Advantages: Exciting culture, new sites and smells, beats the old humdrum cities Disadvantages: Very hot in April
...I had to go to Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam on business. I was brought up in the far east and I knew this place as Saigon. Sometime in the seventies Saigon became Ho Chi Min City.
***FIRST IMPRESSIONS***
My first impression was that it was very hot and dusty and had a strange sickly smell. Most foreign airports strike me that way when I first get off the plane, so this isn't something peculiar to this place. There were still soldiers, military vehicles ... ...staying at the heart of Ho Chi Min City, so I was able to take in a few of the sites.
The War Remnants Museum is a chilling reminder of the horrors of war and this city has seen a great deal of that. The museum hi lights the suffering of the Vietnamese people during the Vietnam War. It used to be called the 'Museum of American War Crimes' but was renamed so as not to offend American visitors. It houses a collection of weapons, artefacts, and some ...
jan007 10.11.2008
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Advantages: Modern Vietnam With One Eye Carefully Trained On The Past. Disadvantages: The Scam Merchants Will Have Your Eye Out If You're Not Careful.
...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. ... ...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 ...
indiecater 22.09.2002
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Advantages: Convenient and reasonable prices Disadvantages: Noisy and crowded
...it is district 1. And Ho Chi Minh is big but not that big. So everything is more or less in walking distance when you look at the map. But HCM is not really made for walking - you got motorbikes parked all over so if you plan to walk remember that you'll have to walk up and down all the time - not to mention the heat. On the other hand why not - If you walk you get a much better chance to see everything you want. So I'll recommend walk out and if ... ...are very cheap - and like I said if you're more than one - maybe even cheaper than the motorbike taxies. A little thing about the taxies choose one of the bigger companies - the green one, yellow one, black or blue one they always go by the meter. Another options is to rent a bike of your own. The traffic looks scary but it's not as scary as it looks cause somehow everything is in slow-motion, which you'll realize once you get on the bike. It's fun ...
vilumdeluxe 17.03.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Advantages: Untouched rural beauty,breathtaking senery, cheap cost of living, friendly warm people,very little crime Disadvantages: culture shock, hygiene not up to western standards
Arriving in Ho Chi Minh Airport, the first thing that really struck me was the huge anti-aircraft guns sitting next to the runway, a very harsh reminder that this is a country just recovering from more than 30 years of war. This having been said, It has now been at peace with itself and it's neighbours for close to ten years. Certainly any reservations you initially had would be swepted away in the fast moving and neon lit lights of Saigon Proper. ... ...that all you would want to do is catch up on some well-deserved sleep. But instead you find yourself woken up and alert, as this wondrous and enchanting city breathes the life back into you. In fact if there is one thing this city has, It is an abundance of life and frantic hustle and bustle. Everywhere you look there is some facet of these peoples lives unfolding right in front of your eyes, as nothing in this country is really done behind closed ...
Sandman 08.07.2000 (22.06.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Advantages: an unforgatable place Disadvantages: pollution
At the time of my stay of 3 months for professional reason in Vietnam of mid January to mid April, I have had the luck to be lodged on Saigon. The city is a little rebel following Viet government because when the country decided to enter marked economy the capital Hanoi hesitated staying on the basements of the comunism when Saigon rushed in the new openings and got the mains markets.
Lived and impressions on the city: Tentacular city and bruillante. ... ...the night slightly to start again even more in the small hours. From my room at 8eme stacks the attenuated rumbling noise of the trafic, occured mainly by mupets and motorcycles and its overnight appearance in the avenues made one think of an enormous snake . He wake up in the small hours and increase crescendo.This one begin here toward 3hoo and reache its apogee to 7h00. The contrast between the middle air-conditioned of the hotel and the outside ...
krakakoutas 09.09.2004
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Advantages: Vibrant, bustling and thrilling Disadvantages: Street Hawkeres and Cyclo Drivers
My husband and I visited Vietnam in February of this year. Having previously visited Thailand we wanted to return to South East Asia but also to experience a new culture. Vietnam seemed the obvious choice, a relatively new tourist destination where you get real value for money.
After a 2 night stop in North Thailand (just to relive a bit of our honeymoon ;o)!) we arrived in Saigon. We thought that being late at night we wouldn't get too much of ... ...The place was buzzing...literally. The noise was awesome, mopeds humming past, horns beeping and indicator alerts chiming (this is a novel concept...we heard cars playing, amongst other things, Happy Birthday and Jingle Bells during our time in Vietnam!)
Tired but elated we arrived at the Grand Hotel, our home for the next three nights. One of the oldest hotels in the city, the Grand is palacial in architecture with views overlooking the busy Saigon ...
mrsclark 27.08.2003
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)
Advantages: Plenty to see Disadvantages: Weather unpredictable - can ground you
...- Vienna - Bangkok - Ho Chi Minh. We planned to make our own travel arrangements through the countryside as far north as Nha Trang. We arrived unaware that a cyclone was hitting hard from the Phillipines. Flooding up and down the country led to a state of emergency being declared throughout the country. Tourists were being shunted back to major towns and cities as fast as possible. So this situation put paid to our plans for a three week travelling ... ...was going to be Saigon and very little else for the duration. It was disappointing that we couldn't control our own proceedings and missed out on the beautiful countryside, sand sea and local village life that we had so looked forward to seeing. This is how we made do with what we had, which can often be the case with the unpredictable weather in this region................
Saigon is a great place to milch around if you can stand the humidity levels. ...
cadonn 31.07.2000
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Advantages: Cheap rooms and food Disadvantages: Tourism
I arrived in Saigon from Cambodia having travelled from Cambodia overland. Saigon, or Hoi Chi Minh City as it was renamed after the war, is the largest city in Vietnam and has many attractions for travellers and tourists.
As Saigon is the most popular city for tourists, areas have become very commercialised which has led to a more competitive tourist trade but does detract from the overall feel of the city. It’s a good city to start off on ... ...is catered for. Most people in the tourist area speak enough English to communicate but this does lead to a lot of hawkers and beggars.
Even in a bar hawkers who move table to table will accost you with silk prints, cigarettes and lighters to name a few. I advise not sitting next to an open window as passing hawkers and beggars will try their luck.
The upside of this commercialisation is that this is the cheapest city in Vietnam to live. The competition ...
joncr 17.02.2001
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Advantages: Loads of restaurants and accommodation for foreign backpackers Disadvantages: Little kids waiting to rob stupid foreigners
...so I was ready for Ho Chi Minh City. I was aware of the dangers in the city but still I am a sucker for little kids on the streets and this time it cost me 600 US dollars. There are many young children living on the streets and they wait outside foreign clubs and pubs to beg for money. I decided to buy them some food instead and as I was doing my Mother Teresa thing and handing out breakfast, a 5 year old kid who was so short he was basically standing ...
Dorita83 25.11.2008
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