Walking tour

Connections Vietnam have introduced a Saigon Walking Tour for the first time, and it’s not your average gentle stroll around the leafy boulevards of District 1. Read more from our ‘Walk’ page under ‘Experiences’:

Walk is our guided Saigon Walking Tour, but we won’t drag you around in the crowds of other tourists. Our first available walking tour takes you from one inner city market to another, from Ba Chieu to Tan Dinh market. Walking gives you the time to chat with your guide and learn so much more about those street scenes you may have seen passing you by behind the glass of a taxi or a bus but never had the opportunity to ask. We also take you off the main roads into the backstreets and alleyways of the city to see the real living conditions of the majority of Saigon’s citizens.

The tour is flexible and should last a minimum of 2 hours – but if you wish to do more, you can.  Of course along the way there is the opportunity to stop for photos and we’ll stop for drinks and snacks from local vendors along the way as well.

We suggest starting in the morning around 8am before the sun  gets too high.

Warning: Walking in Saigon outside of the city center is not for the fainthearted – you’ll be walking in the road in places, dodging rubbish, motorbikes and concrete and jumping over uneven kerbs and puddles. But that’s the bit we think you’ll enjoy.

Responsible Tourism Vietnam

Connections Vietnam has been included in “The Guide to Responsible Tourism in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam”.

Here are some extracts from the book :  

The experience: For travellers to Ho Chi Minh City who are seeking to get deeper under the city’s skin, Connections Vietnam offers four cultural tourism services that present a closer look. Each involves local people, especially students who are looking to practice their English skills. It also brings locals in closer contact with foreign visitors. 

How it helps: Connections Vietnam’s four cultural tourism options provide foreign visitors and locals the opportunity to interact to create a better cultural understanding between the host and the tourist. Ho Chi Minh City students benefit by having the chance to practice their language skills and earn money from part time work. 

You can view the entire entry here. 

We are extremely happy to be recognised in a publication such as this, and we hope it gives you more of an idea of what we are doing in Ho Chi Minh City!

Cook & Meet Photo Report

Thanks to our customers of March 19th 2008, Hendrik & Sibylle from Germany.

They did Connections Vietnnam ‘Cook & Meet’ multi experience which took them to our chef’s house in the Tan Phu District of Ho Chi Minh City. They chose one of our most popular menu items, Spring rolls and Pho, being the combination of very traditional Vietnamese foods! During the morning they visited the local market to shop for their ingredients and then returned to the house to have fun creating ‘the best rolls we ever had in our long history of eating spring rolls‘.

With their cooking class over, and a full belly, they then went on to enjoy our ‘Meet’ Saigon city tour in Cholon, District 5, Saigon’s chinatown. This is a great place for exploring the city’s old pagodas and temples.

Follow their day with their great photo report that Hendrick kindly put together for us! Just click on the first photo below and enjoy the slideshow….

Cook from $30pp

Cook, our Saigon cooking class, is Connections most popular service, and our customers have enjoyed the opportunity to get up close and personal with Vietnamese cuisine.

A recent customer, Laura, had this to say…!

Hi Chi,

I would like to thank you and your company very much for a wonderful morning in HCMC. I really got along well with Van and we had a fantastic time cooking together. Keep up the good work and I will be sure to tell others about it who are heading to HCMC so they too can enjoy the opportunity.

Once again thank you and please pass on my thanks to Van who was just fantastic and such a great person.

Regards,

Laura

Thanks to Thuy Van, one of our star student guides. She is 20 years old and studies at the Economics University of Ho Chi Minh City.

You can see more of our testimonials here.