The locals still call it Saigon

Day 72 - Ho Chi Minh City

We caught a Grab to the start of our 10am Ho Chi Minh walking tour and we were quite concerned about managing four hours of walking in the heat. The tour guide was very good at moving us to air conditioned buildings and standing in the shade, and fortunately after a while the sun disappeared behind the clouds.

The tour started off interestingly with information about the French, the end of the war in 1975, the communist take over and the name change from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh. The guide made it very clear that he and others would always call the city Saigon, often dropping his voice as he said "there are spies around" (not sure if he meant it or if it was just for show).

He explained about the opium poppy and even had some two year old opium wine ("happy wine") for us to taste, it was rough. He showed us around various buildings, some interesting like the CIA building where they managed to helicopter 2000 people out as the city was falling.

We spent the afternoon escaping the heat and getting packed for our flight home. We found a much better place for a tasty dinner and walked home via the craziness of Bui Vien Walking Street and the back laneways to our hotel where the locals were spending their evening in a very different world from us.