The Heat is On in Saigon

I've been enthralled with Vietnam ever since Mom took me and Paolo to watch Miss Saigon at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane back in 1996. The play was sad and tragic and yet when the broadway production came to Manila in 2000, I chose to see it again. Since then, I have been constantly googling off the internet on any information I could find about Saigon. Its history and culture fascinates me.

When my family visited Saigon in 2004, Reymond, Annika and I got left behind in Manila. I was 7 months pregnant and so we thought it would be more frugal on our part to just save the money for when I give birth rather than use it to travel. I was so sad then but it was a sacrifice we knew we had to make.

Fast forward to March 2007. Paolo has been assigned to Saigon to oversee operations in their manufacturing plant there. Reymond and I seize the opportunity to travel with him so that we could get free accommodations. Sadly, this was not meant to be. Paolo, the F1 driver, slammed his car into the back of a 10-wheeler and was diagnosed with fractured ribs and a possible concussion. As a precaution, he was not allowed to travel as the cabin pressure inside the aircraft may injure him further. Thank God nothing worse happened!

As such, my dream to visit Saigon was moved once again. Reymond, probably sensing my frustration at the events unfolding, finally decided to push through with the trip even if we had to pay for our own accommodations. We had our tickets ready and so we just had to book ourselves at a hotel. With the expert opinion of Marissa, we got a room at the Hotel Continental. And since we weren't 'hitching' na with Paolo, we were free to choose our travel dates. We booked ourselves on the weekend of our 7th year wedding anniversary. Yihee.

Saigon is now known as Ho Chi Minh City, renamed after the leader of the Communist Movement in Vietnam. Although HCMC is not the capital of Vietnam, it is a popular tourist destination and has been described as the New York of Vietnam. Upon arrival, the most obvious thing you will notice is the HUNDREDS and THOUSANDS of motorcycles on the road. They swarmed around us and it seemed as if an accident was just waiting to happen. Worse, there are no laws that require riders to wear helmets around the city. Children, even infants, were riding! Naku, sumakit ang ulo ko.

We arrived at our hotel around 6:00 in the evening. Hotel Continental is right smack in the middle of District One where all the action is at. It is right beside the Municipal Theater and is very close to the shops along Dong Khoi. It is dwarfed by the newer hotels like Park Hyatt and Caravelle but it also stood out because of its old European Charm. The hotel opened way back in 1880 and is only four stories tall. It was perfect!

The rooms were huge as Ria had described them and we even had a door opening to a balcony overlooking Lam Son Square. Not bad for a room booked through the internet! We unpacked, relaxed, changed then headed off for dinner on our first night out.



We settled on Lemongrass at Nguyen Theip. Its off Dong Khoi, across Sheraton. Paolo recommended the restaurant and it was only 5 minutes away from the hotel. Its a hole in the wall resto which serves local food. We ordered the usual suspects (fresh and fried spring rolls, claypot fish stew, seafood salad and seafood fried rice) but we were not prepared at how spicy and minty the food turned out to be. It was new and different but guess what? We enjoyed our new experience. The food was yummy!

After dinner, we strolled on Dong Khoi. We reached Majestic Hotel which was at the end overlooking the Saigon River then crossed to the other side of the road. I was laughing my head off because I immediately noticed that Authentique, the lacquer and ceramic store Marissa was raving about, was right beside Grand, the hotel she stayed at last November. Kaya pala she knew every nook and corner of that store! Inaraw-araw niya!!!

After our short walk, we headed back to Continental. We were looking forward to our city tour the next day......