One Whirlwind Day in Ho Chi Minh City, Part 2

Vietnamese Coffee

Sitting across a busy intersection in Ho Chi Minh City allows for much entertainment.

After sharing a cup of soup (detailed in part 1 of this Whirlwind series), we parked ourselves at a café dotted with locals to create a game plan. Our hours were limited, so we wanted to spend our precious time wisely in this bustling city. Coffee was necessary.

As we sipped our Cà Phê, traditional, filter drip style, with sweet milk (condensed milk, otherwise known as ‘sweet heaven’), we gawked at what looked like countless inevitable crashes or near misses to us, but were simply casual, every-day crossings of the road to locals.

Sure, I’ll take my massive cart full of god-knows what and wheel it nonchalantly straight into oncoming traffic. What of it?

(can you spot the lady I speak of?)

What did I think of Vietnamese coffee? It was love at first sip. Delightfully smooth and without the bitterness that so often comes with a cup of joe back home, no matter how fancy the coffee art on top. Give me a cup of strong, dark, rich Vietnamese coffee any day.

Plus it is fun to watch it drip, drip, drip as you sit, sit, sit.

Whilst in Vietnam I also enjoyed their ice-coffee, cà phê sữa đá, which is essentially a shot of their fabulous coffee, served on ice with sweet milk. What’s not to love… chilled, refreshing, delicious.

The cafe where we sat is on a corner Pasteur and Le Loi, opposite Saigon Centre (a shopping centre). It was a great spot to relax, try a local coffee and soak up the city.

Museum of Ho Chi Minh City

During our whirlwind day (am I overusing this word? I hope not, I do so love to type it…‘whirlwind’…) we visited the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City. Clearly, from my photographs, I was more in love with the elegant building than what was actually on display. However there were many gems to peruse in this beautiful, quiet corner of the city.