Travel to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam with Bob & Wilma

Fifty years ago, Vietnam was the last place in the world one would want to or be able to vacation BUT today it is a fascinating, affordable and very beautiful vacation spot.

It was a split country at the time and Americans knew Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, as the capital of the south and the capital of the north was Hanoi which is now the capital of all Vietnam though Ho Chi Minh City may be the economic center of the country.

Ho Chi Minh City is a large and very busy city, the traffic is terrible and there is an art in crossing the street safely which requires that YOU walk slowly while the traffic moves around you.

The city hall, Hotel de Ville,

and the grand Post Office are evidences of French influence which governed Vietnam for nearly a century.

Notre Dame Cathedral is also part of the French legacy

though Catholicism nor any foreign religion was not much competition for

the native religions of Buddhism, shamanism,

Confucianism, and

Cao Dai which embraces the good of all religions.

The lacquerware industry is just a small part of the Vietnam's thriving economy though it is part of Vietnam's art world and is ever present in their lives and homes. Despite years of war and its reminders, the Vietnamese are a proud and resilient people.   

Photos and story courtesy of Bob & Wilma.

Learn more about Bob & Wilma... Click Here