Vietnam 100 Excitements, not very exciting

"Ho Chi Minh City has announced a list of “100 Excitements” to promote its image as a tourist destination, but many local expats found that their favorite places were not included.

Ho Chi Minh City - 100 Excitements announced

HCM City unveils top 100 attractions

“I do not know who made the list but it seems not to have been done by local expats. How can you forget the Caravelle rooftop [Saigon Saigon] bar?” said Christophe Lefebvre, an administrator of the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Vietnam (CCIFV).

“In the top-ten list for restaurants, there is no foreign cuisine mentioned. Strange!” he told Thanh Nien Weekly.

The city’s “100 Excitements” announced on February 25 included top-tens in each of ten categories: hotels, restaurants, souvenirs, entertainment venues, shopping, must-tastes, city attractions, coffee shops, city tours and events.

The selection was based on votes by local and foreign tourists over a three-month period, with a judging board from the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Department of Industry and Trade and tourism reporters overseeing the initiative.

However, many local expats said there were many notable “excitements” left off the list.

A US expat advisor of an NGO in Vietnam, who has been living in Vietnam for eight years and wanted to remain unnamed, said she felt that the Caravelle Hotel in downtown HCMC should be included in the list of ten hotels.

She also said Minh Long ceramics should have been mentioned in the souvenir category and bun thit nuong and bun bo hue in food category.

Jonathan Pincus, Dean of the Fulbright Economics Teaching Program, said everyone has their favorites but “the Café Terrace at Saigon Center is a favorite restaurant for many locals and tourists alike.”

“Lots of tourists like Lemongrass and Temple Club restaurants as well,” he added.

More to do

Many expats said tourism in the city could improve if pickpockets were eliminated, better tour guides were hired and more professional services were provided.

“Too many pickpockets and lack of tourist police,” Lefebvre lamented, adding that there should be English signboards to better guide foreign tourists.

The pickpocket problem was echoed by Pincus, saying “I suppose the biggest nuisance is the pickpockets, which seem to be everywhere these days. You have to watch your bag and wallet all the time in HCMC.”

However, he said most people enjoy their visit to HCMC. “The city is close to the Mekong Delta, which is full of interesting things to see. I always recommend the city and the delta to my international friends as a great place for a holiday,” he said.

“One complaint that people have is that Vietnam, not just HCMC, is more expensive than Thailand and Indonesia. Hotels rates are high... It is also very expensive to fly to Hong Kong and China from Vietnam,” he added.

The US NGO advisor mentioned earlier in the story said one problem is that tourist locations do not have tour guides able to offer good answers to her questions. She also said there were blatant mistakes in the translation of guidebooks given out at major tourist sites.

“Tour companies need to ensure that they can offer knowledgeable tour guides that are able to provide thoughtful answers to questions. I have joined several tours where tour guides appeared to be reading a script and could not answer what seemed to me to be very simple questions about the people/ history/location of interest,” she said.

She also advised that there be better tourism services for the elderly and disabled.

“Currently, very few sites/tours are friendly to people with mobility issues. Also, I think the public bathrooms and restaurants at tourism sites need to improve,” she said.

View the full “100 excitements” list online at http://hcmc100e.info

VietNamNet/Thanh Nien"

Caravelle publishes book about its 50-year history

The history of the Caravelle Hotel in HCM City has come to light in a new book recounting a half-century of war and peace in Vietnam.
LookAtVietnam - The history of the Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City has come to light in a new book recounting a half-century of war and peace in Vietnam, as seen through the eyes as one of the city’s landmark institutions.

The English-language “Caravelle Saigon-A History,” published last week, unfolds as a straight narrative interspersed with fascinating stories from an array of diverse individuals whose lives intersected with the hotel.

While its most compelling sections detail the tumult of the 1960s and early 1970s, the book provides a fascinating glimpse into the development of the hospitality industry in Saigon and concludes with the hotel’s extensive refurbishment in 1998.

Built to be the country’s most luxurious hotel when opened in 1959, the five-star Caravelle became inseparable from both the journalistic luminaries who covered the Vietnam War and a new and progressive brand of war correspondents.

As Saigon’s unofficial press club, the Caravelle was frequented by policy makers and such media icons as Peter Arnett, Neil Sheehan, David Halberstam and Walter Cronkite.

It also housed the offices of a number of international press organizations during the war period such as the CBS News, the ABC News and The New York Times.

A Vietnamese edition will be published by the end of the year, according to a Caravelle statement.

VietNamNet/Thanh Nien

VietNamNet - Touring Saigon and beyond in a Mercedes

As the Caravelle Hotel celebrates its fiftieth anniversary as a fixture in downtown Saigon, the hotel is opening the door on its first year as an organizer of tours.

Binh Tay Market in District 5's China Town.

Half day and day tours in Mercedes E-class vehicles leave from the hotel and go to the storied Cu Chi Tunnels and then into the Mekong Delta. Tour drivers speak English.

“Whether you’re here for business or leisure, there are several must-see attractions that define the character of this destination,” said John Gardner, general manager of the Caravelle. “Our concierge identified them and developed an itinerary and now we’re getting people out to see these museums, tunnels, landscapes and other spots,” Gardner said.

The HCMC Tour takes in Reunification Palace, the History Museum, Thien Hau Pagoda, Binh Tay Market, Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office. The tour also includes shopping at a lacquer factory.

The Cu Chi Tunnels Tour is 65 kilometers to the tunnel complex that is nationally considered hallowed ground.

During the war against Americans, Viet Cong soldiers used the tunnels as a staging ground for missions against the government of South Vietnam. Visitors on this tour can descend some sections of tunnel, fire automatic weapons and eat soldier food.

The My Tho Tour is a day trip into the Mekong Delta that includes boat rides to some of the region’s islands and river excursions to tropical gardens.

Americans Jason Landon Chain and Jordan Herbert Strauss said that they have toured Vietnam many times but the Caravelle’s My Tho tour was the most comfortable with the privacy afforded by the Mercedes and the two of them having both a driver and a tour guide. They said that although expensive, the tour offered classy service and flexible departure times.

The Caravelle tours range in price from US$130++ to US$240++