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Saigon’s Hung Vuong Temple

Every year on the 10th day of the Hung Vuong Celebration (which just happens to be today), thousands of Vietnamese gather at the Hung Temple in Phu Tho Province to honor the country’s ancient and...

in Saigon

“Củ Chi Lite” – The Secret Tunnels of Phú Thọ Hòa

Very few foreign tourists ever set foot there and it seems that only those living in the area know of their existence. But the pioneering Phú Thọ Hòa Tunnels in Hồ Chí Minh City’s Tân Phú District pla...

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Street Cred: Phạm Ngũ Lão

Hey folks! Saigoneer is resurrecting its short-lived series on the street signs of Saigon with a weekly column called Street Cred. Saigon is filled with history and we see signs of it everywhere. Stre...

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[Slideshow] 15 Old Photos of Markets in Saigon

Supermarkets are becoming increasingly popular in Saigon but traditional markets still reign supreme. They act as the lifeblood of neighborhoods, where farmers from all over Southern Vietnam bring the...

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Old Saigon Building of the Week: 48 Nguyễn Đình Chiểu

As demolition of 213 Đồng Khởi gets underway in earnest this week, we take a look at the crumling old Đa Kao headquarters of the company which built it.

in Saigon

[Slideshow] 14 Old Pictures of Taxis in Saigon

In Saigon, taxis have long played an important role in getting people where they need to go. They first took the form of rickshaws and then cyclos before giving way to the 4-wheeled motorized variety ...

in Saigon

The Story of Saigon's Last Citadel

You’ve probably passed the pair of colonial buildings at intersection of Dien Tien Hoang and Le Duan hundreds of times. What you may not be aware of, however, is that these two buildings are the last ...

in Saigon

[Slideshow] 12 Old Pictures of the Notre Dame Cathedral

The Notre-Dame Cathedral is one of Saigon’s oldest and most iconic buildings. Built with imported materials from France, it was constructed between 1863 and 1880 in an effort to promote Catholicism in...

in Saigon

Old Saigon Building of the Week: Former Clinique Saint-Paul

For those condemned to a long daily commute along that busiest of city arteries, Điện Biên Phủ street, the clean, elegant lines of the Hồ Chí Minh City Eye Hospital (Bệnh viện Mắt, Thành phố Hồ Chí Mi...

in Saigon

[Video] Saigon Street Scenes (1940-1950)

This is one of the harder old Saigon videos to make sense of since it’s a compilation of clips filmed between 1940 and 1950, starkly different times in the country's history (World War 2 will do that)...

in Saigon

[Slideshow] 12 Colorized Pictures of Old Saigon

While old Saigon looked beautiful in black and white, adding a little color goes a long way to adding life to a photo (though photography purists would probably disagree). We've collected 12 colorized...

in Saigon

[Slideshow] 14 Images of Saigon in 1895

By 1895, Saigon had been occupied by the French for 36 years. When looking at photos from this period, it’s clear that the French placed great value on urbanizing the sleepy fishing outpost, formerly ...

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A Date with the Wrecking Ball: 2 Historic Saigon Buildings Slated for Demolition

The proposal to build a 14-storey City Administration Centre behind the Hồ Chí Minh City People’s Committee building promises yet again to transform the skyline of the city’s central business district...

in Saigon

[Slideshow] 17 Photos of Saigon from the Air (1930)

In 1930, a French plane took a series of photographs from Saigon to Cholon, capturing some of the city's most famous sites. So. Many. Trees.

in Saigon

[Slideshow] 13 Old Pictures of Women in Saigon

With International Women’s Day coming up, we’ve compiled a slideshow of old pictures of women in Saigon. Women have always played a powerful role in Vietnamese society and we hope that as the country ...

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The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Madame de la Souchère, Saigon's Rubber Baroness - Part 2

There can be few more fascinating figures in the history of colonial Saigon than Madame Janie-Marie Marguerite Bertin Rivière de la Souchère (1881-1963), the widow who defied the social conventions of...

in Saigon

The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Madame de la Souchère, Saigon's Rubber Baroness - Part 1

There can be few more fascinating figures in the history of colonial Saigon than Madame Janie-Marie Marguerite Bertin Rivière de la Souchère (1881-1963), the widow who defied the social conventions of...

in Saigon

10 Old Pictures of Cars in Saigon

Though cars have been present in the country since the turn of the 20th century, decades of war (1941 – 1975) and an economic stagnation (1975 – 1986) drastically reduced the number of automobiles in ...

in Saigon

The Saigon Monorail That Could Have Been (1966)

Saigon has been without an urban railway since the last streetcars were removed from its streets in 1957. With explosive population growth over the past 20 years, city planners commissioned a US$154 b...

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Old Saigon Building of the Week: 14 Cách Mạng Tháng 8

The art deco style building at 14 Cách mạng Tháng 8 was inaugurated in 1937 as the headquarters of the Cercle Indochinois at 14 rue Verdun.