- Louis Vuitton Shop-

30 April 1975 South Vietnam falls to the Communists and days later Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh was the recognized leader of the communist North and adopted figure head of the communist government after his death in 1969. The name change has caused many to stumble over what to call the largest city in Vietnam.

Interesting enough Uncle Ho, as many Vietnamese affectionately call him, had many aliases through out the years. His real name was Nguyen Tat Thanh, now that would have made quite an interesting name for the city.

A couple years ago I read that due to all this confusion over the cities name the government decided to refer to the center of Ho Chi Minh City as Saigon.


For me Saigon is disappearing and the who city is becoming Ho Chi Minh City. On each visit I see more and more of the old Saigon being torn down to make room for new, modern, monoliths as the government reshapes the cities direction. Many of my favorite little shops, family run restaurants and yes, girly bars are now gone. I see designer shops at the head of Dong Koi street at Lam Son Square facing 5 star hotels and a newly painted (white) hotel Continental. New pedestrian ways have been added, and every thing is clean and tidy while most of the Vietnamese in evidence are workers or just passing through. That is for a few selected street folk that seem to tossed in for effect. The language here is English, Japanese and French and it's easier to find western food than Asian.

Anyway, it's neat, tidy and tourist friendly with a kind of Disney Worldesk feel to it. For my self I morn the loss of Saigon but catering to old Asian hands like me is not a growth industry.