A few days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Having lurked around these parts (and other similar places) for a long time, and being grateful for all the useful information here, I thought it was about time I finally posted something that might be useful for others.
So, here goes on my visit to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) for a few days at the end of February. Including…
Booking a guide for the day through Siam Roads
General touristy things, eating, drinking
Visit to Nadam Spa
Massage at Ikeman
Apps (Blued, Hornet, Grindr)
Booking a guide for the day through Siam Roads
As this was my first visit to the city, I looked into getting a guide for the first day. Having perused the Siam Roads website and, as others have noted, been a little confused by mixed messages on the marketing (shirtless pics, etc), I was nonetheless confident this would be “no messing around” (plenty of other opportunities for that).
Of the three guides listed for HCMC, I chose Will, as he was available for my preferred date and because he had 5 years’ experience of being a guide there, so I figured he should know a thing or two by now. I booked for my first full day (Sunday), for both daytime and evening (meaning from 10am to midnight).
This turned out to be the best investment I could have made for this trip - a lovely day in the company of a lovely person, covering a lot of ground and interesting places, and setting me up with plenty to do for the rest of my days in the city.
After booking on the website, Will got in touch and asked me if I wanted to do anything in particular for our day. While I was thinking about it, he sent a suggested itinerary which sounded perfect, so we went with that.
In the end, this is what we did:
Meet at the hotel where I was staying (Liberty Central Saigon Citypoint - nice hotel and great location)
Walk and walk and walk (I love walking around a new place) and learn how to cross the road confidently (very useful skill in HCMC)
Visits to Independence Palace, War Remnants museum, Notre Dame cathedral, Post Office, Ben Thanh market
Nice stops along the way for coffee and lunch (Secret Garden rooftop restaurant)
Visit to Nadam Spa (more on that later)
Dinner at local street corner place, Com Tam Hong Calmette
Drag Queen bingo - not sure what was happening, but it was a lot of fun
Thi Bar for drinks and a live music trio
Certainly packed a lot into the day! Also, everything was very well-timed, so we arrived at each place when it was most intersecting. Will was interesting and engaging to talk to, and gave me a lot of good suggestions on places to visit later in my stay (shopping, barber shop, etc).
Re: A few days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Re: A few days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
what a great post...many thanks...and Moises I admire your initiative in setting up this business