Hello Saigon Series: Sunday Walk around Saigon
11:49 PMFor our first Sunday at Saigon, we had planned to walk around the city and visit tourist spots. It's possible since most sites were close to each other.
You need to eat breakfast if you plan to do a moderate amount of walking.
Complimentary breakfast at Hotel Equatorial.
The crispy noodles were so yummy!
Since we were in District 5, we had to take a cab going to District 1. Our first stop was the Notre Dame Cathedral to catch the 9:30am mass.
Right after hearing mass, you can just turn to your left and you can already see the Central Post Office. I love the fact that they still use their post office. We even purchased a card and sent it to our colleagues back in Manila (although we received the card when we were already back in Manila and preparing for our next event).
View of the cathedral from in front of the post office
Facade of Central Post Office shows French influence
Inside the post office are telephone booths, souvenirs, and a large painting of Ho Chi Minh. You can also exchange your dollars here.
(Photo by Abby Bacani)
After the post office, we walked a couple of blocks to visit the Opera House (Municipal Theater). The Opera House is only open at night and schedule of performances can be seen outside. It's best if you see the theater at night.
Doing the obligatory "Me and the Tourist Spot" shot
Closed during the day
During the night
(photo by Patricia Mencias)
Although the Reunification Palace is just nearby, we scheduled it for our last day since we wanted to tour the whole place. We went to the Saigon river to eat but changed our minds and went to Diamond Plaza. Dining at the restaurants in the Saigon river is better at night.
It's actually great that all those sites are just meters away from each other. You get some exercise while enjoying the sites. Plus it saves you from all the taxi fare. Having a map helps since you can plan your route before setting foot outside your hotel. We planned our walking itinerary the night before so as not to waste time arguing where to go next.
2 comments
I like that breakfast!
ReplyDeleteIn my Panama City hotel everybody eats different things, but I stick to my eggs and toasts!
@Christopher
ReplyDeletebest breakfast for me would always be toast, scrambled eggs and bacon :> the fried noodles were added bonues