Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City
It's Bangkok with Attitude, a Boom Town Extraordinaire.
The coming of doi-moi has re-ignited the entrepreneurial skills of the inhabitants of Vietnam's Saigon and the Vietnam War and American Occupation seem to be forgotten
Ho Chi Minh City (the former Saigon) is Bangkok with attitude, an overgrown boom town where the entrepreneurial skills learn during the Vietnam war and the American occupation are once more being vigourously practiced. Despite efforts to contain it, the capitalist spirit is unabashed in this, the economic capital of the country, where chic bars and new hotels open almost weekly. Since the country embraced doi moi – a sort of semi-free enterprise – Ho Chi Minh City is booming, and the cacophony of sound from cars, cyclos, and traffic controllers with whistles is deafening in this, the former capital of South Vietnam.
The pace is frenetic: everyone wants to sell you something. From a zippo lighter guaranteed to have been used by a US soldier during the war to an old master copy with paint still wet to the touch, and from pirated DVD’s to exquisite embroidered pictures, there is something here for everyone. Despite the hopes of the communist leaders when they rolled through the gates of the presidential palace and took control of Saigon, it has been hard for Ho Chi Minh City to slough off the entrepreneurial skills gained when it was the haunt of the US soldiers who thronged its streets, buying everything from prostitutes to tee shirts. Prostitution never really disappeared despite what they said, and that too is on the rise.
This bustling city may be fuelled by the tourist dollar and have fine restaurants, immaculate hotels and glitzy bars but on the outskirts of the city can still be seen Soviet-style tenements, bursting with the unfortunate men and women who have been left behind in the mad rush for materialism. This has led to a spate of begging and stealing, facts of life in Ho Chi Minh city today despite the best efforts of the authorities to stamp out these “capitalist” crimes. Bag-snatching and petty crime is rife, so great care should be taken when walking the streets, riding in cyclos or even taxis – especially at night.
But it’s not all commerce and trade. Old landmarks once seen in grainy newsreels of the 60’s and 70’s are still recognizable. Notre Dame Cathedral, the Rex Hotel, Hotel de Ville and a number of interesting Buddhist temples and pagodas are still standing and there are a few remaining blocks of French colonial houses. There are interesting local markets too, the best of which are Cho Binh and Cho Ben Thanh (if there is time, a boat trip down the Ben Nghe Channel to Cholon’s Ben Tay market is worthwhile). But the most recommended trip from Ho Chi Minh city is a visit the notorious Cu Chi Tunnels in which the Vietcong lived and plotted the downfall of the enemy (this is not for those who suffer from claustrophobia).
Once out of the city though, things are different. There is a hypnotic timelessness to Vietnam;s countryside. Like a delicate Chinese painting, rural Vietnam has a tranquillity and silence that is a result of the lack of mechanical farming aids. Villages seem like a throwback to another age. Ox carts roll along dusty tracks bordered by emerald paddi-fields doubling as fish farms, in which men and women wearing the ubiquitous conical straw hats are bent double planting the crop. Water buffaloes stand patiently in the water, small boys perched on their backs flicking birds and insects away.
It won't always be thus. Consumerism is steadily encroaching on the countryside and soon it will be deserted, as the young people join the headlong rush to the cities.
See also: Hanoi - Vietnam's Capital of Cool
See also: Vietnam - Cruising in Ha Long Bay.
