Miss Saigon? Nope its Ho Chi-Minh City now.

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam.  Under the name Saigon, it was the capital of the French colony of Cochinchina and later of the indepedent sate of South Vietnam from 1955 to 1975. In 1976, Saigon was officially renamed Hồ Chí Minh City after Hồ Chí Minh.

The French Quarter section of Saigon's downtown business centre and the waterfront is the the area around Dong Khoi street. It was in the is section of the city that earnt Saigon the distinction of being the Paris of the Orient.  

The Rex Hotel has played an important part of Vietnam history since its construction in 1950s. Orginally built by French colonial developers, it quickly became  popular with  American troops during the Vietnam War when its conference room hosted  daily press briefings to foreign correspondents, or “five o’clock follies”, as they were called. The rooftop bar was a well known hangout spot for military officals and war correspondents.

It is still very popular with its beautiful garden top patio and we decided to have a cocktail at the on the rooftop at 11am. There was only one other couple when we had our drink but it has a great expansive view over looking down onto the Opera House.

The People Committee Building, once known as the Hotel de Ville is probably the most photographed building in the city and its not hard to understand why once you see it in person. Unfornately, there is no public access inside the building.

Tonight our group is meeting at the Contential Hotel garden bar for drinks.During the Vietnam War, top flight journalists including Walter Cronkite stayed here and spend hours on the famous terrace bar which they dubbed "The Contential Shelf". It is Graham Greene who immortalised the Contential in his novel, The Quiet American (1955) and the 2002 movie featuring Michael Caine and Brendan Fraser. 

The film is set in the early 1950s in Saigon, Vietnam, during the end of the First Indochina War, on one level The Quiet American is a love story about the triangle that develops between Thomas Fowler, a British journalist in his fifties, a young American idealist named Alden Pyle, and Phuong, a Vietnamese girl. On another level it is also about the political turmoil and growing American involvement that led to the Vietnam War.

They say you come to Vietnam and understand a lot in a few minutes. The rest has got to be lived. They say whatever it was you were looking for, you will find here. They say there is a ghost in every house, and if you can make peace with him, he will stay quiet.- Quiet American (2002) - Thomas Fowler.

Oh and one final note. Facebook is banned in Vietnam.

Sarah