Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City, the new official name for Saigon since 1975, is by far the largest city in Vietnam, home to more than 7 million, and the economic engine of the country. It might first appear to the traveller a hectic and noisy place, with fewer monuments and history than Hue or Hanoi, besides the French-area buildings and the relatively low-profile pagodas and temples. Only after a while, one discovers its personality, that of a diverse, energetic, commercial and entrepreneurial, rebelious meridional city which emerges from a long economic sleep imposed by two decades of bureaucratic restrictions to catch on with a frenezy of life.