Shopping Robyn Tweet Twiddley Dee

We had big aspirations to do some sight-seeing in Saigon. Maybe the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City or Reunification Palace, but to be completely honest the city of Saigon itself is the main attraction. We could spend all day on the back of a scooter dodging the traffic, going around the turn-around, up and down the alleyways and still not get enough. We all agreed the people of Saigon are the biggest attraction - they have the craziest sense of existence and a crazy sense of humor to match. Fun loving, prideful and curious, the people of Saigon are the city's best asset. What better way to interact with the people than to hit the markets and doing a little shopping. Saigon has a WIDE range of shopping from the large open stall markets where haggling and walking away if you don't get the price you want is part of the experience to large world known brands like Gucci, Burberry and Versace withs their own store to boutiques with name brands, local designers and souvenirs. When Robyn joined us we hit all the spots and hit them hard. Now we aren't exaggerating when we say Robyn can shop - the lady can shop and we found ourselves humming the tune "Shopping Robyn, Tweet Twiddley Dee, Shopping Robyn" as we watched her in her element.

But we weren't going to sit by and let her have all the fun.

Maybe we let all the bargains get to our heads because we came away with another crate full of goodies, but this time we filled it with one large item. Meet Mike's new baby...(1969, mint condition, original Vespa Sprint 150) After all the great shopping and bargains we were starving so we headed over the Black Cat Cafe listed by CNN in 2006 as a top spot to dine in the world - why? Their burgers of course and not just any burger, the BIG CHEESE (500 gram beef patty, four slices of cheese, six slices of bacon, three tomatoes, one onion, one head of butter lettuce and one pickle, served on a jumbo toasted sesame bun).  

Blissed Out New Years

This is the Rex Hotel in Saigon. Famous for being used as the Communications Headquarters by the United States Military during the Vietnam/American War. Newsweek recently listed the rooftop bar of the hotel as a top destination in SE Asia. The rooftop bar is glitzy and breezy, with a little cheesy Asia twist and situated across from City Hall and close to the Dong Khoa shopping area - an ideal location to celebrate New Years.When we heard there was a special New Years buffet dinner and party, we decided to buy tickets and bid farewell to 2008 and hello to 2009 in the historic hotel. As midnight approached we headed to the balcony facing the street and City Hall to count down 2008 and welcome in 2009. From there we could see the street and garden area in front of City Hall begin to fill with people and we could see motorbike headlights all the way down each street, in other words the atmosphere was very festive. As the clock at the top of City Hall clicked towards midnight, we shouted out the final seconds of 2008 on the balcony and shortly after midnight Mike leaned in, proposed to Anne and pulled out a ring. Anne said YES! WE'RE ENGAGED AND COMPLETELY BLISSED OUT!

Vietnamese Pride

We were warned the streets of Saigon will be crazy if the Vietnam national soccer team was to win their second games again their rival Thailand. We were told the streets would be shut down with motorcyclists, especially by our hotel because it was near the large circular intersections. But we never imagined it would be like this - The people of Saigon were filled with great pride and rode around the city waving the national flag, banging pots and pans and bringing the city to a standstill. The festive atmosphere was infectious and we soon found ourselves shaking hands with passing motorists and screaming "Vietnam Number 1!" It was a magical and an incredible time to be in the city and we felt so lucky to be a part of it.

Q3: Saigon Food Heaven

Our first days in Saigon we stayed in Quadrant 3 and in our humble opinion, where the best food the city has to offer can be found and there's a lot to choose from. We started by dining on soups and rice cakes. Below is a list of our favorites.

Banh Uot (rice noodles folded with minced pork and mushrooms) served with fresh herbs (basil, cilantro, spearmint, spade herb and dandelion - seriously the herbs in Vietnam are the best - fresh, aromatic, earthy and delicious!) pork patties and beans sprouts.Hu Tieu: Pork based soup with rice noodles, slices of marinated stewed and ground pork. Topped with scallions, lettuce and fried shallots. The combination of the sweet pork broth, marinated pork slices, spicey scallions and pungent fried shallots is a dynamite combo!Banh Canh Cua: Crab based rice noodle soup. A spicey, thick and flavorful crab based broth with threads of crab meat and round thick rice noodles. Topped with the ever-present fresh herbs and plenty of famous Vietnamese black pepper. Easily one of our favorite soups to date!Mi Hoanh Thanh: Wonton Noodle Soup. Ground pork steamed wontons with wheat noodles in a sweet oniony soup served with sweet bbq pork and served with onions and chopped fresh herbs.Bun Bo Hue: One of our top soups at home, this bowl was fantastic. Spicey beef soup with lemongrass, chili sauteed onions, thick round rice noodles and of course scallions and fresh Vietnamese herbs. Served on the side was shredded banana flower, lettuce, more fresh herbs, beansprouts and another one of our favorite combos, chilis and lime.

There is also great beverages in Saigon. Vietnamese fresh fruit shakes (Sinh To), fresh pressed tropical juices and fresh pressed sugarcane water! That's just what we had for breakfast and lunch, then there were the wonderful home cooked dinners we had with Anne's family.

Saigon is also known for its alleyways or hiems. Life in the alleyways is unlike anything we've seen with everything crammed into the tiny hallway-like alleys that have residential homes, small businesses, food stalls and even large neighborhood food markets. The first picture is the entrance to Anne's Great-Aunt's house.Since land and property in Saigon is very expensive homes and buildings are built tall and skinny so the alleyways are maze-like walkways that curve and you never know what is just around the corner, it's crazy fun!Saigon is slowly becoming more "westernized" with grocery stores, shopping malls and corporate looking coffee shops and restaurants, but older areas like Q3 are still typical Saigon with open markets tucked into small alleys selling everything the neighborhood needs. This one in Anne's Great-Aunt's neighborhood was especially fascinating because it was tucked deep in a tiny little alleyway.Quadrant 3 in Saigon, a true taste of the city.