Rented this place in Saigon for the month of October. It’s in a great location in the heart of district 1. I can walk to lots of food and drink options and many famous landmarks as well.
Like many apartments in this part of the city, this one has its tradeoffs. (The last apartment I stayed at was on the fifth floor of a building that housed a nail salon on the ground floor so the whole building would close its doors from 11 PM until 9 AM. If you wanted to get in or out of the building during those hours you had to call the grumpy building manager who would appear in curlers and house coat to open the door for you. Luckily, I only had to do this once.)
But back to the tradeoffs with the current apartment. First, it’s down a dirty, narrow alley that looks terrifying the first time you see it (it’s actually totally safe). When you get to the building itself, you’ll need a key to open the padlock of the gate across the entrance. (If you’re in the building and there’s a fire, you’d better hope you have the key with you or your neighbor gets there first.)
The building itself is old and dusty. The staircase is dark (until you locate the light switches). In the apartment itself, there is old and very dated tile in the main room and painted concrete in the kitchen. The kitchen and bathroom have no air conditioning, probably because they don’t have glass windows that close (just an opening in the wall).
But one of the main advantages of the apartment is a big kitchen, nice to have when you’re staying for more than a few days, on those nights when you just want to take a break from sightseeing and curl up with some instant noodles.
It has a big TV, also nice for when you want some down time away from the city. Though what I’ve noticed about the TV here is that it cuts out a lot (another sign of the “emerging nation” I’m in) and the sound and video don’t exactly synch up which can be annoying until you get used to it.
Washer and Dryer are also nice to have. Though laundry is cheap here, I don’t really trust a place that charges by the kilo to treat my clothes gently.
Toilet and shower are modern enough though as I’ve mentioned there are no closing windows in the bathroom, just an opening in the wall so you often see geckos and other insects about.
All in all, not a bad home base for exploring the city.
