Asia > Vietnam > Ho Chi Minh > Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) > Articles > Saigon: City in the Sun

The travel publicity of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam refers to the country as a destination for the new millennium. For once this piece of self-promotion is spot-on. Whereas Thailand and Bali have been offering tropical vacations - beach-side relaxation with some historical sights - for two decades and more, Vietnam is a newcomer with what is in effect the same deal. And in both its unwearied attitude to its new visitors and its sheer value for money, this newness on the scene shows, and scores highly.

Saigon (the name means “gift to the foreigner”) was built by the French as their imperial capital in what they called Indochina. What is remarkable is that so little has changed since those days. The city suffered less damage in the Vietnam War than might be supposed, and since the Communist take-over in 1975 not much has been altered. As a result you have somewhere with the wide boulevards and resplendent public buildings (not least hotels) of that laid-back era, with low pollution levels, but also nowadays several affluent new commercial facades adorning the central area.

Saigon’s city center now has the best of two worlds - old-fashioned charm and modern glitter - with little of the concrete-block ugliness of the decades that lay between them. Traditional marvels include the extraordinary Post Office with its vaulted roof and exotic murals, the red-brick Cathedral, and old colonial hotels such as the Continental (central to Graham Greene’s novel The Quiet American), the Rex and the riverside Majestic. Among the shining modern constructions are the Hong Kong Bank and Caravelle Hotel towers. At night much of this central area is floodlit, giving an impression, reinforced by the many pavement cafes, of central Paris.

It wasn’t for nothing that Saigon was dubbed the “Paris of the East”. Shanghai shared the same flattering moniker, but whereas much of traditional Shanghai has fallen victim to the constructor’s jack-hammer, old Saigon is still lying back perfecting its tan in the tropical sunshine.

And there are tourists everywhere. Swedes, Britons, French and Japanese are especially in evidence, but whether it’s young backpackers or their more affluent seniors, Saigon is currently awash with international visitors. It’s a tourist destination whose time has come.

There’s no shortage of places to stay. Indeed, the problem is where to choose, so spacious is even the cheapest accommodation, and so magnificent a wide range of the more up-market places.

The backpacker area of Pham Ngu Lao is very close to the city center. It’s Saigon’s equivalent to Bangkok’s Khaosarn Road, but more congenial and much better value for money. It may be only a handful of streets based around Duong De Tham, but it offers a huge range of cheap and frequently spacious hotels, typically with rooms at between US$10 and US$15 a night. There’s little inducement to spend more when such cleanliness and friendliness is so readily available. The Chau Long Hotel (tel 848-8369667) with air-conditioned rooms, bathrooms with hot water, and multi-channel TV at US$12 a night is as good as any. But there are many similar places to choose from.

In this area are perhaps 50 excellent small restaurants offering Western and Vietnamese food. An elaborate dinner at any of these will set you back a mere US$5 - breakfast around US$2. There are several reliable Internet centers, an excellent grocery and general store, and street-traders and touts in abundance. Few things are nicer than to sit in a pavement cafe on Duong De Tham in 30 degrees centigrade and order a pizza, plus a bottle of Vietnamese wine retailing at little more than US$2 a bottle. Coffee is typically US$0.50. (Take US dollars with you, incidentally - US cash is invariably accepted as an alternative to the Vietnamese dong. Take plenty of US$1 bills).

Tourists and locals generally eat and drink in different places. This is mostly because few Vietnamese can afford the prices foreigners are more than happy to pay. The prices charged tourists occupy a middle-ground - expensive for Vietnamese, often absurdly cheap for the visitors. As a result you see everywhere crowds of Saigonese sitting on low plastic stools drinking beer and eating snacks, often until well after midnight. Few tourists join them, however. Instead they eat at places that cater to foreign tastebuds, enjoying a plate of steak and fries for around US$2.

If cheap food is available in the neighborhood of Duong De Tham, fine dining is on offer in the heart of the city, in the area around the Opera House. The Sofitel has a five-star French restaurant, L’Olivier, while Vietnamese food can be eaten in authentically traditional surroundings at the Nam Kha [tel: (84-8) 823-8309].

Saigon is an attractive city to ride around on a bicycle or motorbike. You can rent either by the day very cheaply - a bike is US$1. It’s everywhere flat, and as there aren’t many cars you quickly find yourself one of a tide of fellow-travelers on two wheels. The locals park their transport in guarded parking-lots, and you should do the same. The price is about seven US cents.

But taxis are cheap too. You can get downtown from the backpacker area for US$1, and this is the best way to travel after dark. Cyclos (bicycle rickshaws) are cheaper still - you negotiate a price before setting off - and with their slow pace give a strong sense of the local scene. But everywhere you go you see warnings against taking them at night, and it’s best to follow this advice.

As for what to see, recommended are the traditional culture shows at the Opera House (entrance US$4), an hour-long massage by a blind man or woman (US$2, at 185 Cong Quynh), and the coffeeshops, restaurants and night-clubs clustering round Duong Dong Khoi. For night-life, try Apocalypse Now on Duong Thi Sach. Cheap clothes can be bought in Ben Thanh market - for jeans try Xuan Trang, kiosk 14-16, by Gate 2.

Day-trips out of town are popular and good value. The Mekong Delta is only two hours away by coach, and a round trip including lunch is a mere US$5. You get to see fish and fruit markets, visit a bee farm, travel on two different kinds of boat (one small one pushing its way through narrow canals), and play with thieving monkeys in a riverside garden. Also popular are the wartime tunnels at Chu Chui and the center of the eclectic Caodai religion at Tay Ninh.

You can also take the trip to Vung Tau. This is a peninsular on the coast, and the nearest seaside place to Saigon. Locals get these in crowded buses, but the easy way is by Greenlines hovercraft. These ancient but efficient Russian vessels leave from a pier in central Saigon every hour until 5pm. It takes just over an hour and the price is US$10 each way. They roar you down the coiled snakes’ nest of rivers between Saigon and the ocean in airconditioned comfort, albeit with the windows crudely whitewashed over against the sun. The scene from the roof - mangroves and blue water, with the occasional thatched hut - is far wilder and more picturesque than anything you’ll see on a one-day Mekong Delta trip.

Whether you’ll like Vung Tau when you get there is another matter. It was an elegant resort under the French, and is still from a distance reminiscent of Macau. But the main beach (known as the “Back Beach”) is at weekends a mass of shabby umbrellas and wonky chairs. Few Vietnamese can afford fashionable swim-wear, so instead you see fully-clad people venturing into the waves supported on inflated black inner-tubes. If the spectacle of mass poverty is a shock, make sure you’re back at the pier by 5pm, in time for the last hovercraft of the day back to Saigon.

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