Discovering Ho Chi Minh City, both familiar and strange: Eating Michelin Pho, enjoying the antique market, listening to myself

Not going far during the holidays, the mother and daughter chose to travel locally in Ho Chi Minh City. From Michelin-starred pho restaurants, fun antique markets, lamp-making workshops, Chinese guild halls to cinemas in cafes - each stop brought its own unique experiences and emotions.

Fun antique market - Photo: TBC

Big holidays are coming up everywhere, but I am sick so I can't go far or go back to my hometown. I let my daughter plan something fun to do nearby in Ho Chi Minh City, and I will try to "follow" her.

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At first, she was surprised because "I'm so used to living in Ho Chi Minh City, how can I have fun, Mom?". But then she saw the reason when I analyzed that Mom's health could not allow her to travel far, and secondly, we have lived in this city for so long but don't know much about it.

The city is so familiar that I have forgotten to learn about this place, exploit it - make a living - study within it but am indifferent like a boring long-term relationship.

So my child used his phone to search and create a really tight program.

Eat Michelin Pho 'you will find it delicious once you swallow it'

My daughter requested that I leave the house on time on holidays. The first thing we discovered was a pho restaurant in our old neighborhood. The restaurant was small, about 2 square ^meters , but it was on the Michelin list. While waiting for the pho to be cooked, we were both nervous because we were worried that the pho would not be as bad as we expected.

I told my son that I had heard about the owner of this pho shop. She loved cooking so much that she always came up with new dishes to make day and night. The shop had a famous pho dish especially for teenagers with melted cheese and fries and strange beef.

The pho served looked quite ordinary. My son ate "Pho Tin" and I ate regular pho. But when you actually taste it, you will breathe a sigh of relief because it is a dish that "you will find delicious after swallowing it", like the feeling of falling in love after getting married, warm and gentle.

While we were eating, some Western guests came over. My daughter enjoyed the meal and told me a few jokes. "You know, Mom, when we speak Vietnamese, it feels really interesting when foreigners don't understand what we say. I can't explain why, but I really enjoy it." I looked at her sparkling eyes as she told the story and found this moment of mother-daughter intimacy interesting.

Weekend antique market: shopping and listening to old love songs

My daughter took me to the next stop, an antique market also located in the old district where my house and pho restaurant are located. The house with the flower trellis is also small, but stepping inside is an extremely beautiful and joyful world .

The stalls selling all kinds of old, slightly old and seemingly old souvenirs were arranged close together in a very pleasant way. I tried on the big rings and palm-shaped earrings, while my daughter liked to look at the beautiful miniature weapons such as bullets, swords, and knives, a rather "violent" hobby compared to her gentleness.

In the middle of this antique market is a stage with an orchestra and singers singing old love songs that are just my favorite. Everyone can choose a seat somewhere to watch others choose beautiful items or to sway to the love songs. "You can come here on the weekend to just sit and have fun, this market is open on the weekends," my daughter suggested.

Fun at the antique market - Photo: LAM

Lamp making workshop: joy comes from companionship

After lunch, it was time for my child to go to the "workshop". It was a high-rise cafe that had a "hands-on" service and my child chose to design a beautiful light box.

We bought a glass box and were given some small toys to glue, sandblast, build bridges, build houses, and position them so that when the lights were turned on, we would have a sparkling model to our liking. The journey was truly a joy. The sparkling lights were finished in a short while, but the joy was when we created the results together with our daughter, when she asked for her opinion, changed her mind, moments that I did not have easily as my daughter grew older and wanted to escape from her parents.

The results of making lamps at the coffee shop - Photo: TBC

We also visited Ha Chuong Assembly Hall, a Chinese cultural relic in Ho Chi Minh City. The architecture in this Assembly Hall requires a long time to see the elaborate carvings on the high walls.

"The fairies are looking down at me, Mom," my child said after reading to me that this temple worships the Mother Goddess of Fishermen, and the thousands of small human statues up there are actually fairies.

Visiting Ha Chuong Assembly Hall - Photo: TBC

Cinema in a coffee shop: watching movies differently, life is also different

And when the night fell, the two of us ended our journey in a cinema located in a… coffee shop. The girl persuaded us: "Let's not go to the big cinema anymore 'too often'. At this cinema cafe, we will watch an old movie, for something different."

We went into the shop to buy drinks and were led to a small movie room. There were only about 20 people in the room and the owner allowed herself to give a talk about cinema, her passion, before the movie started.

On the way home, my child kept talking about the main character of the movie: "I like the main character, Mom. She sacrificed a lot for love but was not chosen because her lover did not understand that love."

I told him that was the life he would experience. There are people who love each other but behave and think so differently that they cannot belong to each other. They will find the love that suits them.

My daughter asked me: "Mom, are you happy after a day of work?". I think I can see my happiness on her face without needing an answer.

The days of sudden illness turned out to be the lucky time when I could find joy with my child in a little quiet compared to the cheers of the crowd and my friends. I could live with the city with its pulsating rhythms underneath the glitz and splendor, the rhythm of life of an urban area turned out to lie in the way people found each other, giving each other a quiet seat.

I chose a place to sit and watch my child, wishing that I would always be healthy so that I could watch him grow up, watch him adapt to his own life. I also sat and watched myself, the joys and sorrows I had gone through, the times of danger and joy, who came along and who left, what I loved and what I should leave behind…

Remember the lyrics of a song I used to like with Bao Yen's voice: Whose Saigon is this? Why are you only asking now? Saigon, the city of depth/Looking from afar or looking up close, it's beautiful/ Much more beautiful when you look at it for a long time.

TRUONG BAO CHAU

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/kham-pha-tp-hcm-quen-ma-la-an-pho-michelin-vui-cho-do-co-lang-nghe-minh-20250902220410866.htm