Saigon Street Eats Update

It’s been just over three months since we launched our street food tours in Ho Chi Minh City and we have been blown away by the response to our new business, Saigon Street Eats.

We’ve rocketed up the TripAdvisor listings to be ranked (as of today) at number 14 of 103 things to do in Ho Chi Minh City. Even better, the business has covered most of our expenses this month. We’ve also been eating lots and lots of fantastic street food.

The best thing about our little business is the amazing people it brings us into contact with. We’ve met adventurous travelers from all over the world and my list of want-to-visit places has expanded enormously to include never-before-considered countries like Portugal and Sweden.

We’ve taken families, couples, friends, solo travelers and even an extended family out on eating tours. It’s amazing how much you can get to know someone in only four-and-a-half hours. We feel like we’ve made some great new friends.

And so our lives have taken another major change. We’ve been up early for morning tours and out late for night tours. (And out VERY late for one hilarious post-tour karaoke session.)

The aftermath of a street food session in Snail Street

We still haven’t perfected our work-life balance or attained that perfect schedule I dreamt up nearly two years ago. But life is great, so much more enjoyable than our Singapore life of two years ago. I think we are incredibly lucky to have found a way for Darling Man and I to work together doing something we both enjoy.

I’m still writing for a couple of corporate clients and making a bit of money from this blog. I’ve also agreed to write a food column for a new magazine that’s launching soon. I’m really enjoying the variety of having three jobs and keeping part-time hours.

We’re both spending a lot of time with Miss M, which is also wonderful. I have decided three is the best age yet. She is a very entertaining little girl and very very funny. (I can’t wait to share the videos of her singing and chanting at Angkor Wat.)

If you’d like to see some photos of our tours, we’ve created two new Facebook albums of pics from the street: Men of Snail Street and Pho Trail Scenes. Men of Snail Street was supposed to be a calendar but I ran out of time. And it’s not just men, it’s all kinds of people, I just HAD to use that title once I thought it up.

Our tours have also had some great writeups on other blogs. Check out these entries:

Snails, Seafood and Soup in Saigon on What’s Dave Doing

A Tour Of Snail Street With Saigon Street Eats on Ferreting Out The Fun

Touring With Saigon Street Eats on Living Outside Of The Box

Market smiles on a morning walking tour

I think we are going to have a great 2013 here in Ho Chi Minh City and I hope you are too.

Thank you, dear readers, for sticking with me over the past two years. I hope this year is the best year yet for The Dropout Diaries AND for Saigon Street Eats.

By: Barbara

A career girl who dropped out, traveled, found love, and never got around to going home again. Now wrangling a cross-cultural relationship and two third culture kids.