{"id":2551,"date":"2025-03-08T00:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-08T00:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/sing-a-song-of-saigon\/"},"modified":"2025-04-18T16:43:42","modified_gmt":"2025-04-18T16:43:42","slug":"going-going-saigon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/going-going-saigon\/","title":{"rendered":"Going&#8230; going&#8230; Saigon!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Having no intention of visiting anything war related on his birthday, Pieter opted to create his own day in Saigon. (Ho Chi Ming)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Once we got to the city, we headed to the reataurant. Lucky for us we did some research on how to cross roads in Saigon, because the scooter traffic is a constant flow and never stops. You step off and just start walking across. Don\u2019t stop, and don\u2019t rush. The key to staying alive is to keep a constant speed. And we found it best not to look left or right at the onslaught of vehicles bearing down on you. It is unbelievably scary at first and every time you get to the other side you appreciate still being alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The restaurant was extraordinarily good. Sadly, we did not have enough time there to eat through the complete menu. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After an energetic walk after lunch through the city, we met up with our guide for the next few hours. The one tour that gave everyone serious doubts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We were getting on the back of a scooter and joining the other 8 million scooter drivers careening through the city to visit some interesting (very) local markets. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And hopefully live to tell about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was the most exhilarating (and scary) experience for a birthday ever. The term \u2018sheer insanity\u2019 does not even come close to describing it.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The markets we visited were in the local neighborhoods and very removed from anything touristy. Strange and unusual things, maybe food, for sale. A truly fascinating glimpse into local life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When we asked about all the live catfish for sale, the guide told us that it is not for eating. According to their religion, you can atone or have good luck if you set something free. Those were all for people to release. The market sellers would then catch and sell it again. What a system. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was not only a great day, but also an unusual and exhilarating way to spend a birthday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1242-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1242\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Good morning, Vietnam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1243-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1243\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Docking in an industrial port 2 hours from the city. Again. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1244-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1244\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rice paddies<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1245-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1245\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Next to the parliament house<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1246-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1246\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The scooters are EVERYWHERE!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1247-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1247\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The choice for the birthday lunch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1248-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1248\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1249-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1249\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1250-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1250\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The cover of the book full of deliciousness. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1251-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1251\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Happy birthday!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1252-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1252\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1253-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1253\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Painting silk<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1254-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1254\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Our main guide for the scooter tour, Thua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1255-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1255\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">And we\u2019re off!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1256-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1256\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1257-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1257\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Scenes from a market<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1258-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1258\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1259-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1259\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1260-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1260\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1261-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1261\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1262-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1262\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Floating markets<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1263-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1263\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Family lives on top half and bottom half is for goods. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/images-posts\/1264-sing-a-song-of-saigon.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1264\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">We survived the exhilarating insanity. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What a great tour!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having no intention of visiting anything war related on his birthday, Pieter opted to create his own day in Saigon. (Ho Chi Ming) Once we got to the city, we headed to the reataurant. Lucky for us we did some research on how to cross roads in Saigon, because the scooter traffic is a constant [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[60],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-vietnamho-chi-minh-saigon"],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"mailpoet_newsletter_max":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"monkeydads","author_link":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/author\/monkeydads\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Having no intention of visiting anything war related on his birthday, Pieter opted to create his own day in Saigon. (Ho Chi Ming) Once we got to the city, we headed to the reataurant. Lucky for us we did some research on how to cross roads in Saigon, because the scooter traffic is a constant&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2551"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2570,"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2551\/revisions\/2570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travel.monkeydads.com\/2025-southeastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}