Nice article on HCMC in the New York Times today:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/12/21...l/21hours.html

Thanks Kathie. I'm now considering adding HCMC to our July trip. Just not sure yet what will get cut (Sapa, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An?).

K~

If I had to cut anything, it would be Halong. Yawn.

PS If you end up going to HCMC, I'd rather meet you there than in Hanoi....

~L

Lori-
Well, that's some incentive, isn't it? ;-) I was actually thinking you might want to meet us there.
I keep reading good stuff about HCMC, about the food, how it's a "vibrant city", so now I'm thinking we have to go. It will also be easier and cheaper for us to get a flight to BKK from there as opposed to Da Nang which was my original plan.
Plus weather-wise, it might be a bad time for northern Vietnam, though I am loathe to give it up. OTOH, I don't really want to be slogging through the mud and rain up there either.
Basically, I have 12 full days on the ground and I have to figure it out. I am going to have to start a new thread on my itinerary so as not to hijack Kathie's.

Don't worry about hijacking "my" thread, Kristina. I've been interested in how many reports of HCMC I've read recently that really make me want to go there. We only did Hanoi and the surrounding area when we were in VN a few years ago. Next time we go to VN, it'll be HCMC.

Just going on record as another fan of Saigon! "Vibrant" is an understatement!

Maybe Jeane and I will need to plan a 2010 trip to southern Vietnam in addition to our 2009 trip to Hanoi, Halong Bay (yawn, offwego???) and Sapa.

While the Botanical Garden is nice, I wouldn't recommend the zoo for those of you who've visited some of the nicer zoo's around the world (San Diego, Singapore). The cages are dirty, smell quite bad and the animals don't look well. They are supposed to be making changes though. The Park area is a nice escape from the "vibrant" rest of HCMC.

Craig; to clarify. Yes I thought Halong was a bit of a yawn. It's really beautiful for the first couple of hours. Then the sameness started to get to me.

I got quite drunk out of sheer boredom.

I think that trip is probably great if you're in the mood to relax a bit. I wasn't.

I probably wouldn't advise someone NOT to go, but I kinda know Kristina. We share some of the same OCD disorders. I worry she would also be bored.

Lori, you made me laugh out loud at that one.
Yes, I could be bored, but if I could be assured (there's the control freak in me coming out) that the weather would be good, I could probably "suffer" it for one night. I remember being somewhat disappointed in our "hong" tour off Phuket because the weather was so gloomy.
Plus, I'm not much of a "boat" person, but my husband loves anything on the water, so I think he'd probably get a kick out of it. So again, maybe someday, but this trip, there's too much else to see and do.

Thanks Kathie. I'm going to HCMC in 2 weeks' time.

I'll look forward to your report, Cilla.

I loved HCMC and can not wait to return to see and do everything I missed and repeat some of the things I did.

Apologies Kathie, I'm terrible at trip reports! We did have a good time in Saigon (now that we have visited I feel I am entitled to revert to the old name), bought too many handbags (Ben Thanh for the Anteprima Plastiq lookalikes and Ipa-Nima was having a sale) and half a suitcase full of lacquerware. I didn't get to as many restaurants as I'd hoped, Quan An Ngon did not disappoint. Also had the best grilled minced meatballs with vermicelli outside Ben Thanh markets and the best dried persimmon from Binh Tay market.

The War Museum was interesting. The photos especially, was wondering how our American cousins feel when they visit.

Locals were very friendly but crossing the road was such a nightmare.

What I noticed too as we drove to the Mekong Delta were the number of fashion shops for women. They were everywhere!

It was also wedding season so there were brides galore, some in the traditional red ao dai some in white western gowns. The schoolgirls look so refreshing in their white ao dais. I was told that they have to be careful when on their bikes so the long dress is not caught in the spoke.

I'd return in a flash if the city becomes more pedestrian friendly.

Thanks for your brief report, Cilla.