Last Christmas and New Years, we decided that we wanted to escape the cold weather in Shanghai and headed south to Vietnam! In 2009, we had visited Hanoi in the northern part of the country and really enjoyed the food and culture; however, the weather in the north was a bit cooler, so we decided to head to Ho Chi Minh City and a costal beach area called Mui Ne.
HCMC is definitely a city that is developing rapidly. Alongside food carts selling bowls of pho, and vendors selling sunglasses and handbags, stands a brand-new mall with Louis Vuitton and Dior, still under construction. The streets are filled with cars and motorcycles, and on every block there is a new restaurant or storefront being built. The city is loud and lively, but it's exactly what we expected, and loved about the atmosphere. We stayed at a historical hotel built in 1925 called 'Hotel Majestic' located in the central area of Dong Khoi. It put us right in the action of HCMC, and close in proximity to many excellent restaurants and sights.
We covered HCMC in two and a half very short days - but that didn't stop us from eating our way through the city between a few tourist sights!
A very long 6 hour drive later (we were originally told it would be no more than 4 hours), we arrived at Mui Ne. If you know Nate and I, we can barely stand a 2 hour car ride, so this was a bit long for us. We had chosen this beach because it was supposedly less crowded due to having no other route into this area except via bus/car. To be honest, it wasn't our favorite beach. December is supposed to be one of the best months to visit this particular area of Vietnam due to the mild temperatures. Although the temperature was perfect, due to the extreme winds, you couldn't go into the water unless you were a kite surfer or I assume, an extremely strong swimmer! As one of the main resort cities in southern Vietnam, they cater to the tourist palate, and therefore, the food was not nearly as local in flavors as HCMC. A bit disappointed, we realized it's really a first world problem to be stuck in Vietnam with perfect weather on a beach, quickly got over it, and ended up having a nice time.
A very short 10 minute walk from where we stayed, were red sand dunes! An interesting sight to see desert and ocean all in one view.
Determined to find food better than the resort we were at, we made our way to downtown Mui Ne. We decided to try out a Lonely Planet restaurant recommendation, the food was good, but even better? One of the managers shared with us what we were really looking for, a recommendation to a food cart selling Banh Mi sandwiches! Her instructions? Look for 'Strawberry Restaurant' and right across the street would be a lady selling Banh Mi's. We were sooo excited to find her!
We also decided to try out Strawberry Restaurant. We don't normally eat seafood, but since we were in a coastal city, we decided why not!?! This place had their seafood in tanks, you picked what you wanted, and they cooked it right there for you. We had D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S tiger prawns!
After 5 days in Mui Ne, we made it back to HCMC just in time for dinner, and one more evening of eating before heading back to Shanghai.
During our very first trip to Vietnam, we had eaten banh ghoi at a small street-side restaurant. It was my absolute favorite thing that I had eaten, but after one week in southern Vietnam, we still hadn't stumbled upon any place with it. Just as I had given up, we were in a taxi and passed the only restaurant we saw selling banh ghoi! Nom, nom, nom...of course, that was just a snack!
An hour later, we made our way up four flights of stairs to a roof-top restaurant called Secret Garden. Amazing food and atmosphere, and an excellent way to end our trip to Vietnam!
To view our full photo album from our trip - click here, and to see some of Nate's photography not in these albums, click here!
~ Trisha (and Nate, too!)