I'm going to Ho Chi Minh city...wtf should I do? (Help me worldly Strutteurs)
JectWon
(@_@) 1,654 Posts
Record shops...do they have them? Are they worth digging in?
No Reservation style food cart explorations....can I reasonably try that without shitting creek water and going blind?
My wife and I are going to be in the City for a little over a week. Work will keep us fairly tethered to the city itself so we can't really explore too far outside the greater HCMC area.
Any suggestions/stories?
No Reservation style food cart explorations....can I reasonably try that without shitting creek water and going blind?
My wife and I are going to be in the City for a little over a week. Work will keep us fairly tethered to the city itself so we can't really explore too far outside the greater HCMC area.
Any suggestions/stories?
Comments
Ha! Wow...I'll be there. Send me the address to the spot, if you have a second and I'll check out tha' tunes!
I'm going to try to jump into the local food as much as I can. But, who knows...I might need some comfort food. Thanks for the heads up!
this ^^^
plus watch yoself whilst crossing the streets.
my method was to stand directly downwind of an old Vietnamese lady; they just step out into the street not really giving a fuck; as long as you maintain a steady pace, the scooters will go around you. just don't try to dodge them.
Ahhh shit, that sounds terrifying. Thanks for the heads up. I could totally see myself fucking that up, if I wasn't warned.
Audrey.
B/w
Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh!
Ditch McCullogh for Lusty Lin!
( Sounds magazine Oi pioneer Bushell jibe at Joy Division cum U2 turncoat-R)
And if anyone knows what the hell talmbout there, propers
Uups... it's on Friday the 19th and not on the 17th, my bad. Hope you're around for the weekend. I'll get you the venue info later.
I'll check the schedule. I think that's our last free night there. Sounds like a hell of a way to cap the trip off.
Also if you have the time, you should make a quick trip to the island paradise of Phu Quoc, which is a short boat or plane ride from Saigon.
Thanks. I had no clue.
First thing you should do is not fall for vintage US anticommunist propaganda.
Especially as an American visiting Vietnam!
Both names are commonly used. The people who are flying me over there for example always use the name Ho Chi Minh City.
Ho Chi Minh had spent his entire life fighting to unite North and South Vietnam and for Vietnam's independence. He had been democratically elected as president of North Vietnam in 1954 and in '76 he became the also democratically elected President of a finally united Vietnam after the foreign American aggressors had been defeated in '75.
Ho Chi Minh is a big national hero and liberator of Vietnam and was far from being a dictator. He genuinely fought for positive political ideals such as equal rights, political inclusion of peasants and farmers and chose a humble life style, living in a hut net to the parliament building.
"Ho Ho Ho Chi Minh" was a popular chant during anti-US-Imperialism demonstrations.
I occasionally rock a Ho Chi Minh T-shirt.
some photos
Should be a fun night, it's supposed to start at 9 with 2 other DJs before me and will run "late". The Club is called La Fenetre Soleil and here's the address: 2nd Flr, 44 Ly Tu Trong Street, District 1, HCMC
Don't forget to say "hi!"
But.Uncle Ho isn't a universal hero and he dealt out some brutal retribution to those Vietnamese who hadn't been on the right side - and on their extended families. Particularly in and around HCM/Saigon, for obvious reasons. Terrible things happened. An awful lot of people spent years in 're-education camps' and a lot more were sent to live in closed communes where subsistence farming is still their lot. Vietnamese boat people - remember them? Ho Chi Minh was a high ideologue but also a very practical political operator, for want of a better phrase. Personally, I'd feel a little uncomfortable wearing an HCM T-shirt in Vietnam...
That said, Vietnam is still one of my favourite places in the world. Hanoi especially. But I don't ever want to eat hard boiled eggs with chick embryos in again.
Hey Frank!
I stand corrected..so he did. I guess that's the difference between what he carried out and what was carried out in his name later on. I need to read up some more. Long live Uncle Ho again!
I stand corrected..so he did. I guess that's the difference between what he carried out and what was carried out in his name later on. Long live Uncle Ho again!
If you're staying in district 1 I'd recommend sandwiches (banh mi) at www.banhmita.com and a bit further down at the intersection Le Thanh Ton and Le Anh Xuan is a great little street cafe with wooden chairs.
The food at Rat Hue is also great, see alyabaquin.blogspot.com/2009/09/rat-hue-food-for-gods.html
Great Pho
Busy lunch crowd for Northern Vietnamese food
Frog hotplate and fish stew from the Mekong Delta
Fresh French bread and beef stew at a highway rest stop
I'll post pics soon, hopefully.
Frank, unfortunately you're gig is the day we leave. Our flight out is 5:00am on Friday to Hong Kong. If you are doing something fun, or hanging out in the city before hand and want to link up, PM me. I'm just going to be chilling during the day while my wife goes to a few conference events.
...Damn, the food is good here.
Ahhh!! Thanks man! I just noticed this post. We've had some great stuff so far but I'm yet to get a banh my and it's on the list to do, for sure. Gonna hit it up tomorrow, without a doubt.
Jesus, that sandwich was amazing. I got the ta.4; the english menu translated it to "special combination"...I have no clue what was in it but it was so nice I had to do it twice!
Thanks for the advice. My google maps directions put me way off track...it was hell to find but definitely worth it!
Jesus, that sandwich was amazing. I got the ta.4; the english menu translated it to "special combination"...I have no clue what was in it but it was so nice I had to do it twice!
Thanks for the advice. My google maps directions put me way off track...it was hell to find but definitely worth it!