Renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1975, Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam in the days of the Vietnam civil war. It is Vietnam’s largest and most bustling city (although Hanoi is bustling enough) – with a population of 8.4 million in the city. The city is sprawled along the banks of the Saigon River.
Downtown — The city is a commercial and finance center for Vietnam. The amount of new investment and economic growth in the country is reflected here in some new and dramatic skyscrapers. The center of downtown is a beautiful mall known as “Times Square” – surrounded by City Hall at one end and a row of commercial buildings on both sides — all of which are lit at night. The city is on the move into the future — its major new activity underway (with construction everywhere) is the creation, with Japanese help, of a new subway.
Overall, I feel that Ho Chi Minh City has all of the urban intensity, good eating, and pace of Hanoi, without Hanoi’s charm. It feels like a city that isn’t sure of its character. The renaming of everything in communist “people-speak” is an intentional break with Saigon’s rowdy and American-influenced past. It makes it clear what it isn’t, but it seems to leave the city unsure of exactly what it is.
Surrounding the downtown center is a wild array of small streets that stay busy all day – with limited sidewalk space. There is a constant contest on the streets between pedestrians and motor bikes — but unlike other cities, the motorbikes here don’t willingly slow down or stop – they weave around you. The city overall is large and gritty but lacks the charm that comes through in the older sections of Hanoi.
Reunification Palace — The current Vietnamese government has kept the old President’s residence (Independence Palace in Saigon days and Reunification Palace today). This is the rooftop from which American helicopters lifted off the last Americans and some of their Vietnamese helpers as the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army flowed into the city in 1975.
War Remnants Museum — The government also maintains a few museums on aspects of the war and the American involvement. We go to see the War Remnants Museum, which combines an outdoor display of US weaponry (including tanks, small jets, and big guns), and indoor exhibits on American war crimes, the lasting effects on people of wide-spread defoliation with Agent Orange, photos by international journalists killed in the war, and a few other topics. While the selection of topics reflects a bias, the content of the exhibits is drawn from news reports at the time and is straightforward and factual.
Cu Chi Tunnels — About 70 km northwest of downtown Ho Chi Minh City are the complex system of tunnels created between 1960 and 1975 by the Viet Cong as their principle base of operation in the capital region. The tunnels were the base for launching the Tet Offensive in the South in 1968.
The complex of 121 km of tunnels sits on the Cambodian border. They housed an underground operations center on three levels that included underground kitchens with clever venting systems to hide the smoke from stoves, meeting rooms, and manufacturing centers for converting scrap military metal to weapons.
Life in the tunnels was hard. Passages were extremely small. Almost all of the VC soldiers in them suffered from malaria and intestinal disease. They stayed in the tunnels during the day to avoid detection and came out at night in black clothing to tend fields and get water. Ventilation was challenging and depended on a variety of carefully disguised vents and false vents to avoid detection.
The US military knew of the existence of the tunnels and designated the area a “kill-free zone” – meaning that any living thing in the area was a target. The area was subject to heavy bombing from B-52s, and a few ground campaigns to penetrate and destroy the tunnel complex. The tunnels and the area around them were rigged with elaborate booby traps and camouflaged ambush shafts, though, that were hazardous to anyone who entered the area on foot. None of the US missions succeeded in reducing the effectiveness of the tunnel complex.
Streetlife — Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is traditional street life in a modern world. The mix can be dizzying.
In Hanoi, restaurants were serving meals on small tables and chairs on the sidewalk. In Ho Chi Minh City, people are actually serving family meals on the street.
It’s a motorbike culture — everything can be done on a motorbike, from giving Grandma a ride to delivering a refrigerator. Motorbikes are everywhere and moving all the time (red light or no) and avoiding but not yielding to pedestrians.
There are even separated lanes on the highway for motorbikes — for safety. They aren’t always that safe, though.
Some street scenes evoke the narrow, crowded, and vibrant city streets of old Saigon. Others are more peaceful and elegant. Everywhere you look in Ho Chi Minh City is a mix — clusters of trash amidst glamour.
Nightlife — The nightlife in Ho Chi Minh City is pretty active. We go to check out the scene on Bui Vien. These pictures are selected for their “G” rating.
Next Up: A trip to the Mekong Delta