Vietnam Tour (3of3): Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta

25 January 2024

The American or Vietnam War (the name depending on whose side you were on) killed four million Vietnamese and crushed a fragile country between idealists of left and right, between communism and capitalism. It spawned new protest movements for peace, and inspired scores of epoch-defining films such as Apocalypse Now. But all that is in the past.

Fifty years on from the American withdrawal from Vietnam, the country appears to have recovered from such a dark period. More than recovered, in fact, its economy is booming and its food – particularly pho – is conquering the world. Clearly, this is also a nation that believes in getting up early to get ahead – forward-looking, and bursting with energy.

Our first impressions on landing in Saigon, aka Ho Chi Minh City, were of skyscrapers and tidal waves of motor scooters. Despite Vietnam’s communist leadership, the city seemed rampantly commercial, thick with new shopping malls, street corner traders and with a metro about to open. 

And then there’s the heat. It was mid-30s on the thermometer, but the humidity made it feel far more, and we found ourselves regularly diving into the sanctuary of airconned coffee shops, of which there are hundreds. The Vietnamese are dedicated coffee addicts, but their default setting is iced – with plenty of sweet condensed milk – and understandably so.

But first of all, we went looking for history. At the gruelling War Remnants Museum, we found it hard to deal with the merciless imagery of spatchcocked human beings. There were noticeably only foreigners, no locals, wandering through its halls, and afterwards, when I mentioned this in conversation with a British resident in the cafeteria, he told me that “the Vietnamese don’t want to be weighed down by history”. They’re optimists, he explained. They want to look to the future, not the past.

Nearby is another relic from the recent past, the Reunification (or Independence) Palace, the site of the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, when a North Vietnamese Army tank crashed through the gates. Surrounded by royal palm trees, the dissonant 1960s architecture of this landmark government building, the kitsch details, the period motifs and the eerie ambience of its deserted halls make it an intriguing spectacle. Of particular note is the bunker and the rooftop ,with its helipad from which the last American troops left Vietnam on April 30th, 1975.

A few blocks away, a change of period and architecture as we discovered two legacies from the French occupation, the colonial red-brick elegance of  Notre Dame Cathedral. Across from that, we adored the interior of its glorious Central Post Office, which was built between 1886 and 1891. Still in use today, the walls are covered with  historic maps of the city, and we were able to buy our own picture postcards (with stamps). We sat down at one of the many wooden desks to fill them in before posting them. It was a lot of fun, before social media this was an activity that no holiday would have been complete without.

The central Ben Thanh market is the most famous in HCMC but we found it expensive compared to other local markets that we came across. We then made our way up the charming, tree-lined Dong Khoi, one of Saigon’s oldest streets. While it’s now home to trendy boutiques and luxe brand-name stores, it still retains traces of its colonial French origins through repurposed heritage buildings and elegant hotels.

It was now time to leave behind the hustle and bustle of the city for a few days and head for the Mekong Delta, the “rice bowl” of Vietnam. We discovered a region carpeted in a dizzying variety of greens, a water world that moves to the rhythms of the mighty Mekong, where boats, houses and markets float upon the innumerable rivers, canals and streams that criss-cross the landscape like arteries.

Our tour took us to My Tho, stopping at Vinh Trang pagoda on the way, from where we made a boat trip along the majestic Mekong River, followed by a sampan ride through the coconut tree-lined canals; then on to Can Tho, a large town in the heart of the delta, with an overnight stay in a hotel; the next morning, Cai Rang Floating Market, the largest in the delta, with boats selling fruits, vegetables and various local products. We also stopped off at a Rice Noodle factory to witness the traditional process of making rice noodles, before returning to HCMC.

Our time in Vietnam was sadly at an end and we had made some amazing experiences there; but for now, we were looking forward to discovering Cambodia. The next morning, we left HCMC in a comfortable IBIS GIANT bus (highly recommended bus company) to bring us to Phnom Penh in Cambodia.