"Massive City Rapidly Catching Up The... " a Ho Chi Minh City Travel Page by Mikebb

We have been regular travellers to South East Asia over the years but had never considered Vietnam until the opportunity arose to join an Orchid Society 19 day trip to Thailand and Vietnam this February, 2008.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City mid morning on 19th February and soon were part of the traffic chaos, motor bikes everywhere often travelling on the wrong side of the road, on footpaths to beat the traffic lights and noise to astound you. We were soon to learn that the traffic noise, particularly the incessant sounding of car and motor bike horns never ceases and can be a nightmare during late night and very early mornings unless your hotel has sound proofed windows.

After settling in we soon realised HCMC, formerly known as Saigon and still referred to by the locals by that name, was a city under pressure of a massive population and inadequate infrustructure to cope. Once you realise this you can then appreciate the advantage of HCMC in that many of the original buildings still remain, although with the massive redevelopment taking place I assume many have been lost.

Walking through the city you will often see local people still conducting business as they did 50 years ago, selling fresh fruits and other local foods from baskets they have humped on their back in the traditional manner.

Saigon still remains a very cheap and interestering place to visit, a shoppers paradise with a wide variety of stores ranging from the huge Ben Thant markets where a designer label shirt can be obtained for US $3 to the very modern upmarket department stores offering everything you can purchase in Paris but at much lower prices.

After several days in the city we were ready for a break so we took a day tour to the Mekong Delta approximately 80km from the city but several hours by road due to the extreme traffic. Worth the visit as we were taken by small boat along parts of this massive waterway and later enjoyed an introduction to the way of life and culture of this region.

The bus trip back to HCMC was and experience, the worst traffic jam I have experienced in my life, motor bikes lifeless for as far as I could see, bikes 8 wide across the road.

We purchase a private tour 3 day 2 night package to Da Lat located in the highlands approximately 300km from HCMC. We took a 40 minute flight to Da Lat and returned by private car, a 7 hour drive which gave us the opportunity to appreciate more of the countryside.

Da Lat was an interesting visit, plenty to see including waterfalls, gardens, the old French Quarter and the local restaurants which served magnificent meals.

Our 8 days gave us a taste of South Vietnam and confirmed that there is much of this developing country yet to be seen. We left HCMC with the though that we could return in several years time, not to visit the city but to travel the country villages and towns and make our way northwards to Hanoi. It is the people, their culture and their habitat that interests us, not the large sprawling cities which resemble other areas of Asia we have visited.