I flew from Penang to Ho Chi Minh City.
The last time I was here, I caught COVID.
It felt unfinished — so I came back.”
At the airport
When I arrived, I was looking for a Grab.
A man came up to me.
“Taxi?”
I said I was using Grab.
He said, “We’ll use Grab, come this way.”
I told him the usual Grab price,
and he seemed okay with it, so I followed him.
At the parking lot,
the driver was a different person.
That’s when it started to feel a bit off.
After driving for a while,
he suddenly said,
“1,000,000 VND.”
Way higher than expected.
I said no.
Absolutely no.
He got angry,
and dropped me off somewhere a bit away from the airport.
There were a few others around,
probably part of the same setup.
I thought about pushing back harder,
but it didn’t feel worth it.
So I just walked back toward the airport.
Then the first guy showed up again.
“What happened?” he asked, acting concerned.
I said, “Don’t lie.”
He told me,
“There’s a bus. Take that.”
On the bus
On the bus, there was a man sitting nearby.
I asked in English,
“Does this go to Ben Thanh Market?”
He replied in Japanese,
“Are you Japanese?”
Somehow, he could tell.
He was a Japanese guy living in Bangkok.
We talked for a while,
and ended up having a meal together near the market.
Sa La Park
The next day, I was looking at Google Maps
and found a place that caught my attention.
Sa La Park.
It said:
“A well-maintained riverside park.”
That was enough reason to go.
When I got there,
it was exactly that.
Very well maintained.
A few women were carefully taking care of the place.
Ho Chi Minh always felt a bit chaotic to me,
but this place was different.
Quiet.
Calm.
I like places like this.
I stopped by a cafe nearby,
KAYTea & More.
I had a latte and did some work.
The staff were kind,
and it felt easy to stay.
They recommended a milk tea,
so I had that too.
I ended up staying until it got dark.
Later, I had what was probably bun bo Hue.
I liked it.
If I come back to Ho Chi Minh,
I’ll probably come here again.
Update
After writing this article, MeowSnap was released on November 13, 2025.
It’s a small app that lets you quietly keep track of the cats you meet while traveling on a map.
