Big city lights

HCMC easily makes it to the top of the list of our favorite cities in the world. And here is why:

Night out in the streets

 1. The friendly and relaxed people of former Saigon welcome all visitors in their city and with all the expats and the long history of international interaction the metropolis feels like a huge melting pot where many cultural influences come together to give HCMC a fascinating vibe that just gets you and keeps you on the streets even through heavy rains and till the early morning hours.

 2. The traffic - yes, it is crazy, but no, it is not the worst we have seen. Go to places outside the citycentre of Saigon and you will much more likely be hit by a moto while bravely trying to cross the street. One of the reasons for this safe feeling you get in HCMC is the helpful tourist patrol that is present at most of the major sights and helps foreigners cross streets by whisteling at cars and motos, making them stop - kind of... Still, the (literally) millions of motos that roam the streets make for a very unique sight for themselves, especially at night when you enjoy a cocktail at one of the many rooftop bars and look down to see all the lights that move through the streets like blood through your veins.

Banh Xeo

 3. The food is just great! Vietnamese coffee and beer are equally cheap to have on the streets. High end restaurants are to be found everywhere, especially close to the most famous street of HCMC (Dhong Khoi) where fashonistas also find the high end shopping strip. The best food we had was on the lower end of the budget, though, at a) a vietnamese fastfood restaurant serving only Pho, the famous vietnamese noodlesoup and b) a restaurant that employs many of the best former street stall chefs that all specialize in only one tasty dish. Yumm!

 4. Dipping into the traumatic wartime history of Vietnam (and the communist propagandic way of presenting it) is one of the most touching and educating things to do while being in HCMC. The city, as the former capitol of South Vietnam and therefore one of the most crucial places of the American war (how it is called here in Vietnam), has been in turmoil during wartime. Today, its Wartime Remnants museum offers horrific insights into the terrible and cruel events that happened in this country and also, more general, in a war. A visit to the close by Cu Chi tunnels, that were used by the local Vietcong (Southvietnamese that sympathized with the communists in the north) for their guerilla warfare against the Americans gives you the shivers but also tells you something about the determination of both sides in that horrible war.

Entering the tunnels - king size: 120x80cm

Prayer at the Cao Dai Great Temple

 5. Going to the Great Temple of one of Vietnams most peculiar religions, the Cao Daism, is presenting only more riddles to you that you will probably never solve but think about for a long time. The fusion of eastern and western religions manifests itself in a crazy colourful temple/church where the faithful come to pray 4 times a day: they sit in long rows and chant songs that not even the Vietnamese themselves can understand. And a big divine eye is watching over them. What they believe in? No idea. But it's cool wondering about that while watching them.

Uncle Ho

Notre Dame

 6. Testing our bargaining skills (sucessfully) on the many local markets, playing shuttlecock (da cau) with the locals after nightfall in the pleasant parks, sitting at the busy streetstalls with a beer and share our stories with the many other travellers, walking along the calm Saigon river, seeing the Notre Dame de Saigon that seems a little out of place after so many weeks in Asia, ... the list of great things to do in HCMC goes on and on.

In short: This city is simply legendary!