Saigon, traffic jam

Saigon, traffic jam

Now that we have seen the most western side of Saigon, we will take a look at its more Asian face.

The first thing that will surprise you in your first visit to Saigon is the amount of motorbikes. It seems that each and everyone of the 10 million people who live in Ho Chi Minh City has its own bike!

You have to know that walking in the streets of any Vietnamese city can be dangerous. And Saigon is the most dangerous of all the towns in this country.

In some of the big avenues there are traffic lights, but in most of the streets there are not. To cross a street takes some practice. Do not wait for Saigonese drivers to stop, instead, start walking at a slow and steady path. Look at the face of the drivers that will try to avoid you. If you see some danger, stop. This way moto riders will have time to react.

HCMC Central Post Office

- Started to be built in 1886 and completed in 1891 under architect Villedieu's design, this magnificent building was located on a high hillock by the sie of the municipal cathedral with Hai Ba trung avenue in the back. The building's front side was adorned with rectangle squares inscribed with the names of telegraphic and electric inventors together with figures of men and women wearing laurel wreaths.A big clock was hung over the dome of the building . Inside the building , visitors can see two historical maps, one is "Saigon and its environments" created in 1892 and "Telegraphic network in South Vietnam and Combidia" created in 1936.
- The Central Post Office is available with 35 customer servicing counters equipped with up-to-date telecom facilities that enable direct telegraphic contact with any areas of the globe and any place in the country. In addition, there are various services such as registered postal parcel time alarm, express mail service, cultural souvenir products, telegraphic philately, telegraphic gift...,
Address : No.2 Paris Commune Park, Dist.1

Thien Hau Temple

Located in the center of Chinatown, Thien Hau Temple was built by the Cantonese Congregation in 1760 in order to express their gratitude to this Goddess for her protect during their immigration trip to Vietnam by sea. Huge circles of incense, some of which are one meter in diameter and can burn for a whole month, are hung in the main sanctuary.

Address: 710 Nguyen Trai Street., District 5

Open daily

Can Gio Mangrove Forest

The Can Gio Mangrove Forest was recognized as a World Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO in 2000. Covering an area of 75,740ha, the evergreen forest is a lively world of 150 kinds of flora, 137 species of fish, 31 species of reptiles, 4 species of mammals, 130 species of birds which has inspired biologists and nature lovers alike. At Can Gio, visitors will have opportunities not only to indulge in a fresh green environment but also to explore the mysteries of the tidal swampy ecosystem and thrill to the legends of amphibious commandos during the Vietnam War.

Giac Lam Pagoda

Built in 1744, Giac Lam Pagoda is considered the oldest pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City. All the construction reflects the fine art of southern Buddhist architecture featuring pleasant ambience with dark interior, subtle and meticulous sculptures, hundreds of precious 200-year-old statues of Buddha, Bodhisattva and Arhat, delicately engraved pillars and gilded descriptions in old Vietnamese characters.

Address: 118 Lac Long Quan Street, Tan Binh District

Open daily

Notre Dame Cathedral

Inaugurated in 1880, Notre Dame Cathedral is one of the oldest and biggest Catholic churches in Vietnam. This neo-Romanesque architecture, built with bricks and tiles imported from France, reminds of the cathedrals in Paris, Chartres or Reim. Visitors can attend mass held three times on weekdays and six times on Sundays.


Address: Cong xa Paris Square, Dong Khoi & Han Thuyen Streets, District 1, HCMC

Open: Daily, Sunday Mass 9:30am

Cu Chi Tunnels

The Cu Chi Tunnels is one of the most famous historical vestiges of Vietnam's national liberation war. The network consists of over 200 kilometers of tunnels connected with one another like a cobweb. Inside are fighting posts, kitchens, food and ammunition storage caches, medic care chambers, meeting chambers, commanding chambers as well as living quarters which enabled guerillas to held on to the land and fight for years. From this underground village, the revolutionary forces staged the 1968 general offensive and the Ho Chi Minh campaign in April 1975 to liberate South Vietnam.


Address: Phu My Hung Ward, Cu Chi District

Open daily: from 8am to 4pm.

Entry: VND 65,000

Reunification Palace

The Unification Hall, laid out on wind-water geomancy principles, is the most beautiful building of Vietnamese architecture of the 1960’s. The building is preserved almost as it was (presidential palace) under the old Saigon regime with the interior sophisticatedly decorated with fine Vietnamese art and crafts. Among its 100 rooms and chambers are president's reception room, credentials presentation room and banquet room.

Address: 106 Nguyen Du Street, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City

Open daily: from 8am to 11am and 1pm to 4pm.

Entry: VND15,000

Ho Chi Minh Museum

Located at a junction on the Saigon River, the Ho Chi Minh Museum was built in 1873 in European architecture except the roof which was made in elegant Asian style. From this port in 1911, the late President Ho Chi Minh boarded a French merchant ship bound for France in search of national salvation. The museum has a collection of 3,000 pictures and 700 artifacts, among which are plain everyday use objects of the first President of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

Address: 1 Nguyen Tat Thanh Street, District 4, Ho Chi Minh City

Tel: (84-8) 825 5740

Open daily: except Mondays from 8:00am to 11:30am and 1:30pm to 5:00pm

Entry: VND10,000

Viet Nam Historical Museum

Built in 1929, the Viet Nam Historical Museum has an excellent collection of about 30,000 artifacts on the evolution and development of the history and cultures of Vietnam, from the Bronze Age Dong Son civilization (13th century BC) to the last feudal dynasty ending in the mid-20th century, with emphasis on the southern Funan, Vietnamese, Cham and Khmer civilizations and regional acculturation.

Address: 2 Nguyen Binh Khiem Street, District 1

Tel: (84-8) 829 8146

Open daily: except Mondays from 8am to 11:30am and 1.30pm to 4:30pm

Entry: VND10,000

War Remnants Museum

The War Remnants Museum displays shocking evidences of atrocity committed by the foreign aggressors during Vietnam's two national liberation wars. There is an interesting collection of American weapons, and more impressive are a French guillotine sent to Vietnam in 1911, a model of the notorious tiger cages for keeping Vietnamese revolutionaries. It is now the most popular museum with international tourists.








Address : 28 Vo Van Tan Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City
Tel : (84-8) 829 0325
Open daily : from 8am to 11:45am and 1.30pm to 4:45pm
Entry : VND10,000

Ben Thanh Market

As Busy As Ben Thanh Market


Direction to Ben Thanh Market

What Saigonese know and don't know about their city's most familiar market-Ben Thanh Market

"If we don't have it, you don't need it." The two authors of Lonely Planet's travel guide to Vietnam use this sentence to describe Ben Thanh Market. "The legendary slogan of U.S. country stores applies equally well here," they say. In Vietnam, a song composer compared the market with the hustle and bustle of life. "Life is as busy as Ben Thanh Market," he wrote.

Name
The Ben Thanh management board says the name stems from the fact that at the beginning the market was near a wharf (beán) of Gia Dinh Citadel (thaønh).

History
Almost a century ago, in 1907, the construction of Ben Thanh Market was approved by the city council. Construction was under way in 1912 and it was completed in 1914. During World War II, the market was bombed by the Allied forces and heavily damaged. It was given a revamp in 1950.

Location
Ben Thanh Market has the best location among all the markets in HCM City. On an area of over 13,000 square meters, the market is separated from the adjacent blocks by four streets. Its north side borders Le Thanh Ton Street, the east side Phan Boi Chau and the west side Phan Chu Trinh. The south side faces Quach Thi Trang Square.

Gates
The market has four main gates and 12 subordinate ones. The main gates are named after their directions-east, west, south and north.

Goods
Vietnamese have an idiom that says "thöôïng vaøng haï caùm" (which literally means from gold to bran). All the things between the two are available at Ben Thanh Market. In addition, up to a hundred stalls sell dishes from throughout Vietnam.

Stall layout
The arrangement of the 1,500 stalls and shops are too complicated to be described briefly.

Prices and bargaining
Shop owners are required to show prices for their goods. However, shoppers should bargain to get lower prices. In many cases, the prices shown are not the real prices. The management board says price competition will not allow a shop to quote prices much higher than those their next-door competitors offer.

Shoppers
Not all people go to Ben Thanh Market to shop. Some go there out of curiosity. Foreign visitors account for a considerable proportion of the visitors. The management board says every day the market has 15,000 visitors. Japanese tourists make up the bulk of foreign shoppers.

Languages
Foreign visitors can use English to communicate with shopkeepers. Some of the sellers can speak French, Chinese, Japanese or Korean. A foreign shopper shouldn't worry about the language barrier because every shop there has a calculator. So, bargaining is done by using the calculator.

Security
During the past few years, Ben Thanh Market has become a safe place. Harassment, quarrelling, pickpocketing and robbery seldom occur inside the market. Its 40-strong security force is ready to intervene.

Fire prevention
A fire alarm and firefighting system was installed recently. The market has reservoirs and more than 100 fire extinguishers at different places. Four backup light columns, powered by separate sources, are installed for emergencies. The market has a total of 16 gates for entry and exit.

Restrooms
There are two rows of restrooms, that is, toilets, inside the north side of the market.

Future
The market will have a basement in the future to increase the area for stalls. Parks will be constructed on surrounding blocks to allow visitors to visit the market and stroll in the adjacent pedestrian quarters.

Hồ Chí Minh Overview

Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is Vietnam"s commercial headquarters -- brash and busy -- with a keen sense of its own importance as Vietnam emerges from years of austerity to claim a place in the "Asian Tiger" economic slugfest. Located on the Saigon River, Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam"s major port and largest city, with an estimated population of over eight million people, most of whom cruise the town"s clogged arteries on an estimated three million motorbikes. True to its reputation, the city is noisy, crowded, and dirty, but the central business district is rapidly developing in steel-and-glass precision to rival any city on the globe. The old Saigon still survives in wide downtown avenues flanked by pristine colonials. Hectic and eclectic, Ho Chi Minh City has an attitude all its own.

But what are you supposed to call it? Is it Istanbul or Constantinople? Ho Chi Minh City or Saigon? After North Vietnamese victory in 1975, the first piece of legislation at the first National Assembly in 1976 saw the name change to honor the country"s greatest nationalist leader. Foreign visitors, especially folks who knew the city of old or during the war years, have a hard time making the change to Ho Chi Minh City, and you"ll notice that most Vietnamese people, apart from crusty cadres, usually use the old name: Saigon. To set the record straight, "Ho Chi Minh City" refers to the larger metropolitan area comprised of some 19 districts of sprawl, while "Saigon" is the name of the main commercial center -- districts 1, 3, and 5 -- and people still refer to the town as such -- like referring to New York as Manhattan.

Saigon is a relatively young Asian city, founded in the 18th century, but its history tells the story of Vietnam"s recent struggles. Settled mainly by civil-war refugees from north Vietnam along with Chinese merchants, Saigon quickly became a major commercial center in the late 1800s. With a very convenient protected port along the Saigon River, the city became a confluence in Indochina for goods passing from China and India to Europe. Places like today"s popular tourist stop Ben Thanh Market were abuzz with activity. When the French took over the region about that time -- in the 1880s -- they called the south "Cochin China," Annam being central Vietnam and Tonkin the north. Saigon became the capital. We owe the wide boulevards and grand colonial facades of central District 1 to years of French control and influence. After the French left in 1954, Saigon remained the capital of South Vietnam until national reunification in 1975.

As the logistical base for American operations during the Vietnam War time, the city is all too familiar to the many American servicemen and women who spent time in Vietnam. Saigon is perhaps best known for its "fall," a pell-mell evacuation from the rooftop of the U.S. Embassy and the desperate last-ditch efforts of helicopter pilots to get just one more person out to the offshore U.S. carriers. The stories of that day, of divided families and the ones left behind, are heart-wrenching.

The years that followed were even more bleak, with a country feeding itself on ideology, not rice, but the progressive Doi Moi economic reforms, which opened Vietnam to foreign investment, aid, and cooperation, set the town on its feet. The city boomed for a little while in the 1990s until foreign investors were choked and bullied by bureaucracy -- many companies pulling out lock, stock, and barrel, but FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is returning, led mostly by Asian investors (from Japan, Korea, and China). Now the future looks bright for this burgeoning Tiger capital.

There are two distinct seasons in Saigon: The always hot (average 82°F/28°C) and rainy season lasts from May to November, dry season from December to April.

Some of Saigon"s tourism highlights include the Vietnam History Museum; the grisly War Remnants Museum; and Cholon, the Chinese District, with its pagodas and exotic stores. Dong Khoi Street -- formerly fashionable Rue Catinat during the French era and Tu Do, or Freedom Street, during the Vietnam War -- is once again a strip of grand hotels, some dating from the colonial era, new chic shops and boutiques, and lots of fine dining and cafes. Saigon"s food is some of the best Vietnam has to offer, its nightlife sparkles, and the shopping here is fast and furious. The city is also a logical jumping-off point for excursions to southern destinations including the Mekong Delta, the Cu Chi Tunnels, and Phan Thiet beach.