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.