Ho Chi Minh City, with a population these days of approx 9 Million people is the largest city in the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.  

Sai Gon was re-named Ho Chi Minh City in 1975 to honour President Ho Chi Minh for his vision, sacrifice & courage.  The name change also meant a clean break from life suffering under the various seedy, corrupt & degenerate regimes imposed on them over the years by the west or the coalition of the willing as they're known these days

From 1955 to 1975 the then Southern Viet Nam had 3 name changes (State of Vietnam, Republic of Vietnam (RVN) & Republic of South Vietnam), 14 Presidential & 15 Prime Ministerial changes with only 2 elections. Talk about rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  It appears that the sole purpose of these Governments (see mobs), was just to stay alive & steal as much money as possible before the next coup happened, which of course was never very far away.

Nowadays however, HCM City is the economic power house of Viet Nam & has helped in no small measure, to rocket Viet Nam's growth along at approx 10% this year. 

To give you an idea of what that means, two of the former coalition of the willing partners, Australia & the USA are currently hoping to grow at a rate of 1½% this year.

HCM City is busy, hectic & fun and is sure to give you yet another perspective of Viet Nam as you travel through this wonderful country.  HCM City offers great shopping, food, clubs, night life, markets, more shopping and spectacular buildings full of history and stories that our guides will be happy to share with you.