Vexing Visas and Succulent Seafood: Six Days in Saigon

Here it is folks: the long-awaited Ho Chi Minh City blog.

Now some might say: “Zev, you already went to Saigon in December 2019, shouldn’t you go somewhere new in Vietnam?” That’s a really good point. But you know what? My prefrontal cortex isn’t fully developed yet. So given that I essentially have wet oatmeal sloshing around where my brain should be, the fact that I even successfully made it to Vietnam and back is an accomplishment. And taking a glass-half-full approach, now I have more of Vietnam to explore – Hanoi, De Nang, and more are all new frontiers for me. Going there with Roads and Kingdoms and being led on a food adventure by Portland legend Andy Ricker would be amazing, but I’m short about 10 boxes of ziti. Maybe someday I myself could lead some Roads and Kingdoms tours. But I digress.

Before I even start on Saigon itself, I have to tell you about the visa fiasco that I put myself in because of my aforementioned mushy prefrontal cortex. I was slated to leave for Vietnam on Friday night. So I applied for my visa online on Tuesday night. Yes, in hindsight this was very stupid. But in my defense, when I went to Indonesia, my visa was literally approved within an hour of applying. As Friday ticked closer and closer, I began to get worried. But when I woke up on Friday morning, I checked my email and got a response from the Vietnamese Immigration Department. My visa had been denied because I forgot to include my middle name on my application. Can you believe that? So I had to resubmit my application, and given that it took about 3 days to process, I knew I would have to resort to other measures. And after some research, I found a loophole, albeit an expensive one. While Vietnam suspended its visa-on-arrival program after the pandemic, an exception is made if you are part of a tour group. So there are these private companies in Vietnam who, for a steep price, will submit the necessary paperwork on your behalf so it looks like you’re with a tour group. Oh, and when you get to Vietnam you have to submit more paperwork to some guys in the customs department, along with $25 cash. The fact that I had to slide some dude 25 American dollars in cash kind of underscored how shady this whole process seemed. But luckily, it worked and I was granted access to the Socialist Republic of Vietnam!

Unlike my trip to Jakarta, this adventure was not comprised of everyone in Cendana College Suite 11-502. I was traveling with Jonathan, a fellow exchange student from the US who hails from Amherst College. Will, Petar, and Jerry would join us, albeit in separate accommodations. Jonathan and I opted for a hostel in the heart of District 1, where a bed in a big shared room was about S$15 per night. The bed was perfectly comfortable and the hostel operators had lots of helpful recommendations for places to eat. The only downside was my neighbor, who kept me up a few nights with a symphony of snoring and farting.

Day 1 in Saigon was eventful and full of food.

Obviously, we had to start the day with ca phe sua da (translation: coffee with ice and milk) and banh mi. For my money, maybe the best breakfast in the world. All throughout this trip I experienced deja vu, as many of the places I visited I had seen originally in 2019. This banh mi joint was no exception, I definitely sampled the wares here before. This place, Banh Mi Huynh Hoa, is famous and literally around the corner from the hostel. Their sandwiches are giant, and the only variety on the menu is how many are in an order. Veggies come separately and you have to add them yourself (presumably to prevent sogginess if you’re not eating immediately. While the bread was fantastic, I’ve realized that I’m not the biggest fan of these Vietnamese cold cuts.

After some time wandering around the Independence Palace and Tao Dan Park, it was time for lunch. And there was something specific on my mind. I follow this American chef living in Vietnam named Chad Kubanoff (shout-out) who swears by this soup I had never had before. Not only better than pho but maybe the best soup in the world, he claims. It’s called Bun bo Hue, and it’s a pork and beef soup deeply flavored with lemongrass originating from the royal court in Hue. So obviously, I had to hop on a Gojek bike and check out a spot he recommended.

You can see the menu in the top-right photo there. There’s nothing more I love than a restaurant with only one or two things on the menu. To me, it suggests mastery of one dish – while a restaurant with a menu the size of a thesaurus indicates that the chefs can make a lot of things, but nothing very well. I opted for a small bowl (perhaps still traumatized by the giant sandwich that morning), which was very substantial and cost just 60k VND ($2.46). It was served with a few different kinds of onions and herbs, as well as beansprouts. This soup was delicious: a little spicy, a little sweet, a little sour, and lots of umami. Towards the end, I had to tempt fate and add a few fresh chilis to my bowl: a decision I sincerely regretted. But next time you, dear reader, go out for a trusty bowl of pho, see if they have Bun bo Hue on the menu. And if they do, I encourage you to explore it.

Later in the afternoon, some more walking around and street-side snacking was done.

As you can tell, this is some roast park that was turning over an open flame. And if you zoom in on the picture on the left, you can see that this is basically porchetta (boneless pork loin wrapped in skin and roasted, yielding juicy meat and crispy skin)! Unfortunately, because of the language barrier, I wasn’t able to communicate to this fine gentleman the international implications that his pork had. But it was yummy.

Later that night, we met up with Will, Petar, and Jerry for some street pho. Despite the language barrier, a kid spoke enough English to communicate that the condiments were self-serve. A bowl with the works was only 40k ($1.64), and it was absolutely delicious. Pho in Vietnam just tastes so much better than in the States. Maybe it’s the water, who knows.

We gave our young industrious waiter a generous tip.

The next morning, we met up for some banh xeo. Banh xeo is like a big eggy crepe filled with shrimp and bean sprouts.

Really good stuff. This place was recommended to me by the hostel, and Bourdain also went here some time ago. I’m not sure if you can tell from the picture, but they’re cooked on an open fire as well.

I figure this as good enough of a time as any to address something I was thinking about the entire time I was there: isn’t this supposed to be a Communist country? There certainly is no shortage of Communist iconography. I picked up some cool decorations in that vein for my room, including a North Vietnamese flag and some propaganda posters.

So here’s the answer, as far as I can tell: yes and no. Politically, Vietnam is a one-party state, and that party is the Communist Party. However economically, Vietnam liberalized in the 1980s and incorporated some aspects of capitalism. Nowadays, Vietnam has one of the fastest-growing GDPs in the world. So it’s kind of like China: state capitalism with a Communist facade, and one-party politics. In some ways, Vietnam seems more capitalist than the United States: everyone is selling something, from cold drinks to bowls of soup to bootleg NBA jerseys (my personal vice). In the US, you need to clear endless red tape and bureaucracy to sell anything, the Vietnamese seem more committed to the ideals of the free market. A great example of this? Night markets.

This was an interesting take on pani puri, a classic Indian street food. This one had sour cream, pomegranate seeds, and some other crunchy things.

Seafood abounded, and I had to tap in, starting with some fried octopus. I hope you appreciate my outfit, it was pouring rain practically the whole time.

I also enjoyed a big ol’ scallop, grilled and served with some herbs.

Finished off the night with a grilled pork skewer.

As both an American and a fan of history, obviously, I was interested in learning more about the war. We visited the War Remnants Museum (another place I visited in 2019), but I was looking for a more immersive experience. Through my hostel, I was able to book a tour of the Cu Chi tunnels (I will refrain from making any jokes about the name because I am an adult). During the war, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong constructed a vast network of tunnels to use as supply routes, caches of equipment, and hiding places. This particular network of tunnels was used as the base of operations for the pivotal Tet Offensive in 1968, and they’re about a 90-minute drive outside of Saigon.

On the way to the tunnels, I had to grab this kebab banh mi. And while it was good, I thought it had a lot of untapped potential. It was basically just shawarma meat on banh mi bread with lettuce, tomato, onion, and a mild sauce. I think this would be so much better with the traditional banh mi toppings, and some spicy sauce. I would bet that some food cart in Portland is slinging shawarma banh mis as I speak, and though theirs won’t be 27k ($1.11), maybe it will be more inspiring.

Here our guide illustrates how the massive complex of tunnels, sometimes consisting of three layers, were dug with nothing more than a simple hoe.

Here you can see that I was able to fit in the tunnels (the same could not be said of everyone on the tour, as I had some doughy companions). The tunnels have been largened for tourists, as I was able to squat down and walk, but originally soldiers had to crawl through the tunnels on their bellies.

The tunnels were outfitted with all kinds of nasty traps for Americans and South Vietnamese fighters to fall into.

The tunnels were necessary because of the degree to which America bombed the absolute shit out of the entirety of Southeast Asia during the conflict. You can see a typical bomb crater here, and this is one that’s fifty years old: imagine how large it was when it detonated.

For only $20, it was a great tour. We also got to snack on tapioca, a stape of soldiers living in the tunnels. According to a captured VC report, at any given time, half of these soldiers had malaria and all of them had significant stomach parasites.

There was also a shooting range, where for a fee, you could shoot guns left over from the war. I declined to participate, as it felt a little exploitative (and also I’m scared of guns). But maybe it’s not all that exploitative, because the Vietnamese are making bank off of these tourists (many of whom are American). So go figure on the ethics of the situation, but it was somewhere between interesting and off-putting that throughout the entire tour, you could hear gunfire in the distance. Hard not to think about Full Metal Jacket.

It reminded me of when Anthony Bourdain visited a bar in Cambodia where you can also participate in the recreational discharging of firearms and explosives. Not really my cup of tea, I think.

By chance, we stumbled across this monument to Thich Quang Duc, the monk who self-immolated at this intersection in 1963 in protest of the US-backed Ngo Dinh Diem regime’s persecution of Buddhists. This act of protest made famous by an iconic photograph, helped convince President Kennedy to withdraw support for Diem (who would be assassinated in a military coup later that year). The photograph, which was taken by Malcolm Browne, would later be repurposed by Rage Against The Machine for their self-titled debut album.

In another major instance of deja vu, Jerry got us on a tour of the Mekong River delta. I’ll refrain from recapping the tour since I did a very similar one in 2019.

I sampled this snake wine, which tasted pretty much like tequila. Here’s something interesting: after the war, a lot of refugees relocated to Houston and New Orleans, cities with similar river deltas. This allowed a lot of fishermen to continue their occupation in a new country and also gave rise to Viet-Cajun cuisine, which I learned about from David Chang’s show Ugly Delicious (highly recommend).

Another deja vu episode? Ending back up at the same seafood restaurant where I celebrated New Year’s Eve 2019. That was one of the best meals of my life – if only I knew what was in store for 2020…

As a wise man once said, “Tell ’em to bring out the whole ocean!” Nothing makes me more happy than cheap and plentiful seafood. While it was delicious, it didn’t quite live up to my previous experience, but maybe that’s just the nostalgia talking.

The best banh mi I ended up having was from this spot, also around the corner from our hostel. It wasn’t bigger than my head, had a good meat-to-veg ratio (one of the most important factors of a banh mi), and most importantly, had delicious, sticky-sweat roast pork meatballs. I ended up going back a second time, late at night.

Here are a few more scenes from the days.

On my last day, we were headed over to the Zoo and Botanical Garden, when I smelled something. It was unmistakable: the smell of meat being grilled. Like a cartoon character, I followed my nose until I found the source. And I found… Bo La Lot.

Bo La Lot is like a Vietnamese dolma if dolmas were filled with meat and grilled. This rather rude gentleman on the side of the road sold me this whole to-go kit for 40k. So you take the dolma and roll it in rice paper with veggies, vermicelli, and herbs, and dip it in a spicy sauce. Reminds me of rolling something else with herbs… but I digress. I enjoyed my bo la lot at a very creepy zoo that felt abandoned but for the elephants I dined with.

I had to have bun ca and two different kinds of coffee before going to the airport. I love Ho Chi Minh City. Especially compared to Jakarta, it felt so green and lush. Not to mention the incredible food leaping out at you from every corner. But I really need to get up north and see more of the country. There’s so much coffee to drink, noodles to slurp, and political propaganda to purchase for decoration in my future apartment.

Till next time! And stay tuned for HCMC Part 2… aka my long-winded thoughts on the Damian Lillard trade…