Food, neighbourhoods, and things worth knowing before you arrive. Written by Spring.
Badminton before 7am, chess men who never look up, a woman doing the same slow loop every morning. What actually happens in a Saigon park before the city wakes up.
It rains every day for about an hour. Then the city steams and gets back to business. Here is what visiting Saigon in rainy season is actually like.
District 4 sits just across the canal from District 1 and most tourists never cross. Spring explains what they're missing, and why she keeps going back.
The woman on my corner sells out before 8am. No sign, no name, five years of eating there. Here's where I actually go, and how to find your own.
Grab, Google Maps, and how to cross a street full of motorbikes. What navigation in Saigon actually looks like, from someone who lives here.
By six in the morning the best herbs are already gone. Ba Chieu is not on any tour itinerary I know of. That is not an accident.
Ben Thanh is the first place everyone goes in Saigon. After ten years of guiding, I still don't take anyone there.
One street over from District 1 and the city slows down. Here's what District 3 looks like at six thirty in the morning.
Three days is enough to understand how this city eats. Not all of it. But enough to stop ordering from photo menus.
I eat street food every day. Not because it's my job. Because it's the best food in the city.
Every vegan who comes on my tour says the same thing afterwards. They didn't expect it to be this good.
Skip the tourist traps. I'll show you where Saigon locals actually eat.
