It was almost 7.00pm when we continued our journey walked along the streets of Saigon back to our hotel. This was the first night that we at Saigon, just so eagerly wanted to know how is the night life here!
The streets are always busy with motor vehicles especially motorcycles everywhere! We bought some sugarcane drinks at the road side stall, sating down and rest our tired feet.
Eventually we found our way back to somewhere near our hotel – Bui Vien Street. It was quite an exciting to us that: Yeah! We are in! In the most happening street in Saigon!
At the first sight, we saw a mix of both locals and tourists grabbing a deink on the side of the street, and yet the street seems to never sleep and stores never close. There were few 24 hours convenience stores that operated here.
We came here just in time as since August of 2017, Bui Vien has become a walking street – the second one of the city after Nguyen Hue walking street, which prohibits all vehicles to enter to the city from 7pm to 2am every weekend. I considered as this is lucky to us!
When meandering around the backpacker districts, we can see plenty of coffee shops from premium international brands (Starbucks, Bobby Brew) to huge local favourite brands like Phuc Long or Trung Nguyen.
Other than that, would be a lots of restaurants, bars and pubs such as Ocean and Champion Sports Bar and a lot of affordable accommodations. There was an performing stage featured the traditional Chinese Orchestra but in Vietnamese language.
After a while, we turned into the alleys and looked for something that we were not experiencing before. Alley life is a completely different (and much more pleasant) world to the one we experience on the main streets of Saigon.
Walk a few metres down any alleyway and all city noises disappear, as does all traffic. The rhythm of life is slower, calmer, and on a more human scale. It’s cool and quiet, but there’s no shortage of things to see and do: colourful fruit markets, pagodas, hidden cafes, street food vendors, shrines and even tombs.
Smells are a big part of the alleyways: all sorts of cooking scents the air, especially during early mornings and late afternoons, as does the perfume of washing detergent from laundry hanging out in the sun.
People live in such close proximity that there’s an intimacy to alley life: you get the feeling that life is shared; children play, do homework together; families cook, eat and drink together. All this happens either in the open-air or in ground-floor rooms with the doors wide open, so that you really get to see life happening.
There were many food stalls along the alleys. We found this recommendations from the receptionist of our hotel. We passed by this stall selling Oc. Ốc (oc), as they are known in Vietnamese, can basically refer to any type of snails, usually saltwater, and they are so popular, they could be considered a major part of the Vietnamese culture of Saigon.
There are typically dozens of different snails to choose from, as well as other shells like blood cockles, clams, and often shrimp and crab as well. The seafood selection were proudly displayed at the front of the food stall, and we can choose whatever looks good.
After we choose the type of raw snails we would like to eat, then choose a method for it to be cooked – like grilled, sautéed, coated in salt and chili, steamed, curried, and so on – I think there are often about 5 – 6 different cooking methods.
We just let the chef cooked what he think is best for the types of shells that we choose. The shells came on small plate. We ordered 2 types:
The big ones grilled with spring onions and peanuts
The smaller ones steamed with lemongrass and ginger
Eating oc with family, friends, or co-workers, and enjoying a couple beers, is a favorite Saigon way to socialize.
The culture that goes along with eating in Vietnam, a night of relaxing on small little chairs or stools, sipping beer, and slurping down snails and shells that you have no clue what they might be, is one of the finest ways to enjoy Saigon.
We continue our dinner to the nearest food stall selling the Com Tam just outside the street of our hotel. It seems like a big crowd were eating there as well, thus we joined the crowd!
It looks like our Malaysia style roast pork rice or barbequed pork rice. Well, the pork were definitely nice and juicy. Tonight is only the first night we are here. Expect more to come in the next few days!
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