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Ho Chi Minh City - one of the
most important commercial and tourist
centres in Vietnam - lies between the Mekong
River Delta and Eastern Nam Bo. Ho Chi Minh
City (formerly Sai Gon) is the second most
important in Vietnam after the capital of Ha
Noi. It is 1,730km by land
from Ha Noi, and 50 km from the East
Sea. Over the past centuries, Sai Gon was
known as an important trading centre to
Chinese, Japanese and Western merchants,
who travelled upstream the Sai Gon River to
Pho Island to do business. Sai Gon
was once praised as the "Pearl of the Far
East". At present, Ho Chi Minh City is
not only a commercial
centre, but also a scientific, technological,
industrial and tourist one.
Hoi Truong Thong Nhat (Reunification
Conference Hall) : Previously on the ground
of the present structure was
Norodom Palace built in
1873 as a residence of the French Governor
General of Cochinchina. After 1954,
President Ngo Dinh Diem of the Sai Gon
administration and his family lived and
worked in Norodom Palace.
Nha Tho Duc Ba (Notre Dame Cathedral):
The cathedral was built between October 1877
and April 1880. With the approval of the
Vatican, the cathedral was named Notre Dame
during ceremonies held in December 1959.
Ben Nha Rong as an office for a sea
transport company, the building was a
combination of western and
eastern architectures with the roof decorated
by carvings of
dragons. In 1911, a young man called
Nguyen Tat Thanh ( President Ho Chi Minh in
his boyhood)
left Nha Rong Wharf on board of a French
ship to seek ways to secure national
salvation. At present, Nha Rong Wharf is a
place of memorial to President Ho Chi Minh.
Vuon Lai Thieu ( Lai Thieu Fruit Tree
Gardens) : Lai Thieu covering an area of 1,
230 ha has been famous for hundreds of years
for its beautiful fruit tree gardens.
Cu Chi
Located at the threshold
of Saigon and adjacent to the revolutionary
base, Cu Chi played an important role in the
two wars of resistance against the old and
new colonial powers. Cu
Chi was an "underground village" with its l
abyrinth of interlaced tunnels having
a combined length of more than 200 km. The
main tunnel is 60 - 70 cm wide and 80 - 90
cm high. Above the tunnel is a layer of
earth about 3 m- 4 m thick, enough to
sustain the weight of 50 -ton tanks or
heavy artillery as well as the destruction
of bombs up to 100 kg. Although it is an
underground communication network, the
tunnel is enlarged here and there into rooms
large enough to hold large meetings, a
medical station or art performances. Those
who had set foot in that tunnel
network should greatly admire the
talent, determination and endurance of the
communist guerillas. The soil
in Cu Chi was as hard as stone, but with
such rudimentary handtools as
hoes and shovels, they had dug and removed
tens of thousands of tons of earth and
stone, and camouflaged the openings so well
that nobody could find them. Many people
have called it a wonder of the 20 th century.
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