Saigon isn't an esthetically beautiful city. Its buildings are a mix of cement constructed hotels and tall apartments, some left-over French architecture, a few Chinese influenced structures and a few new, stylish high-rises. However, at night, once the sun goes down and the lights come on, the downtown area isn't visually boring.
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| Downtown HCMC - This bldg. changes color. |
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| This hotel does too. |
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| The lights on this night club change too. |
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| This is the tallest bldg. in HCMC. It reminds me of the IXE bldg. in DF. | | | | | | | |
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| One of several neon advertising signs in downtown HCMC. It's like NYC! |
Saigon Nightlife
Once the sun does goes down, the lights come on, and the temperature drops one or two degrees, the Saigonese come out to play. There's a very long park close to where I'm staying and at night it's full of life. There's a large play area for kids, a few covered areas where you can find a group of ladies doing aerobics or some sort of tai chi and another group taking dancing lessons, people playing badminton (without a net, though this is usually during the day) and countless young students either hanging out or playing Jianzi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jianzi), which is extremely popular here. (It's essentially their version of hacky sack.)
Away from the immediate downtown area, you'll find countless street vendors selling all kinds of food for dinner, juice vendors, dessert vendors, etc. The Vietnamese love to eat on the street and you'll find them sitting on plastic, children-sized chairs at short tables. (There may be a direct connection to the love of squatting.) There's not a lot to do here in Saigon, but it's not a boring city either.
