#1 French colonial architecture meets Vietnamese culture
The minute I arrive in central Ho Chi Minh City – or Saigon, as most locals call it – I'm blown away by the architecture. I'm staying at the Grand Hotel Saigon (★★★★, $$) in the heart of District 1, surrounded by stunning French Colonial buildings. But Saigon doesn't feel like Europe at all. Apart from the baguettes in banh mi, architecture seems to be the only reminder of Vietnam's French colonial past in Saigon.
The streets are buzzing with crowds of scooters and bicycles; bright red Vietnamese flags flap in the wind. I cross the street as instructed, walking directly into the fray and feeling the traffic magically flow around me. I see men lying on the backs of their scooters, reading the paper or taking a nap, and groups of workers sitting on the ground enjoying coffee, or noodles, or banh mi made at tiny sidewalk "restaurants." Women in conical hats sell fresh mangoes and spiky rambutan from the backs of bicycles.
This wonderful mix of old and new, fast and slow, French and Vietnamese makes me fall in love with Saigon almost immediately. I walk everywhere, happy to take in the sights at a slower pace, and manage to cover a lot of District 1 and parts of District 3. Next time I'll venture farther.
This wonderful mix of old and new, fast and slow, French and Vietnamese makes me fall in love with Saigon almost immediately. I walk everywhere, happy to take in the sights at a slower pace, and manage to cover a lot of District 1 and parts of District 3. Next time I'll venture farther.
My favourite examples of French colonial architecture in Saigon: Hồ Chí Minh City People's Committee (a.k.a. City Hall); the Hồ Chí Minh City Museum of Fine Arts; the Saigon Central Post Office; Ben Thanh market; and the opera house. (But there are many more.)
