Ho Chi Minh City province
Vietnam's commercial capital of Ho Chi Minh City, still better known as its old name Saigon, stretches from the South China Sea inland towards the Cambodian frontier. The city actually stretches out into one of Vietnam's smaller provinces and is mostly rural, though almost all tourists and travellers stray no further than the city limits proper.
Ho Chi Minh City sprawls out to the west of the Saigon River. Of most interest to visitors is District One (of the city or province's 16 districts), the heart of the city and home to many museums, hotels and backpacker lodgings, and District Five, better known as Cholon (pronounced Chalern), the Chinese quarter which is dotted with colourful pagodas and thriving markets. Strictly speaking, "Saigon" refers only to District 1 but the name is used almost always to refer to the whole city.
A striking contrast to Hanoi, the more sedate Vietnamese capital, Saigon is a thriving metropolis suffused with a hi-strung energy. This is Vietnam's engine-room, running at full speed as a once war-torn and stagnated nation revitalises.
In many ways the city reflects all the changes, both good and bad, that Vietnam has experienced in the last decade. Saigon's whole-hearted embrace of economic development has led to obviously improved levels of affluence for many, but negative effects such as rising crime have also to be grappled with.
