[shwetapershad]

My husband & I are visiting Ho Chi Minh City this weekend. We will have a total of two and a half days there, excluding travel time (from HK). Can anyone suggest fun things to do in HCM City? The museum is definitely on our list. What else?

Thanks!

[cokey]

Check out the travel section S.C.M.P. today

Originally Posted by shwetapershad

My husband & I are visiting Ho Chi Minh City this weekend. We will have a total of two and a half days there, excluding travel time (from HK). Can anyone suggest fun things to do in HCM City? The museum is definitely on our list. What else?

Thanks!

[WeLuvDodgeball]

You can make an easy daytrip to the Chu Chi Tunnels from Saigon. This is very good experience. You can even climb through a tunnel for almost 100 meters. Its actually quite a chore, but a great way to appreciate the situation that existed here just 35+ years ago... The tours are only 25Kms from HCMC, and can be completed in something like 4-5 hours. I think this cost us like US$8 each for the day.

Also, you can take trips to the Mekong Delta to see the floating market. This is another fantastic and authentic trip. It must be what the Thai Floating markets were like before everyone started selling tacky souvies and postcards instead of the traditional fruits and veggies. However, this might be a 2 day minimum trip from HCMC... But check it out when you get there. There are tourist shops all over town. Maybe there is a 1 day trip to the floating markets you can take.

Enjoy... This is a great little city and surrounding area to visit. -Brad

[shwetapershad]

cokey, I couldn't check the SCMP yesterday. But thanks...

WeLuvDodgeball, thanks for the recommendations...

[saintgriff]

We did a similiar weekend trip last year and had a great time.

A lot of the city can be seen by just walking around and lots of tourist maps highlight the main places to see but I would recommend looking at the war sorry (history) museum, somewhere near the zoo. It does not take up too much time and can be included on a walking tour.

We also did a river trip down to the mouth of the Saigon river to a seaside town, unfortunately it was raining that day, great seafood though.

The art galleries are great and you can pick up some nice original art, they will even ship it back to Hk for you.

Sunset drinks on the roof at the Continential hotel was a must for us.

[shwetapershad]

saintgriff, it looks like your HCMC experience was different than ours. We saw the War Museum and took a tour to the Cu Chi tunnels. Very very sad and frightening. I couldn't even look at some of the pictures in the museum. And we went into one of the tunnels (a remake of the original ones); that scared me to my bones. Only the Cao Dai temple was peaceful. We also walked around in the city. That felt quite good. Loved the Vietnamese coffee (even bought some).

The most fun we had was in the hotel. We thoroughly enjoyed our swims and the wonderful evening time.

All that being said, I think I would go to Vietnam again. But this time to a different city.....maybe Hanoi.

[saintgriff]

Yes the museum is a very full on experience, not nice and very graphic but i still think it is wirth going. We didn't go to the tunnels though, after the musuem we had had enough war experiences for one trip.

[cK123]

Have you guy ever tried Hoi An and Hue? Amazing place, great foods. Love the place