Saigon : City on the Move

Colonial Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City is a metropolis on the move and I am not just talking about the City's plentiful motorbikes. Historically known as Saigon, it is Vietnam's most dizzying, high-octane city of commerce and culture that has driven the whole forward with its limitless energy and booming economy.

Statue of Ho Chi Minh in front of City Hall

Notre Dame Cathedral

Wander through alleys to ancient pagodas or teeming markets, past ramshackle wooden shops selling silk and spices, before fast-forwarding into the future beneath sky scrapers and mammoth malls. The ghosts of the past live on in the churches, temples, former GI hotels and government buildings that one generation ago witnessed a city in turmoil.

Inside the Cathedral

Old Saigon Post Office Interior

Among the interesting landmarks to visit in colonial Ho Chi Minh City are the War Museum and the former Presidential Palace, the Notre Dame Cathedral, Old Saigon Post Office, Dong Khoi Street, Continental Hotel, Opera House and City Hall.

Continental Hotel

Facade of the Old Saigon Post Office

Whether you want to relive the colonial experience in sumptuous French-era hotels or seek out the cheapest guesthouse, classiest restaurants or street food, designer boutique or the serum of the markets, Saigon has it all. Put simply, there is nowhere else quite like it.

Central Park in front of The Opera House

Flowery Night Scape

All in all, this Saigon experience is brief but nonetheless memorable for even for just a couple of days I have learned to mingle with the locals, taste their savory noodles and banh-mi, and crossed its busy street without being run-over by its thousand motorcycles plying in its streets.

Opera House at Night