History of Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is a city with a storied past. Formerly known as Saigon, the city was ruled by many dynasties with the last being the Nguyen dynasty, thus many Vietnamese carry this as their last name.
The French attacked and captured Saigon in 1859 and officially named it the capital of the colony of Cochinchina in 1862. For a brief period between 1887-1901, it even served as the administrative center for the entire Indochinese Union which included Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. Though eventually the capital was moved to Hanoi, under the 100 year French Rule, Saigon was known as the Pearl of the East.
After the Japanese occupation during World War II and the First Indochina War (or the French War as the Vietnamese call it), the country was split in two at the 17th parallel and Saigon served as the capital of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).
Saigon remained the capital of South Vietnam from 1954-1975 until the reunification of the north and south at the end of the Vietnam War or the American War as the Vietnamese call it. Saigon was renamed to Ho Chi Minh City in 1976 to honor the late revolutionary leader of the Viet Minh, Ho Chi Minh who died before seeing his country reunified.
Though no longer the capital of Vietnam, HCMC is the largest city in Vietnam with a population of 14 million people. As Vietnam’s economic hub with a complex history, HCMC features a combination skyscrapers and French colonial architecture. Vibrant street culture mixes with an increasingly cosmopolitan lifestyle, providing a variety of things to do for visitors.
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Tet Festival in HCMC
Having mistakenly arrived at the end of Tet, Vietnam’s most important celebration marking the arrival of the Lunar New Year, I was treated to magnificent displays of the Year of the Fire Horse. This was my favorite part of HCMC, and I spent hours admiring the colorful, flowered, and illuminated horses.
Not only were the installations captivating , many of them have posted QR codes which explain their meaning. While displays peppered just about every square and park, the grandest areas which also included musical entertainment at night were at the Spring Flower Festival in Tao Dan Park and on the Nguyen Hue Walking Street.
I visited both areas during the day. The Tao Dan Spring Flower Festival required 60,000 dong or barely more than two dollars to enter and the Nguyen Hue Walking Street was free. Neither were very crowded during the day, but the night time drew loads of tourists and locals alike who steadily streamed in a counter clockwise direction around the many horse installation and other displays that featured thousands of orchids, roses, hydrangeas, poinsettias, and countless other flowers, vegetables, and grasses.
To me, it was remarkable to see poinsettas and hydrangeas at the same time! And the amount of flowers, at least 100,000 flower baskets, was mind boggling. Though grander in scale and permanent for a few months, all the flowers at Ho Chi Minh’s proudest festival brought back memories of my experience at the World’s Largest Easter Celebration in Antigua Guatemala.
Scooters in Ho Chi Minh City
Another nice thing about visiting Ho Chi Minh City at the end of Tet is many Vietnamese travel across the country to pay respects to their ancestors as Tet is a sacred time for family reunions, including sweeping away bad luck and giving luck money in red envelopes to children and elders as they celebrate the start of spring. As a result, HCMC was notably missing thousands of scooter riding Asians who zip along roads with no regard for crosswalks. In fact, crosswalks only represent a false since of security. I didn’t realize how lucky I was until I visited Hanoi a week after the festival ended.
Though the scooter drivers are quite adept at avoiding you, it doesn’t change the fact that you just have to step into the traffic and go or for that matter walk along side them in the roads because the prime parking for motor bikes are on the sidewalk! It’s amazing there aren’t more accidents, though in general, studies show slow drivers cause the most crashes. So I guess the constant flow and their “just keep going” attitude serves them well.
Things to Do in Ho Chi Minh City
While I spent much of my time admiring the holiday celebrations during my two days in HCMC, I’m sure not all of my readers are as enthralled with horses and flowers as I am, so I will move on to other places to visit in HCMC.
Many of the attractions are clustered around the Nguyen Hue Walking Street, so it is easy to mark them off the list in an hour on a walking tour of Ho Chi Minh City. Begin your walk early in the morning, as the heat can be intense by midday, even in the winter.
City Hall
Start at City Hall, the People’s Committee Building, which stands at the northern end of the pedestrian street. The ornate, yellow building was the former Hotel de Ville but now houses government office. While the inside is off limits to visitors the colonial architecture demands admiration. Photographers will want to return at sunset when the building glows beneath a pink sky.
From City Hall, enjoy Nyugen Hue Walking Street as you meander among shade trees without having to dodge scooters. Take a detour toward the Saigon Opera House just a block off the granite promenade which is known for its fountain and light shows and street performers in the evening.
Saigon Opera House
Along with the city, the Saigon Opera House has a colored history. Damaged in WWII, it was later used as temporary housing for displaced families and even acted as the National Assembly for South Vietnam. Today it stands completely restored with its French Colonial architecture and offers world class performances.
The Central Post Office
Heading northwest from the Opera House leads you to the Central Post Office and the Notre-Dame Cathedral which are positioned across the street from one another. The cathedral was closed for renovation when I visited, but the Post Office was teeming with people.
The historic building, originally designed by Gustave Eiffel in 1860, attracts thousands of visitors who purchase, write, and mail postcards. I joined in the fun and wrote one to my mom. We will see how long it takes to reach the USA. Fixated on the task at hand, I almost missed the old wooden telephone booths and historic maps. Take a few minutes to absorb the history.
Fun Fact:
The post office used to offer a letter-writing service for illiterates and people who needed translation services. Unfortunately, the last public letter writer, who worked at the post office for 70 years, passed in 2023.
After these quick stops, prepare to spend more time at the Independence Palace and the War Remnants Museum. These are good afternoon activities for avoiding the heat.
The Independence Palace
The Independence Palace, with its 1960’s modernistic architecture, is the site where the Vietnam War ended in 1975 when tanks rolled through its gates. Typically, when I visit palaces, I spend more time outside admiring gardens than inside, and even then, I tend to whip the historic structures.
I expected the same while visiting this Reunification Palace, but somehow the 1970’s concrete time capsule captured my attention, and I spent a few hours wandering the breezy hallways that circle the opulent rooms in the center.
While the main floor featured many lavish greeting rooms for different dignitaries, I liked seeing the cinema room, the private quarters, and the underground war room bunker the best. The bedroom closet, stretching the length of half the building, gave a new meaning to “walk-in-closet”. It was bigger than the sleeping quarters, sitting room, and bathroom combined!
The underground command center with tactical maps, radio and communication devices, and reinforced sleeping quarters were so interesting to see. Along with the posted descriptions, it brought to life the war planning of the USA and the South Vietnamese. Perhaps I could just relate better to this palace rather those of China or Europe because it hardly predated my birth rather than it being centuries old.
The War Remnants
The palace was a good warm up for visiting the War Remnants Museum next as I had limited knowledge about the Vietnam War. The War Remnants Museum features a collection of military equipment in the courtyard and has three floors of exhibits in its air-conditioned building.
Probably the two most poignant and sobering displays to me were a room featuring 275 photographs by war correspondents who lost their lives during the conflict and a room documenting the long-term biological and environmental effects of Agent Orange, the chemical sprayed to burn the forest in order to find the enemy.
The war correspondent photographs depicted struggles on both sides of the combat and the Agent Orange room included jarred specimens and pictures of the heart breaking deformities the chemical has caused in humans for four generations.
Both rooms, showing the atrocities of the conflict, led me to do even more research on the Vietnam War. Especially because it was weird to me to read they fought to free the South, which was democratic not communist, and unify the country. Of course hindsight is 20/20 and I may be naïve as it relates to the time period, but at the risk of not offending anyone it sure seems like a war with the French and the USA could have been avoided.
If the French hadn’t treated the Vietnamese so poorly during their 100 year occupancy, there might not have been cause for a revolution. Had any democratic country listened to the pleas of the repressed Indochinese, they might not have reached out for the USSR’s support when they revolted against the French. Then the USA wouldn’t have feared the spread of communism and felt the need to fight for democracy.
There was probably more to it, but that is what I gleaned from my surface level review. I feel like so many lives could have been saved. Especially since in the end, while Vietnam is ruled by a single party, it turned to the West to save its economy just 11 years after the war through the launch of the Doi Moi in 1986. Today it is the second largest exporter of coffee and its industrialization in booming. There are American products everywhere. Outside of a Yankee’s game, I’ve never seen so much NY Yankee paraphernalia in my life!
Ben Thanh Market
Speaking of the NY Yankees, you can find all sorts of knock off brands at the bustling Ben Thanh Market. This covered, day market sells clothing, watches, packaged food, souvenirs, and fresh produce. Its food stalls are filled with locals enjoying snails, pho, and other street food favorites.
Visiting foreign markets is one of my favorite things to do. I love seeing how vendors and patrons go about their business, and I am always intrigued by crazy cuisine. Sometimes I wish I could just try the local chow, but it is not worth the risk of getting sick on vacation.
Where to Eat in Ho Chi Minh City
Bep Me In
Fortunately, there are some Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City, and I found Bep Me In tucked behind an alley of nail salons not far from the market. The open air restaurant was full at 4:30 pm on a Saturday. They asked if I had a reservation, and when I responded “no”, they replied, “come back tomorrow.”
Knowing I was joining my tour group to explore Vietnam tomorrow, I said I couldn’t, so they pointed me to a bench and said “wait 15 minutes”. Two minutes later I was seated at a community table and ordering Ban Xeo, the crispy pancakes for which they are famous. I picked the beef and mushroom option.
It took a while to be served, but it was worth the wait, despite not really knowing exactly how to eat them. The pancakes are sliced and served with crispy rice paper, greens, and dipping sauce. You are supposed to wrap the pancake pieces with the mint and lettuce in the crispy rice paper and then dip it in the sauce which softens the paper.
The two English girls seated next to me and I couldn’t help but laugh when the rice paper somewhat crumbled in our attempts to make a “taco”.
Another good place to eat in HCMC that has air conditioning and a toilet in the back room is Xoai Mango Local Dishes. I welcomed a restful lunch of coconut water straight from the shell and fried rice with an egg on top. My only caution is to double check if they take credit cards because almost every merchant claimed the machine was broken for various reasons, with the most common excuse being the New Year holiday.
Where to Stay in Ho Chi Minh City
Cash is king in Vietnam. One dollar equals about 25,000 dong so you will feel like a millionaire! And luckily everything is cheap, including accommodations. Many four-star hotels only cost $60.
During my stay in Ho Chi Minh City, I booked the hotel my tour group advised which was A25 Hotel 55 Cach Mang Thang Tam. The receptionist spoke good English and the room, though small, was nice. It included coffee, tea, two waters, slippers, and a variety of toiletries including a shaving kit and a toothbrush and toothpaste, along with a breakfast buffet. Be sure to splurge for the premium room if you want a window.
The hotel was situated on a main thoroughfare and was about 15 minutes’ walking distance or less from the aforementioned sites. A more convenient location though likely substantially noisier, at least during the Lunar New Year celebration, would be at The Rex or the famous Continental Hotel, the oldest in Saigon. These historic accommodations are about double the price of the A25 hotel, but worth a visit for their historical value.
Take a Side Trip to the Cu Chi Tunnels
Before leaving Ho Chi Minh City to explore the rest of Vietnam, don’t forget to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels. The Cu Chi Tunnels comprise an immense, sophisticated underground labyrinth stretching over 250 kilometers, meticulously hand-dug by the Viet Cong to serve as a hidden subterranean city complete with living quarters, command centers, and ingenious ventilation systems disguised as termite mounds.
The entry building includes a collection of explosives that didn’t detonate as well as many guns. The Viet Cong were so poor that they utilized anything left behind and some of the guns were made from soldered shrapnel.
Different displays from hidden entries, to termite mounds, to manikins in their uniforms, to a tank with a shot out gasoline compartment because that is the only way the could explode them dotted the pathways through the forest.
It was hard to believe the tunnel system they built. The red clay turned hard when exposed to the air, so it not only were they solid, but very intricate. The tunnels were either disguised to look like a dead end or included trap doors with vicious booby traps made of long metal stakes. I couldn’t help but think of my old horse trainer who was injured in one while one of his army mates was killed.
The tunnels included rooms for sleeping and cooking and they went deep enough to reach water underground! The system was quite remarkable. Before squeezing through a portion of the three-story maze, we took a rest stop at the shooting range and café. It was not very restful listening to AK47’s explode without ear protection!
While I’m not against shooting ranges, I was thankful to move on and give my ringing ears a break. I can’t imagine what being in a war would be like, and I am grateful for those who serve our country.
There are two sections of the tunnels that may be visited. The more convenient tourist friendly site called Bin Dinh or the more authentic site called Ben Duoc. If I had a say in the matter, though farther away from HCMC, I likely would have chosen Ben Duoc as it is quieter and more realistic.
Bike Tour
That said, I had joined our G-Adventure tour that arranged a 20 kilometer bike ride to the closer section with Vietnam Bike Tours. They are one of many operators offering a variety cycling options. Some board ferries and some last all day. Our tour lasted about four hours, not counting transport outside of HCMC.
We began outside of HCMC in Tan Phu Trung Village on well maintained, shock absorbing mountain bikes complete with water bottle holders and helmets. The bikes exceeded my expectations. The ride took us along paved country roads, dirt trails, and just about every type of terrain in between.
The flat and methodical ride led us through a rubber plantation and to a rice paper factory. Historically, the French rubber plantations were hell on earth for the Vietnamese forced laborers. Today the state-owned enterprises provide shade for cyclists to the Cu Chi Tunnels.
The rice paper factory was closed due to the holiday when we visited, but we could still see the outdoor drying racks and our cycling guide explained the process. The patterns on the paper come from the thatched drying rack.
In all, I really enjoyed a weekend in Ho Chi Minh City and look forward to our next adventure in Vietnam. Next up…Hoi An! ETB
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