my guide to sài gòn
it's good to have many names, for throughout the course of our lifetime, we lives with so many identities although we don't always realize it. to name something is an simple act that shows you recognize its existence, just as how I recognize my past and present selves instead of denying them as a part of me.
simply put, Sài Gòn is an intimate name to call Hồ Chí Minh city. it's about simply being Sài Gòn rather than being the political or cultural expectations that people from older generations have on the city. there're many stories about the origin of sài gòn as a name, with most of it deriving from Sino-Vietnamese's (Chinese-Vietnamese's) altered pronunciation. in Sài Gòn, Sài is a loanword from chinese, which means firewood. on the other hand, Gòn is a vietnamese word that means cotton. some sources say the chinese living in the city originally called it Tai-Ngon, but the southern Vietnamese heard it as Sài Gòn instead, hence the name.
no matter what the story is, I like how Sài Gòn is a combination between a loan word and a Vietnamese word. to be frank, Vietnamese is formed as a result of countries that colonized it in the past and Vietnam's self awareness as a country. just as how the Japanese and Korean invented their own language from Chinese, us vietnamese had chữ Nôm. however, compared to chữ Quốc ngữ (Vietnamese) created by Francisco de Pina and Alexandre de Rhodes (the Portuguese and Italian Jesuit missionaries in Vietnam), chữ Nôm was much harder to use, since it asks one to be fluent in Chinese, as chữ Nôm was more dependent on Chinese as a foundation. to me, Sài Gòn seems like a continuation from its traumatized history with 3/4 of it trying to gain independence from China before France and the States invade to something bigger and more promising. modern Vietnamese is not only a language, but a record of history, as loanwords in Chinese and French are still an integral of the language. to me, it's about accepting the past and moving forward to the future as a city.
being an inhabitant of Sài Gòn since birth, I have to admit that there are many things about it that I'm yet to know and places that I'm yet to visit. with my friend as a companion, I embark on a 2-day trip this thursday and saturday to learn more about this city and what it has to offer. join me and learn about Sài Gòn through my lens.
DAY ONE. MAPS
chapter i. independence palace
other than being the place that marks the historical milestone of the reunification of Vietnam, this is also the place that I kept asking my mom to take me in as long as I can remember. however, it was only until a few days ago that I finally had a chance to go in. there's this feeling of insecurity and missing out the thing that most tourists and people have experienced once you mention Sài Gòn. however, I believe that I can understand it on a deeper level compared to tourists or my younger self, for I wouldn't remember anything if I visited it earlier.
compared to Bảo Đại's palace in Đà Lạt, the Independence Palace had most of its part sealed off, which discourages you from coming into contact with the place and leave you feeling like an outsider. its political use also makes it feel more distant compared to Bảo Đại's palace, where his family actually lived then. however, I loved the maps in the basement and the endless turns that the place has to offer. the life beneath poses a stark contrast to the life above. for some reasons, I feel like we are closer to touching what it means to be human down there.
chapter ii. war remnants museum
history is interpretative for the most part. the Vietnamese call it the America war, while the American call it the Vietnam war. while that war was a big part of our history, it is by no means everything. I hate it when people mention the war and the jungle when they learn that I come from Vietnam (I faced this a few times when I was applying to college), when they could have talked about our culture instead. I understand that it's not entirely their fault, but also the way the media portray us. however, at this rate of globalization, boundaries are being erased to let us relate to one another. I feel very warm-hearted when I see comments from foreigners in Vietnamese music videos, as that recognization is what we need to reinvent ourselves.
the only thing I want to warn you is be careful when speaking certain words in Vietnamese as a part of the experience. phở can be read as phò by some foreigners, which means prostitutes. when you say that to the locals, they might thing you want to go to the hotel instead.
chapter iii. saigon central post office
to google maps traveller, there are more than one post offices: the popular and tourist-attraction one, and vietnam post offices. I entered the wrong one in google maps, and after half an hour of walking we find ourselves freeze in front of vietnam post office when google said we've arrived. took us a bit longer to get to the actual location, but it was worth it.
district one is the most walkable district in the whole city thanks to walking street such as Nguyễn Huệ and Bùi Viện, so take this chance to explore the city on foot. the post office is also pretty close to the city's People's Committee Building, so take a chance to visit both!
ever wonder why there's a lotus pond around the Hồ Chí Minh statue? his homeland is in làng Sen (literally means Lotus village). the lotus itself is also Vietnam's unofficial national flower, and it is also the symbol of Vietnam Airlines.
chapter iv. history museum
I came to the history museum on a rainy day, and it gave me an eerie feeling. the museum's overall architecture reminds me of turtle lake, as they’re both octagons. the obsession with octagons comes from the belief in Chinese feng shui’s bagua or bát quái. bagua is usually used to determine directions that are compatible to homeowners when they’re buying homes, or to situate grand buildings in places that would bring wealth to a city or nation.
besides hyper-realistic war miniatures, I enjoyed looking at art pieces from different Vietnamese dynasties. recognizing pieces that I could only saw in textbooks in real life got me excited and awakens the yearning to learn more within me. I also saw a mummy in this museum, and I feel sorry for whoever’s laying in there. I can’t imagine how emotionally and physically detached one must feel being in there. this also brings us back to the reason why they decide to mummify corpses in the first place. immortal gods, vampires, and mummies pretty much have the same origins. we probably do that as a part of the human’s yearning to get closer to the abstract concept of forever things.
the end of day one.
19,518 steps
DAY TWO. A JOURNEY TO THE INTERIOR
day one left us feeling pretty heavy from the past trauma that Vietnam and its people lived through. we actually planned to go to Củ Chi tunnel for the second day, but (1) it’s pretty far from our houses and is going to take an entire day and (2) the rainy season makes it less ideal to visit the tunnel, as it’s moist and soaked and everything. I thought to myself, “maybe another time” and we settled for temples and recreational venues for the second day.
in the list below, Guāndi temple (miếu Ông) and Thiên Hậu temple are Chinese temples during the early days of Saigon (a few hundreds years ago). Vietnamese National Buddhist temple and Pháp Hoa temple are Vietnamese temples. lastly, Wat Chantaransay temple is a Khmer buddhist temple. it was interesting to see how different cultures interpret and portray the same philosophy (Buddhism is a nontheistic religion). my personal favorites remain the Chinese ones due to its intricacies and the magical way that light moves effortlessly into the temple without being blocked by skyscrapers and buildings. the temple itself, similar to Mishima Yukio’s description of Kinkakuji, acts as a filter that absorbs the noises and pollution from the external world to finally give you this tranquil and otherwordly feeling. however, if we have to talk about the place with great cultural significance, Vietnamese National Buddhist temple is the place to go, as it guards the heart of Thích Quảng Đức, a Buddhist monk that burned himself to take a stand against the oppresive political regime of Southern Vietnam. however, certain parts of the temple only open on special occasions such as lunar new year so I didn’t have a chance to see the heart and his statue for myself.
temples are places unlike other tourist attractions: they’re much less crowded and they don’t require you to pay to enter. however, you can still donate when you see boxes labelled “cúng dường tam bảo” (giving for the three jewels) or “công đức” (merits). however, only do so at your own free will, not when you feel pressured to do so.
chapter v. Guāndi temple (miếu Ông)
chapter vi. Vietnamese National Buddhist temple
chapter vii. Wat Chantaransay temple
chapter viii. Pháp Hoa temple
chapter ix. Thiên Hậu temple
chapter x. museum of fine arts
ever since studying in an international environment, especially studying works like animal farm by George Orwell and slaughterhouse five by Kurt Vonnegut, I slowly become more aware of how Vietnamese literature and arts are often revolved around our history and nationalism. even some texts in our primary schools’ textbooks tell the story of Bác Hồ (Hồ Chí Minh, also called Uncle Hồ) and children. those stories seem naïve on the surface, but they may be for propaganda purposes on another layer. luckily, Bác Hồ is a decent man, unlike some USSR leaders. nevertheless, I think it is still unrealistic to tell only the good side of a person and not the failures and mistakes that they made, as that’s what make us human. we like to pretend that we have morals, but we cannot guarantee that we will always have leaders with good morals. therefore, it is better to learn how to face something, instead of trying to avoid and censor it at all costs. it benefits no one.
at this rate of globalization, I hope that I will soon see works of arts with other themes rather than the wars that we went through. while I recognize and acknowledge what we went through, I don’t hope to let our nation defined only by what we were, but what we are and would be in the future. I hope that day would come.
chapter xi. snow town
I’d like to think that my friend and I spent 180,000 dong (each) to stay in a place surrounded by slow-melting ice that can give you instant frost bite for two hours. this place is similar to temples in a way, as you don’t really do much in there. it takes me 10 minutes to go over everywhere, and you don’t really have any choice but to repeat what you’ve done.
as I grow up and learn and achieve many things, I think I also forget simple things, such as how to play and enjoy yourself without trying to make it a productive evening. it takes time to relearn some of that, but I’m trying. it was interesting to see how based on the places you go, you can see people from very different demographics: lower, middle, high income. and it’s ethereal and heavenly to just see that boundary of social hierarchy being erased for a brief moment when all we did was having fun, not competing against one another in the rat race.
freedom comes from having choices. having choices comes from recognizing that we have choices.
the end of day two.
8,358 steps
travel tips
travel outdoor places in the morning and indoor places in the evening to get the best lighting possible for your photos
use google maps to save, plan, and locate places that are close together to plan your trips, but don’t place too much trust in it to actually get you there
do not eat in district one, you can actually get a full lunch with a meal and two drinks in other district at the cost of a drink in district one (130,000 dong)
that’s pretty much it, I hope you enjoy and understand a bit more about saigon after reading this guide!
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