A Return To Saigon (Ho Chi Minh)
A Thai Airways flight from Bangkok to Saigon (only 1-1/2 hour trip). Don't think I'm being insensitive but the majority of the Vietnamese people still refer to this city as Saigon, not Ho Chi Minh. Met at the airport and transfered to the Legend Hotel with free time over the next two days. The Legend was located facing the Saigon River within easy walking distance of Old Saigon, its restaurants and shops. Saigon has an estimated population of over eight million and it seemed that at least half of this population were riding smelly, noisy motorbikes. After 10 minutes on the streets, I had a sore throat and sinus infections are also very common. The motor bike pollution is so terrible that the people on the bikes wear face masks to keep from inhaling the fumes. A hectic and dirty, but exciting, city.
We stayed at the Sofitel Plaza Saigon the last time, just across from the former U.S. and French embassies. Who will ever forget scenes of the evacuation from the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy with the helicopter pilots trying to get just one more person out to the U.S. carriers. After stays in both hotels, I still like the Sofitel Plaza better. There is now a Park Hyatt Saigon, Sheraton Saigon, and Caravelle Hotel to choose from in the luxury range. FYI, luxury room prices are nothing like the prices in other countries...still quite reasonable.
Saigon is a great walking city and light years away from Hanoi in style and attitude. There is very little left of the Old Saigon with the exception of the Rex Hotel. The Rex Hotel is still a favorite of those people who want a hotel with a history, and the Rex certainly has that. It was once French garage, then expanded by the Vietnamese, and finally used by the U.S. Information Agency (or the CIA) from 1962 to 1970. This is the place foreign correspondents hung out during the Vietnam War and still has a lot of ambiance but there are nicer places to stay for the same money.
There are really just three must sees in Saigon and we had visited them on on our first trip. Briefly, they are:
- The Reunification Palace, home of former president Ngo Dinh Diem, the U.S.-backed leader of Vietnam (he was assassinated in 1962). Images of this building are also etched into the World's mind when Saigon fell in April, 1975. The tanks that crashed through the gates are still there in the entryway. You can tour the private quarters, war command room, etc. and watch another propaganda war film;
- Notre Dame Cathedral, constructed between 1877-1883 using bricks from Marseilles and near the Saigon Post Office; and
- The French-style General Post Office housed in an old colonial building. There are always people standing in front of it selling small booklets of old, cancelled stamps. Makes a good souvenir. If you are interested in newer stamps, go inside to the specialty stamps counter to buy some wonderful collector sets.
ex-Marine and I never got tired of admiring the beautiful young Vietnamese schoolgirls in their ao dais, long black silky hair flowing down their backs, walking or perched on motor bikes and bicycles. A pure white ao dai symbolizes purity and young girls don't wear soft pastel shades until they are older. Only married women wear strong colors.
The younger girls wear white shirts and black pants...
What did we do? Walked along Dong Khoi Street, Saigon's main shopping street (formerly Rue Catinat). Lots of good shops, silk tailors and interesting just to browse...and...did a lot of eating. I can't give you any particular recommendations. We would just stop and eat anywhere that looked nice and smelled good. Pho, Vietnamese noodle soup is the national dish. Pho is everywhere but I usually only eat any kind of soup if (a) there is nothing else to eat or (b) I'm sick. There was a wide array of restaurants and we ended up eating at the same place twice, down a little alley-street by the Landmark Hotel in a local restaurant where we were the only foreigners.
