I don't know if it was just because I'd seen it in so many movies or just because I like the buzz of big cities but I was always looking forward to visiting Saigon on this trip. Firstly, to clarify, Ho Chi Minh was the founder of the Vietnamese Communist Party and was a key figure in Vietnam obtaining its independence from France. He features on bank notes, has a whole park dedicated to him in Hanoi and generally is seen as the Godfather of Vietnam. When the communist north defeated South Vietnam in the 1970s one of the first thing they did was to rename Saigon as Ho Chi Minh City - the winner gets to choose. One of the more obvious signs of the remaining North/South divide is whether you call it Saigon or Ho Chi Minh City today!

Saigon is immediately striking with its US-like skyline, ornately (verging on tacky!) decorated streets and obvious affluence in comparison to everywhere else we've visited in Vietnam. It's much more on a par with KL/Singapre/HK than the agriculture based country we've seen so far. Indeed it must be quite a sight for the visitors from the rural parts of the country. I'd say about 50% of people here are wearing masks - though as one friend put it "they love a bit of masks in Vietnam at the best of times" so it would be interesting to know what if any increase is down to Coronavirus. Oh and it is by a long way the hottest place we've been to so far in the country - high 30s pushing into 40 later this week. As Robin Williams famously said of Saigon - "It's hot. It's damn hot."

There's as many motorbikes present here as in other parts of the country - the difference here is there's also a lot of cars which so far, other than taxis, we'd barely seen. There are also traffic lights which had been noticeably lacking so far on our visit. Crossing the road remains treacherous but by now we're nearly professional level at that particular game! On first impression it's a buzzy, fun city with a nice mix of modern and historical areas. I'm really looking forward to exploring and getting a feel for the place in our last few days in the country.