Eating Great Food and Exploring District

Yesterday evening we went to the craziness of Walking Street which is basically full of tourists, bars and loud music, but we were recommended a restaurant so we decided to head over for brunch. We headed down the tiny streets off the main walking street and found a really cute coffee shop and a family run Pho stall. We are determined to get more confident in Vietnamese so we ordered our coffee and Pho in Vietnamese and sat practising. The owner said our pronunciation was spot on! Such a compliment!

After lunch we took the local bus to explore Ben Xe Cho Lon aka Chinatown. Now this is what I wanted from a market! Fresh fruit everywhere and for super cheap!! We may have overbought but we got a pineapple, oranges, dragonfruit and rambutan. Rambutan are sooo yummy!! I'm really going to miss the fruit here, 100% better than in the UK. We wandered round the markets, saw some really lovely Chinese temples and headed back in a bit of a rush. Our plan for the evening was to go back to the house, shower, dress up, go up the Bitexo Tower, watch sunset and do the Heineken experience. But we were running very late... When we finally got there they told us they had an event happening so we couldn't go! Disaster! Ah well, as we were in the area we heard there were boutique shops and coffee shops in Old run down flats, so we went and it was like stepping into Shoreditch. You go up very dodgy run down staircases and each flat has its own hip coffee shop or boutique shop. I'm really loving Ho Chi Minh, it really is like London for its food, hidden gems, vast amounts of history and just such a cool place to live! After coffee, which I am loving here by the way, we went back home for another outstandingly yummy dinner. Met some new people in the homestay and then went for an early night before our busy day tomorrow.Read more