Ho Chi Minh City -- The New Old Asia

1. While in the middle of a street, turn your head left to see modern office buildings slowly creeping their way up. Then turn your head right to see crumbling Latin Quarter-style shophouses standing their ground. This very simple but significant observation personifies the conflict of an old-character city coming to grips with commerce-fuelled modernization.

2. At a night market, share a wooden table with strangers you will probably never see again in your life as you tuck into local cuisine consisting of food you have never before seen cooked this way.

3. In the Ho Chih Minh City countryside, marvel at how rural ingenuity can help make up for the lack of modern amenities, without which we can hardly imagine our own lives.

4. If you have been to cities such as Singapore and Hong Kong and caught a whiff of fast-paced urbanization, Ho Chih Minh City is the best real-life example of what those cities used to look, feel, sound and smell like fifty years ago.

5. Get up close and personal with history as you face off with the after-effects of the Vietnam War.

Quick Tips:

For travelers from temperate regions, the weather is the first adjustment to make. The tropics mean humidity, which can be unbearable in heat and traffic. Light clothes, comfortable shoes, and backpacks are simple and effective solutions.

Never let your guard down, as Ho Chi Minh City is rife with poorer denizens looking to make a quick buck by relieving you of your valuables. Be especially careful of drive-bys; petty thieves who swing by in a scooter and make off quickly after snatching a bag or camera off of you.

Forget the dong; the U.S. dollar is virtually the second local currency. In fact, street peddlers and small shops are more than happy to accept your greenbacks -- who knows how much more the dong will inflate in the country's tenuous economy?

The noise of a million people stuck in traffic, and of several million more going about their daily business, is insidious -- especially since the bustle starts humming at 5am. It generally wanes by 11pm, so there's still some quality sleep time left; that is, if you aren't out enjoying the nightlife. Business hours are usually between 7am and 5pm.

Best Way To Get Around:

Your feet are the best mode of transportation in and about Ho Chi Minh City, especially since there is so much that can only be absorbed through close interaction at ground level. If you would like to give your peds a rest, hop on the traditional cyclo. Since the government is looking to eradicate cyclos slowly, this is your chance to experience what whizzing through traffic by the skin of your teeth feels like.

There are three bus routes, but they may not necessarily get you where you need to go in the most efficient manner, especially since many bus stops are unmarked.

Renting a car and driver, especially if you are sharing it between a group of travelers, is your best bet for traveling to attractions outside of the city. Driving these vehicles yourself requires a local licence, and you may not want to even attempt navigating that traffic.

The classic ambience of the Rex Hotel invokes a time of American GIs in short-sleeved cotton shirts and slacks on R&R stints, standing cockily under slowly swirling ceiling fans, a beer in hand and a cigarette sticking slantily out of the corner of their mouths. And rightfully so, for during the Vietnam War, the Rex served as a hotel for U.S. miliary officers.

There is a beautiful view from the large rooftop veranda on the fifth floor that overlooks the Saigon River, as well as much of downtown Ho Chi Minh City. In a city where many of its residents have their feet firmly planted on the ground, this makeshift panorama is a rare luxury.

The veranda also features caged birds and potted bonsai bushes trimmed to look like animals.

The regular rooms are some of the most comfortable you'll find in the city, if you have budgeted to spend between $75 to $100 a night on accommodations. That may be a usual price for typical lodgings in more developed cities, but in Saigon, that's high-end classy. The rooms retain a colonial atmoshphere with rattan furniture and solid teak beds.

Recently remodelled and run by the government-owned SaigonTourist, Rex Hotel also offers the usual suite of business and recreational facilities.

Also known as Quan Luong Son, Bo Tung Xeo Restaurant is a true Ho Chi Minh City institution highly popular among expatriates and Saigonese alike. It's a very local eatery that serves amazingly cheap and tasty Vietnamese food.

Bo Tung Xeo is the house specialty, tender marinated beef served with salad that costs just $2 a portion. The seafood dishes are also excellent.

The literal translation of 'bo tung xeo' is to cut piece by piece and refers to an ancient form of torture. Ask the staff, who speak English, after the meal for more details.

Although this extravagant structure's official name is now the People's Committee, you'll find that most locals still refer to it by its former French moniker, Hotel de Ville. The most celebrated hotel in its heyday, it is now one of the city's most prominent landmarks with its ornate facade and white-on-pastel yellow demeanor, and also one of the most photographed buildings in the city.

Because of the official business that takes place behind doors, you'll find your requests to visit its interior rudely rejected. There is, however, one group of outsiders who are able to get closer to this local socialist government outpost -- the geckos. At night, the exterior of the building is usually covered with thousands of these reptiles feasting on the insects that come naturally with hot and humid weather.

The fact that the War Remnants Museum used to be known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes is a good indication as to who the Vietnamese have chosen to portray as the bad guys in this exhibit. Although the recent name change will avoid offending Chinese and American tourists, the pamphlets passed out at the entrance pull no punches, warning stoically, "Some pictures of U.S. imperialists' aggressive war crimes in Vietnam."

Biased as it may be, it wasn't so much a cause for outrage as a telling insight into how the locals really feel about the events and effects of the Vietnam War -- no sugar-coating by American propaganda here. Without going to say, this is the most popular museum with Western tourists and is ironically housed in the former U.S. Information Service building.

The museum consists largely of photographs, history cards, war artifacts (old bullets, shrapnel, uniforms, etc.) arranged in a chronological time-line to represent the development, progress and conclusion of the Vietnam War. It's not a pretty story, not especially with the unnecessarily crude comments under the photo displays (the photos themselves are quite lurid) -- there is one of a U.S. soldier picking up a horribly mangled boy and the following description says, "This soldiers seems satisfied." There is official amnesia when it comes to the many thousands of people tortured and murdered by the Viet Cong judging by the less enthusiastic attempt to portray that perspective of the war.

The exhibits in the courtyard, albeit without description cards, speak for themselves. There are life-size models of the tiger cages used by the South Vietnamese to house Viet Cong prisoners on Con Son Island and pictures of genetically deformed babies, victims of Agent Orange. Former U.S. armored vehicles, artillery pieces, bombs and infantry weapons The bonus, a guillotine used by the French during their reign to silence Indochinese dissidents. While it doesn't really fit in with the rest of the exhibits, the local attitude against the former colonizers validates its appearance with the Vietnam War pieces.

Few other museums represent war in such a stark and telling manner, mainly due to their political correctness. You've learned the right lesson by going away with the feeling that there is nothing positive about war. To soothe your mind from the traumatic exhibits, enjoy a water puppet performance in the small theater near the museum ticket office. While there is no fixed schedule, the 30-minute show starts with a minimum of five audience members. Tickets are $2.

Museum admission:
$0.80; children under 15, free

Opening hours:
Daily; 7.30am - 11.45am and 1.30pm - 4.30pm

Central Saigon is the place to be on weekend and holiday nights, with the streets jam-packed with young Saigonese cruising by on motorcycles and bicycles. Everyone is dressed in their fashionable best (spot the price tags that often are still attached). And this, would be a more toned down version of the notoriously riotous nightlife when Saigon was the major center of R&R for U.S. soldiers.

Tropical Rainforest is the hottest dance spot in Ho Chi Minh City, with an Amazonian rainforest theme design that boasts suggestively-named cocktails such as Envy, Seduction and Orgasm. If anything, it's an eye-opener as to what young Saigonese view as hip -- don't be shocked if the dude next to you thinks that kung fu dancing is still the coolest boogie move, or if the chick is hitting the bar decked out like Janet Jackson... of the 1980s.

On the morning of April 30, 1975, photojournalist Neil Davis recorded a dramatic event in Saigon, a shot that would be seen around the world. As the North Vietnamese Army invaded the city, Communist tanks rushed the Reunification Palace (then ironically known as Independence Palace), crashing through its wrought-iron gates and unfurling a Viet Cong flag from the fourth floor balcony.

Reunification Palace today is preserved almost as it was on the day in April when the Republic of Vietnam ceased to exist. Recent additions include a statue of Ho Chi Minh and a video viewing room with the latest version of Vietnamese history in several languages. Don't forget to stand up at the end when the national anthem is played as a sign of respect.

Reunification Palace was built in 1868 as a residence for the French Govenor-General of Cochichina. When the French left, it became the home of South Vietnamese president Ngo Dinh Diem.
There are English- and French-speaking guides available on the premises, assigned to various parts of the palace.


Highlights

There is a Presidential Receiving Room on the second floor, and in the meeting room next door, sit in the president's chair and have a photo taken for $1.

On the third floor, there is a terrace with a heliport, and it's another $1 to walk around the helipad and moribund helicopter.

The back area is where the president lived. Check out the model boats, horse tails and severed elephant feet -- presumably d'objets de art and extravagant conversational decor pieces.

The basement is the most interesting, housing a network of tunnels, a telecommunications center and a war room with one of the best maps of Vietnam you will ever see on the wall.

Opening hours: 7.30am - 11am, 1pm - 4pm. Daily.
Admission: $3 for foreigners, free for Vietnamese nationals.

The Notre Dame Cathedral was built between 1877 and 1883, smack dab in the heart of Ho Chi Minh's downtown government quarter. Its neo-Romanesque form and two 40-meter high square towers tipped with iron squires dominate the city's skyline.

If the front gates are locked, try the side door to get in. Unusually, there are no stained-glass windows on this magnificent Catholic structure -- a casualty of fighting during World War II. The square next to the cathedral houses the city's general post office.