Sài Gòn (Ho Chi Minh City)

Ho Chi Minh is just a big developed city with not much essence or difference from any other city in the world. Wide streets, large buildings, busy people (but on their vietnamese calm vibe). You can clearly see how the economical status is higher in this city compared to the rest of the country, everything is more modern, people speak some english, there are homeless people everywhere on the streets (somehow you can always see that the richer the city is, bigger is the amount of poverty you see on the streets). Didn't stay for too long in this big city, it was more of a practical stop for some "first world tasks" such as my expensive whole day english test (by some examiners with an awful english, given the irony), finding my way out of the country (cheapest possible way) or doing some shopping. On my exam break escaped to the sad remnants war museum to remind myself how awful humans can be. Got impressed by the intensity of the party street (strippers dancing on the front door, incredibly loud music that no one is dancing to, 7 year old's breathing out fire in the middle of the night...), had some beers with a greek guy I met a few towns ago and got greeted by a really sweet bartender who gave me the chance to say goodbye to the country surrounded by vietnamese generosity and warm heart. Last but not least, as proud as I am of myself, managed to leave the country with only 3 dongs, which is about less than 10 cents (best country I have done so far). Had my last pho (noodle soup) for breakfast and got ready to leave this country of friendly and relaxed people, large interesting food diversity and very cheap beer. Let's see what Cambodia has to share!

📍Essentials: War remnants museum, check out the party street
💡 Travelling tips: Giant Ibis was the cheapest reliable company I could find. After Covid prices increased enormously from ~10 to ~40$. This was 35$ The bus is pretty comfy, the lady who attended me incredibly sweet (at least I think so, but we couldn't exchange a single word on the same language), the guy on the bus spoke a bit of english and managed all the details (easiest immigration borders I've ever done). The only thing was that I decided to do visa on arrival because I wasn't sure where, when and how I was crossing the border, and instead of paying 36$ t-visa I payed 45$ to the bus guy. So if you can plan at least three days in advance (more than I do as you can clearly see) you can save a few bucks on it.
💡Travelling tips: food is slightly more expensive in here compared with the rest of the country, at least for what district 1 stands for. So make sure to ask for the price of food in advance if you don't want to find yourself paying four times more what you were hoping for.Read more