Our first day in HCMC

We landed today in the middle of the day, border control was easy, we got our bags fast and we found the shuttle the hotel sent us easily.

It rained on the way to the hotel but after that the whole day was clear, although humid and hot, 32 degrees. We stay at a hotel recommended by Jean & Julie, the room is super clean, we have air con, Internet, it's nice!

We walked around the Old Saigon, we started in a famous market where we had lunch, the lady was amused by my out of the menu requests. I don't speak Vietnamese, but I know my Vietnamese specialities. Céline had bun cha gio, I had bun heo quai, with a delicious coconut as a drink, it was really nice for a first meal.

We walked along the track suggested by our travel book, and saw nice colonial architecture. Our first impression is that it's way cleaner than the big cities of China. The buildings are in a good shape, there is no awful smell in the streets, and there is a fair share of trees and plants in the street.

We can see that lots of people are indeed sitting on the small plastic chairs, or just squatting, playing this chess game look alike.

People here are eating all day long, we'll never be hungry!

In the evening we went to a place called Pho Hoa, supposedly THE place to eat pho in HCMC. We had cha gio (Vietnamese spring rolls) , goi cuon (summer rolls shrimp) , gio chao quay (Chinese fried bread) and of course a bowl of pho.

It was all really good, except for the summer rolls!

It's good we have air con in the room, it's so hot.

I had a haircut after dinner, it'll be lighter on the head!