Vietnam Central Jun 2026 Day 15

2 Jul 2026

Day 15

Cholon, Chinatown Saigon

Ho Chi Minh is the city of motorcycles. The noise and air pollution is really bad. The city is overpopulated not just with people but motorcycles. Hardly you see any locals walk, they just move on the bicycles. 

Strangely it's hard to see any accidents and people dont get angry and quarrel over "right of way" like in other countries. The roads really look chaotic and messy, but the traffic flows seamlessly. 

This place is like our Chinatown streets in the 60's. The streets are cramped and dirty with hawkers plying the sidewalks and street corners

Notably is the numbers of temples along most streets with distinctive Chinese characters. Most iconic one is Thien Hau Pagoda. This temple honour the sea goddess featuring colourful ornate Chinese architecture. 

There's a Hainanese Temple. I spoke in Hainanese with the temple caretaker. 

One temple I heard hokkien dialect spoken.

There are many specialty streets doing different trade.

Herbal and medicine streets 

Lanterns streets 

There are very hugh market, Binh Tay market that act like wholesalers. 

Vietnam Central Jun 2026 Day 14

1 Jul 2026

Day 24

Ninh Hoa to Saigon

Vietnam Railway SE 7 was to depart Ninh Hoa at 0803 with ETA HCM city at 1700. It's 9 hours journey. 

Ninh Hoa Railway station is small and rustic. Anyone can walk into the 2 train platforms. There's no proper check-in and boarding  just like we take tge public bus in Singapore. 

The train is old like an antic. It's full and very noisy as the Vietnamese spoke loudly. Lunch and beverage were sold on push cart.

There's no spectacular scenery along the route. Its just agricultural land. Soothing green to look at.

Finally arrived in Saigon after 9 hours on the train. A lot of passengers brought boxes of fruits and need porters assistance. These passengers must be from the rural areas and bringing fruits to their city kins.

I called for Grab taxi to drive me to Ho Chi Minh Chinatown in Cholon district. I stayed in Trung Mai Hotel right in Chinatown. 

Tomorrow morning I plan to view this China Town.

Vietnam Central Jun 2026 Day 13

30 Jun 2026

Day 13

Doc Let Beach and Village

It's 4.50 am in the morning. I was at Doc Let Beach to see the sunrise. Sunrise is expected at 5.20.

What I am totally surprised was the numbers of swimmers already in the water before sunrise. There were mostly elderly and middle age locals. Unlike the locals in China performing line dancing or tai chi, here they indulge in morning swim. This white powderly sand beach with calm water is a gift of nature to the local residents.

Sunrise wasn't spectacular as the sky was partially obscured. 

I had a cup of hot tofu topped with ginger and sugar from the beach vendor.

The locals went home after sunrise.

The salt fields I saw yesterday had captivated me and today I was eager to see one more time the salt field near my hotel at Doc Let Village. This salt field is smaller.

Today, I was lucky to see how farmers packed their harvest into big sacks. Done manually, the process was very efficient and coordinated but must be strenuous. Automation has not arrived to these salt fields. 

I walked around Doc Let village, a friendly dog followed me and I had my morning coffee overlooking the salt fields. 

It's back to Ninh Hoa for a night at Hotel Anh Hao, located near the Railway station. It's more convenient for me to take a short walk to the station for an early train departure to Ho Chi Minh City.

The weather here was really hot. I walked around Ninh Hoa city. Nothing special, just another Vietnamese city.

Near the market and the heavy human and motorcycles traffic

Street vendor everywhere. 

I have a ticket booked for Train SE7 at 0803 for tomorrow morning.