Saigon, Vietnam: Our First and Final Stop

Saigon has been loud, humid, chaotic, overwhelming, delicious, and somehow strangely familiar all at once. From the constant chorus of motorbike horns and bánh bao vendors riding through the streets to mystery outings with my uncle and aunt, trips to local markets, and repeatedly needing to call for “Mommy help” whenever I have no idea what is going on, my first few days here have been a lot to take in. I came to Vietnam expecting a vacation, but being in Saigon has already started to feel like something more personal — a chance to experience the food, culture, and everyday life that are tied so closely to my family.

Arriving in Saigon

After what felt like an eternity of traveling, we finally landed at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. By that point, I was exhausted, running on basically no sleep, and very ready to be done with airplanes for a while. Stepping outside the airport was my first real introduction to Saigon — and there was immediately a lot going on.

One of the first things that surprised me was the outdoor seating area outside the terminal. There were rows of seats filled with people waiting for arriving passengers, something that felt very different from the airports I’m used to back home. Between the crowds, luggage, heat, and everyone looking for whoever they had come to pick up, it felt like we had stepped directly into the city rather than slowly transitioning out of the airport.

There were also people everywhere offering rides. Almost as soon as we came out with our luggage, we started hearing people asking if we needed a taxi. Some would approach us directly, while others were standing around looking for newly arrived travelers. After spending more than a day navigating airports and airplanes, my brain was essentially just: Mommy help. 😭

Once we were finally in the car and heading away from the airport, I got my first proper look at Saigon. The biggest thing I noticed was the traffic — especially the motorbikes. They were everywhere. I knew Vietnam had a lot of motorbikes before coming here, but knowing that and actually seeing an entire sea of them moving around the cars are two completely different things. There was also constant honking, which initially sounded like complete chaos to me.

That first drive was when it really started sinking in that I was actually in Vietnam. After months of talking about this trip, packing, worrying about flights, and spending what felt like approximately seventeen years getting here, Saigon was suddenly outside my window.

My First Taste of Saigon

It didn’t take very long for the food adventures to begin. On my first day in Saigon, I tried fresh sugarcane juice and a soursop smoothie. Sugarcane juice, or nước mía, is something I had heard of before but had never really had fresh like this. It was sweet and refreshing, which was very welcome considering how hot and humid it was outside.

I also tried a soursop smoothie, which ended up being one of my favorite discoveries from that first day. I had never paid much attention to soursop before coming to Vietnam, but blended into a cold, creamy smoothie, it was delicious. Considering how many unfamiliar foods I knew I would encounter on this trip, I was off to a surprisingly successful start.

Later that evening, my uncle and aunt took my mom and me to a nearby mall, where we ate at a restaurant called A Dổi. This was my first proper restaurant meal in Vietnam and the beginning of what would quickly become a recurring theme of this trip: my relatives taking us somewhere, me having absolutely no idea where we were going, and simply following along to see what food appeared in front of me.

At this point, I was still exhausted from traveling and taking in everything around me, so I was mostly operating on a system of follow family, sit down, receive food, eat food. Honestly, it worked pretty well.

Day 2: Coffee, Phở, Durian & Haircuts

Our second day in Saigon started with coffee. My uncle and aunt took us to a local coffee shop, where I tried Vietnamese egg coffee for the first time. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from coffee with egg in it, but it ended up being really good. The topping was thick, creamy, and sweet, almost more like a dessert than something I would normally consider coffee. Vietnamese coffee has definitely been one of the things I’ve enjoyed discovering since getting here.

Later, I had my first bowl of phở in Vietnam. Since we were in Saigon, I got to try Southern-style phở, which came with plenty of fresh herbs and other toppings to add to the broth. Phở obviously isn’t new to me — I’ve eaten it plenty of times back home — but there was something special about finally having a bowl of it in Vietnam.

After eating, we went over to my uncle’s apartment, where another very Vietnamese experience was waiting for me: durian.

I had tried durian before, so I already knew about its famously powerful smell, but there is something different about sitting in an apartment with an actual durian being opened in front of you. The smell does not politely remain near the fruit. It announces its presence to the entire room. Thankfully, I actually like the taste much more than the smell. Underneath its intimidating exterior and equally intimidating aroma, the fruit itself is soft, creamy, and surprisingly sweet.

Our final adventure of the day was a trip to a local salon to get our hair cut. Getting a haircut in another country wasn’t something I had specifically planned on doing during this trip, but I’ve quickly learned that when my uncle and aunt announce that we’re going somewhere, I usually just follow them and find out what we’re doing when we get there.

So somehow Day 2 in Saigon consisted of egg coffee, a bowl of phở, sitting around my uncle’s apartment eating durian, and getting a haircut.

Honestly, I’m starting to realize that this is just how our days here work.

The Dogs of Saigon

One thing I wasn’t expecting to become so invested in was spotting all of the dogs around Saigon. I’ve seen so many cute ones hanging out in front of homes and businesses, watching the world go by while motorbikes and people pass them.

My favorite encounter so far was with an extremely fluffy little brown dog. Unlike most of the dogs I’ve admired from a distance, this one actually let me come over and pet it. It was ridiculously cute and fluffy, and naturally I was delighted that I had been granted permission to touch the floof.

With all of the new sights, sounds, food, traffic, and general chaos I’ve been taking in, having a quiet little moment to pet a friendly dog was unexpectedly comforting.

I may have come to Vietnam to experience the country, but apparently I am also conducting an unofficial survey of Saigon’s dogs.

A Taste of the Mekong Delta at Hoàng Tâm

Another one of my favorite meals in Saigon was at Hoàng Tâm, a restaurant specializing in traditional cuisine from the Mekong Delta region of Southern Vietnam. Since my uncle and aunt were once again in charge of ordering, I mostly sat back and waited to see what would arrive at the table — which has become a recurring theme on this trip.

We ended up with a huge spread of food to share. One of the first dishes was bánh xèo, a crispy yellow Vietnamese pancake served with a giant pile of fresh herbs and greens. We also had rau muống xào tỏi, or water spinach stir-fried with garlic, which has quickly become one of the vegetables I see everywhere here.

There was also canh chua cá, a Southern Vietnamese sour fish soup, and cá kho tộ, fish braised in a savory-sweet caramelized sauce and served bubbling hot in a clay pot with white rice. We also had an entire fried fish brought to the table, complete with its head and tail and covered in crispy garlic and other toppings.

What I really liked about this meal was getting to try so many different dishes at once. Vietnamese food in the U.S. is often represented by the same handful of familiar foods, especially phở and bánh mì, so it has been interesting to see how much more there is to Vietnamese cuisine while actually being here. Hoàng Tâm was especially interesting because the food was representative of miền Tây, the Mekong Delta region in the south, giving me another taste of the regional food traditions I wouldn’t necessarily encounter at a Vietnamese restaurant back home. 

Seeing Saigon from the Water

One of the more relaxing things we did was visit the Saigon waterfront and take a boat ride along the river. After spending so much time experiencing the city from street level — surrounded by motorbikes, honking horns, vendors, shops, and people seemingly moving in every possible direction — it was nice to see Saigon from a completely different perspective.

The waterfront itself gave us a chance to slow down and take in the city without being right in the middle of all the traffic. From there, we headed out onto the Saigon River for a boat ride, where I could see the skyline stretching along the water. The tall modern buildings were an interesting contrast to some of the older and smaller buildings I had been seeing while exploring the city.

Being out on the river also made Saigon feel much bigger than it had from the streets. Instead of focusing on whatever was immediately around me, I could actually sit back and look at the city as a whole.

So far, so much of my experience in Saigon has been loud, busy, and slightly chaotic, but the boat ride was one of those moments where I could just sit there, look at the skyline, and think, Wow, I’m actually in Vietnam.

The Forbidden Spaghetti

While we were walking along the waterfront, I also encountered some of the local wildlife. Unfortunately, it was shaped like a noodle.

There was a small snake slithering across the wet pavement near the river, which I noticed from what I considered a perfectly acceptable distance. Vietnam is home to plenty of snakes, but knowing that beforehand did absolutely nothing to prepare me for actually seeing one casually going about its evening in Saigon.

I immediately decided that I did not like the scaly noodle.

Thankfully, it seemed much more interested in continuing whatever mysterious snake business it had planned than bothering us, so we simply watched it from a distance and let it go on its way.

Of all the things I expected to encounter along the Saigon waterfront, forbidden spaghetti was not on the itinerary. 😂🐍🍝

Day 3: Coffee, Tàu Hũ & Bình Tây Market

We started our third day in Saigon at another local coffee shop. By this point, visiting coffee shops was quickly becoming a regular part of our mornings, and I was perfectly fine with that. This time, I ordered cà phê sữa đá, the classic Vietnamese iced coffee made with strong coffee and sweetened condensed milk. It was strong, sweet, creamy, and another addition to my rapidly growing list of Vietnamese coffees I liked.

I also tried tàu hũ, a soft tofu dessert served with sweet coconut milk. Tofu wasn’t something I had ever really associated with dessert before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. The tofu was incredibly soft and silky, almost like a pudding, and the coconut milk made everything creamy and sweet. It ended up being another surprisingly good discovery.

After we were sufficiently caffeinated and fed, my uncle and aunt took us to Bình Tây Market, located in Chợ Lớn, Saigon’s Chinatown. The market was packed with stalls selling everything from food and dried goods to clothing and household items. There was so much to look at that it was difficult to know where to focus my attention.

By Day 3, I was also beginning to understand the basic structure of traveling around Saigon with my relatives: get in vehicle, receive limited information, arrive somewhere, follow Uncle and Aunty, and discover what we’re doing upon arrival.

I had accepted my role.

Oke. 😶🚶‍♀️

An Evening on Nguyen Hue Walking Street

That evening, we headed out again for dinner at Cửu Vân Long, a huge buffet where there was an almost overwhelming amount of food to choose from. After spending the day drinking Vietnamese coffee, trying tàu hũ, and wandering around Bình Tây Market, apparently the logical conclusion to the day was to eat even more food.

After dinner, we walked outside onto Nguyễn Huệ Walking Street, a large pedestrian boulevard and public gathering space in the center of Saigon. It was especially lively at night, with people walking around, sitting together, taking photos, and enjoying the evening. Seeing the city after dark felt completely different from exploring it during the day.

One of the buildings I was especially excited to see was the famous Café Apartments, an old apartment building that has been transformed into a vertical collection of cafés, restaurants, and little businesses. With all of the individual balconies and brightly lit signs stacked on top of one another, it was even more interesting to see in person after having seen so many photos of it online.

We could also see Ho Chi Minh City Hall, officially the headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee. The French colonial-era building was beautifully illuminated at night, and the whole area around Nguyễn Huệ felt much grander and more modern than some of the neighborhoods and markets we had explored earlier in the trip.

It was one of my favorite things about Saigon so far: within the same day, I could go from wandering through the crowded stalls of Bình Tây Market to standing in the middle of a huge pedestrian boulevard surrounded by illuminated historic buildings, skyscrapers, cafés, and crowds of people enjoying the city at night.

And somehow, all of this happened because I once again got into a car with my relatives with only a vague understanding of where we were going. 😶🚶‍♀️

A Strange Kind of Nostalgia

While walking around Saigon, and especially after visiting Bình Tây Market, I started experiencing a feeling that I wasn’t expecting from this trip. The best way I can describe it is nostalgia for something I never actually lived through.

There were little things everywhere that felt strangely familiar. The crowded markets, small family businesses spilling out onto the sidewalk, fruit piled up at stalls, people sitting outside together, and the constant movement of everyday life reminded me of things I grew up around in Asian communities back home. At the same time, I knew that what I was seeing was much closer to the world my mom and other relatives had known long before I was born.

It made me feel sad, but not exactly in an unhappy way. It was more like a warm, aching kind of sadness — realizing that my parents had entire lives before I existed. They were once young people walking through places like these, eating food, going shopping, talking with family, and worrying about completely ordinary things. As a child, it’s easy to think of your parents as simply Mom and Dad. Being here has made it easier for me to imagine them as people who had their own childhoods, memories, hopes, and experiences long before they became my parents.

There was also something emotional about experiencing parts of a culture that have always existed somewhere in the background of my life. I grew up in the United States, thousands of miles away, so some things feel completely unfamiliar to me while others somehow feel like I’ve known them forever. It’s an odd feeling to be somewhere for the first time and still find pieces of familiarity everywhere.

I don’t know if “nostalgia” is technically the right word when the memories aren’t mine. Maybe it’s more like recognizing pieces of a story that started before me.

Whatever it is, Vietnam has made me think about my family differently. This trip hasn’t just been about seeing a new country. In some small way, it has also felt like getting to peek into the world that existed before I came along. 🥺

Watching Ordinary Life

Another feeling that has been difficult to put into words came from simply watching people go about their everyday lives.

While walking through one of Saigon’s small hẻm, or alleyways, I happened to glance through an open window into someone’s home. Inside was a family sitting together in their living room, just doing ordinary things. Nothing particularly interesting was happening. They weren’t performing for tourists or doing anything that would normally deserve a photograph. They were simply at home, living their lives.

For some reason, that made me unexpectedly emotional.

As a visitor, everything around me feels significant because it’s new. The little shops, motorbikes, food stalls, narrow alleyways and houses are all things I notice because I’ve never seen them before. But for the people who actually live here, this isn’t a travel experience. It’s just Tuesday. They wake up, go to work or school, come home, eat dinner, spend time with their families, get annoyed with each other, laugh about things, worry about money, fall in love, get older, and repeat it all again the next day.

There’s something both comforting and strangely sad about realizing that.

That brief glimpse through the window also made me think about how many lives are happening around me that I will never know anything about. I saw that family for only a few seconds. They probably never even knew I existed. Soon I’ll leave Vietnam and return to my own life thousands of miles away, while they’ll continue living theirs. Their living room will still be there. Dinner will still need to be made. People will still come home at the end of the day.

Maybe some of the sadness comes from knowing that you can only ever glimpse such a tiny part of another person’s life.

I’ve spent so much of this trip looking for the extraordinary — new places, new foods, landmarks, markets and things I can’t experience at home. But some of the moments that have stayed with me most have been completely ordinary ones.

Sometimes it’s strangely beautiful just to realize that, everywhere you go, people are busy being people.

Surviving Ben Thành Market

Of course, I couldn’t visit Saigon without experiencing Bến Thành Market at least once. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos from inside — mostly because I was far too overwhelmed to remember that taking pictures was even an option.

Bến Thành was easily one of the most intense places I’ve visited so far. The market is packed with narrow aisles and stalls selling seemingly everything imaginable: clothes, souvenirs, bags, food, coffee, jewelry, and plenty of suspiciously familiar designer logos. Vendors frequently called out to us as we walked past, and between all of the people, merchandise, noise, and attempts to get our attention, there was a lot for my brain to process at once.

At some point, my strategy essentially became staring at the floor and following my family through the market. I even started feeling a little nauseous from being so overstimulated, so this was definitely not one of those leisurely shopping experiences where I could wander around examining every stall.

Despite the sensory chaos, I did successfully emerge from Bến Thành with loot. I picked up two Lafufus, a cute little keychain, and — most importantly — two tiny nón lá for my plushies. Pink Dino received a pink one, while Blåhaj received an orange one. Naturally, putting miniature Vietnamese conical hats on a dinosaur and a Swedish shark became one of the highlights of the entire market experience.

I would like to report that both Pink Dino and Blåhaj are now considerably more fashionable than I am.

Bến Thành was fascinating to experience, but it was also a good reminder that sometimes traveling means recognizing when I’ve reached my limit. I didn’t need to photograph every corner or spend hours shopping for the visit to count. I went, I experienced the chaos, I acquired tiny hats for my plushies, and I survived.

Mission accomplished. 😎🫡🦈🦖🇻🇳

Meeting Aunty Kim’s Family at Quán Ăn Nam Loi

One evening, we went to Quán Ăn Nam Lợi, a restaurant beside the water, where I got to meet more of Aunty Kim’s family. As has become customary whenever my family eats together in Vietnam, the table quickly became absolutely covered in food.

We shared a whole fish, enormous freshwater prawns, rau muống (water spinach), goat meat, and a beef salad, along with other dishes around the table. The freshwater prawns especially caught my attention because they were massive. I am accustomed to shrimp. These looked like shrimp that had been hitting the gym.

Something I’ve been reminded of throughout this trip is how often food is used as a way of expressing love and care in Vietnamese families, as well as in many other Asian cultures. Affection isn’t necessarily expressed by directly saying “I love you.” Sometimes it’s asking whether you’ve eaten yet, putting another piece of food into your bowl, ordering something because they think you’ll like it, or continuing to offer you food despite the fact that you are clearly approaching maximum capacity.

I experienced a lot of that during this dinner. Even though I was meeting some of Aunty Kim’s family for the first time, there was an immediate desire to make sure everyone was fed. Dishes were passed around, people encouraged me to try different things, and sharing the meal became part of how everyone welcomed us.

It reminded me of my own family and the way I grew up. Sometimes “Have you eaten yet?” really means “I care about you.” Sometimes someone putting food into your bowl or cutting up fruit for you communicates something that doesn’t need to be said out loud.

That’s one of the things I’ve appreciated most about eating with family in Vietnam. These meals haven’t just been opportunities to try new food. They’ve been a way of spending time together and connecting with relatives, including people I had never met before this trip.

By the end of dinner, I was extremely full, but I also understood a little more about why so many of my memories from Vietnam seem to revolve around a table.

Food hasn’t just been something people have given me to eat. It’s been one of the ways they’ve welcomed me into their lives. 🥺

The Dreaded Traveler’s Diarrhea 💩

TMI WARNING: This section contains poop. A lot of poop. If you would prefer to remember me as a dignified human being whose digestive system functions normally, please skip ahead. 😭

Unfortunately, no international trip would be complete without my intestines deciding that they, too, wanted to experience Vietnam.

Several days into the trip, I was suddenly hit with the dreaded traveler’s diarrhea. And when I say suddenly, I mean my digestive system went from behaving normally to declaring an emergency with very little warning. For a while, it felt like anything I ate simply passed through me at an alarming speed.

The particularly rude part was that nobody else in my family got sick. We had been eating many of the same foods, drinking many of the same things, and going to the same places, yet apparently my intestines alone had been chosen for sacrifice.

There were several possible suspects. I had been enthusiastically eating tropical fruit, drinking smoothies and fresh juices, and generally putting things into my body that it wasn’t accustomed to back home. My mom had also washed some fruit using tap water, so there were enough potential culprits that I eventually gave up trying to identify exactly what had betrayed me.

For a while, my diet became considerably less adventurous. Crackers, water, bland food, and Pocari Sweat became my closest companions while I tried to stay hydrated. After drinking so much Pocari, I joked that I was now married to it. Sorry, Brandon.

Eventually my stomach started settling down, although it took a little while before I trusted my intestines again. Nothing makes you appreciate a normally functioning digestive system quite like spending part of your vacation wondering whether you’re ever going to be able to venture more than thirty feet away from a toilet.

And thus concluded — hopefully — what I have officially named:

The Splodie Poos of Saigon.

An era I will remember forever, despite desperately wishing I could forget it. 💩🫡

Bùi Vien Walking Street

Another completely different side of Saigon came out at night when we visited Bùi Viện Walking Street, one of the city’s best-known nightlife areas.

If Nguyễn Huệ Walking Street was the place to casually stroll around and admire the city at night, Bùi Viện was its much louder, more chaotic cousin.

The entire street seemed to be competing for my attention at once. There were bars and restaurants packed together on both sides, colorful lights everywhere, music blasting from different directions, and people sitting outside watching the crowds go by. Some places had live music while others seemed determined to see just how loud their speakers could possibly get.

It was definitely a lot to take in. Between the crowds, lights, music, people trying to get customers into different businesses, and the general chaos of Saigon happening around all of it, Bùi Viện was probably one of the most overstimulating places I’ve visited here. At the same time, it was fascinating to experience such a completely different side of the city.

During the day, I had been walking through markets, drinking Vietnamese coffee, eating with my relatives, and catching little glimpses of people going about their everyday lives. At night, I suddenly found myself standing in the middle of neon lights and booming music surrounded by people who had come specifically to party.

I don’t think Bùi Viện is somewhere I could personally spend hours every night — my brain would probably file for resignation — but I’m glad I got to experience it at least once.

Saigon seems to have a different personality depending on where you go, and Bùi Viện was definitely the city’s “WHAT IF WE TURNED THE VOLUME UP TO 300%?” personality. 😭🎶🪩

Exploring Ben Thành Market

One of Saigon’s most iconic landmarks is Bến Thành Market (Chợ Bến Thành), a bustling indoor market located in the heart of District 1. Known for its distinctive clock tower, the market is one of the city’s most popular shopping destinations and tourist attractions.

Although the market’s origins date back much further, the present-day building opened in 1914 during the French colonial period. Today, it houses hundreds of stalls selling everything from clothing, handbags, and souvenirs to Vietnamese coffee, dried fruits, and local food.

During my visit, I spent some time wandering through the market’s narrow aisles, browsing the different stalls, and shopping for souvenirs. There was so much merchandise on display that it was easy to spend quite a while just looking around. From clothing and accessories to little gifts to bring home, there was something around practically every corner.

Of course, I couldn’t visit Bến Thành Market without checking out the food! In addition to the shopping stalls, the market has a food section where visitors can enjoy a variety of Vietnamese dishes, snacks, and drinks. It was a nice opportunity to take a break from browsing and enjoy something to eat.

One thing to keep in mind when shopping at Bến Thành Market is that bargaining is common. Some vendors may initially quote higher prices, particularly to tourists, so it’s worth comparing prices between stalls before making a purchase.

Overall, Bến Thành Market was an interesting place to explore, shop, and enjoy some local food. Although it’s definitely a tourist-oriented destination, I think it’s worth visiting at least once if you’re spending time in Saigon.

Saigon Centre – One Last Family Meal

Located in the heart of District 1, Saigon Centre is one of Ho Chi Minh City’s most well-known shopping destinations. First opened in 1996, the complex underwent a major expansion in 2016, welcoming the Japanese department store Takashimaya. Today, the shopping centre features a wide variety of international brands, restaurants, cafés, and specialty shops.

Unlike Saigon’s bustling traditional markets, Saigon Centre offers a more modern shopping experience, complete with spacious walkways, multiple floors of retail stores, and air-conditioned interiors. It’s a popular destination for both locals and tourists looking to shop, dine, or escape the city’s tropical heat.

During our final days in Saigon, my family and I visited Saigon Centre to enjoy one last meal together before our trip came to an end. We decided to dine at a steam restaurant, where food is prepared using steam rather than traditional frying or grilling methods. This style of cooking allows the ingredients to retain their natural flavors while keeping the dishes relatively light.

It was a nice opportunity for everyone to sit down, enjoy a meal, and spend some time together after several weeks of traveling throughout Southeast Asia. With our journey slowly coming to an end, the meal felt like a fitting way to wrap up our time in Vietnam.

Although we primarily visited Saigon Centre for dinner rather than shopping, it was still interesting to experience another side of the city. From traditional markets to modern shopping malls, Saigon offers a fascinating mix of old and new.

Final Thoughts

My time in Saigon has been a lot of things at once: exciting, overwhelming, delicious, chaotic, emotional, and occasionally very bad for my digestive system.

Before coming here, Vietnam was somewhere I knew mostly through my family, food, photographs, and stories. Actually being here has made it feel much more real. I’ve eaten things I had never tried before, wandered through markets where I had absolutely no idea what was happening, crossed streets surrounded by what felt like several million motorbikes, discovered just how seriously Vietnam takes its coffee, encountered forbidden spaghetti along the waterfront, and learned that apparently all I need to do on a family outing is follow my uncle and aunt and trust that eventually someone will feed me.

But some of my favorite moments have also been the quietest ones.

I’ve found myself watching people sit outside their homes, run tiny businesses, eat together, drive home from work, and simply live their ordinary lives. I’ve looked into little alleyways and wondered about all of the people who have called this city home long before I ever arrived. Those moments have made me think about my own family differently, too. My parents and relatives had entire lives, memories, routines, friendships, and experiences before I came along, and being here has made that feel more tangible than it ever did from thousands of miles away.

There have been moments when Saigon has felt completely foreign to me and others when something has felt strangely familiar. Maybe that’s what I’ll remember most about my first visit: the feeling of discovering somewhere new while occasionally catching little glimpses of something that feels like home.

When I returned to Saigon after several weeks of traveling through Southeast Asia, things felt a little different. By then, I had experienced the busy streets of Kuala Lumpur, the familiarity of Singapore, the historic charm of Hanoi, the cooler mountain air of Đà Lạt, and the beaches of Phú Quốc. After so many different destinations, returning to Saigon almost felt like coming full circle.

Our final few days were considerably quieter than our first week. There weren’t as many sightseeing adventures or packed itineraries. Instead, we spent time browsing the stalls at Bến Thành Market, picking up a few last-minute souvenirs, enjoying some food, and making the most of our remaining time in the city.

We also visited Saigon Centre for one last meal together as a family at a steam restaurant. After spending so many weeks traveling, eating, exploring, and occasionally getting on each other’s nerves, it was nice to have one final opportunity to sit down and share a meal before everyone went their separate ways.

In a way, I appreciated having a quieter ending to such a long journey. Not every day needed to be filled with attractions or activities. Sometimes, simply being somewhere, enjoying a meal, or wandering through a familiar place was enough.

Looking back, Saigon wasn’t always the easiest city for me. The heat, humidity, traffic, noise, and sheer number of people could be overwhelming at times. But it was also a place filled with incredible food, fascinating history, and countless little moments that helped me better understand where my family came from.

I don’t know when I’ll return to Saigon, but I’m glad I finally had the opportunity to experience it for myself. It’s one thing to hear stories about a place from your family, and another to walk through its streets, taste its food, and see everyday life unfolding around you.

After more than five weeks of traveling, it was finally time to say goodbye to Vietnam and begin the long journey home. I was exhausted, ready for my own bed, and looking forward to returning to my usual routines. At the same time, I knew there were parts of this trip that I would miss.

So, for now, goodbye, Saigon.

Thank you for the memories, the food, the family time, and the opportunity to connect with a part of my family’s history in a way I never had before.

And if I ever return, I have just one small request.

Please let my intestines cooperate next time.

Your Turn

Have you ever visited a place that made you feel strangely nostalgic, even though you had never been there before? Or have you traveled somewhere connected to your family’s history and found yourself seeing your family differently afterward?

And, perhaps most importantly: what’s the most unexpected thing you’ve ever encountered while traveling? Mine may currently be a tie between a snake-shaped piece of forbidden spaghetti and discovering that my digestive system apparently had its own Vietnam itinerary.

I’d love to hear your stories in the comments — and if you’ve been to Saigon before, tell me what you loved, what surprised you, and what I should look out for when I return for Part 2. 💕