Ho Chi Minh City

I was in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) this week to work with my team there. Half of my team is based there.
HCMC was known as Saigon until North Vietnam defeated South Vietnam and the Americans in 1975. They renamed the city after Ho Chi Minh, who is recognized as the founder of modern Vietnam.
HCMC is the commercial hub of Vietnam. You can see the commercialization and Americanization of the city when you walk the streets. Even the residents here tend to be a little more aggressive than those in Hanoi. The sellers are more aggressive and pushy. Unfortunately, I think they learned that from the Americans.
There are about 7 million residents in HCMC. It's a big metropolis and the place buzzes with a lot of energy. There is a lot of building going on - high-rise condos, office buildings, shopping centers, etc. The shops are stocked with all kinds of goods, a lot of them very cheap. There are also a lot of fake brand-name clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, etc. It's very tempting to want to buy them. But, I know they don't last at all.
You see all kinds of restaurants here - Japanese, American, Korean, Thai, German, etc. McDonald's has not been able to open a restaurant here because (I was told) that the Vietnamese government want them to use local beef instead of imported beef. There are also no Starbucks. Personally, I think the local Vietnamese coffee tastes a lot better than Starbucks', and a lot cheaper too.


The first picture you see on the left above is that of the Notre Dame Cathedral. It was built around 1880.
It's a prominent landmark located within the shopping district. There is a statue of the Virgin Mary right in front of the church. They have sermons in both English and Vietnamese.
I stayed at a hotel about 2 blocks from the church. When I walked by the church in the evening, I saw a lot of people mingling in front of the church. Some of them were praying to the Virgin Mary. There is quite a sizeable Catholic population amont the Vietnamese.

On the right of the church is the Post Office (2nd picture on the left), another landmark in the city. I understand that the inside of the building is quite impressive.

The picture on the left is that of the Opera House, also not far from the Notre Dame Cathedral. This is an impressive building that has been restored.










The next picture on the left is that of the Reunification Palace. This is where South Vietnam surrendered to the North Vietnamese on April 30, 1975.
Inside the Palace are exhibits from the war.










In one of the rooms, I found an interesting inscription on a plague.
Obviously, they own the bragging rights to the Vietnam War.