Yesterday we visited Saigon, known as Ho Chi Minh City since 1976. We took a ship excursion via tour bus, 1 hour from the port into the center of the city. The city sparkled along the drive, with dozens of large building projects underway, beautiful apartments going up, an 86 story building sits amongst many other skyscrapers, and the Saigon River is important in the city’s design.
We visited Independence Palace where the president of South Vietnam lived during the Vietnam War. The original Palace was French and bombed during the war. The new one, Independence Palace, was built after the War in a more contemporary design. We visited the Central Post Office, French designed by Gustav Eiffel, and saw the Notre-Dame acrosss the street, French built of red bricks from Marseille and Toulouse. We drove to City Hall, also French built, as was the Opera House. Papa and I walked down the fancy street in front of the Opera House, lined with French branded stores, and had lunch at Vietnamese House. It was fancy too, and our lunch was multicourse and delicious.
Our bus took us to a laquer factory that was quite interesting, and to Chinatown, where we explored the Binh Tay Market, and a Buddhist temple dedicated to a sea goddess. Our tour lasted about 9 hours, and we were really impressed by Saigon! The city’s infrastructure is well designed with wide roads and roundabouts, so traffic moves easily, with 8 million motos! There are beautifully landscaped and maintained parks everywhere. The best historic places have been preserved, and there is plenty of new construction to accommodate the 11 million + residents. Our tour guide told us that unemployment is 2%, because everybody finds work. Saigon is a busy place!
