But that’s not all I have to say about HCMC and Mui Ne! That’s just all I have time for right now.

Kevin's US Naturalization Certificate (1979)

The problem the first time was that the Vietnamese Embassy wanted to see further proof that I was previously a Vietnamese citizen prior to becoming an American citizen. I have no official Vietnamese documents that prove that such as an old Vietnamese identity card or passport. However, once I sent in a copy of my US Naturalization Certificate they were able to see that the “Country of former nationality” was “Vietnam” and this was sufficient proof that I was previously a “Vietnamese citizen”. On a side note, one thing I love about this Certificate of Naturalization is that I weighed only 30 pounds and still they thought to indicate that my “marital status” was “single”.

So what does getting the Certificate of Visa Exemption mean in practical terms? This means that I can enter Vietnam multiple times for the next 5 years without ever needing to apply for or pay for a tourist visa. I’m not sure how long I’m allowed to stay each time or if there’s a maximum number of visits or days in the country that I’m permitted within any given year. But for the short, annual trip to Vietnam this is perfect.

When I landed at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City I noticed that there was also a special line set up for holders of the “Certificate of Visa Exemption”. There were about three people in front of me in that line which was shorter than the lines for holders of “Vietnamese Passports” or “All Passports”. My passport picture features a full head of hair and no glasses so in order to pass inspection by the immigration officer I had to remove my glasses and look serious for a second but after that I was quickly on my way to collect my baggage.

Now, thanks to the visa exemption, instead of spending money on numerous Visa applications and USPS Express Mail services I can now blow all of my cash inside of Vietnam as was likely intended. Sounds fair to me!

In the meantime, here is a link to some very festive photos of holiday lights from around Saigon from another fellow blogger in Vietnam.

Merry Christmas!

Kevin & Tamar

Ho Chi Minh City is Sexy

Note: The restaurant in the photo is of Temple Club a very good (upscale) restaurant set in a beautifully decorated building in HCMC. We’ve enjoyed several fine dinners there last year and the year before.

Festive Ho Chi Minh City

Last night, while dancing at a stylish club to celebrate our last evening in HCMC, I heard from Philip why he loves this city so much, “Saigon just has magic, it draws you to it and you just can’t leave.” Like many other expats living here, Philip is enjoying the rapid changes and overwhelming modernism that has swept this city. Visiting here again after 6 years, I find that there are hardly any cyclos but double the amount of motorbikes and a lot of cars everywhere. Tall buildings are being erected in city center, featuring a gym, spa and other luxury amenities to a nouveau riche population. Fancy new malls have sprung up in addition to upscale stores scattered all around selling gourmet chocolate, haute couture and expensive jewelry. Countless new cafes and outdoor restaurants offer excellent meals, some of the best I have had in a while in a charming and laid back atmosphere.

The city has become a chic mélange of stylish French architecture and design and Vietnamese traditional life. Sophisticated women in business attire ride on their motorbikes alongside women wearing cone-shaped straw hats carrying baskets on the road. The charm of Vietnam has not been lost in the accelerated development, for example, eating street food at small tables with stools is still very prevalent. I love watching people gathered around those little plastic tables drinking café sua da while they watch the world go by. It is a mini Vietnamese parliament and you can tell they have been sitting at the same corner for years watching the city transform right before their eyes.

With those changes, a great energy can be felt everywhere. This city is just nonstop fun and you feel like you could go on roaming the streets forever. Part of the reason there’s so much energy and enthusiasm has to do with the fact that almost everybody is young with the majority of Vietnam’s population having been born after the war. It’s refreshing to see a major city with so many kids and babies everywhere. They too will soon take part in the great effort to turn HCMC into a modern and successful metropolitan.

It is with such ease that motorbikes navigate the over crowded streets of Ho Chi Minh City bringing you to the door of the office, store or restaurant you are heading to. It is conducive to a great sense of freedom and mobility which I have not felt anywhere else. Unfortunately, it comes at a high cost of pollution which can be felt (and seen) all around. Everybody rides the motorbike with a mask on their faces and gloves on their hands, sometimes they all seem as if they just came out of the O.R.

HCMC – Where Change is All Around You

Good times are rolling in Vietnam and the country is biting more than it can chew at times. I read about the big stores pushing out the small establishments, I hear about people having to move to make way for more resorts in Phu Quoc. I see all the Wi-Fi cafes filling up with expats and tourists like us who prefer to sip coffee in the air-conditioning instead of at a roadside street stand.

Today is our last day in Ho Chi Minh City and as we leave, the city is getting ready for the biggest holiday, Tet, the Vietnamese New Year. Streets are decorated with red lanterns and everybody is making plans to go back and be with their family. We too are going back home tonight with tons of new memories and experiences. Festive HCMC has provided the perfect ending to a wonderful trip.

Phu My Hung Neighborhood

Today we decided to explore another residential neighborhood in the south of the city at District 7 called Phu My Hung. This fairly large, new area features newly built buildings atop stores, cafes and beauty salons. There are wide streets shaded by trees and an 8 lane highway leading to it. It reminded me a lot of “Ramat Aviv”, the affluent north Tel Aviv neighborhood where Tel Aviv University is, only missing a fancy mall (for now). After a fruit shake in one of the nice places at Phu My Hung, we drove back to the city and headed to Ben Thanh market. The large and colorful market has not changed a bit since the last time I was there 6 years ago. There are still lacquer souvenirs on top of clothes on top of shoes right next to food stands. The whole market is very crowded and after an hour of navigating the narrow alleys (and a close encounter with a huge cockroach) we got out to eat lunch elsewhere.

To our surprise, rain started falling while we were busy shopping and it got stronger by the minute. By the time we were back at the hotel, it was pouring rain. When it was time to go and hang out at our friend’s Bao’s house we decided to take a taxi instead of covering ourselves in plastic ponchos to drive on the bike (which is exactly what everyone else was doing). Bao lives in a gorgeous French villa in Binh Thanh neighborhood which he shares with 2 other roommates. He moved out here about 6 months ago from New York where he was working at an online marketing firm. It turns out that his company used to work with the company I used worked for, Showtime, and we know some of the same folks.

The highlight of the evening was when Kevin, Aryeh and I tried to find our way back to the main street near Bao’s house and got lost in an endless maze of alleyways. We were saved by a shirtless Vietnamese guy with a cell phone who was just hanging out, chatting on the street late at night. Luckily for us, Aryeh speaks fluent Vietnamese as a result of living here for 8 years and, within a few minutes, a taxi was called and we all went back home.

Hotel Continental in HCMC

Today we woke up especially early to get the most out of our last morning on Phu Quoc Island. After eating breakfast and snapping some photos of the resort we had a last tan and swim on the beach at Mango Bay. The taxi to the airport was a welcome change from the dust of the road by motorbike and we boarded our plane back to HCMC.

We returned to the city very hungry and promptly ate a meal of delicious crab/asparagus (Tamar) and melon/pork (Kevin) soup and other goodies at Vietnam House, a restaurant in the Don Khoi area. In the evening we met up with our friends, Aryeh and Jesse, at Jesse’s house in District 1 where we enjoyed excellent Indian food take-out. It’s great to be back in Ho Chi Minh City!

With Tim & Magalie

The Coffee is so good in Saigon; I find it hard to not have at least two a day. Before starting the day’s adventure, Kevin drove us to a cafe he knows by the Notre Dame cathedral, called “Au Parc”. We had great coffee and were quickly on our way to meet friends in District 2. In order to get to District 2, we drove over the Saigon Bridge along with about a thousand other motorbikes. Our friends, Tim and Magalie, have recently moved from France to Vietnam with their two daughters-Niko-Linh and Suzanne. They live in a big house in a beautiful residential neighborhood. Very close to their home, Magalie recently opened a children’s clothing store, named “Little Anh-Em” where she sells unique clothes she designs for kids.

After a visit to a local French school where Niko-Linh dances and we had a great lunch at “Mekong”, we said goodbye and drove back for another meeting at “Highlands Café”. Kevin was starting to feel sick so we headed back to the hotel for some R&R but not before getting the local remedy for every sickness- pho bo (beef noodle soup)!

What a wonderful anniversary! We could not have chosen a more romantic and exciting setting.

The Night Lights of Saigon

On our first full day in HCMC we woke up not knowing what time it was since the room we were in at the NY Kim Phuong Hotel (complete with photos of New York in each room) had no windows. We skipped the included pho breakfast (hard to believe one can skip a yummy pho breakfast) in favor of the banh cuon at modern looking joint down the block called “Wrap & Roll”.

Vietnam Airlines has an office next door so we went in to book tickets to Phu Quoc Island. We were told that tickets are nearly sold out and we managed to get the only 2 seats available this week and nothing for a return flight. Fortunately, there’s a ferry/bus combo as an alternative should we get “stuck” on the island.

We then changed our room at the hotel to one with a window and a view on the 9^th floor (out of 10) and a view of the Saigon River. Much better!

We went out to do some clothes shopping since most of our laundry was dirty. This brought us to 3 fancy shopping malls, the Saigon Tax Center, Saigon Center and Zen Plaza, all of which had international brand name stores and prices that equal or exceed those in the US. That seemed pretty ridiculous but at least the air conditioning was free. While exiting one of the malls I picked up a copy of the International Herald Tribune so I could check out some news about the election and the rest of the world. The man who was walking around selling the newspapers was around 50 years old and he recognized me as a fellow “South Vietnamese”. He spoke English well and told me that he was born and raised here in “Saigon”. Although many people of his age were around during the American War it’s somewhat rare to chat with them (in English) since most of the folks you meet are much younger than I am.

Our lunch was at Centro, a great little Italian-style café next to the Caravelle Hotel, with Jesse a friend who has been living and working in HCMC for two years. The cappuccino was the best we’ve had in SE Asia so far and the crostini and pasta were light and excellent.

For dinner we met with Bryan and Quan from a hot startup company called Vinagame, based in HCMC. They introduced us to some great specialties from Hue at a fairly new restaurant called Sen Hue (Hue Lotus) on Nguyen Hue Street, near our hotel. The city was alive at night and adorned with festive lights for both the Christian New Year as well as Tet, the Vietnamese New Year coming up in a few weeks. We ended the evening atop sipping wine at the rooftop lounge of the Caravelle Hotel, overlooking the rooftops of the city.