perspective on the war and the role of the tunnel systems. Then a stroll through the jungle took us past by various reconstructions.

Life for the Viet Cong in the tunnels was difficult,but the museum showed them to be very resourceful (including dismantling unexploded ordinance to extract the explosive, and making sandals out of old tyres). After lunch we retraced our route back to Ho Chi Minh arriving back just as the afternoon storms threatened to break.

Saigon Cooking School – Cooking Class
The Saigon Cooking School is one of the better places to learn how to cook Vietnamese food. It operates out of a colonial building in a disused opium refinery. The ground floor of the building is a well-regarded restaurant; whilst upstairs are the air conditioned school facilities. Because the school is so popular we were offered the option of a course to be taken downstairs in the restaurant courtyard. The lack of air-conditioning was not an issue for us,but we were surprised to find that there were 10 students in our overflow class!

In the four hour morning class we cooked3 dishes:
Chả giò: Fried spring roll with pork & taro and Nuoc Mam dipping sauce
The challenge here was wrapping and sealing the filling in rice paper. And then deep frying the rolls using only chopsticks.

Water spinach and “Cang Cua”salad
with quail eggs, dry prawns, raw vegetables,fried garlic & shallots
Gỏi rau muống -kumquat dressing
More fun on this cold salad. Lots of julienning vegetables, and using a special shredder to prepare the water spinach – but at least no hot oil involved!

Mì xào giòn hải sản
Crispy fried noodles with squids & crunchy vegetables – Back to the hot oil to crisp fry a handful of noodles – once again just using chopsticks. Then a wok stir fry using fresh squid and a unusually liquid sauce.Each dish was eaten after we had prepared it. And whilst we ate the cooking class cleared our workspaces and put out the ingredients for the next course.

The sights of Ho Chi Minh

The heart of French Colonial Saigon is “Paris” square with the Central Post Office and the Catholic Cathedral of Notre Dame. The Post Office is an impressive building – like a small railway station inside. We made good use of our visit, buying postcards at a stand, using the writing desks to add our message, and then purchasing stamps. The cathedral was not open for visitors when we passed by. The exterior looks like brick but is actually red tiles from Marseilles. Between the “Paris”square and the river is a broad ceremonial avenue Nguyen Hue.

At the head of the avenue is the former Hotel de Ville, now the People’s Committee Building in a distinctive Parisian style. The building is closed to the public, but it is viewed for the statue of Ho Chi Minh in front (and the flower gardens).

We found ourselves with many hours to spare before our flight – even the check-in was closed when we arrived.Luckily the airport has a public “farewell” gallery with a bar and restaurant where we were able to sit comfortably whilst we waited.The return flight was completely full so there were no spare seats to stretch out on the night flight to Sydney. With a four hour time difference there wasn’t much time to rest between dinner and the early breakfast service, but both of us were so exhausted (and relaxed)we did grab some sleep.

The verdict

Plus
Vietnamese cooking was interesting in its use of varied salad greens (not what we were used to in Sydney)
Lots of good quality fresh food
Amazingly cheap cocktails in hotel happy hour(s)
Bike rides along narrow paths avoiding motor bikes or falling off bridges
The brick factory – green and efficient
Minus
Our room in HoChi Minh was very small (made smaller by the ridiculously large bed) – and only one chair.