Meet the Eliuks: Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam ~ A Day in District One

I love Ho Chi Minh so much.

There is a serious energy about the city. It is a mix of New York, Hong Kong and so much more. The city is divided into twelve districts, each with it's own style and feel. We were staying in district seven which is very central but outside of the insanity of district one. District one is where so many of the tourist attractions are so we decided that it would be the perfect place to start our exporation of the city.

We took a taxi in to the Bitexco tower where we started the day with a trip up to the observation deck on the 49th floor. It was such a great way to see the entire area and get our berrings before wandering the streets. The kids were so excited to look through the telescopes and try to find our apartment. We pointed out all of the places we were going to visit that day and even watched a short documentary on the fashion changes through the years in Vietnam.

From the Bitexco tower we walked over to the Nguyen Hue pedestrian street in front of City Hall. It gave us beautiful views of the entire area and we were able to capture a great family photo. The building itself is very French influenced. So interesting to see such European architecture in Asia.

Our next stop was the Ben Thanh Market. It is the main tourist market in Ho Chi Minh and is one of the most overwhelming places Ihave ever stepped foot into. Filled with stalls selling fake goods and local wares, people constantly pushing product in your face. It is so intense.

We worked up a major appetite walking around in the heat so we needed to find some good food. We had heard amazing things about a steamed bun place called Got Bun? in the Ben Thanh street food market so that's where we headed. The food was incredible!

We ordered five different steamed buns and some corn fritters. They were gone almost immediately. The food market itself was amazing! A collection of permanent food stalls that serve a wide variety of food and walls that are covered with beautiful artwork. It was such a great place to have lunch.

After lunch we managed to find a SIM card for my phone. It is super importabnt to have a phone number and data access in Vietnam so that we are able to use car services like Grab. It is a huge time and money saver in the long run. We managed to find a SIM that gives me unlimited data all month and a phone number. It cost under $12 Canadian! We couldn't believe it.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the rest of disctrict one. We saw the Independence palace, The Notre Dame, The Central Post Office and the Opera house. It was so cool to me able to take in so many historical sites in such a short period of time. Everything was so easy to find!