HO CHI MINH CITY
(Highlights)

"Besides that, Ho Chi Minh City is a lively, vibrant, noisy, hot and chaotic city that knows to convince with its charm. You can also find a lot of markets in the city like the Benh Thanh Market or Binh Tay Market, which are absolutely worth a visit.
Since we both love skylines, we had to visit the Saigon Skydeck at the Bitexco Financial Tower. The entrance fee is 200.000 VDN and there is no open skydeck, but it’s still worth it. It was one of our highlights in Ho Chi Minh City!"

Ben Thanh markt

          After the bustle of Hanoi - you might think that Ho Chi Minh City is a romantic, quiet town. But that is not true. Ho Chi Minh City gives the tourists the impression of bustling, busy city with people who always seem to be in a hurry.
The city has the largest population and it has the craziest traffic in the world. That is the reason why Ho Chi Minh City is mentioned "the place of the rapid culture".
However, it is not correct to say that the tourists can't visit quietly the attractions of the city. I'll give you some ideas of attractions in the city, which are impressive and worth to be visited. The order is arbitrary. It is no preference list.

The Ben Thanh Market is located in the heart of Ho Chi Minh City. It is a popular market for tourists who are looking for clothing, food, textiles, collectibles, or souvenirs. You can also grab a snack in this market and there are also plenty of traditional dishes. At night, this market is closed and the night market opens around sunset.

You should be prepared that you are being harassed by touts when you wander along narrow paths [assing all the stalls, while you are looking for a nice restaurant. The market is also a good place for souvenirs hunters and you'll find many fakes of clothing, bags and makeup. There are also candy stalls, fruit and vegetable stalls. You should also be prepared for it, you have to haggle to close a good deal. Otherwise you'll pay too much. Every seller wants to sell his wares, and will try to lure you inside his little shop. A walk across this market is very worthwhile. And also worth a visit, if you need really something.

Chinatown

Chinatown (Cholon) is well worth a visit. You shouldn't miss this part of Ho Chi Minh City. With a total population of about 38% Chinese people in this district, it is regarded as "the land of the Chinese" in Ho Chi Minh. Chinatown is the largest commercial center of the Chinese in Vietnam.
For over 100 years, the Chinese people live in this city and the Chinese community has become an inseparable part of Vietnamese life. They have contributed to the development of Vietnam. The beauty of the old, charming Chinatown enriched culture of the city.
The streets of Chinatown are filled with beautiful sights, temples and the smell of all kinds of spices and herbs. You are here at the right address for excellent coffee and tea, delicious home. Cholon is altijd druk. So tourists need not worry about the suitable time to visit Chinatown. Even at night, there are stalls that serve a meal until midnight.

Just like in many other Asian countries, Buddhism has more than 10 million followers, and you will find thousands of temples and pagodas throughout the country. Tourists who come to Vietnam, it is advisable to visit at least one pagoda to understand more about the faith and the spiritual life of the Vietnamese.
The Giac Lam Pagode is the oldest (1744) of the city. The Giac Lam is a great atmospheric place in a peaceful garden setting. The Chinese characters that form the name of the temple (覚 林寺) mean 'Feel the Woods temple' and the overhanging Bodhi tree (a fig tree, sacred to Buddhists) in the front yard was a gift from a monk from Sri Lanka in 1953.
Beside the tree is a lustrous white statue of Quan Am Bo Tat on a lotus flower, a symbol of purity.
As in many Vietnamese Buddhist temples can be found here aspects of both Taoism and Confucianism. For the sick and elderly is true that the pagoda is a pilgrimage, because when the bronze bell rings, the prayers are being heard.

Giac Lam Pagode and Quan Am Bo Tat

The War Remnants Museum is a museum in the center of Ho Chi Minh City that focuses on the US role in the Vietnam War. It was opened on September 4th, 1975 under the name of "Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes". In 1990 the name was changed to "Exhibition House for Crimes of War and Aggression" and in 1995, after the political and diplomatic relations with the United States had improved, the loaded words were "war crimes" (war crimes) and "aggression" (suppression / aggression) is removed from the name and the museum continued under its current name, "War Remnants Museum".
The collection of the museum consists of a large number of photo's spread across a number of thematically decorated rooms including information about the bombing by the Americans during the Vietnam War, the effects of the toxic Agent Orange over Vietnam was sprayed by US planes and other war violence, as the massacre of My Lai and the use of napalm bombs. Further objects are exhibited like a guillotine which prisoners were executed by the French colonists and later the South Vietnamese government (last used in 1960) and the so-called "tiger cages" where South Vietnam political prisoners locked.

Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica

The Basilica of Notre-Dame of Saigon is a cathedral in downtown Ho Chi Minh City. This cathedral was built by the French colonists between 1877 and 1880. The building has two bell towers of 58 meters high. The Roman Catholic Church settled in the former Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, to offer religious services to the faithful French colonialists. On October 7, 1877 Bishop Isidore Colombert laid the foundation stone for the cathedral to the former wooden church which had become too small and was also heavily damaged by termites. All the building materials came from France. In October 2005 the statue of Maria would have cried on the square before the cathedral. According to the stories there would have dropped a tear on her right cheek. Thousands of people came to this "miracle", and the police had to stop traffic around the cathedral. The church said in a response to that the story that it was not true and that the statue had not cried. Despite this curious people were flocking for days.