Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon

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Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon is the biggest city in Vietnam, trumping the capital in size and with its 10m inhabitants and 4m peds. The city is hectic and noisy but somehow calmer than Hanoi and far more friendly. It's segregated into 18 districts but we only really explored 3 of them and passed through another 3 on a bike.

Things to see -

The war museum is a must but not for the squeemish. It used to be a museum which presented Vietnam's struggle as the victim of war but is now is more general in its portrayal of modern warfare. The exhibition of very graphic photography was horrific but very good and the information about the use of agent orange is particularly heavy and includes pictures of deformed children, the second generation effects of the chemicals used. It also includes 2 specimens of preserved, deformed foetuses. A display of arms, bombs and grenades seemed to be popular with more male visitors but the Military machinery (1970s US jet fighter, US supply/courier plane - as seen in Good Morning Vietnam, US tank and Chinook + others) outside attracted attention from most.

The huge post office is worth a look with its grand interior and conveniently its right next to Notre Dame Cathedral, another impressive building. Other than the Reunification Palace which we didn't bother with for some reason, that's pretty much it for HCMC's touist attractions.

Generally exploring the city is great fun though and there is a full range of shopping, eating and drinking options from markets and street vendors to plazas, coco chanel and fancy restaurants. The transition from budget to splurge streets is quite fascinating to walk but it is best to wait for an overcast day. At the lower end of the scale, pavements are cluttered with people, bikes and wares, the buildings mish-mashed and roads in need of repairs, although pleasingly there is very little litter here. At the other end of the scale, the wide boulevards are lined with manicured gardens, the designer shops blast out aircon, freezing their guards in the process and pristinely dressed business people clip clop between office and restautant.

Chinatown is worth a visit for its chaos and cheap market goods but is a little further out so Cho Ben Thanh market hall right in the centre is the obvious options for perusing. We got lost in there a couple of days running then finding it so enchanting i still wanted to go back so Math was dragged round the tightly packed, stacked to the rafters stalls once again. On our last day we ended up there again but this time it hadn't been me to be drawn in, Math had been seduced too.

The city parks we saw were also a nice area to hang out. At the weekends and after dark students head here to meet with english speakers exchanging conversation practice for travel advice. In the day time, and particularly first thing in the morning, the parks are packed with exercisers... running, badminton, dance classes, tai chi groups and many other unrecognisable games and weird stretching. A real social event.

We stayed in a very friendly and clean hotel - the best yet which made our 8 nights here very comfortable. Food is a tad more expensive here for basic dishes but still good value and there's a really good attempt at western dishes which we took advantage of a couple of times (burger and pizza) for some home comfort. Beer is extremely cheap (in the right place) and cocktails offers are abundant although be warned, this can easily transpire into loss of an entire days site seeing if combined with meeting an Australian buck (stag) doo.

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Photos

HCMC nightlife
The best bars spill out across the street scattering plastic chairs everywhere. They are soon quick to move though when the police drive by... and are just as quick to resume festivities once they've gone.

A sea of mopeds and the market hall in the background
The mass exit from 2nd September Independence day celebrations (singing and dancing) and awesome fireworks

Comments

[sand jones]

HCMC sounds great
Vietnam sounds such a good place to visit , HCMC looks so packed and the food all sounds amazing - restaurants everywhere and good food for such a small price ( wish it was like that here - France is so expensive now ) When you are back there has to be some Asian food nights ! x