Ho Chi Minh City, or Saigon as it is still known to many, is Vietnam's largest city with a growing population of around 7 million. This is a city on the go 24 hours a day, where everybody seems to be busy either buying, selling, studying, working or just enjoying themselves.
Despite the fact that modern high-rise buildings have begun to dominate the skyline in recent years there are still many fine examples of French colonial architecture in Ho Chi Minh City such as the Notre Dame Cathedral, the Old Saigon Post Office and the former Hotel de Ville. A stroll down Dong Khoi Street, the Rue Catinat of Graham Greene s The Quiet American , will reveal more colonial classics like the Continental, Grand and Majestic hotels as well as dozens of tempting boutiques and galleries. Ho Chi Minh City is a real shopper s paradise with modern shopping centres and trendy boutiques rubbing shoulders with traditional street markets.
The city s best-known market is Ben Thanh Market where you can buy anything from fresh fruit and flowers to the latest imported electronics and cosmetics. One of the most interesting places to visit in Ho Chi Minh City is the former Presidential Palace, now renamed the Reunification Hall. This building remains almost exactly as it was on the morning of 30th April 1975 when the Saigon regime surrendered to the victorious liberation forces and the country was reunified for the first time since 1945. For more war-related history the War Remnants Museum with its thought provoking display of weapons and photographs is also worth visiting. Cholon, Ho Chi Minh City s Chinatown, is the frenetic commercial centre, where every building has a shop or workshop on the ground floor.
Cholon also has the city s largest market, Binh Tay Market, and some fine pagodas including Thien Hau Pagoda, with its huge incense coils suspended from the ceiling. For wining and dining it is hard to beat Ho Chi Minh City. The city is crammed full of restaurants and bars ranging from simple pavement stalls where you can buy a bowl of noodles for a few cents to sophisticated restaurants serving fine European cuisine at a fraction of the price you would pay in Europe.
Ho Chi Minh City's nightlife has become very cosmopolitan in recent years and there are literally hundreds of bars, pubs, nightclubs and discotheques to pick from for a night on the town. Further afield, popular day trips from Ho Chi Minh City include the incredible Cu Chi Tunnels built by Vietnamese resistance fighters during the long years of struggle for independence and the bizarre Cao Dai Temple at Tay Ninh.
From http://www.saigontourist.net
It's been 40 years--but I'm leading a veteran's return tour next year. Will be in Saigon on April 4th, 2010. I Liked your pix and slide show
ReplyDeleteHi Sir, Thankd for your comment. I am sure that you will be amazed in your next time to Vietnam.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the most significant landmark thinking about Saigon is the Saigon River. Saigon River to Saigon City resembles the Saine River to Paris. It should not be coincidental that the French concentrated its expansion of Saigon alongside this beautiful river. I think they wanted to model Saigon after Paris.
ReplyDeleteSaigon, however, is falling too far behind. Today, a river cruise on Saine River goes under over 30 bridges just within Paris, compared to only 5 in total in and around Saigon: Cau Phu Long, Binh Loi, Binh Trieu, Saigon, and recently Cau Thu Thiem. I love each of these bridges. Each of them to me is much more significant a piece of historic landmark than any other constructions in Saigon such as the Notre Dame Church or the Saigon Post Office Building. Each of those bridges evidences a pinnacle of a prosperity period: So few, so impulsive, and so far apart!
There should be more bridges and they should expand Saigon City further towards the firmer land in the north of the existing city. I was disappointed to see the monies invested much less efficiently in lands and roads on wetland towards the south, i.e. Phy My Hung and Nguyen Van Linh Highway. Building mass residential and industrial areas towards the expandable north will give a lot of dynamic future benefits. Building expensive villas and resorts to the dead end muddy south to capitalize on the taste of desert foreigners’ love of seaside beaches is static investment that has neither as much leveraging capacity nor as far into the future a continuous return potential.
The highly socially connected culture among Saigon people is also beautiful and noteworthy. Beyond tourism, within Vietnam, Saigon likely will continue to dominate further as the country’s center of economic activities. Unless the unlikely settling of geopolitics would cause an economic spillover from nearby booming China, Hanoi and the Red River rooted a culture somewhat less economically friendly to that of Saigon and the Saigon River. The manner Saigon River curves around the landscape making five or six more-than-half circles before joining into Nha Be River reflects how flat the extended land around Saigon is, and, perhaps coincidentally, how relaxed and socially connected (characters conducive to businesses) Saigon people are. Network marketing is especially effective: If you care to make one new friend in Saigon, s/he would have no hesitation bringing you 10 new ones in a week. In contrast, the hilly Hanoi, the rushing downwards of the Red River, and the disconnected lakes either human or naturally made, seemed to have shaped a more reserved culture for the occupants.