We flew in to Saigon* late at night and found ourselves immediately haggling! We were told a shared minibus into town would cost $10 each, but we successfully haggled down to $10 for the both of us (which didn’t seem too unreasonable). We only spent one day in Saigon before heading to the delta, but we managed to fit a lot in! Ben Thanh market is a definite must, especially if you are just arriving. The outskirts of the market are set prices, which is good if you are a rookie at haggling. However, it is fun to haggle and if you are skilled in the art of haggling you will likely get lower prices.

Steer clear of cyclos (unless you just want to ride one for fun), because they tell you one price and then demand another when you get off, and they take you round the block a couple of times before taking you to where you actually want to go. We visited Independence Palace, which was fairly interesting (but not a must see) and the Cathedral Notre Dame. Our favourite activity of the day was actually sitting in the park beside Pham Ngu (the main road) and talking to University students who are practicing their English. We had some great conversations, were given some pretty sweet gifts, and ended up playing ‘shuttlecock’** for a large portion of the evening.

We returned to Saigon for less than 24 hours at the end of our ten weeks’ traveling, but we decided to make the most of it. We woke up early and headed straight to the War Remnants Museum because we had been told by several people that it was worth seeing. Everyone was correct. It is a very moving (and quite disturbing) collection of images from the Vietnamese war, and I think it is a must see for anyone traveling in Vietnam. After the museum we rushed to Ben Thanh market to get a few last items (namely shot glasses) before heading back to the hotel to check out and catch the local bus to the airport (for 25 cents each).

*Make sure you have US dollars for the visa.

**A game similar to hacky sack but a shuttlecock is used instead.