Sign in with Facebook"Fifteen visits to Saigon . . ." Ho Chi Minh City by Nemorino
Ho Chi Minh City Travel Guide: 3,083 reviews and 6,932 photos
Until Christmas Eve of 1964 Saigon was considered a safe haven for us Americans. We could walk around without our weapons, even in civilian clothes when we were off duty, with little fear of being shot or ambushed.
As an extra precaution I used to buy a French newspaper and carry it around conspicuously -- not that I could have passed for a Frenchman with my American military haircut, but still.
What happened on Christmas Eve was that an American officers' billet, the Brinks Hotel in downtown Saigon, was blown up by a truckload of explosives -- the first time the Viet Cong had carried out any sort of major attack against an American installation in the city.
If I had hung around in front of the PX ten minutes longer I might well have been an eyewitness to this explosion and perhaps even one of the injured like the American major I had been chatting with. But in fact I was only an ear witness, sitting a few blocks away in the USO when it happened.
I was never actually stationed in Saigon, but I have been there fifteen times so far: four times in 1964, eight times in 1965 and three times in 1995.
That doesn't make me a big expert on Saigon, however, since even my most recent visits were a long time ago (in some other century) and on my earlier visits I was preoccupied with other things (like surviving or watching French & Spanish movies) so I didn't collect much information on the city. Which is just as well since it would all be outdated by now, in any case.
So on this page I have only made some General Tips (now called Favorites), just to note down what I did and saw in Saigon at various times when I was there. I suggest that you look at these tips in chronological order, starting with On my way to Saigon in July 1964.
and for taking our photos three decades later in 1995.
Reviews (18)
Goodbye to Saigon, 1995
Favorites
(18)
-- My fifteenth visit to Saigon was in also in August 1995. On the evening of Friday, August 11, Nick and I returned... more travel advice
The Sinh Café
Favorites
(18)
-- My fourteenth visit to Saigon was in August 1995. Nick and I took an overnight train from Hué (going through Xuan... more travel advice
Thirty years later
Favorites
(18)
-- My thirteenth visit wasn't until thirty years later (30 years and 13 days, to be exact) when my older son Nick and... more travel advice
Leaving Saigon on a Boeing 707 in July...
Favorites
(18)
-- My twelfth visit to Saigon was in July 1965, when I went there to catch a plane back to the United States after... more travel advice
Nemorino's Related Pages
-
Bien Hoa
-
Xuan Loc
-
Tinh Binh Duong
-
Vietnam
-
Hong Kong
-
Chicago
-
Berkeley
-
California
-
Bern
Top 5 Page for this destination
-
Spiez
Top 5 Page for this destination
-
Basel
Top 5 Page for this destination
-
Geneva
Top 5 Page for this destination
-
Zürich
-
Groningen
Top 5 Page for this destination
-
Maastricht
-
Amsterdam
-
Prague
-
Brussels
-
Antwerp
-
Liège
Top 5 Page for this destination
Ho Chi Minh City Travel Guide
Member Travel Pages
- "Saigon Saigon !"
- "Home"
- "IMPREXXION: HO CHI MINH CITY"
- "Former Saigon"
- "Ho Chi Minh City 29/3/08 - 3/4/08"
- "Lost in Saigon!?"
- "Ho Chin Minh City, the new Saigon"
- See All...
Categories
- Things to Do in Ho Chi Minh City
- Hotels in Ho Chi Minh City
- Transportation in Ho Chi Minh City
- Nightlife in Ho Chi Minh City
- Restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City
- Shopping in Ho Chi Minh City
- Warnings and Dangers in Ho Chi Minh City
- See All...
Nearby Travel Guides
- Ho Chi Minh City Travel Guide
- Cu Chi Travel Guide
- Hoc Mon Travel Guide
- See All...
Explore the World
Nemorino
“Don’t sentence yourself to life imprisonment in your car. (Unless you have committed some heinous crime.)”
- Member Rank:
- 0 0 0 2 7
- Forum Rank:
- 0 0 2 2 9
- 2,616 Reviews
- 7,382 Photos
- Add Friend
- Follow
- Send Message
Badges & Stats in Ho Chi Minh City
- 18 Reviews
- 42 Photos
- 0 Forum posts
- 27 Comments
- 2,813PageViews
- See All Stats
- See All Badges (61)
Have you been to Ho Chi Minh City?
Share Your TravelsLatest Activity in Ho Chi Minh City
- Posted in Travel Paris Forum "Re: Dressing for Paris in June..."
- Commented on one of heydelin's Ho Chi Minh City tips
- updated a Ho Chi Minh City Travel Page "Fifteen visits to Saigon . . ."
- Uploaded a Photo to "To Saigon by Piper Apache, back by Caribou"
- Wrote a Review Goodbye to Saigon, 1995 about Street life in Ho Chi Minh City Favorites
Photos in Ho Chi Minh City
See All Photos (42)
Top 10 Pages
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Paris
Intro, 270 reviews, 1064 photos, 3 travelogues
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Frankfurt am Main
Intro, 93 reviews, 231 photos, 6 travelogues
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Copenhagen
Intro, 61 reviews, 222 photos, 2 travelogues
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Verona
Intro, 49 reviews, 175 photos, 2 travelogues
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Marseille
Intro, 45 reviews, 166 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Lyon
Intro, 56 reviews, 149 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Toulon
Intro, 42 reviews, 156 photos
-
Top 5 Page for this destination
Karlsruhe
Intro, 32 reviews, 150 photos, 6 travelogues
-
Prague
Intro, 44 reviews, 125 photos, 1 travelogue
-
Zürich
Intro, 43 reviews, 126 photos
Friends
See All Friends (157)
Trains
Cycling
MusicLatest Ho Chi Minh City hotel reviews
- Continental Hotel
- 265 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 17, 2013 - Grand Hotel Saigon
- 446 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 11, 2013 - Hotel Equatorial Ho Chi Minh City
- 264 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 18, 2013 - New World Hotel Saigon
- 307 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 20, 2013 - Caravelle Hotel
- 781 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 15, 2013 - Bich Duyen Hotel
- 579 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 10, 2013 - Legend Hotel Saigon
- 269 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 17, 2013 - Duxton
- 371 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 9, 2013 - Sheraton Saigon Hotel & Towers
- 557 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 20, 2013 - Luan Vu Guest House
- 140 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 15, 2013 - Park Hyatt Saigon
- 620 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 19, 2013 - Vien Dong
- 153 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 17, 2013 - Hong Han Hotel
- 180 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: May 7, 2013 - Thao Dien Village
- 73 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Feb 22, 2013 - A & EM Hotel 132 Ly Tu Trong
- 33 Reviews & Opinions
Latest: Mar 5, 2013
Comments (31)
Excellent page. We also visited Ho Chi Minh City in the 90s. Irene
An interesting read, Don, great to see the black and white photos and the photos from your last trip. Thanks for sharing this with us :)
Regina, thanks for your visit to my Ho Chi Minh City page. I have just gone through all my Vietnam pages (except Xuan Loc, which only has two tips) and linked the tips so they can easily be read in chronological order. Also some of the links to external sites were no longer working, so I fixed them as well.
this is really an interesting page, personal thoughts during the war, great black and white photos, thanks for sharing!
Thanks for your ratings and nice comments on my HCMC tips. I'm glad you liked the black and white photos and wartime ruminations.
I enjoyed the past and present (sort of) views of Saigon Don! I worked for the US Navy while we were in Viet Nam and you give an interesting view of what some of the guys experienced. Thanks Don!
Hi Linda, thanks for your ratings and comment. I was in an Army advisory team, but all our support was from the Navy. I even got my paychecks from the Navy. I was very lucky in Vietnam, by the way. A lot of people had much worse experiences than I did.
Oh Don, I know that is true.
In some cases I am surprised to find what the name of a place used to be....obviously I did not keep up with world events in part of my life.
This is a wonderful page.
Interesting to know of your experiences in Saigon during the Vietnam War. Great that you re-visited the city 30 years later. Ho Chi Minh City is gradually becoming a great tourist location. We will be visiting the city early next year. ~ho & pang
This is amazing, Don....a piece of history. A period most of "old timers" watched unfold on TV, but your numerous visits show the everyday activities, the changes over the years...fascinating, eye-opening, and priceless.
In fact your son Nick did a great job with scanning your Vietnam photos from 1964-65. Precious work here!
Very interesting Vietnam tips. About cycling in Moscow... mmm... I will consider that not as just risky but as a suicide... And traffic jams are paralysed Moscow completely nowadays. It was a bit too much even for me.
Such interesting pages....it must have been amazing to travel back there in 1995.We willbe visiting in January.