Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam: As Real As It Gets

 

The drizzle that welcomed my arrival in Ho Chi Minh City failed to drowse my anticipation to finally experience Vietnam beyond the few printed accounts I’ve read about it. Those few accounts had convinced me to put Vietnam in my top 3 must-visit countries in Southeast Asia, and so arriving in the city was all that mattered to me, despite the overcast sky that looked as if there was more rain to come.

Surprisingly, the drizzle stopped on my way from the airport to Sheraton Hotel, which to me is one of the best locations in the city as everything you have to visit in Ho Chi Minh is just a stone’s throw away. Sheraton, however, is relatively pricey compared with the backpacker hotels in the area. And indeed, backpacking tourists are everywhere in the city; their numbers easily convinced me that the Philippines has truly been overtaken by Vietnam in terms of tourist arrivals. 

I don’t wonder why. Ho Chi Minh is as real as it gets. It doesn’t pretend to be cosmopolitan albeit it’s Vietnam’s largest city and economic capital. Neither does it present itself to be the fusion of all great and good about Asia, although it’s Vietnam’s cultural trendsetter with a rich history to boot. The city welcomes its guests as it is—a socialist metropolis that wears its French influence through colonial architecture in its historic buildings.

Notre Dame Cathedral

Take the Notre Dame Cathedral for example, which as a Catholic seemed the logical first stop for me. The red bricks that cover the two 40-meter high square towers add more elegance to its neo-Romanesque architecture, a motif that, in many Philippine churches, is combined with Byzantine and Renaissance designs, such as the Manila Cathedral.

People’s Committee Building

The Central Post Office building near the Cathedral is also a showcase of French colonial architecture; same is true for the People’s Committee building which, with its elaborate facade, manicured garden, and imposing statue of Communist leader Ho Chi Minh at the forefront, makes it the most prominent and most photographed landmark in the city.

Opera House

A few steps away from the People’s Committee building is the Opera House, which is also a fascinating sight. I suggest you visit it at sundown when its facade is lit up with different colors, adding a contemporary touch to its dated architecture. Right in front of it is a small park where locals, with their children, come as they are—casual and laid-back, some even look unkempt, but all seemingly comfortable with foreigners around.

Indeed, Vietnamese aren’t self-conscious. They’ve grown accustomed to tourists that they’ve made the guests their own tourist attraction: some locals would sit on street gutters at night—some in their pajamas—to watch different nationalities walk past them, offering their friendly, sometimes sheepish, smiles that make the unfamiliar place anything but intimidating and the experience far more welcoming.

In the morning, they gather in groups at roadside teashops, sitting on small chairs around a small table and enjoying their morning tea like it’s a morning ritual, oblivious to the noise and distraction from throngs of motorcycles that sprint through one-way streets.

And motorcycles are the king of the road in Ho Chi Minh, small wonder it’s been tagged the “capital of motorbikes.” Even women, some in chic attire, ride their motorcycles still looking prim and proper with their backs straight up and their clothes spotless. Beware, though, because—male or female—many motorcycle drivers in Ho Chi Minh don’t follow traffic rules. They drive up the wrong one-way streets, beat the red light, and don’t stop for crossing pedestrians, making crossing streets quite a risk to the fainthearted. But isn’t this like Manila? haha!

An interesting detour from experiencing modern day Ho Chi Minh is a visit to the War Remnants Museum where artillery pieces and heartrending photos of war victims are on display. Most striking to me were life-size model cages used to house Viet Cong prisoners and the guillotine used to behead them. This section of the museum is eeriest and most depressing, but rightly so, if only to remind every visitor that wars are really never glorious.

War Remnants Museum

The change of name from Museum of Chinese and American War Crimes to War Remnants Museum to avoid insulting foreign tourists is only one reflection of social change in Vietnam since it took “Doi Moi” (renovation, reconstruction), the period of rapid economic and political changes in the 1980s and 1990s, opening up opportunities for private enterprises, in the process boosting its economy and paving the way for the phenomenal rise in tourist arrivals.

 

On my last night in Ho Chi Minh, I was treated to a “dampa-style” dinner of fresh seafood, veggies, pho (pronounced ‘fuh’), and some authentic Vietnamese dishes, and oh boy, did I enjoy it, with free live a capella music courtesy of a group of Vietnamese yuppies at a nearby table enjoying a round of beer after a hard day’s work. Outside, the entire roadstretch is teeming with locals and tourists, drinking and eating to their hearts’ content against the backdrop of new towering buildings and many others still under construction—an indication that, perhaps, the best is yet to come for this unpretentious city with unpretentious people.