I love Saigon. Known only officially as Ho Chi Minh City, but informally to everyone still as Saigon, the main city of Vietnam is a fantastic place. Great food, people, party and value make Saigon one of my top 5 cities in the world. If you want something else, every menu in the tourist areas is 30 pages long and filled with every type of cuisine you could possibly desire- Vietnamese, Italian, Mexican , pizzas, sandwiches, salads, you name it. The Vietnamese take pride in their ability to cook everything, and even a Vietnamese burrito is totally decent.
The apex of drunk food is the Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwich which is delicious crispy French bread with meat inside, like a regular French sandwich, but with the Vietnamese twist of spicy vegetables. This brings me to another great thing about Vietnam.
Manuel and I would take our girlfriends out to dinner in the heart of tourist Saigon. Drinks are a dollar or two at most places.
Massages, clothes, consumer goods and almost everything else is very very affordable. Another great thing about Vietnam is the drug situation. Everybody in Pham Ngu Lao that tries to sell you something has 2 items for sale. It goes like this:. I challenge any loyal Single Dude Travelers out there to walk down one block of De Tham street and not get offered drugs at least once.
And you can smoke anywhere you want, on the street, at the cafe outside , anywhere you want. Just be careful crossing the street, Saigon streets are jam packed with motorbikes and crossing the street high can be dangerous. Vietnamese people are great too. Loving good food and being cool with drugs is a great start.
