Morning Saigon

Today’s tour begins at 6:30. Depart with a local guide for a fun, authentic morning tour in Ho Chi Minh City.  Travel on a private taxi to absorb the sights Saigon. Experience how locals open their shops, eat breakfast, parents drop off their kids at school and the work life begins. Stroll to Tao Dan Park, a great place for people watching. Observe locals practicing their morning exercises, such as Tai Chi, Jogging and aerobics. Continue walking across the street to the ‘birds’ club’ coffee shop where local people gather here with their birds to relax, talk, get a morning coffee and compare their birds. You might want to sit down and enjoy the atmosphere over a glass of Vietnamese coffee. Enjoy watching this Vietnamese scene while having the beautiful moments captured with your camera. Then, visit a small 100-year-old private house cum temple where devotees gather to perform daily prayers for a fortune day. Take time to make a wish, write it on a small card and attach it to one of the incense coils in the local custom.

Then walk further to the center for breakfast. You can either choose to have breakfast like the way local do with a bowl of noodles soup at a local restaurant. Stroll to a local wet market where shoppers haggle over the fresh produce on offer. Arrive at the market, wander through the stalls where vendors are selling everything from live seafood to dried meats, fresh seasonal vegetables and homeware goods. Cap off the morning journey at a chocolate shop known for single-origin artisanal chocolate bars made from cacao of various provinces in southern Vietnam. Sit down for a chocolate drink and a piece of brownie while listening from your tour guide the interesting stories how the non-experienced in chocolate business founders managed to create a product that blends Vietnamese ingredients with French technique and now being sold around the world.

After this fabulous start to the morning, returning to the hotel for a chance to freshen up before exploring more of Ho Chi Minh City. (B)