17-19 August 2012.
Our tour agent in Australia assured us that it would be easy to obtain entry visas into Viet Nam at the airport. All we would need was an application form and some photos.
It was easy to find the right desk when we arrived at Ho Chi Minh. There weren’t many people there, and it was easy to fill in the required forms and hand them in with our photos and passports. We congratulated ourselves on sorting this one out, and sat down and waited ….. and waited …..
An hour later, our names were finally called.
We were stressing a bit, visualising a bus full of hungry, angry people waiting for us at the airport, but we needn’t have worried. When we finally cleared immigration, collected our bags and went through customs, there was ….. no one.
They had gone without us.
There was no-one waiting hopefully at the entrance for us with a little Gate 1 sign. We searched the airport, and finally found a man with a Gate 1 sign, curled up on a chair, half asleep. What a relief, and yes, he had been sent for us. He asked us to wait, and came back shortly afterwards with a car, all for us. Then began an amazing journey through the tumultuous traffic of Ho Chi Minh City, with an average distance of an inch between each vehicle, not all going in the same direction. We gasped all the way at what seemed to us a continuous series of near misses, much to the amusement of our driver.
Eventually he delivered us, still shaking, to our hotel, where we were met by Rex, our Vietnamese tour guide, who welcomed us to Viet Nam and Saigon, and told us he had arranged the car for us, as he knew it would take us a long time to get our visas…….
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) from the rooftop bar of our hotel
Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochin-China and later of the independent Republic of South Viet Nam from 1955–75.
South Vietnam, as an anti-communist republic, fought against the communist North Vietnamese and Viet Cong during the Viet Nam War (known in Viet Nam as the American War), with aid from USA and countries including Australia, New Zealand and South Korea. Saigon fell when it was captured by the communists on 30 April 1975, bringing an end to the War. Vietnam was then turned into a communist state. On 2 July 1976, Saigon merged with the surrounding province and was officially renamed Ho Chi Minh City after Ho Chi Minh (although the name Sài Gòn is still commonly used.)
We were quite confused when our guide welcomed us to Saigon, as we thought that name had been replaced, but apparently it hasn’t. The city has a population of more than nine million.
We found HCMC to be a city of great contrasts. From the street in front of our hotel, you could see the lotus-bulb-shaped Bitexco Building, the 124th tallest building in the world (as of Nov 2010) with a helipad located on the 50th floor. (The Lonely Planet rather unkindly describes this building as “ a CD rack with a tambourine shoved into it.”)
Meanwhile, the street behind our hotel was decorated with Chinese lanterns.
However, the part of the city around our hotel was very modern, clean and westernised, particularly when compared with Cambodia.
Here are some pictures Pat took while on a walking tour of HCMC:
After the French captured Saigon in 1859, they began rebuilding it along European lines.
The Saigon Opera House, (officially called the more prosaic Municipal Theatre) was built in 1897 when Saigon was known as the Paris of the Orient. During the 1950s and 1960s, it housed the National Assembly of South Viet Nam. After the Fall of Saigon in 1975, the building was restored to its original function as a theatre.
Cheeky motorcyclists.
The Hôtel Continental was named after the Hôtel Continental in Paris, and is located near the Saigon Opera House. It was built in 1880 by the French, and still maintains the essence of its original architecture and style.
This hotel featured in the movies Indochine and The Quiet American, an adaptation of Graham Greene’s novel of the same name. Graham Greene lived in the Continental while writing The Quiet American and working as a journalist during the latter days of the French Colonial period. Lucky Graham Greene.
The Hotel Rex dates back to the early 20th century when it was originally opened as a French garage.
Officials in green help tourists (and others) to cross the streets.
Hôtel de Ville de Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Head office) was built in 1902-1908 in a French colonial style for the then city of Saigon. It was renamed after 1975 as Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee. Illuminated at night, the building is not opened to the public or for tourists.
Notre Dame Cathedral was established by French colonists between 1877 and 1883 from materials shipped in from France. It has two bell towers, reaching a height of 58 metres.
“It sits behind a large white statue of St Mary holding an orb – not a bowling ball as first impressions might suggest” (Lonely Planet).
The Central Post Office was constructed between 1886 and 1891, and designed by Gustave Eiffel (yes, of Eiffel Tower fame.)
The Central Post Office features dome-shaped window panes, in which are carved the names of inventors who contributed to the fields of electricity and telecommunications such as Edison, Morse, Ohm, Ampere and Bell.
Allessandro Volta was an Italian physicist known for the invention of the battery in the 1800s.
François Arago (not E.) was a 19th century French mathematician, astronomer and physicist whose philosophy was that knowledge can be shared through the technology of the day.
Interestingly, his name is one of the 72 names of French scientists, engineers and some other notable people engraved on the Eiffel Tower in recognition of their contributions. (The Central Post Office was designed by Gustave Eiffel who of course designed the Eiffel Tower.) Craters on Mars, the Moon, and a Ring of Neptune are named after Arago.
The interior of the Central Post Office features a vault with a glass canopy, and a giant mosaic of Ho Chi Minh.
The Central Post Office also features telephone booths with beautifully carved doors.
In 1998, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Saigon, two statues symbolizing the contributions of the post office's staff in the wartime and present day were constructed outside the Central Post Office.
These are presumably the staff in wartime. I like how the lady is wearing a sensible hat, but I don’t think those bare toes are a good idea for soldiers.
In 1998, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of Saigon, two statues symbolizing the contributions of the post office's staff in the wartime and present day were constructed outside the Central Post Office.
These are presumably the staff in the present day, although Pat didn’t notice any staff pointing skywards when he was there.
I just love how the drainpipe is painted to match the colours of the wall behind it.
Just below the man’s right hand is a plaque to Sir Humphry Davy, a British chemist and inventor, who in 1815 invented the Davy lamp, which allowed miners to work safely in the presence of flammable gases. The 34km wide lunar crater Davy is named after him.
Bến Thành Market is the biggest market in Saigon.
The iconic Bến Thành Market is one of symbols of HCMC. Picture from http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xOHCNwv-SKo/TirCx_c2S6I/AAAAAAAAAK4/PX6KvFLFh8s/s400/Ben+Thanh+Market.jpg
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