Saigon Travel Guide, Vietnam, Saigon/HoChiMinh City, Vietnam (B)

That’s what came to mind when we saw the streets of Saigon for the first time. (AKA – Ho Chi Minh City- But don’t call it that. Ho Chi Minh is a man, not a city as we were told by locals.) Motorbikes and scooters weaved around us with such fluidity that it felt more like we were swimming through a school of fish than riding through city traffic.

After the motorbikes, the next thing we noticed were all the smiles! You may or may not know this, but Americans smile. A lot. I read somewhere it’s because we were once a land of many languages and a smiling was a way to communicate emotion without words. We were even told on several occasions during our travels, “Do you know how I can tell you’re Americans? You smile.”

So, we made a point to not smile as often. This mostly meant we wouldn’t smile at random people who we happened to make eye contact with. Which was really hard to train yourself to do! Or… not to do.

This was the case in Europe and Mongolia. So when we arrived in Saigon and were greeted with smiles from random passersby, it was so refreshing! We could smile again! Everyone we met in Vietnam was so friendly. From our lovely Airbnb hosts to the people working at our favorite restaurant near our condo who smiled and bowed as we passed. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).