I have just returned from my second trip to Ho Chi Min City these two months. On my first trip, I went specifically search for taste tempting delights as well as to see some of the tourist spots. My second trip I went with my father who was invited by Dr. Prasert of Bangkok Airways to travel by Bangkok Airways to visit Ankor Wat and then fly direct from Ankor Wat to Ho Chi Min City by Siem Riep Air. On our return to Bangkok, we flew Siem Riep Air to Phenom Phen, staying on night in Phenom Phen and return to Bangkok by Bangkok Airways the next evening. Father wanted to visit all these places in one trip without having to return to Bangkok. Dr. Prasert found out that father have not been to Ho Chi Min City for over twenty years. He was able to invite father to see old Saigon and at the same time introduce his new routes to him.

       My father told me that the last time he was in Saigon (HoChi Min City) was in 1974 just prior to the fall of Saigon. As for me, at that time, I was in the United States studying International Relations at Georgetown University. I remember that at the mention of Vietnam or Saigon I can always stir up all sorts of emotions in all my American friends.

       Now that the war has been over for over twenty five years, the situation has changed and both America and Vietnam are now going through a period of reconciliation and the country has opened up to both trade and tourists. I was curious to go there because I have heard so much of the city and the country ever since it opened up. I have also heard from friends and business associates that these people are tough, hardworking and well educated. I had to see it for myself.

       I expected to see a town full of bicycles and people dressed in Mao style uniforms. I expected to see few private enterprise or shops. I expected the Vietnamese people to wear a serious and severe look on their faces. I expected the worse. But to my surprise the city is full of smiling faces, fashionably dressed and the streets were packed with millions of motor cycles.

       This was a real city. Lively people and it seems that everyone was doing business, busy buying and selling. Is this a socialist country? I am beginning to have my doubts.The old buildings that the French had built during their tenure of this country have been repainted and repaired. They looked grand. It seems that a new life have been breath into the city and there is much pride in its people. Old buildings and palaces have been converted to museums to remind visitors of the struggle this country went through until the final unification.

       The Vietnamese people are proud of their heritage and are very patriotic. Although, there may be some corruption in any system of government in Asia, the Vietnamese people, for me seems to have more interest for the public good, than some developping countries in South East Asia. I went to see Cu Chi tunnels that were dug during the Vietnam was to fight against the Americans.

       I had to admire their toughness and percevierance. It is worth seeing because you will get an idea of how determine there people are.I ate a different places and the quality of the food was quite good although the side street stands were not as clean as you might expect. I ate breakfast at a local breakfast place which served the standard Vietnamese breakfast fare consisting of eggs, steak, pate and meat balls served in a iron sizzle platter with lots of French bread (bagette). This place is called Nam So’n and our guide who grew up in Thailand and returned to Vietnam just after the war brought us here. He is now a professor of history at a University in Saigon and works part time as a tour guide for picky travellers like me.

       As for the famous local specialty Pho was did not go to the restaurant which Clinton went to but to a more local one which most locals go to called Pho Hoa Pasteur on Pasteur Ward 18. There are only two kinds of Pho in Vietnam, beef and chicken. If you want pork Pho it does not exits you’ll have to order Chinese noodle with pork instead. For dinner we went to a restaurant which was quite up scale very well decorated and the style of the cuisine is from the middle part of Vietnam around Danang and Hue which is regarded as more refine. We dined on what this place called Temple Club Platter which consisted of an assortment of Vietnamese specialty snacks. Fried spring rolls stuffed with fresh shrimps, fresh spring rolls wrapped in the typical rice paper or in a highly aromatic herb leaf. Lotus roots salad which was crunchy and quite refreshing and tasty. Pomello salad with fresh poached shrimps was not as good as the Thai version but one cannot expect Vietnamese food to be as spicy as Thai food. It is more delicate in taste and more subtle in character. I can write lots more about this eating trip but before I run out of space, I need to mention the workmanship of Vietnamese embroider. The are masters and very detailed work. Shopping along Dong Kei is like walking along a mini Champs Elyse. Need to know more about trips to Vietnam, try calling Bangkok Air Tour or Pink Rose Tour at 02255-8964-8.