Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City, take your pick.........
Rubber trees on the way to the Cu Chi District and Tunnels
It was only a little over an hour flight from Hoi An (the airport is actually in Da Nang) to Saigon, however it seems a world away. Hoi An's population is around 125,000. The city of Saigon's population is right at 8.5 million people (about the same as New York). If you include the metropolitan area that number swells to over 12 million, which is around thirteen percent of the countries total population. This makes it the largest city in Vietnam and the largest city that I know of that has two names.
Is the city name Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City...……..I guess it depends on who you ask. The conclusion of the Vietnam war was on April 30, 1975. On July 2, 1976 the ruling government (the Communist Party of Vietnam) changed the official name of the city from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City in honor of the countries former leader who had passed away in September, 1969. Signage on buildings, billboards and cars would sometimes refer to the city as Ho Chi Minh City but almost equally it would be referred to as Saigon. It seems as if either name will do.
Our hotel is directly across the street from Ben Thanh market which is a huge outdoor market. There are stalls selling everything from shoes, clothes, silk products, food, toys and so much more. We walked around the downtown for a while but didn't venture into the market. We found the section of town we're in a nice mix of old and new buildings, numerous parks and a very nice pedestrian mall that runs several blocks from city hall to the Saigon River.
Once we came back to the room we had a huge surprise outside our window. The Ben Thanh market transformed right before our eyes. The stalls that were open during the day were closing. On the street portable tents, lights and more stuff to buy was set up for the night market. It was amazing to see it set up and running in about fifteen minutes. We're not sure how late it is open but we could hear activity well into the night.
The night market from our hotel room. All the tents, lights and goods being sold were set up in about 10-15 minutes
This morning we met our local guide and driver. Our guides name is Tan. He grew up in a small fishing village in central Vietnam. He moved here to attend one of the local universities. After graduation he worked a couple of years in the hotel business before becoming a tour guide in 2009.
He is super easy to understand and very informative. Our driver is named Kong. His English is somewhat limited but he is very friendly as well. He also has to have nerves of steel and incredible patience to drive in this traffic, especially with all the motor scooters (Tan told us there are over 45 million registered throughout the country). The 30 second video below was taken as the traffic signal turned from red to green. This is just a typical intersection.
It's not unusual to see a motor scooter with this much and sometimes more
I didn't have the camera ready but I actually saw one with a small refrigerator on the back
The green jacket and helmet indicate they are drivers for a company called Grab. It is actually owned by Uber and works the same way, only on scooters instead of cars
There was a section of town with 5-6 blocks of nothing but scooter parts. There were probably enough parts there to make a couple of million more scooters.
Our first stop was about two hours from our hotel in the Cu Chi district of the city. This was a very emotional experience for both of us as we visited the Cu Chi Tunnels. These tunnels which are over 100 miles in length connected seven rural villages. Construction of the tunnels started well before the US involvement in the war. As the war progressed the Viet Cong fighters, many of whom were from the rural areas of South Vietnam expanded the tunnels in both length and complexity. They were highly effective as both defense and attack points against our ground troops. Watching a film that was produced as a propaganda film, seeing bomb craters, unexploded bombs, shrapnel and the remains of an army tank were very moving in many ways as we reflected on that very difficult time.
It wasn't easy, but it was definitely something that I am glad we had to opportunity to see. Do we understand better what went on, yes. Does it make any more sense, not necessarily. We took a few pictures but out of respect I'm not going to post them on this blog. If you are interested in learning more you may find additional information on line or at the website link below.
We made our way back to the city center for a few additional stops. These included a visit to the Thien Hau Temple in the "Chinatown" area. A visit to the Independence Palace which was the home of the President of South Vietnam. A look at some of the French influenced architecture at the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Old Post Office (which is still being used today). These buildings were not only built in the French style but all the materials used in their construction were imported from France.
Thien Hau Temple-Built in 1776, just as the US was becoming a country
Inside the Thien Hau Temple
The Post Office
Notre Dame Cathedral
Book sellers pedestrian street
The Opera House
It was a long and incredibly interesting day. We topped it off with a huge meal at a restaurant just down the street from the hotel called the Barbeque Garden. The meat and vegetables were plentiful and they were served raw for us to cook at our table. As we made our way back to the hotel the night market was opening. We were slightly tempted to cross the street but a warm shower and air conditioning were waiting upstairs in the hotel.
