Ho Chi Minh City Museum and Bitexco Tower ~ Day Eight ~ Vietnam July 2019

[DisneyDaffodil]

Index
We woke up at around 8am and got ready to head down to breakfast. Rob’s knee was still very swollen so we decided to take the morning slow and do more in the afternoon, after lunch, especially as we had plans to visit the Heineken Experience at the Bitexco Tower that evening.
We headed down to breakfast in the foyer. I had some very creative plates of food again (my plates are the first 2 photos) My first plate was bacon and stir-fried noodles and my second was multiple cakes with LOADS of peanut butter. You may be learning by this point that I am obsessed with peanut butter. I also ate more than usual at this breakfast, as the food was delicious. I had bacon and eggs for my first course and more of my favourite cake with jam for my second course. Dad had his usual sausages, bacon, omelette, etc.

After breakfast, we headed up to the pool. We all really enjoyed our time up here this morning, as we spent lots of time laughing and joking. I spent a lot of time interrupting Mum, who was trying to take photos of her feet with the pool in the background (she thought it was artistic or something). I added ‘special effects’ by splashing and even brought in a real life shark to make it look like something from an action movie. As I said, it was a very silly morning. You can appreciate the photo of Georgia being a ‘shark’ as well as some nice photos of the view and the pool

We relaxed around the pool. Rob and I had a beer and we spent time reading and enjoying the sun.
At around 12:30 we headed back to our room to change, before meeting up with Ian. We all wanted to head back to the Street Food Market, as we had seen lots of food there we wanted to try, plus it was nearby so Rob didn’t have to walk far, so we decided to go here for lunch. We chose a table at the front of the market, which meant we could watch the traffic and people on the street outside. We chose our food quicker today, as I think we all had plans of what we wanted to try.

Georgia and I wanted to try Pho first, so we decided to share a bowl. The bowl was huge and we can’t remember how much it cost (although all of our food and drinks were very cheap, with just a pound or two per portion). This was delicious. I don’t really like ramen and kind of expected this to be slightly similar but it was much lighter and I enjoyed it much more. I enjoyed this too.

Georgia and I were still a little peckish and wanted to try something else (as there was so much choice) so we shared a small plate of barbecued belly pork. They cooked this fresh and brought it to our table. These pieces of pork were cooked perfectly and had such a nice flavour to them. I love belly pork and these were perfect.

Rob had one main course (which was pretty massive). He had a half chicken, glazed in a barbecue/honey sauce which was served with rice and salad. He loved this and says he’d love to go back to Ho Chi Minh just for this I tried some of it and it really was delicious. The meat in general here was so well cooked and the flavours were AMAZING. Everything was so fresh and delicious.

Ian had dumplings which had (we think) octopus in them. He then had a plate of pasties, as the filling reminded him of a Cornish pasty so he wanted to try them. They didn’t taste much like a Cornish pasty really but were ok (as we all tried a bit too). You can see the pasties in the background of this photo as well as our pork again.

We had several beers here (as was usual when we visited the Street Food Market, as they were just so cheap) I have to disappoint you and let the trip report down, as I didn’t go to the toilet in the Street Food Market this day, so have no Disney Princess photo to show you (Which means you’ll have to read the next day as there’s lots of bathroom photos there )
After lunch, Rob was feeling a little better from the morning and lunch resting. He said that he was up for a walk, so we set off to walk around the nearby area of the city (as we still didn’t want to walk too far)
As we were walking, we came upon a museum. Ian had never been here but he’d heard of it so we decided to visit. This was the Ho Chi Minh City Museum and it was a relatively large building with nice grounds (including a fish pond and some huge trees).

This museum was very cheap to enter, costing around £1.30 each to enter. However, we were very confused, as Georgia had her camera around her neck and when we were buying tickets we were told we had to buy a ticket for the camera. It only cost around 35p, so we didn’t mind but we did think it was very funny (especially as most people just take photos on their phones anyway and didn’t pay for this)
We enjoyed looking around this museum, as there were many different exhibits, with each room having a different theme, about Vietnamese life (including parts about music, marriage, entertainment, etc.) as well as lots of historic exhibits. This isn’t somewhere we’d read about before travelling but would recommend if you have spare time and want to learn a little more about the culture and see some cool old things . There was a really big wardrobe that reminded me of the one that takes you to Narnia.

It was another incredibly hot day today, so we decided to have another rest before walking anywhere else. There was a coffee shop next to the museum, a chain that is very popular in Vietnam called Highlands Coffee, so we decided to go here. Rob, Ian and Georgia all had an iced coffee. These iced coffees were so delicious and cooling and refreshing. I cannot recommend them enough. Definitely the perfect way to cool down.

After this we walked on a little further to the Vin Com Shopping Mall. Ian needed to buy some new t-shirts, as he had a trip to Japan soon after our trip. The Vin Com Shopping Mall is a huge Western style shopping mall, with many floors and many of the shops that we have in the UK including H&M and Zara. There were also other unique shops in here, such as a huge bookstore (selling mostly English but also Vietnamese books) and a Korean store selling home décor and Korean beauty products. We spent quite a long time in here, wandering around and looking at all the different shops. It was also airconditioned, which we all enjoyed.

The bottom floor of the mall had several restaurants, chocolate shops, bakeries and patisseries. They all smelled delicious. Ian bought some sort of custard cake, which we all tried, which was truly delicious!
After we’d finished in the mall, we went and sat outside. Claudia was meeting us after work so we agreed to meet here before heading to Walking Street and the Bitexco Tower.

When Claudia arrived we walked to Walking Street and headed down to the tower, chatting about our day.

When we arrived at the Bitexco Tower, we headed in a separate entrance, as we had pre-booked tickets to the Heineken Experience. We had booked this rather than tickets to go to the general viewing platform, as it actually took you to a much higher floor and included an interactive tour of Heineken beer’s history and beer making. We also had free Heineken included with the tour (which we’ll talk more about when we come to it). This was not that much more expensive than the general admission and it seemed fun, plus going to the higher floor was exciting for me as I love taking photos from towers haha.
We had a pre-booked time for this at 5pm but they were still taking the last group of people so delayed us and the rest of the group until 5:10, but they took us up in the lift to a higher floor to wait, so we had a view out over the city (although nowhere near as spectacular as the view we had later)
Our tour guide spoke really good English and was very funny and entertaining, which really made the tour fun instead of boring. The first room he took us in had projections and a film about the history of the Heineken brand and the people who made it. He told loads of very bad jokes throughout this too, which Mum and Dad laughed at sometimes.
One of the next rooms was a ride simulator with VR goggles, telling us about how Heineken is made. This was a bit weird but showed they were putting effort into the tour and there was high production value to it.
We continued to walk through, while our tour guide spoke about Heineken which I didn’t care about at all, past the helicopter pad which was cool to take photos of.

The next room was very fun. Our tour guide showed us how to pour a perfect draught of Heineken, which was supposed to have a head the size of two fingers sideways. We then all attempted to pour the perfect Heineken ourselves. Rob, Ian and Claudia all managed to make pretty good attempts. I, despite never pouring any alcoholic drink or drinking one, managed to make a better attempt than Mum did, who had more froth than drink. I was very disappointed with my effort and realise I’m never going to be a barmaid. Although Dad and I weren’t surprised at Mum’s attempt, as we’ve seen her pouring lager at home and it’s never any better haha. This was really fun though and everyone had fun laughing at me. Here's a photo of the beer I poured

We then went to one final room before we reached the observation deck. This room was filled with lots of different arcade style games with Heineken branding. Dad and I played a game of table football, which I scored the first goal in (and then proceeded to lose and let Dad score every other goal just so he didn’t feel like a loser). Rob won this game very convincingly. Ian tried the penalty shootout game, which he enjoyed and then Claudia and he also tried the car racing simulator. I wished we’d had slightly more time in this room, as I would have liked to try the car racing simulator too and most people only had time to try one game. I agree with Georgia that we should have had more time in this room but as we had started slightly late they were moving us along a little quicker. We really enjoyed it in here though and it was also amazing to look at the view outside, which you can see in the photos of Georgia and Rob.

We had to take another elevator up to the final destination, the observation deck. This was set up with a bar in it and was decorated with Heineken lights and branding (which did make it difficult at times to take photos out of the window as the green lights reflected off the glass) At the bar here, we each had tokens for 2 glasses of Heineken, a glass of water and a bowl of crisps included for free with the tour. We all generously gave Georgia our water and I gave my glasses of Heineken to Ian and Dad.
In here we were stood at a Heineken shaped table, chatting, laughing and having fun. It was a really nice evening and we all said it was one of the highlights of our trip. Ian and Claudia also really enjoyed it as it wasn’t something they’d ever done, as it is quite a tourist-y attraction. The Heineken here was excellent, as it was served at the optimum temperature and conditions. The crisps were nice and the water was very cold.

I really enjoyed walking around and taking photos from the observation deck. We stayed there for a few hours, as the sun set (as we’ve learnt that this is a great time to visit towers from our trip to NYC) and I got to take hundreds of photos of the sun set and then as the night set in and everything lit up. This was such a beautiful place to watch from above, as I could see every car and bike on the roads and how busy it really was. All of the lights were really colourful too, which was different from what I’d seen in New York where many of the lights had just been white.
We could see around the whole observation deck which was 180 degrees, and Ian pointed out the different districts and the tallest tower in Ho Chi Minh which was across the river. This was definitely one of my favourite parts of the trip and I definitely spent more of my time taking photos than standing at the table. Here’s a hundred photo of my view (Just kidding, I’ll give you a selection of the best)

I also spent a lot of time looking out the window and attempting to take photos (although at one point the security guard there came over to try and show me how to focus my phone camera ). This bar is the highest bar in Ho Chi Minh city and it was definitely one of the prettiest views from a bar I’ve ever seen.

We realised now that it was around 8pm and we were starting to get hungry. Ian phoned a restaurant in his neighbourhood to try and book a table there but they were fully booked for that evening. He suggested we instead go to the Japanese area and try a restaurant there. Neither Rob or I had ever really tried Japanese food and didn’t think we’d like it but it was getting late and we just agreed as we had to eat somewhere. I’ve had ramen in Wagamamas at home and only managed to eat a very small amount as I find it so filling, so wasn’t sure what I would order there.
We had to leave the Heineken experience via the lobby which we had entered. In here we were stopped for them to give us a bag which contained another free bottle of Heineken, this one personalised with our names on the label. This was really cool and a great souvenir from a great evening. We would definitely recommend the Heineken Experience if you’re looking for something a little different to do in the city. I would even recommend it if you don’t drink like me, and just want to take some nice photos and the tour itself is pretty fun too with the games and interactivity.

We caught a Grab car to the Japanese area of the city. We strolled through a few alleyways of different Japanese restaurants. They all looked extremely busy and the one that Ian had in mind was full, so we had to try somewhere else. We soon found one that looked good though and had empty tables, so we decided to try here. This restaurant was called Ryu-Shin Ramen.

This restaurant was quite busy too but we managed to get a large table in the corner of one of the rooms. Ian helped us to order here, as we really weren’t sure what we would like. Rob ordered the pork Tsukemen, which is similar to Ramen but the food is served with a dipping sauce on the side rather than in a broth. He did find this very filling and although he liked it initially, he was very full very quickly so he probably wouldn’t have it again but enjoyed trying it.

I had the Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) meal set, which was huge and served with so many side dishes. I’m not always a huge fan of fried chicken in the UK, as I can find it too greasy but this was AMAZING. The coating was light and crispy and the chicken was hot and so white and fresh, as well as tender. It was definitely the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted. My meal was served with a bowl of white rice, a salad, a soft boiled egg (which I thought was weird but Georgia and Ian told me it was a normal side dish in Japan), a small bowl of Miso soup (which I really liked), dry cabbage and a few things that we couldn’t identify. I tried a little bit of everything but didn’t manage to finish all the side dishes as there were just so many.

I also had the fried chicken, but knew I didn’t like the side dishes that came with the meal set so just had the chicken and ordered a side dish of morning glory too (which I’d really started to love in Vietnam, but this wasn’t the nicest dish of it as it lacked the flavour that many of them had). I also really, really liked the chicken.

Ian had the same as Rob and Claudia had a ramen dish.

We had a few rounds of Tiger beer here and the whole bill came to around £49, which was unbelievably cheap for the amount of food and drink we had here. We don’t know a lot about Japanese food, but we really enjoyed it so would recommend if you want a Japanese meal while in Ho Chi Minh.
We were all a little tired now, so caught a Grab back to our hotel and Ian and Claudia caught a Grab back to their apartments. When we arrived at our hotel, we decided we fancied another drink before going to bed so decided to go to the rooftop bar of our hotel. Rob and I had a beer each (although we’d had many of these throughout the day so I’m not sure we needed another one ) It was peaceful sitting overlooking the busy city below and we chatted about how much we’d enjoyed the trip and that it was sad that the next day was our final day. While Mum and Dad were being all sentimental, I was walking around looking at the cool geckos who were attached to the glass so they looked like they were hanging in mid-air over the city and taking photos of the city at night again (as if I hadn’t taken enough from the Bitexco tower earlier).

We went back to our room and chatted some more before heading to bed rather late (for us).

The next day we visited Walking Street, had amazing ice cream and had an evening dinner trip on a boat along the river through the city.

[Melbatb]

Georgia makes an excellent shark!

You were certainly spoilt with all the food and beer (though remind me never to let you pour me a beer ). The views from the Tower were fabulous - I am another one who loves a tower.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Melbatb

Georgia makes an excellent shark!

You were certainly spoilt with all the food and beer (though remind me never to let you pour me a beer ). The views from the Tower were fabulous - I am another one who loves a tower.

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My beer pouring was hysterical, I got more down my arm than in the glass 😂

Georgia also had us in hysterics with her shark, it certainly was a fun day.

Towers are fantastic, such a wonderful way to see the whole city, we love timing a visit at dusk to take photos of the changing sky.

[justacey]

We wish we'd gone to the tower.
There's something about a city roof top pool isn't there. Main problem is very little shade, but a cold beer looking out over the city is just fab.

This photo just sums up HCMC for me.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by justacey

We wish we'd gone to the tower.
There's something about a city roof top pool isn't there. Main problem is very little shade, but a cold beer looking out over the city is just fab.

This photo just sums up HCMC for me.

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That’s a fantastic pool, we saw Liberty Central Hotel and thought it looked lovely too.

The tower was definitely worth a visit, particularly by combining it with the Heineken Experience. We had quite a few days in HCM so had plenty of time to fit it all in. We could have used an extra day or two in Hoi An to visit My Son or The Golden Bridge but it’s difficult to fit everything in, especially in the heat. It’s nice to have some relaxing pool time too 😀

[Goldia]

Another fun day. Peanut butter and cakes for breakfast is not something I've tried before, but I also love a bit of peanut butter and so perhaps Georgia is onto something here.

Great toenails and a great shark in the back ground too, that photo made me smile. The view from the tower looks fab.

I'm disappointed about the lack of toilet photos in today's post. I suppose I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by Goldia

Another fun day. Peanut butter and cakes for breakfast is not something I've tried before, but I also love a bit of peanut butter and so perhaps Georgia is onto something here.

Great toenails and a great shark in the back ground too, that photo made me smile. The view from the tower looks fab.

I'm disappointed about the lack of toilet photos in today's post. I suppose I'll have to wait until tomorrow.

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Georgia will recommend peanut butter with everything 😂

I apologise for my toes, but I thought it was worth putting in for the shark. That photo always makes us laugh, it’s those type of memories that make a holiday isn’t it?

It was a very good tower, we had such a lovely evening there. Georgia says there is a whole toilet pic section lined up for the next day 😂

[CrispyA]

Looks like a great food day - mouthwatering! And some fantastic views from the towers, definitely a city to get high up in

[DisneyDaffodil]

Originally Posted by CrispyA

Looks like a great food day - mouthwatering! And some fantastic views from the towers, definitely a city to get high up in

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We ate so much food in Vietnam, definitely a good holiday for food lovers. It’s made us more adventurous with cooking and eating out since we’ve returned too.

Such a huge city to see from above, Ian pointed out the different districts and landmarks from the Tower and the traffic looked fantastic when the sun set, so many little car lights zipping along the roads

[DisneyDaffodil]

Day nine is now posted, link in index. Thanks for reading along