Four days in Saigon - The Finale

**** Please note: Parts of this were written in Vietnam on different days and some waiting on my flight and some while back in Shanghai.  Please roll with the reference to days or timeframes.  

It’s the pace and the frenetic energy that always grabs me.  It’s indescribable, inimitable, and unlike any other city in the world.  HCMC (Saigon) is my place in the world.  My metaphorical home.  Everything about it makes sense to me and makes me feel like I am part of it; that it flows through me and is part of me.  Sure, I will admit, that is outsider syndrome, as I am on outsiders looking in.  Yes, maybe if I grew up Viet I would see things a whole lot differently.  However, as a visitor it’s a place I never get tired of going back to again and again.  

There are problems, don’t get me wrong.  A million and two scammers looking out for a white face or foreign person to try to get over on.  There is infrastructure problems.  The airport is a complete mess.  There have been about 200 different plans for high speed rail in the last 5 years and about 1000000 plans in the last decade.  How can that be built when things change constantly and there is no consistency to see a plan through.  Part of that is the leadership, coming in and changing things year by year, without seeing things to fruition, but that’s also a people problem, as they also don’t demand that the leaders see a plan to the end.  However, I will ask you, do you think in todays political climate, a interstate highway system would be built in America?  California started it’s high speed rail build in 2008 with an estimated date of completion of 2020 and now it’s pushed that back to 2038 and has built with something like 19% of the OVERstructure built.  Not that tracks or even 19% of the project completed, 19% of what needs to be done to START the build completed.  Sometimes, you just need to build the thing and then make up your mind, not vote to build it and constantly tinker.  Vietnam is much the same.

That aside, the good (for me) outweighs the bad.  The weather, for starters, is Bangkok hot and Shanghai muggy, until it’s not.  Yesterday, I went out for pho as I landed at 6pm, got thru passport control at 7:30pm (yeah, that bad), and got checked in at 8pm.  Then I just headed out to find food.  I was looking for the plastic stool spot, as those are the best.  But, the weather…. My goodness.  It was 24 (75F) and a light breeze.  It had poured rain earlier in the day, so that humidity was gone and I wished I could finish my pho, grab a beer and a hammock and just sleep where I was.  Perfection.  Today, it was hot.  34 (93F) at noon and about 93% humidity.  Then it rained.  I went to the roof and got a quick vid.  Humidity was gone!  It’s currently 27 (82F) with a breeze and again the humidity is gone.  It’ll be 24 again this evening and I’ve got a few microbrew pubs that are a 7 minute walk away, but HCM Book Street is only a 10 minute walk and there is a nigh market near that, so maybe I’ll pop over there since it’s open until 10pm and skip the beer.  Maybe I’ll do both.

Speaking of beer, there is a vibrant and very much alive microbrew scene.  I think it is something like 5th in the world, behind SD, Portland, and some of the other American big hitters.  That’s impressive.  It started with with a mimic of SD and the high hop, high IBU IPAs and the like, but it’s found it niche recently, sticking with the IPAs, only mellowing them down a bit and bring in local flavors like passion fruit and blood orange, that play well with the IPA profile, but also leaning into the Pilsner realm and really showcasing the bright and biting refreshment of a pale pilsner.  

Then there is the coffee culture.  If you’ve never had an egg coffee, a Vietnamese cold brew, or a Vietnamese black milk coffee, there is no way to describe it to you.  Coffee is also very much alive in the city and every city has a little difference to it.  Central Vietnam has more coconut and salted caramel in their flavors, where in the north in Ha Noi, you get condensed milk and heavy cream mixed, egg and butter coffee, or orange juice and coffee which is better than you would expect, but way to acidic for my stomach.  The nice part of the coffee culture is that it is alive.  Vibrant.  Everywhere.  Seriously, the block I am currently on has about 3 cafes and I passed (I’m not joking) maybe 15 more on the way here… And here is 3.5 blocks from the hotel and around one corner.  Some shops are fancy and huge, air conditioned and controlled, some are open air with tons of fans and people just sitting about having coffee and tea and enjoying.  There is comfort and beauty in both, trust me, and it’s worth it to try both settings.  

There is still a scooter culture here.  Cars are starting to become more prevalent, but the scooter still rules.  With it’s own rules, mind you.  I remember telling J and Kiddo when we were here 2 years ago that you just needed to find a break and go.  That you are the rock and the flow that is the scooter will flow around you.  That is, as far as I’ve seen between last night and today, still very much truth.  

The day before I left, Kiddo saw a flower and just needed to get a picture of a random wild flower.  That’s Saigon and Vietnam for me.  It’s always wonderful.  It’s always worth a picture.  It’s always beautiful in it’s way.  However, it’s also wild.  It pops up at you, always surprising and never the same twice.  It’s a wild place, changing and in motion, growing, receding, growing again.  I wear it now, part of me, forever.  It’s always been in my heart, but now it will live in a place for all who know me, or meet me, to see.  Of all the places I’ve seen and been, it’s my favorite; Especially HCMC (Saigon) and I can’t recommend it enough.  Go to it, just to see it and smell it, to try it, experience it, let it into your heart.  The food, coffee, beer, drinks, culture, people, and pace of it.  It is unique, wild, alive, and ever in motion.  Frenetic.  A stream of life and energy, it’s made rapid by it’s pace, it’s made wild by it’s blending of cultures, it’s made it’s best by the blend of all of that and the people who make it up.   

It is the place of my heart and the home of my soul.  It is the best of what I seek, the fullest of what brings me joy.  It is the place where I could take my last breathe and not have regrets. It is, for me, the best place.  I will see other places in life, travel far, but my heart, mind, soul, and tastebuds will always seek out Saigon.  I will be back, more than once again, and I will still be surprised, delighted, and enraptured with the city; It’s places and people, it’s flow, feel, and frenetic energy.  I will never stop loving it.