The trip of a lifetime - Vietnam Food and Culture Tour 2025
By Emma Moore | Posted: Wednesday July 16, 2025
An amazing trip that is hard to put into words.
The trip started in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), with 38°C heat and students recovering from a long-haul flight. But they were straight into it. We began with a walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City, which included the War Remnants Museum – a confronting view of the Vietnam War and its impact. Other stops included the Reunification Palace, the Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral, the Old Central Post Office, Ho Chi Minh Square, the Saigon Opera House, and we finished with a traditional Bánh Mì Huynh Hoa – a Vietnamese baguette served with pork pâté.
We ended the day with a street food tour, where we tried Vietnamese pizza and pancakes. The boys had a great time at Bến Thành Market, enjoying the hustle of bartering and browsing the endless stalls of football shirts, sunglasses, and handbags.
Students were then treated to a visit to an agricultural village outside Ho Chi Minh City, where they learned about local produce and picked their own ingredients to create three local dishes: a spicy pork salad, chicken curry, and banana spring rolls. This was an absolute highlight! The cooking class was a hit, and the food was sensational.
This was followed by a visit to the Củ Chi Tunnels – a major underground hideout and resistance base of the Viet Cong during the war. Students got to experience the tunnels for themselves. They were quite claustrophobic and certainly not made for 6ft boys from New Zealand! However, the tunnels provided valuable insight into what life was like during the time of their use.
The next place of interest was Hội An – a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A stunning location, with ancient buildings and beautiful streets. Hội An is well known for its lanterns and White Rose Dumplings. We sampled homemade dumplings and tried iced coconut coffee for the first time. We also enjoyed a market tour and a local cooking class, which included a river cruise and a surprise birthday cake for Tom Bankshaw! This was also the place to have clothing made. Tom had his Year 13 formal suit tailored in Hội An – made to measure and completed in just 24 hours.
Our last stop was Hanoi, situated in the north and the capital of Vietnam – a very different experience again. Dating back to 1010, Hanoi’s architecture and cultural relics reflect its rich history. We stayed in the Old Quarter and visited many significant landmarks. These included the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum – where Ho Chi Minh lived and is embalmed – and the Temple of Literature, erected in 1070 in honour of Confucius and his disciples. It is the oldest site in Hanoi and a symbol of Vietnamese education and architecture.
We also had many food experiences in Hanoi: egg coffee, Cộng Cà Phê (Cong Café), Bún Chả (a personal favourite – BBQ pork in a sweet, hot, and savoury broth), Phở (a traditional Vietnamese broth usually eaten for breakfast), and spring rolls. The boys spent a lot of time shopping at the local night markets – picking up even more football shirts and sunglasses.
It was an excellent trip, filled with amazing cultural and culinary experiences that will create lifelong memories – truly the trip of a lifetime, for both students and their teachers.
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