As soon as we drive out from the Ho Chi Minh international airport and encounter the first traffic signal, I name this Asian metropolis - ‘City of Motor Cycles’; I see record breaking number of two wheelers outnumbering any other mode of transport. Liem, our taxi driver concurred with my naming, “There are six million motor cycles in this city of eight million population”.

Formerly known as Saigon, Ho Chi Minh is now the commercial capital and largest city of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and is thriving with tourism. Low cost airfare, reasonably priced accommodation, exotic cuisine and cheap shopping particularly of fake designer label products are drawing visitors from all over the world to come and witness the nation’s post war progress.

It’s undoubtedly an exotic destination with no shortage of activities to excite your nerves. You can spend the day gazing at the multidirectional flow of traffic while patiently waiting to cross a busy street, though you will never get a chance to do it  as Ho Chi Minh city defies all traffic regulations. Defiance is perhaps in their blood - their leader Ho Chi Minh defied American autocracy and the post war generation defies traffic lights, walk signs, zebra crossings and other on street decorations as they say, making it virtually impossible for visitors to cross main thoroughfares.

Fake sells
Instead of losing time to cross the street, I jump on to a ‘cyclo’ which is three-wheeler rickshaw pedalled from behind, to take me to the iconic Binh Than Market for a vibrant shopping spree. There are shops inside and outside around the market complex selling almost everything that you can think of - clothes, watches, sun glasses, sport shoes, perfumes from designer brands of your choice for a price unbelievably low, though you have to bargain to get it to the bottom. And make sure that the Lacoste crocodile is on the left side of the shirt and the Rado watch hands are not rotating anti-clockwise.

Everything sold there is counterfeit, but its fun to bargain with sign languages, as their English and our Vietnamese is at par and finally buy something that you really don’t want.

Culinary ‘treats’
When hungry, there are plenty of crowded food stalls to serve you, very cheap but be prepared to eat without knowing what's in it. I attempt to venture into something that's being deep fried like a ‘pakora’, but before I take the first bite I find out from a Canadian backpacker that it’s a creature like a cockroach that’s being battered and fried. I sprint out from that area very fast fast, without even bothering the traffic hazards, as if I have been targeted by an angry bull.

Three blocks down from the market area, I stop hearing the ringing of bells and find myself in front of a Hindu temple, totally unexpected in communist Vietnam. Built towards the end of the 19th century, the shrine dedicated to the goddess Mariamman, whose decorated statue is inside is a great artistic sample of Southern India. Inside, there are innumerable figures of gods and goddess from Hindu mythology featured on the tower walls. “This temple is considered as a sacred place, just not by the 50 odd local Hindu families, mostly Tamil, but also visited regularly by the ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese population for prayers” says Vietnam born Ramesh, the Tamil priest.

Religious tolerance
Vietnamese people are very religious and open to all religions. There are mosques and churches in the city that’s full of temples and pagodas, the most talked about being the Jade Emperors Pagoda, which is truly a gem of a Chinese temple. The air inside is fill filled with pungent smell of burning joss sticks offered by pilgrims to gods represented from the Buddhist and Taoist traditions.

This city was the capital of French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia) from 1875 to 1954 and their influence is marked in many its old buildings such as the Opera House, Old Post Office designed by Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame and the Neo- Romanesque Notre Dame Cathedral, all that may remind you of their counterparts in Paris if you haven’t been there earlier.

There are still opportunities to indulge in a French way by dining at one of the city's elegant French restaurants in Don Khoi quarter, the most vibrant and tourist infected part of the city, trying Les Crevettes à lail (Garlic Prawns) washed with Bordeaux wines. Or if you are not that adventurous with food there are few good eateries in the same area that offer excellent South and North Indian cuisine.

After the French left, the city continued to be the capital for the independent state of South Vietnam till 1975, when it fell into the hands of Viet Cong Army. After unification with North Vietnam, the city was named after the country’s hero and leader Ho Chi Minh.

Two sides of a coin
Americans refer the historic surrender of the South Vietnamese government, as ‘Fall of Saigon’ but the Vietnamese prefer to call it ‘Liberation of Saigon’. To know how it all happened on 30 April 1975, visit the Reunification Palace which is now a major tourist attraction of the city. It was the home of the former South Vietnamese Presidents. The grandeur, of the building definitely recommends its worthiness for a head of state.
Take a guided tour to wander through the deserted halls and rooms of the building that was once bubbling with activities. It is in the 2nd floor ornate chamber the historic surrender of South Vietnam took place on 30 April 1975.

Definitely save time to tour the basement, in fact it’s most interesting to witness another world there with network of tunnels, war rooms, communication centre, huge kitchen and even a bedroom for the President to have some sleep during the war time, though our witty guide Toung says it was the President’s alternative resting place when he had a fight with his wife.

South Vietnamese people went through a period of severe crisis and insecurity during the war time. A trip to the Cu Chi tunnels will show how they survived from the American and South Vietnamese government killing by living in these tunnels for years.

We all know what price the Vietnamese people paid for this liberation, but visit the War Remnants Museum to experience yourself some of the extreme horrors and brutalities of the Vietnam War. It displays many disturbing and distressing documents and photographs, illustrating torture and killing of Viet Cong supporters and even civilians.

The photograph of the My Lai Massacre immediately triggers my memory from the extensive media coverage of that atrocity in 1968 when US army killed hundreds of Vietnamese civilians in My Lai village that provoked worldwide outrage.

My eyes just can believe the awful sight of preserved human foetuses in jars that were deformed because of use of chemical war fare. Then there is the replica of infamous tiger cages with wax model of prisoners in captivity to show the world how the South Vietnamese government treated their political prisoners.

With difficulty, I drag myself to complete the circuit and come out with a feeling of sadness. At the exit I overhear crowd conversation: “Was it all necessary?” and even “This is only one side of the story”. They are the questions unanswered, but the visit definitely makes you realise the extent of agony that a war brings to the human society.