Hochiminh City, What you need to visit

Ho Chi Minh City is the fast moving economic center of modern Vietnam, increasingly becoming an international melting pot of tastes and sights from around the world.

A short visit to Ho Chi Minh City's center reveals landmarks such as the gothic Notre Dame Basilica or the Gustave Eiffel designed Post Office. However, to see the true colors of this changing city requires a trip deeper into streets, alleys and neighborhoods. Whether on foot, motorbike, taxi or cycle, the city once called "The Pearl of the Orient" is a treasure waiting to be discovered.

A quiet Islamic mosque humbly lies hidden within the city's noisiest commercial quarter. The soothing odor of incense mingles with the smells of cooking in Chinatown. Dong Khoi Street is a silk road lined with luxury stores selling silk from India and traditional ao dai. Luxury hotels that rival those in Paris and Tokyo share the street with vendors selling delicious barbecued pork or pho noodle soup.

When Vietnam began the process known as "Doi Moi"("Renovation") in 1986, opening up the economy, it was Ho Chi Minh City that took the early lead. Restaurants and hotels targeted at European tourists and expatriates began springing up, followed by a boom of Japanese, Korean and Chinese restaurants in recent years.

There are dozens of Japanese restaurants right on Le Thanh Ton Street which welcome customers with the charm found in Nagoya, Tokyo or Kyoto. In the backpacker area around Pham Ngu Lao, De Tham and Bui Vien streets, Western tourists flock to restaurants and shops catering to global travelers. The area has long been known as an international crossroads where all the popular languages in the world are spoken.

Today, imported Western chains like KFC have grown in popularity with Vietnamese locals. At the same time, homegrown chains such as Ashima Hotpot and Pho24 delight overseas tourists as traditional Vietnamese tastes meet modern, convenient services. Yet the old world is never far away. One only has to take a day trip to the Mekong Delta to experience the timeless images of ba ba silk pajamas, dugout canoes and conical hats amidst tropical fruit gardens and the floating markets at Cai Rang and Phong Dien

Ho Chi Minh City retains the southern charm of the past while meeting the future at full speed. It is a sleepless city with much inner silence, where tastes from all over the world are aptly integrated and where secrets unveil themselves as time goes by. Proud of its East meets West synthesis, Ho Chi Minh City is the modern heartland of many bloodlines, where cultures and races know no boundaries.