This is so unlike me to arrive in another country in the afternoon. Normally I take the earliest flight out of Manila so I can take advantage of my free day after arriving. This time, I’m with one of my bffs who has a toddler. They had to bring the son first to her brother who will/had sent the kid to daycare so my friend’s husband can drive us to NAIA.

The last time my bff was here was 20 years ago. She said things have changed so much that she failed to recognize HCMC. She was surprised that 4-wheel vehicles outnumbered motorbikes now. When she was last here, it was just motorbikes. She was also wondering why all cars look relatively new and half of them were EVs or hybrid.

Our Grab ride was cheap—only about PHP 200 from airport to our hotel in District 1!

The good thing about traveling with a friend from childhood is that more or less you’re on the same wavelength. Our agenda after checking in our hotel is just this: Vietnamese coffee, pho, and massage.

It seems like we’re located in an expensive part of town because there were a number of older white tourists all around. We were just spitting distance from Hyatt and a large Louis Vuitton store. Our meal was cheaper compared to Manila but it wasn’t as cheap as I expected because it cost us PHP 500 each.

We were so full and satisfied with our dinner. 😎

It was like Manila without potholes and heavy traffic. The vibe is more or less the same. Street vendors selling cigarettes and banh mi. Trash/dumpster at the corner and broken sidewalks. Same same. Bangkok also exuded the same vibe. Southeast Asia can be so familiar and yet each country is also distinct from one another.