October 13, 2025
Our first full day in Ho Chi Minh City, which even locals still call Saigon so I will refer to it as Saigon from here on. There was a nice little park outside the hotel restaurant that the boys ran in and out of breakfast to play at. I went to check on them and saw Ollie pushing Lenny nicely on the swing much to my surprise. Once they came in to eat, we did notice a few bug bites on them from the playground time which is always a bummer but especially with Lenny’s sensitive skin.
We met our guide Kai and started going around the city but all the drives were short. The first stop was Independence Palace. Kai was very knowledgeable and answered all the questions the four of us threw at him. He was also very well versed in American history and culture; he lived in LA working for his uncle during COVID-19 since there was no tourism. The boys were most interested in the old tank outside, the window designs that looked like skeleton fingers, and the spy headquarters room inside. Kai explained that the president of southern Vietnam during the war with the US was just a wealthy man prior to becoming president, appointed by the US. He was disliked by most of the people for being corrupt and flaunting all the luxuries of his life. Kai was also quick to point out that the winners write the history. But the story is that eventually the CIA signed off on a plan to assassinate the president of the south.
Next up was the war museum which my lack of research caused me to not realize how intense it was. Outside where a variety of old tanks, helicopters, and jets which caught the kid’s interest. After a short bathroom break, we started the more intense exhibits with terrible torture techniques. Supposedly only used by the American and Southern Vietnamese, though that seems unlikely. After a quick look at the variety of bombs used during the war we went inside. The boys were not behaving so we split up; Kayleen and Ollie while Lenny stayed with me. Lenny and I stayed in the general war exhibit while Kayleen and Ollie moved quicker and headed to the Agent Orange exhibit. Lenny was oblivious to the awful pictures and couldn’t read the stories which was for the best as there was no way to explain it all to him. Ollie understood much more and seeing all the pictures of deformed kids made him realize how terrible war is. The fact that the poison got into the water and then the food for years and years really stuck with him.
Lunch was next. There was supposed to be something booked for us but Kai was not aware so he took us to a big street food hall. It was a fortunate mistake because all of these prescheduled meals usually come with preset menu which rarely has something that kids want. Kayleen and I went with Indian food and the boys got some sushi and dumpling but ended up devouring a lot of our naan. They topped it off with a fully loaded ice cream that Ollie ate every bite of but Lenny seemed to only want the candy toppings and left most of the ice cream.
We were all pretty tired after lunch but Kai told us just one more quick stop at the Saigon Central Post Office. From its architecture clearly a building built under great French influence. We hopped out of the van to take a quick look and a few pictures before it was time for one more stop, coconut coffee! I told Kai how much I had enjoyed it and he took us to get one at a chain called Cong that he said was well known for it. It was good but couldn’t top the little DEMO Coffee shop in Hoi An.
After some quite time in the room, we headed out for dinner to a Mediterranean place called Au Parc Café. It was very good! Everything from the lemonade to the humus and duck were top notch. I have a feeling we will be back again since everyone enjoyed it.
