I took first photos when I was 15, 16 years old. As a tour guide I frequent places from Saigon to Cu Chi, Tay Ninh, My Tho, Cai Be. At each place I've learnt the corners and time for making a nice photo. I can; thus, advise my clients on photography technics. Clients then benefit from history to nice photos of the destinations.
Besides, at end of tour , I always leave my clients with a CD/DVD of my own nice photos on the places they've just been to.
Touring Saigon, for a city tour or an excursion to Cu Chi & Tay Ninh or on a day trip to My Tho & Cai Be, email
dungzoom@gmail.com
or
call
0902999540
Thorough knowledge and photographic pictures on sites are my commitments.


Rowing boat ride in Mekong Delta


By the Mekong river


Boat, bridge and the Mekong river

By Tri Dung
Early November a group of 26 students and 4 teachers from Northview secondary school, Singapore paid a week long tour to HCMC. The trip was conducted by Sapio & Vietcircle in Hanoi and HCMC. In HCMC they took a city tour and an excursion to Cu Chi and then, a day tour to My Tho, Mekong Delta. The special thing with this group is that the staff of Northview school aimed their students to learning the history of Vietnam and the hardship the Vietnamese had to paid in the past for regaining their independence as well as in framing today’s life. There are; thus, two lecturers in HCMC and one more in My Tho for embedding them with necessary information.
Initially at the History Museum of HCMC the group was briefed by Mr. Phan Xuan Anh, MBA, well-known travel service advisor in HCMC, lecturer at the International school for Tourism and Marketing, HCMC. The 4,000-year long path of national defense and reconstruction was recalled. The resettlement of the people in all places by no means lessened their unity and support for each other especially at risk of danger or being invaded. The nation’s thread binds everyone and all siblings will stand up arm in arm straight forwarding for salvation.
At the Cu Chi tunnels relic located some 65 km NW from downtown Saigon the group first met with Mr. Nguyen Tri Dung, a senior tour guide in HCMC. Named expert on smoke and fire Mr. Tri Dung gave the audience a 45 minute presentation on Vietnam war history threading from the first steps of the French in Indochina to the American involvement in the theory of Domino effect, from the ascalation of wars in Vietnam to the history-making moment of 11:30 hrs, April 30th, 1975 when the NLF troops marched onto the Independence Palace ending the war.
And, on the background, Cu Chi came up with a flame honoring the sacrifices and perseverence despite of land-shaking bombings and tunnel rats' ferocious attacks.
The hardship experienced by the local people was once again highlighted the day after in My Tho, Mekong Delta by Mr. Dang Van Thanh, Deputy Rector of the International school for Tourism and Marketing, HCMC. The mud coloring earliest settlers in the rice granary of Vietnam is now the mud in which the students stood half-legged in water catching fish, learning how to grow rice.
More than normal tourists’ enjoyment, the students learnt about humanity and the teachers were very pleased. Danz, one of the teachers, revealed the target of this kind of tour. Singapore is a high developed country. The young generation now have everything for a modern life. They have cell phones at hand; they have cyber games to be absorbed in. But, they only see sky scrapers blocking the blue sky; they enjoy comforts but know hardly anything about losses and sufferings taken by their parents and previous generations for their happiness today. The schools feel worried and need a change. They contacted and decided to go to Vietnam. They at last selected HCMC and Mekong Delta since this region has lots of things to see and learn in service of the targets aimed.
History and Hardship tour is not a new thing abroad but for the Vietnamese market, it is. Vietnam has been preferred by foreign travel companies thanks to its long history of fighting the invaders and the hard working people along with their efforts in struggles across the country. Through those above-mentioned activities and even military training lessons or field attack rehearsals on request the students will learn about team building, hardship sharing spirits and eventually, love their family, society and nation more.
Vietcircle has been known for its success in mapping and operating this kind of tour. This time saw another fulfillment of commitment for this pioneer company.
For contact:
Vietcircle, 53C Ho Hao Hon, Dist.1, HCMC
Tel: 08.38389069
Website : www.viet-circle.com

By Tri Dung for Saigon Times Daily
While walking on downtown roads tourists, from guide books or accompanying guide’s explanation, learn that the French were first developers of this land by late 19th century whose heritage was the title “Pearl of the Orient or Paris of the Far East” being given to Saigon. One might thus wonder where the town of Saigon was first started in the French construction.
Two cardinal directions planned by the French architects are now Le Duan and Dong Khoi. The Norodom Palace built in 1873 and the Botanical and Zoological garden built in 1865 marked the first one, Avenue de Norodom. The road now connects the Reunification Conference Hall with the Zoo and History museum. It used to be called the Ambassadors’ road since for a time, the Embassies of the US, the French and Great Britain were located on the road. We can now see those reminders which are now the US Consulate General , French Consulate General and British Council to HCMC.
A walk on Le Duan Ave. has first photo opportunities from the palace itself and the scene of college students browsing on the internet in the park lining French-style cafés. In front of those historic buildings read more from the book or listen more to your guide about the presence of the French and the American in Vietnam. The tallest building in town, Saigon Trade center, 33 floors high, is also worth-photograghing. Just a few meters away, the History museum of HCMC should not be missed. Be in there for a visit to the museum, watch the water puppet show and take a rickshaw ride to the Central Post Office for the second cardinal direction.
La rue de Catinat, a ninety degre angle with the first one, stretches from the complex of Notre Dame de Saigon and Central Post Office, built in 1880 and 1871, to Majestic hotel, built in 1925. Spend half an hour for the church and the post office. Timing is best from 8-10 am for taking photos and a church visit. Do not forget to come and say hello to Mr. Ngo, an old retired postal clerk in this majesticly nice post office. He is now serving as the only and unique existing letter writer in Vietnam. That service was started by the French in 1871 when Saigon Post Office ( GPO ) was inaugurated.
The land marks on la rue de Catinat are the Continental hotel, the Opera House and Majestic hotel. The Continental is Vietnam’s oldest hotel built by in 1880. La rue de Catinat ( then Tu Do and now, Dong Khoi street ) was designed for a colonial French atmosphere of such a place teeming with monsieurs ( sirs) having fun with ladies in wine bars or casting eyes over cups of coffee to the pulled cart drivers to and fro whose lifestyle was another French heritage. Added to their enjoyment, Givral and Brodard cafés gave the road a more special flavor. The superior image of the road with more French buildings than any other road gave a prestige to itself. “ I saw him on Catinat yesterday” usually referred to high respect.
After 45 minutes of leisure walking from Notre Dame down to the Saigon river, one should be relaxing at Majestic hotel. Standing at 3 - 4 pm at the 8th floor restaurant promises a broad panoramic view of the Saigon river. Poke your camera to the ships, boats and people down there and achieve good photos.
The sun is going down ending a happy tour day. Nguyen Hue and Le Loi Avenues, in parallel with these two, have their own stories to tell visitors on next walking which always entertains people more with history on each stop.

For viewing a video clip ( 1'46" ) on mid-autumn lanterns visit :

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0URIX9XFbm4

Thank you!

Every year busy or not at the beginning of the 8th lunar month I have to ridefour or five times through the quarters of Luong Nhu Hoc and Phu Dinh – Dist. 5. I stopped there gazing at the lanterns of various types and styles, Ðèn ông sao ( star lantern), ðèn býõm býớm ( butterfly ), ðèn kéo quân ( Parade ), to ðèn xếp ( Chinese lantern ) or battery lanterns brought a whole childhood back to me. The scenes of children shown by parents to the lanterns for a happy look and choice gave me a complete pleasure of coming back to the time when we were nine or ten.

My family was then a month-wage civil servant. My father earned just from hand to mouth so an expense for buying moon cakes was unaffordable. He saved to buy them by handing in a small amount monthly and two weeks before Tet Trung Thu ( mid-autumn festival ) he could come and take eight cakes wrapped in papers seen through with the oil absorbed from inside the cakes. And, every evening, after dinner, my father cut one into 4 pieces. One for my Dad, one for my Mom and I always had two pieces as the only son. Ðậu xanh trứng ( Cake with green bean and eeg ) is most tasty. I melted bit after bit in my mouth running about in the old small house dreaming of another half the next day.

One week before our kids in the hamlet talked about making lanterns. We came to Ton Tho Tuong st collecting extra bamboo tube; then cut into splints and shaped the frame. We bought cellophane and glued it to the bamboo frame. On the evening of the 14th of the 8th lunar month my mother prepared chè kho ( soft green lentil cake ) a special dish for me and my friends in the same hamlet. We played in the outer yard, hanging all the self-made lanterns from planes, stars, butterflies… on the wall, singing and eating che kho and then, with a lantern in hand, we strolled out to the street in the practice of ruoc den Trung Thu ( lantern parade on mid-autumn festival ) until late. Back home I still found half of the moon cake in the dish cover on the table. That late night I felt happier than any other day, never expecting that moment of the day would never die in the next fifty years.

Ups and downs of life came to me but the images and the contentment on Tet Trung Thu remain intact. Every time I see a lantern or a moon cake shop or hear the melodies of the song Ruoc den Trung Thu ( mid-autumn lantern parade ) I fret with obsessive memories of the past. Love from my poor parents seen through the cakes saved month to month and preparation of che kho sometime generously allows tears from the corners of my eyes. My parents both passed away; my childhood friends are now scattered. The lights and the warmth of those live in me and return every year when the calendar counts the 8th lunar month. In the childhood of my son, on this occasion, while tasting the sweetness of moon cakes I did not forget to retell him this story. He’s grown up from such a past & background and memories on his father as well as his grand parents. Soft education is thus successful and successive from generation to generation.

Kindly visit www.youtube.com
and search zoomsgn
and you'll find my video clips on Saigon and Mekong Delta.

Le Loi Ave. was inundated on August 1.

With warmest thanks from Nguyen Tri Dung to all visitors. With special thanks to Pham Ngoc Than, USA and CVAs who from the very beginning have been constructive and cooperative in designing and building this website. With heartfelt dedication to my family who has been sharing the bitterness and happiness of a Tour guide's and realistic Writer's life. With deep sympathy to true Guides and Operators who have been at least once worried about Vietnam's tourism.

By ZOOM

Charles Percy was a US Senator from the State of Illinois in 1967. Vietnam war was then escalating. Percy came to Saigon in a Senator’s responsibility. In such commitment Percy flew to a village northwest of Saigon to investigate the sufferings of the local people. He was pressed down by fierce shelling to an underground shelter just after the helicopter landing. Fifteen minutes under heavy fighting and shelling was a century for that brave and proud Senator. Percy survived with living memory about war astrocity and that would be presented later to the Senate hearings in efforts to end the war.

Roger Dickerson Percy and his wife & son landed at Tan Son Nhut airport earlier this month in their father and grandfather’s utmost wish from across the ocean. Former US Senator Percy is very old now; he cannot come back to Vietnam; therefore, his next generation has that commitment. The special request had been delivered to Saigontourist long time before and a senior guide who is specialized in Vietnam war history has been reserved.

Dak Son, that was all given to Tri Dung, Saigontourist guide in preparation for such an excursion. The family arrived with no military map and relied all on Dung. That late night he burnt the midnight oil in search for the location of the geographic name. Even the telephone operator of Binh Phuoc province failed to pinpoint it as the guide tried earlier. Anyhow, Dung browsed the internet as well as reviewing his memory and at last, he found it. One mile from Phuoc Binh town, Binh Phuoc province. The clients burst out happy laughing in knowing that and early next morning they headed northwest with Dung sitting briefing on all events related to the situation from the Geneva Accords to the Paris Peace Agreement and the ending of the war.

The town of Phuoc Binh is 150 km from Saigon. Upon arrival, the group had a late lunch at TMT café on a red-soil road winding in immense rubber trees. Two young men there were earger to show the way. Five kilometers more on the way from Phuoc Binh to Buon Me Thuot the Percy saw an ethnic people village of the S’tieng and that was the place.

In a peaceful environment families were sitting outside, peeling off the cashew skin. Cameron Percy, the grandson, took a lot of photos as his parents bumped their hands onto the children’s in a greeting manner, Roger Percy was more curious on an old man who said he was born in 1931 and spent his time with the villagers. He nodded his head on hearing Roger’ s memory from his Senator father’s stories. Roger then shook Dung’s shoulders , “ You are fantastic. Your kindness will be remembered by our family”.

It rained on the way back but the clients did not care. They just waited for a stop. And that stop would be at a café with free wifi internet at town of Thu Dau Mot. A message was sent to the family briefing on the day’s itineraries. That evening, Loraine Percy, the former Senator’s wife called the young Percy congratulating on finding the place.

The visiting time at Dak Son village was only an hour but that gave pleasure to the family. It is an act of keeping the family’s fire of encountering hardships. They did come and they did win. His grandfather and now his parents showed the spirits, Cameron will be well educated by those shining examples. In serving the requests related to veterans and hardship-encountering and overcoming, Vietnam is an ideal destination. The return of Percy family is also in the scope of a hardship tour. Its success meets the utmost desire across the ocean and the need to show the next generation how difficult and challenging it has been with their predecessors. Fulfilling their jobs that way, the local travel agent is proud in being serviceable to top-notched clients who visit the country with nostalgia.

By Tri Dung


The Vietnamese learnt the planting and drinking pleasure of coffee from the French. It’s now , more than a habit, a lifestyle for almost everyone from town to country, from men to women, from a cyclo driver to an entrepreneur. One of the world’s largest coffee exporters, Vietnam is also home to a rather discriminating connoisseur of the bean : the civet cat, a relative of the mongoose that looks like a little fox. The cat chooses the beans through its complete digestive system. Later, after the cat has returned to its traditional forest habitat, human connoisseurs of coffee retrieve the undigested beans at the base of forest trees for recycling into what is said to be amongst the world’s best cups of coffee, ca phe cut chon or fox-dung coffee. One of the recipes is to dry the reclaimed beans in the sun for months. After the outer skin peels off, the beans are mixed with salt, butter, and sugar sometime, and a glug of French red wine. Then the beans are roasted.
Early in the morning, flavor of coffee occupies many kitchens. Urban officers get up and mix themselves cups of hot black coffee before opening the door to pick up morning papers or checking mails on the Internet. Two to three spoons of coffee before drops of boiling water warm up the powder in a single minute. A filterful of boiling water is to make best coffee if one drop after another counts in the cup and in this, there should be no haste. Also counting the drops of coffee but on a pavement is a motorcycle repairer. Sips after sips he takes and feels more and more ready for quick paces of a new day.
Having coffee is not only to be awake from sleeppiness but also and actually an invitation for pleasure. “Let’s go for a cup of coffee”, that sentence reveals friendship and openess. There are many stories and matters that cannot be smoothly spoken about at an office or in a big family environment but out there, in a free wifi internet café or just with a small broken table and two hard plastic stools on a sidewalk, the clients feel eager to get them clearly understood. In that sense people are enjoying the place rather than the drink. They need to wait for somebody, then, “ coffee, please !” or they are buying seats. But, there are other people who are different in taste. They are writers, they are lovers or they are true drinkers of coffee. The shop keeper might not know their names but remember their habits very accurately. They come punctually for an usual seat at a certain corner. Casting their eyes to busy life around they seemingly bury their minds in the level of the black susbstance in the cup. For them, a glass of iced coffee is just a mere and easy drink to fight the thirst, but a failure in tasting coffee. A cà phê ðen nóng ( black hot coffee ) is a must since they believe any mixture with coffee is to give wrong flavor of this black bitter drink . Coffee with milk is a compromise, they say.
Saigon is with not much rain and the heat from the sun can be blown away with the breeze. Of course, a good café on the pavement is not the one where you are to suffer dust, smoke and noise. Come to Han Thuyen street and have coffee there one early afternoon to experience cà phê vỉa hè ( café on the side walk ) in Saigon. Coffee along with breakfast at Givral or Gloria Jean’s ( formerly Brodard ) is really great at the beginning of a day. Having your day started that style there you can imagine la rue de Catinat once upon a time. On the same street many decades ago, on the verandah of Continental hotel, the Saigonese upper class mixed the flavor of the French beans with the pride of being on the nicest road of Pearl of the Orient and Paris of the Far East . Many decades have passed but the Saigonese and the Vietnamese in general are still “loyal” and prefer the patience in waiting for coffee drop by drop made in the cup to instant coffee. “I am not doing business; I am indulging myself in the pleasure of seeing one more inch of my mind opened as one more sip of coffee taken in”, commented many followers of this lifestyle.

By Tri Dung
Once you arrive and visit Saigon there are three basic day tours that should not be missed, City tour, Cuchi excursion and Mekong Delta tour. The itineraries are similar from travel agent to agent; therefore, some tips as follow hopefully can help visitors touch the best of theirs. Apply these privately or conveniently in a group tour.
3/ Mekong Delta
This is the biggest rice granary of the country so a day tour to the land of the Nine Dragons ( Vietnamese name for Mekong river ) is for sure, a green tour. And whether it’s My Tho or Cai Be or Ben Tre as the destination, your enjoyment is a boat ride on the Front river, another ride on a man-made canal, visits to a farm house and family-run factories of handicrafts.
From Saigon, along National route 1A, a photo stop at rice paddies is a must. Velvet green fields under sunshine dotted with old tombs tell us two stories about the land and the people. People in this rice growing cradle were very elated in 1986 at the promulgation of doi moi open door policy and then, soon resumed the traditional fame of producing rice for Mekong Delta. It’s now 9 tons of rice per hecta, highest productivity in the country, and that makes up 40% of the total rice for Vietnam. The second story shows the difference between North and South in burying the deceased. In the North, when somebody dies, he or she will be buried in the first burial which will last for ten to fifteen years. Later, the family members will have excavation, burn the remains and send the ashes in a funeral urn to pagoda or church. Since then, family members will occasionally come and pay homage in memory of the deceased at that pagoda or church. The format is different in the South. Burial is to be done in the rice field and for good. People in here believe that doing that, the spirit of the deceased will stay and protect the farm land and the family as well. In another practical sense, farmers say, bypassing the field everyday and seeing their ancestors buried down there, the next generation’s kids will never “dare” enter any family conflict, asking for a share of family’s land or money, for example.
Located 110 km from Saigon, Cai Be is a good destination with a broad view of floating market. Boarding on a covered motor boat for every 6, visitors will be first amazed by the way local merchants ride, sell, buy, barter their farm produces on the water . Pay attention to how things done as what they hang is what they sell. Tens of boats on the river and in a distance, a church is highly rising up against the blue sky over thousands of TV antennas from houses and cottages clinging to the bank, that’s one of best pictures from touring Vietnam. Getting on land, visitors will take a short walk into family run factories of handicrafts, popcorn, candied fruits and along the river bank. The stroll along the bank is great since you are to view real life of the local inhabitants. If you can buy the handicrafts and candied fruits because you are happy to buy, the small shrine to God of Land, the cycling pupils on the way back home, the country lad selling sugar cane juice are all worth photographing.
Back to your boat, you are to find your way in a very narrow canal. Local life is once again very real and close through the camera’s view finder. An old house from the end of the 19th century is to end up your visit. The main altar tells about the debut of the house when the French first came with oil lamps shining the furniture and the divan in front . From the guide’s briefing that past times return with its glory. Nam ta, nu huu ( Men to the left, women to the right ), the principle was highlighted from the array of portraits of the deceased on the ancestors’ shrine down to seating order in such peaceful evenings when children playing about in the yard and adults taking sips of tea, gossiping on what to grow next crop. Through the kitchen visitors are out in the garden and this is terrific. You can have some fruits, walk around and go back to the boat for lunch at a local restaurant but the option is to have lunch right in that old house and after lunch, on a pre-arranged basis, you can lie down on a hammock and take a short nap in the garden. The quietness of the country afternoon is immense as you close your eyes, getting away from city life’s turmoils and worries. The sound from the so-called shrimp tail motor boat near and far from the river even indulges you with relaxation.
Back to Saigon, another work day is over. Looking at thousands of motocyclists at traffic jams, more distinct than ever, the difference between country and town is at sight. Tired but you know you are happy and enjoying.

2/ Cu Chi tunnel excursion
The trip to visit the tunnels begins even when you are still in Saigon and first of all it should be the definition of Saigon. Depending on where we stand, Saigon means one of the following three: Ho Chi Minh City ( 2,030 square km), inner city of HCMC ( 1,000 square km ), or downtown Saigon ( just 5-6 square km ). Cu Chi now belongs to HCMC or Saigon in the first meaning as one of outlying districts but during the war time, Saigon, capital of South Vietnam, did not stretch out that far. Driving on the way out; secondly, you can realize that you will be bypassing ether on the way out or in, the quarters of PX market and the field hospital. Former PX market is the ending part of Le Van Sy street now. It was an open market where the GIs from inside Tan Son Nhut airport and buildings around brought out and sold a lot of office tools from a typewriter, camera to soldier’s survival kits like a compass… and thousands of other things. The US Army field hospital is now the location of a small army museum on Hoang Van Thu street across from Chien Thang ( victory ) park. At that time, it wrote a sad page in the American involvement in Vietnam. US troops’ dead bodies were put thru sanitary work before coffins being nailed ready for airport pickup.
At leaving National route 22 you know you are cutting through the country and the conceipt here is, at that time, the area 15 – 20 km off the road was confrontation area. And, further more, no man’s land or free bombing zone. Controlled by the ARVN and the allied forces in the daytime , that vast region saw , by night time, intruding units of NVA and NLF troops penetrating for the purpose of receiving supplies from the local civilians and recruiting new members. The small town of Phu Hoa Dong, in this sense, should be a stop for the depth of the tour. Chatting with any old man, foreign tourists will be refreshed by his memory on those years when in the day, tanks and infantrymen of the ARVN attacked Cu Chi tunnels but before sunset, they retreated to the base in Phu Hoa Dong and the night covered units of the opposite sides finding way across Rach Son bridge approaching the town. Light coming from rocket flare and gunfire during the fathom of the night were just to magnify sleepless nights and destinies of people living between two fighting lines.
Upon arrival at the destination, visitors should have briefing and watch the documentary film before proceeding with visiting walk. Add the tip that the tactical and strategic importance of Cu Chi tunnel system was terrific. NLF could proudly say they were very close to capital of Saigon within a distance of 35 km as the crows fly. And, every military move from Saigon to Tay Ninh and Campuchia could be watched by Cu Chi guerillas and thus, the alarm would be sent in time to the R base inside Campuchia where ammunitions downed from North to South along Ho Chi Minh trails were stored before flowing into South VN. Many may miss the meaning of NLF’s emblem on top of their caps and helmets. It shows a round with half red and half green and a yellow star at the center. That a representation of North VN ( red ) in backup of South VN ( green ) under the leadership of the Vietnam Labour party ( now, Vietnam Communist party ).
Next, the American tank is a good group photo stop but if you wonder why delay mine was used to knock down it, refer to this. At that time, all American tanks were equipped with a simple device which would ignite any possible mine ahead. The guerillas were smart enough to “invent” the delay mine with ten to fifteen seconds delayed after being ignited. It would go off certainly while the tank was running over.
The most interesting moment is the duck’s walk for 30 – 40 meters underground. Remember to have one photo shot when stepping up from underground as “heroe” and do not miss another one with the local guide in guerilla uniform who just guided you through. The name of Dong Du will be mentioned as the biggest US base from which US military force started their attacks over Cu Chi tunnels. So, on the way back, kindly ask your chauffeur to drive by the place.
A good way to end up your visit to Cu Chi is a stop at Ben Nay restaurant for lunch and a view of really peaceful country. The other option is to take a canoe ride from Ben Duoc site down along Saigon river back to downtown. Many more photos you will certainly take and unintentionally, you are showing, with war memory left behind, a country at peace and a society with dynamic people.

1/ City tour: A city tour consists of such places in HCMC: Notre Dame de Saigon, Post Office – War remnants museum and/or History museum – Reunification Palace – Binh Tay market – Thien Hau temple. You should first visit the complex of Notre Dame de Saigon and Saigon central Post Office at 8 – 10 am for two things. The sun then is brightly shining the church giving best time for its photos. Secondly, it’s visiting time to the church ( alternatively, 3-4 pm ). After that, in the admiration on the architectural style inside the Post Office, you can spend some minutes chatting with the old clerk working at the bench ending your walk in this French-built house. Many foreign journalists wrote about his honesty as being there for two decades always with a reminder, money is not everything.
The visit to Reunification Palace and War Remnants Museum should be worthy if you are interested in recent history of Vietnam. Make it clear at the beginning of the tour so you are provided a good guide who can brief you on mile stones from 1859 when the French occupied Saigon to 1954 when they were defeated and the changes of power in the South after that. In that period , 1963, 1965, 1968, 1973 saw key events which from the guide are to be presented.
Leaving the memory of gun smoke behind, be driven along Dong Khoi street, the busiest tourists’ street in Saigon. The drive on former rue de Catinat is down to Saigon river front and up again on Nguyen Hue Avenue to the City Hall. From the silk boutiques to the oldest hotel in Vietnam, Continental; from the Opera House to the City Hall with cafés, camera shops in between or Rex hotel with the Rooftop Bar, those charming venues serve you right then a good look and you know, you’ll be back . From the Rex, kindly ask your chauffeur to drive along Le Loi Avenue to Ben Thanh central market. This 700m-long distance is now full of souvenir shops and you’ll find it more interesting if you know it had been known as living proof of privatization before 1986, the epoch-making year of promulgating open-door policy in Vietnam.
On a visit to Ben Thanh market, do not miss the back side which shows fruits and flowers in a very good presentation. And, whilst the ladies are busy inside , the gentlemen might happily shelter across in cafés for a Vietnam’s genuine taste. Note that from this market, you can cast your eyes to the Opera House and it is one of the two cardinal directions the French based on when building up Saigon in 1880-1930s period. Of course, the other direction is from Notre Dame to Saigon river front, la rue de Catinat.
From downtown Saigon to China town, the 6 km long avenue Tran Hung Dao directs visitors to the hub of 500,000 Chinese in HCMC. Like else where in the world, Chinese here are best in doing business. They are very sensitive to the market needs; they possess very good relations with their partners regionally and globally. After your visit to Lady Thien Hau temple, do not rush back to car or bus but take a leisure stroll through its neighborhood. Chinese are very good also in preserving their national identities and traditional careers. Making scissors, making Dragon heads and dancers costumes especially processing and selling Chinese medical herbs certainly add to your photo albums many favorite views.
The city tour if on a day basis can reveal many more of Vietnamese activities at the incense-making hamlet near roasted duck quarters Ta Uyen in Dist 11 before advancing to Giac Lam pagoda, the oldest pagoda in town. On the way, French-built Phu Tho horse race track may be a happy photo stop.
A city life and history is not to be seen just in one day. Use your connection with your guide or chauffeur. Or, spend sometime with a hotel-recommended xe om motocycle taxi driver.

By Tri Dung
Saigon wakes up very early. At 3 am news papers deliverers meet on many sidewalks with the busiest volume on Nguyen Thi Minh Khai st. On motorcycles deliverers quickly send morning to homes. Many roadside cafés are just ready for service of cyclo drivers. Their clients are busy in flower & fruit markets with bundles of goods. At gas stations, cabs parking for fuel while drivers are changing the duty shifts. Hawkers can also be seen and their voice heard, selling sticky rice, cakes and bread.
6:30 am is the last call for those who can leave home for work or school with a wish to avoid traffic jams at traffic lights. On the sidewalk of Tao Dan park and many other public parks, people are enjoying fresh air at the same time with practising morning exercises.
From 7 to before 8 am millions of people pack the streets on their ways to offices, universities, schools. At their places ladies always need some minutes for a quick make-up before they can sit at their desks looking fresh and nice. Male officers on another hand need go to cafes for breakfast and a cup of coffee. Over the cup of coffee they chat about their activities or just the movie they saw the night before.
During morning work hours from 8 to before 12, just do not think the streets are empty. People are working for themselves, ladies do not go to the market once a week but every day, people still have to go to the spots to make sure of the quality of products or work rather than relying on faxing or internet. Those elements still push many people to the streets before every one feel hungry and a need a nap.
Lunch for most working people are not at home. A walk not far from office you can find an eatery where, with 20,000 VND, one can buy a bowl of rice served on a sauce with optionally fish or egg or pork and another bowl of soup and perhaps, a glass of iced tea, too. Lunch for a cyclo driver or xe om , motocycle taxi, is a little bit cheaper. They then have no place to rest the back but a street corner half sleeping half ready for a sudden call by customer. White-collared office workers can leisurely walk back and take a short nap before another cup of coffee or a glass of ca phe da ( iced coffee ) is to be ordered and afternoon work hours begin.
A day’s work in most of the cases ends at 4:30 pm. Traffic lights again see hundreds of drivers, riders winding about waiting for the green signal. Ladies are on such a hurry stopping at their frequented malls, markets for a quick grasp of foods then going back home in time for preparing dinner. Men are much more enjoying after work time browsing lists of new released films or music discs or chatting over a small table of cocktail with friends or in a internet service outlet or a free wifi hot spot.
Dining time is a precious time for family reunion. Parents listen to their children’s stories of the day and give advice. Sociologists say without family dining time family members will not understand each other and happiness of the family will be lessened and damaged. The philosophy of Confucianism exists in many a Vietnamese in which family is the core for the society. Te gia, kien quoc ( manage family work before build up the nation ) is still a modelling motto for present-day parents and after a day’s work when members are scattered for study or work, dining time is what if not warm-up moment of morales and good values in laughters and gastronomy pleasure.. Anyhow, not everyone can have dinner with the family. They leave home for a night duty shift and next early morning when they came back home, other members getting ready for their daily routine.
The city looks more romantic at night. Restaurants, dancing pubs attract well-to-do city dwellers and foreign tourists and in many other places in the city night schools’ neon lamps are on as many more people are striving for a higher social recognition in foreign languages, techniques, finance, accounting training which also promise a better life and a brighter future for themselves. By chance if one find themselves in a poverty-stricken hamlet at Xom Chieu area in District 4 they can hear the loud and unceasing reading of lessons by young children. Seen through dim light of poor destinies’ slums is a burning desire for a tomorrow at less cloudy and more shining skies. With a few questions, you can find behind the carrying pole of the old lady selling bananas she is carrying many more lives in the country hundreds of miles away from Saigon.
To visit Saigon, you can stay in and around hotels’ area and take tours. But to live with the Saigonese, you are expected to intergrate into ways of living here. On the way back to hotel after Cu Chi or Mekong Delta tour you can take a walk and view how people are making their lives. Or after your dinner enjoyment, spend your leisure with a xe om driver, recommended by hotel or tour guide, roaming about local living quarters. And, he himself, after a beer or two at the end of the tour, will reveal his life. In most of the stories, what you find is not lamenting verses but own struggles for survival and children’s future. With that, believe you’ve reached a deep side of life in the largest and busiest city in Vietnam.

By Tri Dung
Sue Gaunt and her husband from Birmingham – England are now visiting Hoi An. They spent three days in Saigon May 12-14. On the excursion to Cu Chi on May 13th, Sue said it was their second time visiting Vietnam. The first time was last December. Returning to Vietnam just after less than 6 months should be a record. Asked about the reason, Sue explained, “ We came back because we love the friendliness here”.
Very simple but astonishing. We often talk about the advantages of Vietnam’s tourism but it seems “friendliness” or “ hospitality” are seldom mentioned. The truth is success comes not always from expensive things. Hospitality is not to be bought by money but a long year tradition of the Vietnamese. Most representative for the Vietnamese open heart is the smile. Nowhere on the earth can people catch smiles on people’s faces that easy as in Vietnam. People smile in greetings, people even smile in difficulties or sufferings. “ Vietnamese smile at everything” many decades ago, Nguyen Van Vinh, a famous scholar in Vietnam, wrote down his comment. Open-heartedness is another sign of friendliness in here. The immediate presence of many people at the time something wrong occurs is also a sign of readiness for support. A hand and then, some hands will be given and those unknowned good guys will soon disappear the same resilient way they jotted in for help. Unnamed heroes are around us since in every heart seemingly exists the blood and spirit of Luc van Tien, a character in Nguyen Dinh Chieu’s literary work, who devoted his life to fighting the unjust and protecting the miserables.
Friendliness and hospitality can also be seen across the country. That is a smile, that is a nod or that is a greeting. Or that is a gesture showing from afar his or her sympathy and you can rely on it. Vietnam’s mandarin road stretches for thousands of miles and those who are traveling or have traveled across the country certainly realize the saying “ a friend in need is a friend indeed”.
And, such a sight as follows is not easy to find. It was raining and everyone was getting stuck at a traffic light. The smoke of gasoline overwhelmed in the air under the rain. To their utmost surprise, people saw a man without raincoat walking an old broken moped on whose front seat was a small kid smiling safely in her raincoat. “One, two, three, three, two, one” the man counted loudly as to amuse his kid. Rain went on heavily but everyone felt happy. From inside the bus, many tourists also felt a human thread was binding them to this land.
In late 1980s’ when Vietnam tourism was just about to develop from the number of 500,000 visitors/year one of the mottos for this S-shaped country seen on foreign travel agents’ brochure was “Visit Vietnam, one of rare unexploited lands”. The charm from Vietnam at that time which lasts until now is the traditions plus natural beauty. Presently Vietnam has many 5-star hotels, golf courses and resorts for services of a wider variety of foreign tourists; however, the preservation of traditions is even more significant. Besides natural beauties like sea, green paddies,… Vietnamese simplicity and hospitality have been playing the decisive factors in creating the second time and many more times for foreign visitors to come back. The case of Sue Gaunt is illustrative. It is thus truly right to say the local people are contributing in tourism. Whilst foreign investors making investments in scope with guidance from local authorities, the local inhabitants are making their own worthy participation by showing the inherited hospitality.