There’s nothing like a heady dose of a chaotic South-East Asian city to remind you you’re alive: the frenzy of traffic; the clash of glittering Cartier shopfronts manned by uniformed security guards vs. elderly squatted women wearing “non” (conical straw hats) selling cigarettes and bottled water; the heavy humidity lifting scents of rubbish, then BBQ pork, then camphor through the puzzle of laneways and thronging streets.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh city to start our three-week Vietnam adventure bang in the middle of a four-day celebration of their 80^th year of their declaration of independence from French colonial rule. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam’s revered leader, proclaimed the country’s independence on September 2, 1945, and effigies built in his memory as well as enormous neon billboards of his face shone across the city that bears his name throughout the celebratory holiday break. Proud Vietnamese citizens were dressed in traditional “ao dai” (long elegant dresses with pants underneath), wearing red t-shirts emblazoned with the country’s yellow star, or enthusiastically waving flags in celebration.

The French influences are still apparent across so many aspects of Vietnamese life, fusing European and Asian culinary traditions and architecture. The evolution of Vietnamese food can be seen in banh mi rolls, using crusty French bread and pate, or in enormous banh xeo, crispy stuffed rice pancakes, so similar to stuffed French crepes.

Ho Chi Minh city boasts numerous ornate French-style buildings such as the Peoples Committee Building, erected in 1898; the flamboyant Saigon Opera House, also built in 1898; and the Saigon Central Post Office, designed by none other than Gustave Eiffel (from Eiffel Tower fame) which preserves Vietnam’s communication heritage, and also houses a multitude of low-quality souvenir stalls.

We checked in to our fabulous hotel, Signature by M on a hot, rainy night. The room was beautiful, decorated with that same European-meets-Asian mix. The location? Perfect, with everything we wanted to see in a 15–20-minute radius. Our three days were spent exploring every part of the city we could, walking through cat-riddled market streets and multi-level shopping centres. We nervously dodged the constant stream of motorbikes and scooters that buzzed through the puddled roads, piled high with families (four people per bike!), dogs in baskets, bags of ice, enormous floral displays and gas cylinders.

Our main aims in Ho Chi Minh were to taste as many things as we could, and check out as many shopping areas as we could, while sussing out how people navigated their world at the same time. The constant movement and micro stories that unfold at every corner is overwhelming, thrilling, and exasperating. People selling bags of food pinned to fences. People with bamboo poles balanced across their shoulders selling coconuts filled with fresh milk. Hoards of people waiting to collect their post from an un-uniformed guy managing a pile of deliveries on a tarp on the footpath. People sleeping balanced on their motorbike, flip flops hanging from their toes. Cobblers and bike-repair experts waiting for their next customer on the broken pavement. People, people, everywhere wearing head to toe fleece in 32-degree heat, as we sweltered in linen shorts and tees.

We are market fiends. While my market preference is second hand and cheap, if it ticks at least one of those boxes, I’m in. The Ben Thanh Market sells everything that can be eaten or worn in the city. Mostly cheap (if you like haggling. I don’t.) Rows of Vietnamese coffee, vegetables, scorpions in frames, scorpions in alcohol, sweets, fruit, copy watches, copy bags, copy scarves, copy soccer shirts…anything that can possibly be faked and sold at a pinch of the price. The experience was overwhelming, with shop keepers yelling, customers jostling, and the overbearing humidity pressing down on us. Did not like. 5/10.

Second hand? We tried “Antique Street” D Le Cong Kieu. There were gorgeous old pots (too hard to take home), small barnacle-covered trinkets retrieved from shipwrecks off Vietnam’s coast, American army dog tags, and old shop-keepers eyeing us suspiciously. Unfortunately, just a 6/10.

We even tried to go Vietnamese thrifting. Who doesn’t love a second-hand clothing bargain? We visited 4 different shops. Everything was outrageously overpriced (something you’d get from a Salvos or Vinnies in Australia for $10 was about $30), and I’m guessing a lot of it had been shipped over in bulk from the States. 4/10.

Shopping Centres. The two big ones were Saigon Centre (nice, but the same shops as back home, 6/10), and Vincom Centre (a maze with no sunlight and no signage, 4/10).

BUT, the best two places we found were hidden gems, which we only discovered after a thorough Google. Limited signage, and both in dilapidated old buildings with questionable electrical cabling or safety clearances that would surely be condemned in other countries.

Corner of Dong Khoi and Ly Tu Trong (opposite Vincom Centre). There are two clothing shopping areas in this building. Down a precarious ramp is The New Playground with a ton of on-trend clothing stores, where guys with bleached hair and billowy jeans, and ultra-cool tattoo girls in shredded tops picked up local Vietnamese brands like Bad Rabbit and Saigon Swagger.

Walk through an un-marked corridor of oil paintings at ground level of the old French apartment building on the same corner that surely has not been renovated since about 1920. Climb the stairs and you’ll find 5 levels where you can poke around a range of clothing stores, some vintage, some fresh and modern, or even create your own pottery or paint piece in a couple of art studios.

On D Ton That Thiep you’ll find a narrow alleyway lined with parked motorbikes. Again, no signage. Walk past the motorbike and up the tiled staircases. There are 3 levels of young designer clothing. We were no where near cool or size 6-ish enough for any of it, but if you are in fact cool or a size 6, you’ll be in heaven!

Eating:

We tried everything from street food ($4 p.p.) to Michelin star meals ($150 p.p.). Dried chilli mango slices, mangosteens and rambutans for snacks. Egg coffee. All delicious.

Hunched over a plastic table on 30 cm high stools we munched on a delicious fresh meal with cab drivers and local workers on the corner of Pasteur and Huynh Thuc Khang. Omelette, chicken, vegetables and rice. The guy next to us crushed ten birdseye chillies into his bowl of sauce and poured it over his meal. He sure likes it spicy.

Opposite independence Palace, we ate pork bao buns and seafood banh xeo and drank dragonfruit smoothies at Ben Nghe Street Food.

We ate a sweet seafood hotpot, fried fish and razor clams at Bep Oc next to our hotel, and a feast on our first night at hidden restaurant Secret Garden, another “you know if you know” treasure up five flights of un-signposted steps.

Our indulgent treat-night was spent at Michelin-starred restaurant Anan, located in a bustling wet market, and voted as one of the Top 50 Restaurants in Asia. The Saigon Tasting Menu was a flavoursome dream, taking traditional Vietnamese staples and giving them a fancy, modern twist. Stand outs were the Le Petit Banh Mi filled with sea urchin pate; the Salmon Waffle Tart inspired by traditional waffle cakes, topped with salmon mousse and caviar; and the Chocolate and Vietnamese Coffee Tart with a berry sauce which was decadently perfect.

We needed a long walk after that indulgence, and hunted down Chill Skybar, again, hidden apart from a small sign and a girl standing in front of a cart inside AB Tower. We were chaperoned to the 26^th floor, and the vibes, the views, the music, the cocktails…it was all immaculate! The two DJs were on point, playing a mix of house and pop tunes. The wait staff were all adorable and fun. There weren’t too many people there…it was a school night and the weather was questionable, and it was a mostly expat crowd. But we stayed and danced until my feet hurt.

A brilliant way to celebrate our last night in HCMC.

We have flown into part two of our trip. We will attempt to relax after the buzz of Saigon/Ho Chi Minh. Not sure we can do it!