Saigon is filled with bars, and it seems like new bars pop up everyday. There are all kinds of bars in the city: bars with live music, bars with trivia, pubs, taverns, and even a saloon. Quite a few rooftop bars are also sprinkled throughout the city. These happen to be my favourite, because there … read the full post

I’m a pretty big fan of Vietnamese street food, which you can tell because I constantly talk about it. As I’ve eaten more and more I’ve become increasingly adventurous with what I will try, but it has taken a year for me to get brave enough to try the Vietnamese specialty of hot vit lon … read the full post

Saigon is a big and hectic city that can wear you out. If it’s not the grinding traffic of motorbikes and taxis, it’s the hoopla of Brad and Angelina, with their kids, visiting a restaurant that you reviewed. Sometimes it’s too much and all a person feels like doing is getting away. Luckily, the beach, … read the full post

Back in my college days, nearly every Monday night, my friends and I would go as a team to a local restaurant/bar to play trivia against other college students; we rarely won but still I love to play. So, when I left the comforts of home and came to Saigon I kept my eye out … read the full post

Karaoke is a popular pastime in Asia (Bangkok and Hanoi for instance), and Saigon is no different. In fact, if you spend much time cruising the streets at night, you will quickly see that karaoke is one of the more popular activities in Ho Chi Minh City. Luckily for me, I love to sing and … read the full post

As I’ve stayed in Vietnam longer I feel like I’ve slowly drifted away from pho. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still delicious, it’s just that I’ve been introduced to other soups that are chipping away from pho’s culinary alone time. One day, not too long ago in my street food infancy, I got brave and … read the full post

The flight to Ho Chi Minh City can be a tiring one — from my hometown of Seattle for instance, it takes about 17 hours. And once you land, you still have work to do: getting through immigration, which may include a wait at the visa on arrival desk, collecting your bags, and then stepping … read the full post

It wouldn’t be a stretch to say I’m a bit of a film buff. One of the great things about living in Saigon is that between cheap movie theatres, which usually charge less than 100,000 VND for a ticket, and street DVDs, which cost about 10,000 VND a disk, I can pretty much get my … read the full post

Halloween is an interesting holiday in HCMC. For the most part, locals don’t celebrate and if they do they usually keep it on a lower key. The celebration, however, isn’t discouraged and being a city with an active nightlife, dozens of events and parties will give you an outlet to release your inner ghoul. Instead … read the full post

Street food in Saigon: it basically makes life here worth living. If you walk down any street in HCMC you will probably find some food, but the problem is that you can’t be guaranteed much of a selection. For this reason I say that the best place to get street food in Saigon is by … read the full post