SAIGON - Paris of the Orient

[Denjiro]

My last trip to Ho Chi Minh City was last summer. Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon is the largest city of Vietnam containing ~7,5 million inhabitants. Vietnam was once a French colony and the French influence is still visible in Saigon; architecture, cuisine and fashion. In this thread I'll show you some nice captures of a few landmarks in this metropolis. I'm not a really good photographer, but I hope you will enjoy it.


Location of Saigon within Vietnam

[Denjiro]

This capture was taken near the Ben Thanh Market. The location where I took this shot is the real centre of Saigon. The majority of traffic in Saigon consists of motor bikes and taxis.
From left to right you can see:
* Saigon Centre (black one), 106 m
* Sunwah Tower (the smallest, blue one), 92 m
* Saigon Times Square (the greenish one), 165 m
* Bitexco Financial Tower (the tallest one), 265.5 m
* VCB Havana Tower (with all those windows)
image hosted on flickr

Centre by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

The following picture shows us the Notre-Dame Basilica, the grand cathedral of Saigon (height 58 m). It was constructed in the 19th century by the French colonists. The original building materials were imported from France. Nowadays the cathedral is a real Saigonese landmark.
image hosted on flickr

Basilica by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

This is the entrance of the Municipal Theatre of Saigon, also known as the Opera House. It is a masterpiece of French Colonial architecture shaped like the Petit Palais in Paris. It was designed by Felix Olivier and built in 1897. The opera house contains 800 seats.

image hosted on flickr

Facade by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

This is a shot taken at the People's Committee towards the Tax Mall. Also the Saigon Times Square (left), the Sunwah Tower and the Bitexco Financial Tower (right) are visible. image hosted on flickr

The Tourist by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

The Nguyen Hue Boulevard seen from the entrance of the Sunwah Tower. This is one of the most important financial streets in Vietnam where many office buildings are situated. During Tet (Vietnamese New Year) the boulevard is fully crowded with colourful flowers and trees. The blue building in this shot is the Vincom Center, an important modern shopping mall which houses famous marks like Versace.
image hosted on flickr

UpTown by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

The following capture features the Metropolitan Towers-complex which is situated near the cathedral. The building houses inter alia HSBC. It's height is 69 m and was completed in 1998. This postmodern complex was designed by Design International (Canada).image hosted on flickr

Metropole by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

Another picture of the Nguyen Hue Boulevard. The Saigon Times Square is visible at left and the VTP Office Service Center at right. The VTP Office Service Center is the headquarter of the Van Thinh Phat Limited Liability Company which is specialized in trading and hospitality services, like opening hotels (i.a. the Windsor Plaza Hotel), apartments and restaurants.image hosted on flickr

Downtown by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[viet_dt]

I love the tagline 'Paris of the Orient'.

[Linguine]

nice thread on Saigon...thanks for sharing your pics.

[christos-greece]

Indeed very nice photos; please post more (if you have)

[Denjiro]

Yeah, I will.

[Denjiro]

The Fideco Tower (the building with the Korea Life Insurance sign) is an office building located in District 1, owned by the Fideco Land company. It is situated at the very strategic corner of the Pasteur Street and the Ham Nghi street. The office building counts 20 floors. The Fideco Tower was completed in May 2008. The building under construction (left) is called the Saigon One Tower or also known as the Saigon M&C. At the moment it is the second tallest building of the southern part of the country with a height of 195.3 m. The highrise is invested by Bouygues Batiment International and is located right at the bank of the Saigon River. It will serve as a mixed-use building, including offices, residences and a galleria. Construction started in 2007 and it is nearly completed (cladding is nearly finished), but recently it was announced that the building was On-Hold. I hope the project will resume soon, because it will grace the city with its beauty. image hosted on flickr

Fideco by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

In this shot you can see the Bitexco Financial Tower and the State Treasury Annex, BFT located at the Ham Nghi street and the State Treasury Annex at the Nguyen Hue Boulevard. I will zoom in the information of the Bitexco Financial Tower soon. The State Treasury Annex is a modern office building which is used by the government. It counts 12 floors and its height is 51.8 m. The highrise was finished in 2006.
image hosted on flickr

Glass Gloss by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

It's time for a great introduction about the Saigon Times Square, a highrise building with a height of 165 m owned by the Times Square Investment Joint Stock Company. It counts 40 floors and is one of the newest/greatest additions to the skyline of Saigon and located at the frontage of the Dong Khoi and the Nguyen Hue streets. It has become a new cosmopolitan landmark. The tower features a hotel, appartments, offices, spa, convention centre, luxury shopping and entertainment facilities. During night the tower shines like a jewel with a great variety of lightning schemes; the illumination of the Saigon Times Square is gorgeous.
Beneath you can see some motorbikes and a taxi of the Mai Linh Group, one of the most dominating taxi companies in Saigon.image hosted on flickr

Times Square by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[haikiller11]

Originally Posted by viet_dt

I love the tagline 'Paris of the Orient'.

It is the only city in the orient that has a Paris street layout, thanks to the French .

[Denjiro]

People's Committee or Hôtel de Ville, built in 1902-1908 in French colonial style.
image hosted on flickr

City Hall by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

Saigon Central Post Office, near the Notre-Dame Basilica. Built in Gothic architectural style, designed and constructed by Gustave Eiffel.
image hosted on flickr

Post. by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

Saigon Times Square, Me Linh Point Tower (brown building with VIB Sign) and VTP Office Service Center.image hosted on flickr

DownTown. by Denjiro-San, on Flickr
VTP Office Service Center
image hosted on flickr

StreetView. by Denjiro-San, on Flickr
image hosted on flickr

Black Car. by Denjiro-San, on Flickr

[Denjiro]

Bitexco Financial Tower sign.
image hosted on flickr

BFT by Denjiro-San, on Flickr