Hey, everyone! I have spent the last few days in Ho Chi Minh City/Sài Gòn. I’ve spent those days relaxing, eating all the Vietnamese food I can manage, and visiting the War Fragments Museum. I can’t believe my time in Vietnam is up – it has been truly memorable.

A few housekeeping things:

1) If you’re interested in my art, have a look at my merchandise on RedBubble!
2) If wanting to read my first novel, Eclipse Me, you can find the link here.

Cát Tiên to Sài Gòn

I got picked up from my hostel in Cát Tiên around noon and hopped on another public bus from Cát Tiên to Sài Gòn. This time, the bus wasn’t transporting flowers but rather… durian! And if you know, durian has a very distinct, pungent smell. Some people despise it. I don’t particularly mind it, but it is very fragrant. I still have to try eating durian fruit one of these days – I’ve heard from some sources that it’s disgusting so I’ve been putting it off hahaha. I think I need someone else to egg me on.

The ride into Sài Gòn was about four hours and then I took a Grab to my accommodation. As seems to be the trend in most of these Vietnamese cities, I was surprised by the size of Sài Gòn. It’s a large city! Makes sense – 14 million people live here.

I got to my hostel and after walking up six flights of stairs, arrived at my room. Nothing incredibly impressive but it had a window, a bed, good internet connection, a private bathroom, outlets, and air conditioning. What more can I ask for? I guess less flights of stairs to walk up.

In the evening, I had one mission: Bún chả. Since leaving Northern Vietnam, bún chả has been somewhat hard to find.

I managed to find a number of spots nearby that served Hanoi-style bún chả. THANK GOD. If I wasn’t able to have it before leaving Vietnam, I would have been so sad. Bún chả forever, baby!!!

My accommodation was right at the edge of Bùi Viện Walking Street which is… basically a long string of bars/restaurants/cafes/nightlife. All the lights are lit up, there are go-go dancers on tables, people asking if you want to buy weed, etc. Definitely a tourist hotspot. I ended up buying some grapes from a local hawker which… boy, do I have a story about that. I’ll put it in Miscellaneous but it is so humiliating hahaha.

I was in Sài Gòn for four nights and other than a trip to the War Fragments museum and a long walk to a notable Phở restaurant, I didn’t do much exploring. I think I have been taking advantage of Sài Gòn as sort of a transitory location. Preparing myself to say farewell to Vietnam and to say hello to Cambodia. Sometimes I really need to “nest” like that in the face of transitions.

The city is busy for sure, but pretty nice. If I ever return, and I hope I do, I will have to take advantage of some other offerings around Sài Gòn. I originally had a few options: do a day trip to the Mekong Delta, do another snake tour on the fringes of the city, go check out the Củ Chi tunnels. In the end… yeah, I just wanted to chill, to be honest! It has also been raining on and off, which makes me feel justified in my decision to spend a lot of time inside.

Around the corner from my accommodation, I found an old shop that had propaganda posters from the Vietnam War. I went inside and looked at all the memorabilia. Lots of prints made of the propaganda posters – postcards, magnets, bookmarks, etc. I ended up getting a few souvenirs. The shopkeeper was really kind and gave me a few “buy X get 1 free” deals, which I certainly took advantage of.

And otherwise… yeah, just been eating bún chả, phở, and bánh mì before leaving!

War Fragments Museum

Visiting the War Fragments Museum was the #1 and only thing I felt was a must for me in Sài Gòn. I have heard from numerous people how impressionable of a museum it is.

From the get-go, I had my hands to my face in disbelief. It was shocking, disturbing, and deeply upsetting.

Outside the buildings were various military vehicles used during the war – planes, tanks, helicopters. But around the corner were some exhibits that showcased what prisons and various torture devices looked like and… man, it was sad.

There were torture devices leftover from French colonization – guillotines and the likes. Pictures of tortured prisoners were shown, too.

They did not censor at this museum. It was graphic. (I have tried to mostly spare you readers from the worst of the worst, but I did want to include some images from the museum so you can get an idea.)

I entered the main building and walked from exhibit to exhibit. There were maybe three times where I almost started to cry. My hand was constantly in front of my mouth, or my jaw was dropped, or I was saying, “Jesus Christ” and “Oh, my God,” over and over. The effects of Agent Orange, the images of dead soldiers, of mourning family members, of reunited family members post-war. It was all very intense.

I learned of various torture methods used throughout the war and somehow it made sense why I had seen so many blind people in Vietnam. During the war, prisoners had high-powered lights shone in their eyes, forcing people to go blind. All the blind people I’d seen were much older and likely would have been around during the war. I’m not 100% – maybe there is just a higher number of blind people in Vietnam, but to me it didn’t seem like a coincidence.

The Agent Orange exhibit was brutal and I kind of hurried through it. So many images of fetuses in jars with mutated heads, body parts, etc. Children born without eyes or without arms/legs or conjoined twins. It is just so, so sad. And the effects have lasted through more than one generation. The same in the States as well – a big number of American soldiers had offspring with genetic defects. Chemical warfare. Oof.

One plaque said that the war was a good excuse for Americans to try out all kinds of new weapons of war against the Vietnamese… Agent Orange being one of those.

In a way, I expected the museum to be slightly skewed but I felt the museum was very fact-based and not really anti-American at all. It catalogued the damage of the war in a very thoughtful way. It is an absolute must if visiting Sài Gòn. 100%.

After a few hours, I left the museum, stunned. I walked past Independence Palace, where the war officially ended in 1975. As the war ended, civilians from both the North and South met at Independence Palace and shared hotpot, which I thought was lovely. Reunited once again, sharing food. That’s life, right? Sharing a meal with your people.

But, yeah. Totally brutal. Oof.

I loved being in Vietnam so much and it was hard to walk through a glimpse of their troubled past, a past that Americans have been woven into. Even though I wasn’t alive at that time, I certainly felt shame.

The Rose, The Thorn, the Bouquet

And now for the rose, thorn, and bouquet of Vietnam. It has been a good time in this country.

The Rose

There have been so many roses! But I think what I am must grateful for is that I was able to see the red-shanked douc langurs. I really, really, REALLY wanted to see them and I was able to in Đà Nẵng. Mission: complete. There were a lot of other cool monkeys around Vietnam, but I think the red-shanked doucs were my favorite.

Aside from wildlife, I really, really loved both Sa Pa and Ha Giang areas. So much of Vietnam was beautiful, but those were probably my favorite spots scenery-wise.

Honorary mention: bún chả. And Vietnamese food in general. YUM.

The Thorn

Some minor thorns… I guess, feeling a little ripped off at times. I definitely got ripped off buying something my first day in Vietnam and it left me in SUCH a sour mood afterwards. I am not a fan of the whole haggling thing – I like when something is just one price and there’s no negotiation and that’s it.

Another thorn I guess is just being here during rainy season. I love the rain but it’s annoying when I’m commuting from one location to the next and then have to put on all my rain gear to try and keep my backpacks dry, etc. It’s just a lot.

Lots of long commutes from place to place as well, but that’s my own doing. I had so many things I wanted to see all over the country.

The Bouquet

One bouquet goes out to the Ha Giang Loop tour. Yeah, I’d heard it was a must, but I didn’t expect to love it quite as much as I did. I think if there was only one thing to do in Vietnam, it would be doing that tour. So fun, so visually stunning. So worth it.

Another bouquet goes out to the family that took care of me in Cao Bằng during the flood. What a fucking crazy experience that was. And a memory I’ll have for the rest of my life. I’ll never forget that.

I also just wasn’t expecting Vietnam to have so many gorgeous views. From the rice terraces of Sa Pa, to the mountainscape of Ha Giang, the karst formations in Lan Hạ Bay, the caves of Phong Nha, etc. Just all around, what a beautiful, beautiful country. I LOVE YOU, VIETNAM!!!!!!!!!

Miscellaneous

This is SOOOO TMI and so humiliating, but in the spirit of transparency… I’m gonna share it anyway lol. I doubt most of you even read this anyway. If you do, comment below and let me know. So I bought that bag of grapes from the hawker along the walking street, right? I went back to my hotel room, ate them all as a dessert. I was watching some show, farted, and… … … … I have NEVER IN MY LIFE sharted before, but now I can say I have. LOL. I could not fucking believe it. How embarrassing! Luckily, it was just a tiny Jackson Pollack moment, but still. LORD have mercy. I ended up sharing the humiliation with some friends and surprisingly, most people I’ve talked to have already had this happen in their lives hahaha. Sounds like I’m late to the party.

Reflections

And that’s it, for now. Oof. Definitely was bummed to be leaving Vietnam. I knew I had a lot on my list of want-to-see in the country but I didn’t anticipate feeling such a connection to it. In the end, I think I connected more with Vietnam than I have any other place in Asia. I just felt… welcome. And it felt very easy to navigate everything. I would love to come back one day. Love, love, love.

I’ve just arrived at my accommodation in Cambodia about an hour ago.

The next month for me will be a bit of a whirlwind, starting with 10 days in Cambodia. I’ll be going to Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Kratie, before heading through to Laos.

Until next time, sending you all my love. x