Happy 2024, everyone! We welcomed the new year full of hope. 2023 has been a great year despite some speed bumps along the way. Travel was the theme in 2023 and will be the same for this year. To start off the year, let me share some of the photos I took during my recent trip to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam, in November last year.
I visited this city twice. The last time was nine years ago. It wasn't part of my trip, but I booked a ticket months before the trip. My colleagues invited me, and I've already traveled with them, so I'm not worried about adjusting to new people on a trip. We stayed around the District 1 area since it's accessible to most places. Not to mention that Saigon is way cheaper than Manila! True enough, your dollars will go a long way–with so many zeroes in your wallet, it feels great when you're carrying literally millions of dongs in your wallet!
So many things have changed since the last time I've been in Saigon. There were local excursions that I hadn't tried during my last visit, ate some of the best Vietnamese food and coffee, shopped 'til I dropped, and partied hard late at night. Saigon may not be for the faint-hearted traveler. It's chaotic, the language barrier still exists in some parts of the city (but they're improving in most aspects of communication), and scammers are still present. Utopia doesn't exist, so I didn't really mind these.
I used my Sony a6400 35mm f1.8 to take these photos, and post-processing was done in Lightroom. Cam on, Saigon! I'll be back soon.
