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We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) yesterday. HCMC seems to just be an “official” name in southern Vietnam. Ever since we went through the DMZ area, it’s been referred to as Saigon. So Saigon it is! It’s heading into rainy season here, so we did a cyclo tour of the city, through the rain. But that’s what my Columbia rain jacket (with duck bill hood) is for. :) We stopped at the War Remnants Museum. It was a tough walk-through, but still interesting. After leaving our cyclos behind, we walked around the downtown square and then had drinks at the Rex Hotel (that’s famous for housing all the reporters during the war). We had dinner at a more local (not touristy) place. Their specialty is “beef on a roof tile” dish, where you cook strips of beef on your own rooftile and then make little rice wraps with them. Unfortunately, “tofu on a rooftile” wasn’t on the menu, so I had a so-so veggie dish and rice.
We drove down to the Mekong Delta this morning for a daytrip. We took a boat into the “islands” and then visited a coconut candy place. We watched them make the candy (from whole coconut to complete, wrapped candy). The candy was really good, so I bought some. After the candy place we had lunch at a bee farm. I had some of the fish for lunch. It was delicious. FIrst you pick off some fish, wrap it in a rice wrap with pineapple and cucumber and then dip it in a sauce. It was fun to make and to eat! After lunch, we had the chance to stick our fingers in a beehive. Yums! Then we rode on little wooden boats back to the bigger boat to go back to the mainland. I was expecting the Viet Cong to jump out at anytime. ;)
