Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) > Reviews (9)

As much as those in authority try to change Saigon to Ho Chi Minh the more the locals hold onto Saigon. You see despite the passage of time and outwardly friendly gesturing between North and South Vietnam there is still much distrust between the two. So holding onto a historical name is one way of showing the other how they really feel.

Saigon is a wonderful capital that is clogged morning, noon and night with motorbikes, bicycles, pedicabs and the occasional 4 wheeled vehicle. It has much to offer and despite the constant stories of robberies and muggings it is a safe city to visit. Pollution isn't on the scale of Bangkok but when you compare it to Hanoi some work clearly needs to be done to clear the air.

Saigon sprawls over 16 districts but the main attractions and most of the accommodation are housed within district one. It has population of almost 5 million who live in homes ranging from tiny squats to western style palatial apartments but nearly everyone seems to own a motorbike. Rush hour on the main boulevards is truly a memorable sight. Quit how there are not more accidents is mystifying.

ACCOMMODATION

Backpackers will be delighted to hear that the Pham Ngu Lao area of Saigon not only smells and sounds like the Khao San road (Bangkok) but also competes with it on a hedonistic level. The streets in the area have more westerners wandering around than locals with the result that western tastes are well catered for.

There is a huge range of accommodation available. We stayed at the Neu guesthouse run by an extremely friendly Vietnamese family. Based on D Bui Vien just off the busy D De Tham street it has ensuite double rooms from $6. Each day we returned to our room to find it had been cleaned and tidied. There is a safety box available at reception and the laundry service is excellent. All in all Neu guesthouse was a wonderful base to explore Saigon.

SHOPPING

While Saigon lacks an area as rich in shopping possibilities as Hanoi's Old Quarter they are nonetheless countless opportunities to blow some dong. At the budget end, Pham Ngu Lao has plenty of places to buy T-shirts and souvenirs. Vietnam is renowned for its flagrant disregard for copyright laws so there is at least half a dozen CD shops that offer high quality copies of hundreds of different titles. Selling at 10,000 dong a CD, Vietnam is by far the cheapest way to enhance your music collection in South East Asia.

One of the main thoroughfares in District 1, Le Loi has many classy branded shops with the real thing selling at hugely discounted prices. If like us your budget is dwarfed by such shops then the Ben Thanh market near the Rex hotel is ideal. This market has it all but bargaining is essential. The pressure to buy in the market is a little overbearing at first but if you stick to your guns then you'll find some real bargains

ATTRACTIONS

The War Remnants Museum (previously known as the Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes, this was changed so as not to upset tourists from those 2 countries) is probably Saigon's most visited attraction.

The museum is broken up into 6 sections, each one starkly depicting the American war in all its brutality. Some of the images/exhibits are a little hard to stomach. For example there are 2 vessels containing dead babies that have deformities attributed to the dioxin spraying by the Americans of Vietnamese cropland during the war.

As well as the thousands of images there are artillery, armoured vehicles and planes located in the courtyard in front of the museum. Visiting the museum is both an informative and moving experience. Every image has an accompanying text in several languages giving the background to the scenes depicted. Near the exit of the museum is an example of the tiger cages used by the Southern Vietnamese forces for holding Viet Cong prisoners.

After visiting other sights like the Reunification Palace and Ho Chi Minh Museum it is easy to get cultured out so why not try something different. Saigon Water Park.is closed on Wednesdays, something we were unaware of. You can imagine our disgust when we arrived in a taxi to be met by locked doors. Adverts for this park are everywhere in the city but they all fail to alert potential customers to the above fact.

With disappointment staring us in the face we asked our driver whether there was an alternative. There was, but at a price, for $8 he would transport us to Damsen Water Park on the other side of the city in district 10. Reluctantly, but not wanting to sweat it out in the city for another day, we accepted.

Damsen Water Park was wonderful. With at least 6 huge slides it had everything we were looking for. The place was deserted so we didn't need to queue at any time. Supervision is quite high on all the slides which is reassuring and the wave pool is one of the best we've seen. Entry to the park for a full day was only $3 and for an extra 50 cents you can rent a security box.

We arrived in Saigon after an interesting trip by bus on the open tour ticket. The agency we used to buy the ticket was TM Brothers who are omnipresent throughout Vietnam. They offered a quality service and their prices seemed to be among the cheapest available. While in Saigon we took their half day trip to the Cu Chi tunnels that lie just over an hour outside the city. The tour costs just $4 and is essential for understanding how the North Vietnamese achieved their victory against the odds.

The Cu Chi tunnels are a 250 km network of underground paths that lie in a strategic area surrounding the village of Cu Chi. The Viet Cong used the tunnels successfully to aid their ambush offensives. The tunnels often ran under US and South Vietnamese base camps. The entrances to the tunnels were superbly camouflaged and were surrounded by gruesome booby traps to repel the enemy. Many examples of these traps are displayed on the tour.

Parts of the Cu Chi tunnels have been opened to the public. The tunnels are uncomfortably small measuring just 120 cm tall and 80 cm wide. Thankfully there is a tourist version that has been widened to accommodate larger western frames.

The tourist tunnel is 100 metres in length and can be negotiated by simply crouching. The original tunnels require that you get down on your hands and knees and are surprisingly easy to navigate as long as you are not claustrophobic. All tunnels open to the public are well lit and aerated.

The tunnels were dug using the simplest of tools and in some cases were up to 3 levels deep. At the height of the American War there were 16,000 people living in the tunnels. As a result of carpet and napalm bombing however only 6,000 guerillas emerged after the war but their demoralising effect on the enemy was one of the factors that gave the Viet Cong victory.

EATING OUT

Chi Lang Cafe just off the Notre Dame cathedral is a nice stop off if you've just stocked up on dong from the nearby HBSC bank. The cafe looks over a small grass lined square and plays wonderfully soothing Latino music. The fare is reasonably priced and you get a really relaxed feeling from inside as the traffic and bustle of Saigon goes off just a couple of yards away.

As previously mentioned D De Tham street is basically the Khao San road of Saigon. It is forever bustling with westerners and the shops, restaurants and pubs that so suit our tastes. So it should be no surprise that there should be a cafe called Good Morning Vietnam. While it is relatively expensive, the bamboo decor and wonderful coffee makes for a great lazy afternoon just people watching or reading a photocopied classic.

Our favourite restaurant on D De Tham was the Cyber Cafe which has good internet facilities on the second level. Not only was the place inexpensive, in the heart of the action and boasting a top menu but it also had the friendliest staff around. Beer prices were also much cheaper than in the nearby pubs.

ENTERTAINMENT

Backpackers bar on Pham Ngu Lao is a mirror image of the pubs back home. The music policy is joyfully alternative and at 10,000 dong (.7 euro) for a large BGI the prices are reasonably cheap. This place is a great Saturday night pub when you want to let loose after a week of culture and sanity. The decor is wooden in style and the soft lighting is punctuated by a few sets of fairy lights.

Sheridan's Irish bar is run by an amiable Scottish man called Michael and has Irish music sessions at the weekend. The players are mostly from Saigon but have been trained by Ireland's finest. The pub itself is not exactly authentic despite all the blurb adorning the walls. The only thing that perfectly captures the spirit of home are the inflated beer prices (80,000 dong for a can of Guinness!). In saying that the owner tries his best in his not so natural adapted brogue.

We never got to visit the famous Apocalypse Now pub but friends of ours did and they couldn't recommend it more. Sounded like the perfect place to round off an evening as the music, atmosphere and colourful characters are among Saigon's finest.

While Hanoi just about has the overall edge on its southern counterpart, Saigon remains an essential stop for anyone visiting Vietnam. You could easily fill a weeks itinerary of interesting stuff to do. Vietnam and its capital has a little way before it becomes a destination for the new millennium, but its place alongside Thailand and Bali as a South East Asia's tourist Mecca is not that far away.