Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh City still called Saigon by the locals is the biggest city and the economic center of Vietnam. Ho Chi Minh City spreads its way on the banks of the Saigon River and has always been busy with trade since its formation. The areas more interesting to the travellers include the riverside, the city center and China Town.

The center and the riverside of Ho Chi Minh City boast the glittering skyscrapers which are home to deluxe apartments, offices and luxury hotels. The riverside can best be viewed from a boat cruising on the Saigon River at night. The city center is where many of the city’s tourist attractions, hotels, fine-dining restaurants and buzzing night life are found. There are some rooftop restaurants and bars in the center which can offer the panoramic view of the city from above. Cho Lon (China Town) is home to the biggest Chinese Community in Vietnam with Chinese-styled temples and pagodas full of atmosphere.

Ho Chi Minh City Hall

The good time to travel to Saigon is all year round; the sun shines everyday in this city. But the better time is from December to April as it’s less humid and more pleasant temperature. From May to December it’s more humid and it rains about 1 hour everyday. There’s hardly any storm or typhoon in Ho Chi Minh City.

Yen Bai Vietnam - Hidden gem for photography travel

It was Thursday and I was getting funky again. The weather seemed to have changed last night with new rounds of monsoons which made temperatures drop and the air fresh. The breezes were so gentle and the air was dry. This kind of breezes is called “Heo May” in Vietnamese. Normally “Heo May” appears mostly in the time between autumn and winter in northern Vietnam. “Heo May” breezes make the air a bit chilly, dry and fresh; on a day of “Heo May”, the sun shines gently which makes us feel very comfortable. “Heo May” comes along with beautiful weather that has come into Vietnamese literature and poetry...

Rice field and palm forest at Doan Hung Phu To

I felt so pleasant and called my buddy to see how things were going. He was ready. We went out for some coffee without being in a hurry. It'd be such a waste to be in a hurry on such a beautiful day. We started to get rolling out of the city in late morning, around 09:30 A.M or something. The air was fresh, so we turned down the car windows to let the fresh air in while leaving Ha Noi. It was a bit cooler as we were out of the city. The scene was just so beautiful with green rice paddies and dark blue mountains. The city seemed to be hugged by 2 ranges of mountains: one is called Ba Vi and the other is called Tam Dao, both are hill stations and home to amazing national parks. I'd write more about these two national parks at another time...

It was always exciting to travel again. We had been working on a special trip for 10 photographers who wanted to capture the most beautiful scenes of Vietnam. North-West of Vietnam was an indispensable part of the trip, but 6 photographers in the group had taken the North West of Vietnam with us already and they wanted something new, off-the-beaten track. Normally traveling in the North-West of Vietnam would mean to take the route via Road No. 6 via Hoa Binh Mai Chau, Son La – Dien Bien Phu and the from Dien Bien Phu – Lai Chau – Sapa – Yen Bai – Ha Noi. So it was easy, we'd take a different North-West of Vietnam then, this time we'd focus more on the beauty of Yen Bai Province. I asked one of my buddies, Thanh, to come along on our inspection trip to Yen Bai. Thanh is an amateur photographer and he had got many adventures to the far-flung regions of the country. He was surely to know what would be best for a photographer.