Vietnam Royal Tourism

Ho Chi Minh Overview

One of Asia’s most vibrant and welcoming cities, Saigon (as it is still popularly known) is a cultural melting pot with something to offer every traveller. Join Vietnam Royal Tourism to discover the many faces of this city

District 1 is the best place to start with its many historic French-built landmarks - the Opera House, Notre Dame Cathedral, and Hotel de Ville to name but a few. We visit the remarkable Cu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Cong hid during the Vietnam-American War, the former Presidential Palace, and the sobering War Remnants Museum. We’ll introduce you to the enormous variety of exotic local produce at the sprawling Binh Tay Market in Cholon, the city’s bustling Chinatown, and nearby the colourful Thien Hau Pagoda. Visiting Saigon while it passes through a remarkable and rapid phase of transformation will fascinate and delight. Above all, experiencing the heartfelt warmth and humour for which the Saigonese are renowned will stay with you long after you’ve departed for home.

In recent years Ho Chi Minh City has transformed into a city offering visitors a fantastic abundance of shopping, dining and nightlife. Explore the many new shops and boutiques of a rejuvenated Dong Khoi Street - the famous Rue Catinat of the French elite in the colonial era - where fine silks and tailored clothes, hilltribe crafts, Vietnamese antiques, ceramics and embroideries vie for the attention of visitors. Or take a browse through nearby streets and the central Ben Thanh Markets for imitation designer labels and modern fashions, jewellery, CDs, luggage, and an array of local products - all amazingly cheap. Finish the day with a Vietnamese feast at one of our favourite restaurants, or perhaps try one of the city’s delectable French or Western eateries. There’s a gastronomic treat awaiting every taste bud and every budget. And if you’re in the mood for a boogie, party on at a city bar or nightclub - Metropolis, Monaco, or the infamous Apocalypse Now are a must.

Boasting an electric, near palpable energy. Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is Vietnam's largest metropolis and its undisputed capital of commerce. For the casual visitor, Saigon - as its still called by all but the city officials who live here - can seem a chaotic mess of traffic-clogged roads and urban bustle, with nary a green space in sight. Yet thousands of expats and Vietnamese immigrants couldn't imagine living anywhere else. They've long since fallen prey to the hidden charms of one of Southeast Asia's liveliest cities. If every town had a symbol, Saigon's would surely be the motorbike. More than three million of them fly along streets once swarming with bicycles. Cruising along boulevards and back alleys astride a xe om (motorbike taxi) is the quickest way to sensory overload - daily fare in this tropical town. Teeming markets, sidewalk café’s, massage and acupuncture clinics, centuries-old pagodas, sleek skyscrapers and ramshackle wooden shops selling silk, spices, baskets and handmade furniture all jockey for attention amid the surreal urban collage. Saigon is a forward-looking city driving Vietnam's economic boom. Investment has led to new crop of lavish hotels and restaurants, with trendy nightclubs and nigh-end boutiques dotting tree-lined neighbourhoods. Yet the city hasn't forgotten its past. The ghosts live on in the churches, temples, former Gl hotels and government buildings that one generation ago witnessed a city in turmoil. The Saigon experience is about so many things - magical conversations, memorable meals and inevitable frustration - yet it's unlikely to evoke apathy. Stick around this complicated city long enough and you may find yourself smitten by it.

Sights & Activities

Although Ho Chi Minh City <HCMC> lacks the obvious aesthetic. virtues of its rival to the north, the city provides some fascinating sights for the wanderer, from little-visited pagodas hidden down quiet lanes to museums, historic sites and teeming markets all jumbled up ill the chaotic urban scene. First-time visitors often focus exclusively on District, where many of the sights are found. Those with more than a day in the city can take in central HCMC, the pagodas in Cholon and further afield, leaving enough time to explore the intriguing side of Saigon -like an afternoon at an amusement park or the racetrack.

REUNIFICATION PALACE

Striking modern architecture and the eerie feeling you gel as you walk through its deserted halls make Reunification Palace one of the most fascinating sights in HCMC. The building, once the symbol of the South Vietnamese government, is preserved almost as it was on that day in April 1975 when the Republic of Vietnam, which hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese and 58,183 Americans had died trying to save, ceased to exist. Some recent additions include a statue of Ho Chi Minh and a viewing room where you can watch a video about Vietnamese history in a variety of languages. The national anthem is played at the end of the tape and you are expected to stand up - it would be rude not to.
It was towards this building - then known as Independence Palace or the Presidential Palace - that the first communist tanks to arrive in Saigon charged on the morning of 30 April 1975. After crashing through the wrought-iron gates - in a dramatic scene recorded by photojournalists and shown around the world - a soldier ran into the building and up the stairs to unfurl a VC flag from the 4th-floor balcony. In an ornate 2nd-floor reception chamber. Genera! Minh, who had become head of state only 43 hours before, waited with his improvised cabinet. "I have been waiting since early this morning to transfer power to you', Minh said to the VC officer who entered the room. 'There is no question of your transferring power', replied the officer. 'You cannot give up what you do not have." In 1868 a residence was built on this site for the French governor-general of Cochinchina and gradually it expanded to become Noro-dom Palace. When the French departed, the palace became home for South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem. So hated was Diem that his own air force bombed the palace in 1962 in an unsuccessful attempt to kill him. The president ordered a new residence to be built on the same site, this time with a sizeable bomb shelter in the basement. Work was completed in 1966, but Diem did not get to see his dream house because he was murdered by his own troops in 1963. The new building was named Independence Palace and was home to South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu until his hasty departure in 1975. Norodom Palace, designed by Paris-trained Vietnamese architect Ngo Viet Thu, is an outstanding example of 1960s architecture. It has an airy and open atmosphere and its spacious chambers are tastefully decorated with the finest modern Vietnamese art and crafts. In its grandeur, the building feels worthy of a head of state. The ground-floor room with the boat-shaped table was often used for conferences. Upstairs in the Presidential Receiving Room (Phu Dau Rong, or Dragon's Head Room) - the one with the red chairs in it - the South Vietnamese president received foreign delegations. He sat behind the desk; the chairs with dragons carved into the arms were used by his assistants. The chair facing the desk was reserved for foreign ambassadors. The room with gold-coloured chairs and curtains was used by the vice president. You can sit in the former president's chair and have your photo taken. In the back of the structure are the president's living quarters. Check out the model boats, horse tails and severed elephants' feet. The 3rd floor has a card-playing room with a bar and a movie-screening chamber. This floor also boasts a terrace with a heliport - there is still a derelict helicopter parked here. The 4th floor has a dance hall and casino. Perhaps most interesting of all is the basement with its network of tunnels, telecommunications centre and war room (with the best map of Vietnam you'll ever see pasted on the wall). Reunification Palace is not open to visitors when official receptions or meetings are taking place. English and French-speaking guides are on duty during opening hours.

MUSEUM OF HO CHI MINH CITY

Housed in a grey, neoclassical structure built in 1886 and once known as Gia Long Palace (later, the Revolutionary Museum), the Museum of Ho Chi Minh City is a singularly beautiful and amazing building. The museum displays artefacts from the various periods of the communist struggle for power in Vietnam. The photographs of anticolonial activists executed by the French appear out of place in the gilded, 19th-century ballrooms, but then again the contrast gives a sense of the immense power and complacency of the colonial French. There are photos of Vietnamese peace demonstrators in Saigon demanding that US troops get out; and a dramatic photo of Thich Quang Duc, the monk who made headlines worldwide, when he burned himself to death in 1963 to protest against the policies of President Ngo Dinh Diem. The information plaques are in Vietnamese only, but some of the exhibits include documents in French or English, and many others are self-explanatory if you know some basic Vietnamese history (but if you don't, see the History chapter. The exhibitions cover the various periods in the city's 300-year history. Among the most interesting artefacts on display is a long, narrow rowing boat (ghe) with a false bottom in which arms were smuggled. Nearby is a small diorama of the Cu Chi Tunnels. The adjoining room has examples of infantry weapons used by the VC and various South Vietnamese and US medals, hats and plaques. A map shows communist advances during the dramatic collapse of South Vietnam in early 1975. There are also photographs of the liberation of Saigon. Deep beneath the building is a network of reinforced concrete bunkers and fortified cor-ridors. The system, branches of which stretch all the way to Reunification Palace, included living areas, a kitchen and a large meeting hall, In 1963 President Diem and his brother hid here before fleeing to Cha Tam Church. The network is not currently open to the pub lie because most of the tunnels are flooded. but if you want to bring a torch (flashlight), a museum guard might show you around.

HISTORY MUSEUM

The stunning Sino-French-style building that houses the History Museum was built in 1929 by the Societe des Etudes Indochinoises. It's worth a visit just to view the architecture! The museum has an excellent collection of artefacts illustrating the evolution of the cultures of Vietnam, from the Bronze Age Dong Son civilisation (13th century BC to 1st century AD) and the Oc-Eo (Funan) civilisation (1st to 6th centuries AD), to the Cham, Khmer and Vietnamese. There are many valuable rel ics taken from Cambodia's Angkor Wat. At the back of the building on the 3rd floor is a research library (Tell: 829 0268; Mon-Sai) with numerous books from the French-colonia! period about Indochina. Across from the entrance to the museum you'll see the elaborate Temple of King Hung Vuong. The Hung kings are said to have been the first rulers of the Vietnamese nation, having established their rule in the Red River region before it was invaded by the Chinese.

JADE EMPEROR PAGODA

Built in 1909 by the Cantonese (Quang Dong) Congregation, the Jade Emperor Pagoda is truly a gem among Chinese temples. It is one of the most spectacularly colourful pagodas in HCMC, filled with statues of phantasmal divinities and grotesque heroes. The pungent smoke of burning joss sticks fills the air, obscuring the exquisite woodcarvings decorated with gilded Chinese characters. The roof is covered with elaborate tile work. The statues, which represent characters from both the Buddhist and Taoist traditions, are made of reinforced papier-mache. The pagoda is dedicated to the Emperor of Jade, the supreme Taoist god. Inside the main building are two especially fierce and menacing figures. On the right (as you face the altar) is a 4m-high statue of the general who defeated the Green Dragon (depicted underfoot). On the left is the general who defeated the White Tiger, which is also being stepped on. The Taoist Jade Emperor (or King of Heaven, Ngoc Hoang), draped in luxurious robes, presides over the main sanctuary. He is flanked by his guardians, the Four Big Diamonds (Tu Dai Kim Cuong), so named because they are said to be as hard as diamonds. Out the door on the left-hand side of the Jade Emperor's chamber is another room. The semi-enclosed area to the right (as you enter) is presided over by Thanh Hoang, the Chief of Hell; to the left is his red horse. Other figures here represent the gods who dispense punishments for evil acts and rewards for good deeds. The room also contains the famous Hall of the Ten Hells - carved wooden panels illustrating the varied torments awaiting evil people in each of the Ten Regions of Hell. On the other side of the wall is a fascinating little room in which the ceramic figures of 12 women, overrun with children and wearing colourful clothes, sit in two rows of six. Each of the women exemplifies a human character istic, either good or bad (as in the case of the woman drinking alcohol from a jug). Each fig ure represents one year in the 12-year Chinese calendar.

FINE ARTS MUSEUM

A classic yellow-and-white building with a modest Chinese influence, the Fine Arts Museum houses one of the more interesting collections in Vietnam - ranging from lac quer and enamelware to contemporary oil paintings by Vietnamese and foreign artists. If that doesn't sound enticing, just go to see the huge hall with its beautifully tiled floors. On the 1st floor is a display of officially accepted contemporary art: most of it is just kitsch or desperate attempts to roaster abstract art, but occasionally something brilliant is displayed here. Most of the recent art is for sale and prices are fair. The 2nd floor has older, politically correct art. Some of it is pretty crude: pictures of heroic figures waving red flags, children with rifles, a wounded soldier joining the Communist Party, innumerable tanks and weaponry, grotesque Americans and God-like reverence for Ho Chi Minh. However, it's worth seeing because Vietnamese artists managed not to be as dull and conformist as their counterparts in Eastern Europe sometimes were. Once you've passed several paintings and sculptures of Uncle Ho, you will see that those artists who studied before 1975 managed to somehow transfer their own aesthetics onto the world of their prescribed subjects. Most impressive are some drawings of prison riots in 1973 and some remarkable abstract paintings. The 3rd floor has a good collection of older art dating back to the 4th century, including Oc-Eo (Funan) sculptures of Vishnu, the Buddha and other revered figures (carved in both wood and stone), which resemble styles of ancient Greece and Egypt. You will also find here the best Cham pieces outside of Danang. Also interesting are the many pieces of Indian art, such as stone elephant heads. Some pieces clearly originated in Angkor culture.

XA LOI PAGODA

Famed as the repository of a sacred relic of the Buddha, Xa Loi Pagoda was built in 1956. In August 1963 truckloads of armed men under the command of President Ngo Dinh Diem's brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu, attacked Xa Loi Pagoda, which had become a centre of opposition to the Diem government. The pagoda was ransacked and 400 monks and nuns, including the country's 80-year-old Buddhist patriarch, were arrested. This raid and others elsewhere helped solidify opposition among Buddhists to the Diem regime, a crucial factor in the US decision to support the coup against Diem. This pagoda was also the site of several self-immolations by monks protesting against the Diem regime and the American War. Women enter the main hall of Xa Loi Pagoda by the staircase on the right as you come in the gate; men use the stairs on the left. The walls of the sanctuary are adorned with paintings depicting the Buddha's life. A monk preaches every Sunday from Sam to 10am. On days of the full moon and new moon, special prayers are held from 7am to 9am and 7pm to 8pm.

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