Depending on your age, you may know the capital of Vietnam as Sài Gòn, which is what many of the locals still call their city. Up until 1975, the entire world called it Saigon, when it was then renamed Hồ Chí Minh City (commonly abbreviated as HCMC) in honor of the President of North Vietnam. This large, loud, and chaotic city was the last international stop on our adventures around the world. We planned on spending one week in this bustling city, finding that a week was not enough time to see and do everything we wanted.

Our days in Saigon were split between three activities: sightseeing, eating our last bit of Vietnamese food, and relaxing in our hostel in the air conditioning. Since I don’t think the last point requires any explanation (other than the near 100% humidity that we experience every day) and I am still thinking of putting together a blog post about all of the different food that we tried in Vietnam, I’ll concentrate on the first activity in this article.

We walked through this park nearly every day while in Saigon, on our way to visit attractions in the center or to visit a restaurant for lunch or dinner. The many parks and green spaces were a welcome respite from the noise and chaos of the city!

While in HCMC, the main attraction that I wanted to see was the Reunification Palace (or Independence Palace), which was the site of the infamous Fall of Saigon during the war in the 1970’s. To give a very short history, the French built the palace when they established a colony in 1868 (although it was not finished until 1873). The grounds consist of 12 hectares with guestrooms that can accommodate up to 800 people. The palace served as the residence, office, and headquarters of a variety of governments over the years: the French who colonized Vietnam, the Japanese for a short time during WWII, and the South Vietnamese prior to the Vietnamese/American War. After an assassination attempt on the President in 1962, the building was almost completely destroyed and had to be rebuilt. The new palace remained both the home and workplace of the ruling family until April 30, 1975 when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through the gates, ending the war.

Standing just inside the fence outside of the Reunification Palace was an eerie feeling, considering the history associated with the site.

Since that time, the palace has been converted into a museum with the décor remaining as it was when the war ended. Renovations are constant, and during our visit, the basement with bunker rooms were closed to tourists. We walked through the dining room, President’s office, private apartments, and large kitchen on the ground floor. On the grounds, there is an area with a couple of old tanks and airplanes used during the war. The palace is large and we took our time, spending a couple of hours one morning learning about the various governments who called the palace their home.

The lounge is decorated in red and gold – colors of communist Vietnam.

Saigon is a beautiful city, with much more green space than I had imagined. Large parks take up entire city blocks and trees line the streets, making it an enjoyable city to walk around and admire. A lot of the architecture is influenced by the French and dates back to their time of colonization. Many of you are familiar with the Notre Dame de Paris in France, but how many have heard of Notre Dame de Saigon? While much newer and smaller than its namesake in Paris, the cathedral in HCMC is a quiet retreat from the busy streets. Another nearby building also has its roots in France; the central post office was designed by Gustav Eiffel around the same time he was building a metal tower in Paris.

Despite the cloudy skies, bright flowers welcomed us to Notre Dame de Saigon.

As with many large cities around the world, Saigon has its own Chinatown. The incense burning in the Chinese temples, the dragon fountains and statues, and restaurants serving dumplings remind you that the Chinese have made themselves comfortable in cities from Saigon to San Francisco. The market in Chinatown was much more interesting to explore than the main city market, without the souvenir stalls and vendors stopping you every few feet to sell you something.

Chinese temples appear every couple of blocks in Chinatown and all smell of incense, which burns day and night.

The Museum of Fine Arts was a surprise to us. Jon and I both love art but have never studied Vietnamese art and didn’t know much about it. For only $0.50 each, we spent a couple of hours in the three buildings that make up the museum. Housed in a former French residence, the paintings and sculptures were displayed with small notecards giving information on when they were created and by whom. We were pleasantly surprised with how much we enjoyed the collection, especially considering we only went to the museum because it was nearby and raining one afternoon.

The Fine Arts Museum was a quiet and educational place for us to wait out the rain.

Visiting Saigon was bittersweet for us. It was an exciting city with so much to do and see, yet the final stop on our trip around the world. Considering how hot and tired we were for most of our visit, I ended up loving our time and now list it as one of my favorite large cities around the world.

The central post office in Saigon is built in a classical French style, thanks to its architect, Gustav Eiffel.

*Note: The use of accent marks is inconsistent for a reason. I found it easier to refer to the cities by the Anglicized version, since this is what most of you will recognize. For the lesser-known places, food, or people, I’ve kept with the accent marks since this is what we got used to while traveling.