"The Pearl Of The Far East`" a Ho Chi Minh City Travel Page by chiabh

There seems to be confusion over the name of the city... Technically it is called Ho Chi Minh City or HCM City for short... HCM City is actually refers to to a small province that includes the city of Saigon... In 1975, Saigon was officially named HCM City... (Note: It is in 1975 that many name changes of monuments in HCM City were also effected)... HCM City is divided into 17 districts... The central downtown district 1 is still officially called Saigon... and district 5 (which is Chinatown) is called Cholon...

Golf Courses Around HCM City

Long Thant Golf Resort
Song Be Golf Club
Vietnam Golf & Country Club

Saigon is a city in transition... It is trying to modernise as fast as possible... There are now many new building co-existing with old run-down shophouses... These co-exist with buildings constructed 300 years ago in the Vietnamese and Chinese style or elegant 100-years old villas in French architectural style... There are also grand old hotels and new 5-stars hotel in the city...

The French presence in the city is still strong... The legacy of colonial architecture, and the long tree-lined boulevards, streets and highways still remains...

The streets of Saigon are always crowded with end-less streams of humanity on motor scooters, bicycles, cyclos and cars.. While few vietnamese can afford one, there are still others who have one... At the last estimate, there are 3 million motor scooters and 1 million bicycles in the city...