Ho Chi Minh City On Your Own (Saigon), Vietnam - What to do on Your Day in Port

This is a tour we purchased while onboard the Majestic Princess. We were on the 21 day "Silk Road Journey" maiden voyage. This was an 'On Your Own' tour where you get on a bus and they drop you in a city to wander on your own for a few hours. We paid $80 US each. We boarded a bus at the port city of Phu My, Vietnam and drove for about an hour and a half (each way) to Ho Chi Minh City, which used to be called Saigon. They dropped us of at the Bitexco Financial Tower. We met back there 3 1/2 hours later. We caught a cab to Ngoc Hoang Pagoda, which is widely known as the Jade Emperor Palace. After walking around there for a while we caught another cab to Chợ Bến Thành aka: Ben Thanh Market. It is a large shopping mall full of individual vendors selling everything. The cab rides were $6 and $5 respectively. The vietnamese currency is the Dong. It is about $1 US = 23,000 Dong.

After the market we strolled towards the Bitexco Financial Tower. Walking in town is an exciting experience. Pedestrians don't seem to have the right of way. On the way to the Tower we detoured down a street with a Farmer's Market going on. They had all kinds of fresh food there, including live crabs and snails.

Once we got to the tower we found out that the bar on the 52nd floor had a happy hour, and great views of the city. The observation deck, on the 49th floor, is $9 US p/p. We had a pitcher of the local beer, Tiger, and some garlic bread for about $6 US.

When we got ready to re-board the buses there was a little confusion. There were so many buses it took some time to find ours. Plus, it started pouring rain as we waited.

Ho Chi Minh City is is bustling town and very exciting to visit.