I am Niall Mackay, The Podcast Guy and host of A Vietnam Podcast. This podcast is where you can find unique insights and experiences from an expat living in Vietnam.
This is another episode that Adrie, my wife joined me. Adrie and I headed down to the Saigon waterfront to celebrate Vietnamese Independence Day and take in the fireworks.
It was a great experience when we had a chance to immerse ourselves in the city night vibes and recall how much this city has changed since we moved here.
Vietnam Independence Day – Expat Experience
Vietnamese Independence Day is always a special time in the city, but this year it felt even more unique. Adrie and I were down at the Saigon waterfront, where the streets were closed off and the area was packed with people.
Even though fewer people were wearing the flag on their clothes, the entire city seemed to embrace the holiday spirit, with flags hanging from buildings, lining the streets, and fluttering on every corner. The city was completely decked out, giving off a festive vibe that really made us feel the importance of the day.
The energy was wild, and it kind of gave me flashbacks to the madness of Saigon during major football events—like when the Under-23s football team reached the finals a few years ago. Back then, the whole city erupted in celebration, with people flooding the streets, banging pots and pans, waving flags, and just going all out.
To celebrate Vietnamese Independence Day, Adrie and I did what any self-respecting expats in Vietnam would do—we cracked open a Ba Ba Ba. It’s a beer that’s close to our hearts because it was the very first beer we had when we arrived in Vietnam years ago. I remember thinking I was being clever when I joked that Ba Ba Ba was “bad, bad, bad.” Even though it was a cheesy joke, Adrie found it hilarious, so it stuck.
This time, we were trying Ba Ba Ba’s new “extra smooth” version, which, to be honest, didn’t really live up to the hype. It still tasted pretty much the same as the original, which wasn’t great. Ba Ba Ba is still part of our Vietnam story, so we couldn’t help but laugh at how little has changed.
We were staying at one of my favorite hotels in Saigon for a little staycation, which, of course, came with two complimentary Ba Ba Ba beers in the minibar. Naturally, I couldn’t resist calling room service and asking for more—because two free beers just weren’t enough.
Vietnam Changes and Growth Over the Years
While waiting for the fireworks, we couldn’t help but notice how much Saigon has changed since we first moved here. The famous Heineken billboards have been replaced by electronic boards, and the whole waterfront is now this organized, pleasant space with grass and wide walkways. Eight years ago, this was chaos. You couldn’t even access the waterfront because it was blocked off. Now, it’s pedestrian-friendly, and the roads are no longer a free-for-all for motorbikes. The streets being closed off for the event made it even more peaceful, allowing everyone to enjoy the city without the constant honking of motorbikes.
Back when we first moved here, traffic was chaotic, with motorbikes driving on sidewalks and lanes not really being a thing. It’s funny how excited we get about things like sidewalks now. When they first built a proper pavement in our neighborhood in Thao Dien, we were thrilled. Walking on a smooth sidewalk without motorbikes cutting through felt like a luxury! It’s one of those small things that shows just how much the city has progressed in such a short time.
I even cringed thinking back to one of my early moments here, when I questioned whether the city planners had done a feasibility study before making changes to the roads. Turns out, they knew exactly what they were doing. Saigon’s infrastructure is constantly improving, and nearly every change has made things better. It’s easy to look back and realize how wrong I was, but it’s also a reminder of how quickly this city adapts and grows.
Fireworks and Drone Show
Of course, the big highlight of the night was the fireworks display, and it didn’t disappoint. We had been waiting for about 45 minutes for the show, and the excitement in the air was palpable. It’s always fun to watch the crowd dynamic when fireworks were involved – one person stood up, and suddenly the whole crowd was on their feet, even though everyone could’ve had a perfect view sitting down! Classic crowd behavior, but it added to the experience.
Before the fireworks kicked off, there was a drone show, which was impressive… until it turned into a giant advertisement for a credit card company. The crowd’s reaction was a collective shriek which was weird and hilarious, but the visuals were still cool to see, especially in a city like Saigon, where you wouldn’t have seen something like this just a few years ago.
When the fireworks finally started, it was worth the wait. The sky lit up, and the bursts of light reflected off the buildings around us, creating this surreal effect. It was one of those moments that made all the standing, waiting, and crowding worth it.
As we walked around after the fireworks, Adrie made an interesting observation that I hadn’t really noticed until she pointed it out—public toilet etiquette in Vietnam has improved a lot over the last few years.
In the past, when a stall opened, it was a bit of a free-for-all, with people rushing ahead as if the line didn’t exist. It used to be chaos, especially in busy areas where people just assumed they had a right to go first.
Adrie mentioned that now things have changed. People, especially women, are waiting their turns in a more orderly fashion. You still see the occasional cutting in line, but it’s much more structured than it used to be. It was one of those small, everyday improvements that you don’t really notice at first, but it reflects a bigger shift in how things are done here.
After the talk, we headed to Seven Bridges on Hai Ba Trung Street, which is one of our favorite spots. If you’ve seen our pub crawl video, you’ll know this street well. That night, it had been a bit of a sad adventure with just me, Adrie, and Seamus, as the rest of our group dispersed. But this time, it was different. We sat down for a late-night pizza and drink at one of the places along the street, soaking in the cool night air and reflecting on how the city has changed.
Hai Ba Trung offers one of my favorite views, and even though we’ve been here for years, the place still has a certain charm. It felt like the perfect way to wind down after the excitement of the fireworks and the packed streets, with a drink in hand and the hum of the city around us.
We joked about how “late-night” for us these days is around 10 or 10:15 PM, which might seem early to most people, but hey, that’s late enough for us! It was a chill end to an eventful day of fireworks, drone shows, and navigating through Saigon’s ever-changing streets.
Conclusion
In the end, it was a great experience enjoying the fireworks.
It was a great Independence Day celebration, and we were glad to share it with all of you.
So don’t forget to subscribe and join A Vietnam Podcast Community.
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Niall: [00:00:00] us, with weird bounces off of the buildings.
Woah, I’ve never seen that before. Look at it all fall into the ground. Oh yeah. That’s fucking boom. That’s 15
Adrie: what are we doing? We’re at the waterfront, the Saigon waterfront.
It’s actually Tuesday.
Niall: We’ve
Adrie: got people waving already. We’re waiting an hour and a half, an hour and 15
minutes until the fire. They should be in that direction. Um, it’s really incredible to see because we’ve been here for New Year’s fireworks, but this whole waterfront didn’t exist when we first moved here, like, 8 years ago. It’s been redeveloped, now it’s like green, grass, places for people to sit, to walk.
They’ve closed the streets down, which makes it so much more [00:01:00] pleasant. You can walk, you can cross the street, people aren’t getting honked at or whatever by motorbikes. Um,
I have a couple of patriotics in there. Not so many people wearing red shirts with yellow stars, but all over the city, it’s decorated with, um, flags, Vietnam flags for the weekend, um, to celebrate Independence Day.
Niall: What is Vietnam Independence Day?
Adrie: Well, I think we decided it was V, uh, Vietnamese independence from public French in 1945.
Niall: We think.
Adrie: It would make sense because that’s the time frame and the biggest country that The most recent country that had control over Vietnam.
Niall: And we are going to celebrate Vietnamese Independence Day from
Adrie: France by By having a beer [00:02:00]
Niall: that claims to be
Adrie: Extra smooth, ba ba ba, Pilsner. French style.
Niall: We talked about Ba Ba Ba before.
I’ve talked about it before. This was the first beer we ever had in Vietnam.
Adrie: Really doesn’t give you much.
Niall: Was Ba Ba Ba. And my joke wasn’t, I thought it was a cheesy joke because I said it was bad, bad, bad. But Evie laughed at that really hard. So I was like, oh, that’s a pretty good joke. Which is the barometer for all my jokes, that if Adri laughs at it, then it’s a good joke.
Um, but this, I just saw the billboard for this last week and I was like, oh my god, who’s not extra smooth? This is the first time It’s cold fermented! This is, can you open it for me please? This is the first time that ba ba ba have brought out Any modification of a veal, like we were in Laos recently and they only have one type of veal, which is veal lao.
But they [00:03:00] have like veal lao IPA, veal lao blonde, veal lao veal lao. They have so many different. Dark ale. Yeah, dark ale. They had
Adrie: a wheat ale.
Niall: Yeah, that’s right. Yeah,
Adrie: wheat, IPA, dark,
Niall: lager,
Adrie: and maybe one more?
Niall: Just the normal beer lager. Oh, that is the lager.
Adrie: But they had two different, um, the rice one and the regular one.
Yeah,
Niall: that’s right, the rice one. The green one and
Adrie: then the regular one. They had five different types of beer. So
Niall: one beer, one country, but five different types. Yeah,
Adrie: for all the different colours.
Niall: But this is the first time that Ba Ba Ba have brought out another beer. So it’s my first time trying it.
There’s
Adrie: a lot more beers in Vietnam than just that one. Well,
Niall: there are a lot more beers, but it’s a monumental moment. And I didn’t even realize it’s a French style brew, which, uh, I don’t even know what that means, a French recipe, but let’s try it.
Adrie: The one sip beer review.
Niall: Yeah, this is from Misha Smith, One Sip Beer. Oh my god, it’s still terrible. Oh, I was waiting
Adrie: for your face to light
Niall: up. No, it’s still so bad. [00:04:00] I don’t even know, I need to get, we need, we’ll buy later on like a ba ba ba. And, uh, like an original in this.
Uh, it’s still bad, bad, bad. But let’s, uh Tell
Adrie: about the ba ba ba in reference.
I don’t know about extra smooth. It’s like same level of smoothness as the other ba ba ba. It’s just more of a smoother can, maybe? A sleeker, smoother aesthetic? Yeah,
Niall: yeah. I mean, it’s not All right, it’s not terrible, but yeah, it just tastes the same. And we
Adrie: know this because we just had a ba ba ba in our very nice hotel.
The free minibar is ba ba
Niall: ba. So we decided we’re having a staycation for one night in the mist. We’ve only ever stayed at once before. It’s one of my, it’s probably my favorite hotel. I never thought I’d have a favorite hotel, but it’s my [00:05:00] favorite hotel in Saigon. It’s just really nice aesthetic. It’s cool.
And, uh, they give you two free ba ba ba’s in the mini bar. And then me being me, uh, then I called room service and asked, could we get two more free ba ba ba’s? But, the Tiger, so you can get room service, and they have Tiger, and it was what, 85k? 80k? 80, 000 dong, which is about 3 US dollars, then plus plus, so that’s plus tax, plus service, so that adds another 15%.
So it makes that 80k beer about 90, 95k, which, this is a beer you can buy in the shops for 20. You can buy it for like one dollar, less than, less than a dollar, but it’s a nice hotel. But I don’t want to spend 100k on a beer that I can just walk across the road to 7 Eleven and buy for 20k, but they give you free ba ba ba in the fridge and so yeah, me being me, I called up room service and said, oh you know, we really like that ba ba ba, can we get some more?
They [00:06:00] brought us two more ba ba ba’s for free, so we’re in.
when we first came here, right, The funny thing was right now they’ve put these electronic boards over there. The famous thing is it used to be three Heineken billboards, right?
Adrie: Oh, over there, yeah.
Niall: I thought they were that way. Nah,
Adrie: well, it’s so hard to tell because it’s so close. I thought they were there. Literally where this massive board is, like where the Heineken board is.
Niall: Yeah.
Adrie: I think that’s a nod to those.
Niall: So I know I sound, I’m so repetitive, I don’t care. Like this here was like, All blocked off, you couldn’t access the waterfront, um, they’ve done so many good things like all this grass, all this pavement, I mean me and Adria have made this joke before, I’ve probably said it on the podcast before, like they made a pavement in Taoudian and we got so excited by it, we’re like oh my god the pavement, let’s go for a walk, but like that is because there’s not a lot of good pavement in Taoudian.
[00:07:00] Saigon. So you get excited by like, Oh my God, a flat road, flat pavement.
Adrie: Also, the caveat is, is the pavement like removed from accessibility of motorbikes? Yeah. And if motorbikes can’t get on it, it’s like double even. Not for motorbikes, which, let’s be honest, most of the pavements in the city in D1, Not so much anymore, but used to just double as an extra lane for motorbikes.
Niall: 40 minutes to wait until we’re going to see all the fireworks. Just to keep hopping on the same comment, like, all of these buildings here, nothing was here 8 years ago. This street It’s so funny, like, I don’t even know if you can see, but like, in this street here, there’s like a barrier between the lanes, which just seems so normal now.
But, when we [00:08:00] first got here, that street was chaos, do you remember?
so the street here, we would drive from District 4 to go back, and like the bikes could just go on any side of the street, so it was just chaos, remember? It was just nuts, like now this is so organized. So I remember up here, you used to be able to come off the bridge and then take a left onto Ham Yee.
So I was thinking about this yesterday, right? This is one of the biggest cringe moments of my life, and I talked about something in the last video that was a cringe moment. I cringed, I thought about this yesterday and I was like, Neil, you’re a fucking idiot. So they got rid of like this dodgy, dodgy tone that you could make from, come off the bridge, cut off all the traffic, go up Han Yee and it was like the way to go, right?
And then they cut it off, they made, they put like a barrier. So the cringe moment is, I remember seeing somebody I don’t even want to say it out loud, it’s so embarrassing. I said to somebody Maybe don’t then? [00:09:00] I said to somebody, did they even do a feasibility study? The answer is probably yes, like I hate when people put down Vietnamese people or people in Vietnam.
You’re one of those people. And that was a moment I was one of those people because generally right things will work differently in Vietnam But at the same time they don’t. There’s skyscrapers, there’s malls, there’s everything that you want People are making these decisions. The roads change and nearly every time it’s for the better And so maybe 20 years ago wasn’t exactly like that.
Maybe it was different, but That was just a cringe moment. Like are they, basically what I was saying is they are so clueless and so stupid that they just Changed this road And now, this is like, 8 years later, 8 years later, I’m like, you know, that was absolutely the right decision, like, they did the right thing, they probably, To get rid of the turn.
To get rid of the, like, the dodgiest turn, where you cut off all the traffic, it created such, like, a bottleneck. But, so, things are getting better here. And then, [00:10:00] Wynway Walking Street wasn’t even a thing when we got here. It was. Well, they were still putting it together when we first came here.
Remember when we came in 2015? Yeah, it was like still putting the bricks together. Apparently it used to be a canal, it used to be a train station. It’s now like this really flat walking street. I just think this is so cool, with all these people out here. These are the first people I’ve seen wearing, uh, wearing these t shirts, kind of.
Yeah. They look official, like, yes. Yeah, maybe they’re, maybe they’re working here.
Adrie: They’re like, have to wear the shirt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There’s a lack of, uh, nationalism in the attire, whereas Americans would be like, Ha! USA, Red, White, Blue. There’s no Vietnam.
Niall: No, not yet. So we just had the drone show which was pretty cool [00:11:00] up here.
What was the best part of the drone show for you?
Adrie: The giant advertisement for our credit card. HP Bank. Vietnam. Clearwines, no, VHS. VHS,
Niall: and what was the reaction from the crowd?
Adrie: We’re a
Niall: critic on that. It was pretty awesome.
so many people here, it’s insane. It’s absolutely packed, it’s so cool. So many young people, that’s what’s up.
It’s just, everyone is young. Makes us feel old. But, hey, I am young. So, what we’ve been discussing is, are people going to stand up when the fireworks start? Because fireworks are going to be up there, obviously. I feel like it be up there, they’re going to be over there. Are they going to be above? No, but they’re going to be over the river, which is that way.
So they’re going to [00:12:00] be, like, diagonal that way. Okay, but my point is, sitting down, if everyone is sitting down, Oh yeah, we’re drinking soju. I love that you just did that so slyly. Yes, we’re having some soju. You were talking to the camera and I was like I was if the camera can’t see. Oh, everyone’s standing up.
This was the point we were making, so Look, some people are saying sit down. Uh, they might be trying to see, like No, no, no, I think they’re trying to see something. Maybe a yacht throwing out t shirts or something. This woman is hilarious. She just clapped at everyone and told them to sit down. Wait, is that what she’s talking about?
Yeah, I think so. So this is exactly what we’re talking about. If everyone just sits down, we can all see the fireworks because we’re all on the same level. But the moment everyone stands up, everyone has to stand up. As soon as one person stands up, everyone has to stand up. You can see, uh, landmark 81 in the background there.
[00:13:00] That’s, uh, With a Vietnam flag on it. The bridge, literally, like, I’m just gonna wait until We’ve got two minutes. We’ve got two minutes to save the world. We’ve got two minutes to save the world! That’s so funny. No one knows my reference except Justin Timberlake and Madonna san. So, uh, we’re gonna have to stand up in a minute if we want to see these fireworks.
That’s why I strategically placed myself We’re gonna have to do in stereo. in front of a pole. Alright, shall we? So we’ve been waiting here for like over an hour to see 15 minutes of fireworks. About 45 minutes. 45 minutes. Come on, we’re going to come out. Alright, I guess we’re going to stand up. One stood up.
You could have all just sat down, but we are all now 4 feet closer, 5 feet
closer to the fireworks. Amazing.[00:14:00]
People are pushing to the front, like you get a better view of above. I don’t want, human beings are so weird. I, like, I get it. But we’re all just so weird. We have these things of like, right list. Mob mentality. Sheeple! We’ve got so many people, people are like moving to the front. As if that means you get a better view.
All you need to do is look up. We’re also going to be like 10 meters closer. Let’s see how it goes. Well, you, you admittedly said that you’re older than most of the people in the crowd, so, maybe most of the people in the crowd don’t have nearly as much firework viewing experience as you do. Yep, maybe.
This is cool, all the roads closed off, and there’s so many people here. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! [00:15:00] Oh! Oh! Filming you, filming the fireworks, it’s coming from behind us, with weird bounces off of the buildings.
[00:16:00] They say 15 minutes. It’s gotta be 15 minutes. It shows that way on the video. It won’t show that way when you actually look at it. [00:17:00] With[00:18:00]
the twinkle, those are[00:19:00]
The big one’s coming, the big one’s coming. Woah, I’ve never seen that before. Look at it all fall into the ground. Oh yeah. That’s fucking boom. That’s 15 minutes?
Video 6: That’s so [00:20:00] cool.
Adrie: I guess so. Hello!
Sorry!
Yeah, I know. I mean, I’m only just tall enough to do it. Most people This girl fell and she tried to do it. Oh, really? Most It’s not, it’s not easy. It’s debarred now.
Okay, well therein lies the fatal flaw of blocking the [00:21:00] roads with permanent road barriers.
Niall: So we’re, we’re about to go into Nguyen Hue walking street. We did not realize it was this crazy. Cause that makes me do it. It does make me want a Saigon special. I just walked into a bike. You wouldn’t have seen that on the camera, but I literally just walked into a bike.
We’re just going to de ballot. It’s worse than de ballot. So D Bahau is where like the Under 23s, it means like this sort of Any of the football teams, yeah. No, I know, but the last time I remember a D Bahau was like six years ago. It’s usually Under 23s. It was the Under 23s got to the final, it was quite funny, they got beat.
Happened quite a few times though. Happened a couple of times and it was all with the Under 23s VUV soccer team. Yeah, because the national team never did really well. And then like the whole city gets out on the bikes and just bangs pots and [00:22:00] pans. Flags. It’s more nationalistic than this is. Oh, it’s just absolutely crazy.
Everyone’s in their flags and their shirts and stuff. This is crazier than that. Yeah, but it’s, everyone’s just in normal clothes. Yeah, it’s surprising that nobody’s wearing like a Vietnamese, uh, Flag attire? Flag attire or anything like that. I don’t even know where we’re going, do we? Just, just following the crowd?
Just walking up the walkways.
Adrie: Oh, hello. We’re at Seven Bridges Company. Not Nang, but in Ho Chi Minh Oh,
Niall: to try Napa. Well, been, just uh, on waterfront, watching[00:23:00]
Adrie: No one saw your hand there.
Niall: We’ve been on the waterfront, watching the fireworks.
Adrie: Fireworks were awesome. We walked down Walking Public toilet etiquette has changed a lot in the last eight years. Like, lines are forming, women are waiting their turns, there’s no elbows. What do you mean it’s changed?
Niall: What be like?
Adrie: I think anyone ever been here in the last five, ten, three, two, one years that like, line etiquette, queue etiquette, not always the same. Especially in public toilets, people go in and like, if a door opens, they charge ahead. like, little they entitled to be like, first one to go in.
people with children, which understand, both groups should be prioritized. However, with a massive bin, the most lay, orderly way, is a line needs to form. didn’t used to happen on [00:24:00] the
Niall: You’re gonna get
Adrie: to a public toilet, and it was an amazing experience. I mean it wasn’t, but the air con was blasting, that good, and everyone follow a bit of a line despite like the cluster chaos when you first into the bathroom.
So usually I come out really stressed from public toilet. Because I have to Company someone, or I have to door, or I Ho to get way I was here first. I didn’t have to do that, and it was incredible.
Niall: Vietnam But we’ve just seen
Adrie: 2024,
Niall: seen So we’ve come to, uh, Seven walking on Haibat Tongue, which if you’ve watched our previous video, Uh, where we, uh, the pub crawl video.
It was a pretty sad video, it was me, Hugh, Seamus, left out of about 10 people. [00:25:00] We managed to get a drink here. But I’m on the Haibat Hayes, it’s one of my favourite views. It’s a cool spot right on, uh, Haibat Tongue. And, gave it one of my favourite vows. We’ve come for a late pizza and a drink, and we’ve, we’ve, uh, bumped
Adrie: is
Niall: Pan Town.
If your definition of
Adrie: late the 10 15pm. Well,
Niall: that’s
Adrie: in and
Niall: let’s go for a late night food at Japan Town, by late night you meant like 10pm. Which is late for us, but, uh, for most people that’s pretty early in the day. So, this has been
V& M Independence Day, 2nd September. awesome here. It’s it for watching. Don’t forget, subscribe, follow, turn do all that stuff. do is share this episode with someone else, well. [00:26:00]