Part 3- Indochina Travel: Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam

This is the 3rd and last part of my travel documentation post for our Indochina Travel to Ho Chi Mihn, Vietnam. If you're interested to read my previous posts for our Thailand and Cambodia travels, click Part 1 and Part 2

Standing at the Vietnam Arch after passing the Cambodian border. Welcome to Vietnam! 🇻🇳

As we continue with our bus travel to the City of Chi Mihn after passing the border, the first thing that I noticed is that the flags of Vietnam are placed in every corner of the street we pass by. 

We are aware that motorcycle is the primary mode of transportation in Vietnam prior to our arrival. However, we're still overwhelmed with the number of motorcycle riders that we've seen along the way. The only time that we saw a four-wheeled vehicle was when we were approaching the city proper of Ho Chi Mihn. In my country in the Philippines, we also have a bunch of motorcycle riders but Vietnam has about a hundred times more compared to what we have.

And so after roughly 10 hours of bus travel, we finally arrived at the City of Ho Chi Mihn at around 7pm. Good thing, our hotel accommodation is just a few blocks away from where our bus stopped so we didn't have a hard time locating our hotel. We stayed at the Dragon Palace Hotel in our 3days and 2Nights in HCM but we paid for 3nights accommodation since our flight back to Manila in our 3rd day was 1am. The hotel is located along the main road of district 1 where the action happens.

We booked this hotel via agoda and availed their suite room for Php2100 per night which includes buffet   breakfast. Since the price of our hotel in Siem Reap is just the same rate as Dragon Palace Hotel.. I cant help but compare them to each other. While our experience with King Rock Boutique is exceptionally wonderful... the Dragon Palace only just serves it purpose-- a descent place to sleep, lodge our bags and take a bath.  Our room's aircon only blows cool air in one area of our room and even has water leaks. In our second day, we even insisted to be transferred to another room because we could no longer take the malfunctioned aircon anymore even if the staff tried to fix it. The hotel's staff are not wearing proper uniform and some facilities obviously need repair/renovation. Overall, the hotel is just ok with good location & complimentary breakfast. If it wasn't for the malfunctioned aircon then maybe we could have a better stay in this hotel.

 Our Suite room in Dragon Palace Hotel

 City View from our room

Comfort room

Anyway, we just lodged our bag and immediately looked for a restaurant to dine. We exchanged our dollars into dong (Vietnam Currency) first in the hotel's reception so we could pay our bill (although dollar is also widely accepted in most establishments in the City)-- And we're so happy that we instantly became millionaire in Vietnam. hehe.

Dong currency

We ate at a restaurant called Mon Hue. It is like a fast-food restaurant serving all-time favorite Vietnamese cuisines. 

We went back to our hotel immediately after dinner and call it a day. 

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The next day, this is the view that greeted us from our room's window..

A park full of motorcycles and a very few four-wheeled cars.

For lunch, we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant nearby and ordered their own version of Chicken Curry. The difference? Their curry version have peanuts and tomatoes in it.

And then we started our walking tour after lunch. What we like about our trip in Ho Chi Mihn is that, the places of interest to visit are just walking distance apart from each other so we saved a lot from tours and allotted the budget for a nice dinner instead. We could say that the Vietnamese are the friendliest people among the 3 countries we've visited. The street vendors aren't too pushy nor
aggressive compared to what we experienced in Cambodia. Not to mention that they're good-looking people, too! We noticed that the Vietnamese women are mostly petite with silky hair and has fair complexion which make them very attractive. 

We first headed to the War Remnants Museum. From our hotel, we took a short cab to get there. (To avoid taxi scams in Vietnam: it is highly recommended that you only trust the two reputable taxi companies called Venasun and Mai Linh.) We followed this advise and never had any issue with our taxi experience in Vietnam. 

This taxi company also caught our attention. FUTA in filipino word means.. well never mind. It's not a good word, though. hehe. I saw a Futa bus as well so I assume that this company is also one of the prominent taxi companies in Vietnam. 

The War Remnants Museum

The War Remnants Museum shows the atrocities that went on through the Vietnam-American war during the 70's thru artifacts, graphic photographs, articulate quotes & summaries of the war. The tanks & fighting jets used by the American are also displayed in the museum.

Powerful slogan made by the Vietnamese under President Ho Chi Mihn's administration.. protesting for independence from French colonization.


I spent some time looking at the gruesome pictures and it was totally heartbreaking.  Some say that the exhibit is one-sided & biased. But for me, it's the complete opposite. As a matter of fact, it even advocates peace promotion through giving the people awareness of what war could only bring. This museum is the best museum I've ever been to and definitely a must-see attraction when in Vietnam for all nationalities.

So after our heartbreaking visit to the War Remnants museum, we strolled around & looked for a restaurant to have some refreshment--And just Look what we found .. A Jollibee Francise in the heart of the busy City!! hehe.. Jollibee is a renowed fast-food chain in the Philippines and after all the combined thai, khmer and vietnamese cuisines we've been eating for the past few days.. its so nice to finally get to taste of a Pinoy food. 

Jollibee in Vietnam!!!

Yummy! hehe

Another popular attraction in the City is the Notre Dame Cathedral which is one of the oldest infrastructures in the City built in 1880's during the French Colonization in Vietnam. 

 The Notre Dame Cathedral

Beside the Cathedral is the Central Post office which also has a beautiful French architecture.

We also stopped over in a coffee shop along the area. I noticed that the coffee in Vietnam has a hint of chocolate taste and they also use condensed milk as their coffee mate.

Selfie with my love!

And then we walk our way to Saigon square for shopping. They say that shopping in the City of HCM is one of the highlights of your travel to Vietnam.. Some of the popular brands like Nike, Zara, North face, Kipling etc are proudly made in Vietnam so you could buy these brand items here in a much cheaper price. I just wish i grabbed this opportunity while I was there.

Photo Credit to the owner of this photo. I don't have a pic of Saigon Square so I grabbed one from Google. Hehe.

We also checked the night life around the area before the day ended. 

People hang out outside the bar using just a small table and plastic stools

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In Our 3rd  (and last day) in HCM , we dedicated our whole morning to visit the famed Ben Thanh Market for last minute souvenir shopping. We bought shirts, key chains, coffee etc. 

Stores inside the Ben Thanh Market

 After lunch , we went back to our hotel and made sure to take a good afternoon nap before our 1am flight back to Manila. We also took our dinner at Mon Hue again, bought a Starbucks mug for Jan's sister & checked out in our hotel at around 9pm . While waiting for our flight, i need to constantly remind myself that our 9 days vacay is now over!! T_T

So that concludes our trip in Vietnam. It was short but fantastic! If there is one neighboring country in South East Asia that we would want to come back (Aside from Thailand, ofcourse) .. It would definitely be Vietnam. What makes this country beautiful? It is the people. Their kind heart and will to fight for their right. I have no wonder why despite its dark past, Vietnam is now one of the top growing countries in Asia.

Always,

Rica ♡