Ho Chi Minh city travel guide

Ho Chi Minh City (Former name Saigon) - The French nickname their dear city, “Pearl of the far East”. Chinese immigrants call it “Cho Lon”, meaning “Big market”.
The Communist government renamed Saigon “Ho Chi Minh city” after the nationalistic revolutionary. With many names and a population of 9 million, Ho Chi Minh city rises as the juvenile leader of all Vietnamese cities.
Unlike the old dame Hanoi slow, antique, reserved lifestyle, Ho Chi Minh city goes all out in the modern lifestyle. The city is always in a hurry: bustling, noisy, singing, entertaining, the people: loud and friendly. History
The area now called Saigon once were empty marshlands belonging to Cambodia. Flux of Vietnamese migrants flooded the area (running away from the Trinh - Nguyen civil war of the 17th century. The area later became greatly Vietnaminized, until later completely assimilated into the country Vietnam by the Nguyen dynasty.
During French colonization, the city was a French favorite. The colonizers developed the already bustling trade area into a high class, modern, European influenced city suitable for trade, entertainment and business. After colonization, Saigon became capital of the Southern side (supported by the US) during the American/Vietnam War.
After Vietnam’s unification in 1945, Saigon opened up to include Gia Dinh province and was renamed “Ho Chi Minh city” after Vietnam’s communist revolutionary. Saigon now is Vietnam’s largest, most industrial and most developed city. Geography
Saigon is located at 10°45'N, 106°40'E in the southeastern region of Vietnam. The city is 1,760 km (1,094 miles) south of Hanoi. It borders Tay Ninh and Binh Duong provinces in the north, Dong Nai and Ba Ria Vung Tau provinces to the east, Long An Province to the west and the South China Sea to the south with a coast of 15 km in length. The city covers an area of 2,095 km² (809 sq mi) (0.63% of the surface of Vietnam), extending up to Cu Chi (12mi/20 km from the Cambodian border), and down to Can Gio on the East Sea coast.Demographics
Saigon’s population has now exceeded 9 million. Besides the Viet ethnicity, Saigon has a large proportion of Chinese descendants. The Chinese immigration population concentrated around the “Cho Lon” (Big market) areas of district 5,6,7 and 11, forming Vietnam’s “Chinatown” (though I guess it blends with the scenery here more than say, Toronto).

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Phan thiet travel guide

Less noisy than Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City and less tourist-famous than Nha Trang or Hue, Phan Thiet is an equally beautiful and promising destination with much to offer. History
Like all of Central and South Vietnam, Phan Thiet once belonged to the Champa kingdom. The area’s ancient name was Ha-mu Li-thit (meanign Li-thit village). After the Champa kingdom was incorporated into Vietnam’s area, the “thit” in the old name evolved into “thiết”. The sound “phan” was gradually added to become Phan Thiet.
Phan Thiết became a city in 1999, and is the capital city of Binh Thuan province. Geography
Phan Thiet is the southern most part of central Vietnam, lying on an arm of the China sea. Phan Thiet borders the China sea on the East side, borders South Eastern Vietnam on the South, and meets with Lam Dong forests on the West.
Phan Thiet’s topography is diverse, and has 3 main kinds: plains surrounding the Cà Ty river where agriculture is carried out, tall sand dunes near the ocean and areas of alkaline soil.
Beaches:
Gifted with a long coast line, Phan Thiet has many heavenly beaches to offer to visitors. Long, with white sand, clean and clear water and green hills is the common features of beaches here. The best part is Phan Thiet beaches are much less crowded with tourists, and hence cleaner, more natural than the popular beaches of Nha Trang. Mui Ne sand dunes
The 50ha sand dunes are just off the shores of Mui ne. These sand dunes and are effected greatly by Norh East and South West winds, hence the dunes change in shape by the hour, and does not have a constant shape. The dunes are diverse in color, the sand varies in 18 colors, depending on the location. For example, sand near Tien river is pink, sand near the beach is white, while sand at Bong Lai Tien Canh is red. Because of these characteristics, the sand dunes are a scenic location, and are extremely popular among the photographing community. A five start resort and a gold course has recently been built on the sand. Poshanu tower
Poshanu tower lies on Doi ong Hoang (Hoang hill) 7km from Phan Thiet downtown center. The tower was built by the Champa people at the end of the VIII century. Besides the tower, there are worshipping temples that have been burried underground. At the center of the tower there is a worshipping alter of Linga-Yoni, the symbol for mortatlity o the Shiva god.

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