Last month mom took her long-awaited Vietnam tour and the Lindos decided to visit her in Saigon, her last stop. As we only had a few days and Jennifer needed a chill vacation anyway, we decided to skip the city tours and do our own tour of the growing Saigon microbrewery scene.

Quick note on the city name: it officially changed from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City after the communists won the war against the American imperialists, but everyone except the government still calls it Saigon. It evokes memories of a more exotic and innocent past; plus it just sounds cooler.

Our first experience upon landing in Saigon, like anywhere, was to catch a cab. And as we like to in new places, we immediately proceeded to get scammed (see the Delhi post). We kind of saw it coming early on in the process, but didn’t let that stop us.

As I had just purchased a new local SIM card for $6 (unlimited talk and data for that price – don’t know how they do it) I called up my Grab app (the Asian Uber) to order a car. First problem – everything on my phone was in Vietnamese. Hmmm. A local guy saw us using it and said “I have Grab, where you going?” We told him and he used his own phone to show us the price – about $4. Sounds good, let’s go.

He took us to a different guy in a car (a new guy already – let the games begin!) and we got in. We paid the new guy and then he said he needed the exit tax for the airport and there was much confusion about the price of the tax. We were talking about Dong (the local currency – around 23,000 to $1 just to make things more confusing) and then he saw I had Thai Baht and USD in my wallet. We tried to figure out how much Baht or USD to pay for the tax since I only had large Dong (heh heh) bills, and there was lots of broken English and money movement until we sorted it out.

Then the new guy said “OK, you come in my car.” What?! We had already paid and sorted everything out. We were getting pretty angry by now but they already had my money and insisted no more be paid, just a different car. We knew something was up, but transferred cars anyway while assuring ourselves that we weren’t going to pay any more. The new guy started driving and everything seemed OK at that point.

Along the way, still suspicious, I decided I better check my money to see if it was all there. Uh oh, this doesn’t seem right at all. I was missing a half a million Dong!! Sounds extreme, but really about $20. I told the driver that the last guy took my money, and rather than being incredulous or denying it, he immediately said I must have dropped it in the last car and that he would call and check with the other driver. Clearly, he wasn’t surprised by the accusation.

He called the other guy and again told me I must have dropped the money but that he would get it from the other driver when he got back. He, being a nice guy, would refund my lost money. Of course, he didn’t have that much on him and I ended up getting about half back from him. Not a big loss in the end, but man, will I never learn?

We arrived at the AirBnb heated and needing a drink to calm our nerves. What luck! Across the street was The Winking Seal, one of the microbreweries on our list (thanks to our friend Katy who lived there over a year teaching English). As soon as we dropped off our luggage we were over there to cool off.

I had the Baby Fatso Dry Stout and Jennifer had the Mekong Mashup Ale. Both were pretty tasty and refreshing. Good, but not amazing.

Before I continue I should mention the traffic. If you think you’ve seen crazy traffic, trust me, it’s nothing compared to Saigon. There’s literally millions of motorbikes on the roads along with a fair number of cars, but surprisingly few traffic lights. That means that everyone enters intersections at the same time and weaves between each other with just inches to spare. It’s truly incredible; you have to see it to believe it.

The next day mom met up with us and after a tasty banh mi (the local version of the subway sandwich) we headed over to Heart of Darkness, Saigon’s best rated microbrewery. I must say, I was super impressed.

I had the Stoney Hills Hard Ginger Beer and it was AWESOME. Light ginger taste, not too strong, super refreshing and well balanced. Jen had the Mexican Pilsner and mom had the Pitiless Folly Pale Ale. Everyone enjoyed their brews.

That night we met up with some friends that Jennifer hadn’t seen since she was a dive instructor in Egypt, nearly 20 years ago. We sipped cocktails on the rooftop bar of the Rex Hotel, the same place all the war correspondents, spies, and military “advisers” used to hang out during the war. Back then, this was a tall building at 4 stories. Now, it is dwarfed on all sides by skyscrapers – capitalism is alive and well in Vietnam.

It was cool to think of all that history and intrigue taking place in the past while Jen reminisced about her own adventures in the slightly less distant past.

The last day we tippled a pint at the Pasteur Street Brewing Company. I had a dragonfruit beer that was pretty interesting. I’d say it was my second favorite place after Heart of Darkness. Worth a stop if you’re in town.

There you have it. If you make it Saigon and survive the traffic, you know where to go to calm your nerves and treat your pallet.