3 Days in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)

We spent a total of three days in HCMC, the largest city in Vietnam with approximately 10 million inhabitants, and apart from the bus routes, we found our way around very well. Unlike other tonal languages, Vietnamese no longer use characters, but the Latin alphabet with various accents for tonal distinction. This means that you can at least read the words (but I have no idea how to pronounce them correctly).

From the mid-19th century, Vietnam was under French colonial rule for almost 100 years. To enable the French colonists to go to church despite the then more prevalent Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, churches were built in Vietnam. In HCMC, a cathedral was actually called Notre-Dame of Saigon (unfortunately, it is currently completely scaffolded for renovation since 2017).

However, we were able to visit the Pagoda of the Jade Emperor. Of course, it has its own scooter parking lot because there are residential buildings all around.

Furthermore, HCMC has a Botanical Garden with an attached zoo, but unfortunately, it is far from European standards in terms of animal care. The large Binh Tay market was originally established by the French in a Chinese-style building. In terms of textiles, it is comparable to the Dong Xuan Center in Leipzig, but the food is a different story. And the Historical Museum exhibits, among other things, a coin of Marcus Aurelius found in Vietnam.

On our last day in HCMC, the monsoon finally brought a bit of cooling rain.