Ho Chi Min City

Saigon - or Ho Chi Min City, as it is now known - is a busy place. A crazy place, in some ways.  A place that booms and roars and demands your 100 per cent attention night and day. And I loved it. Perhaps because I enjoyed the ultimate refuge in the form of the lavish and opulent Reverie Saigon, which is located in the heart of this magnificent city. 

It is housed in one of the tallest skyscrapers in all of Vietnam, and our 38th floor suite really did offer the ultimate air-conditioned refuge from the hot and sticky streets far, far below. 

Not that I had anything against those streets. A few days in Ho Chi Min City is as colourful and exciting as a few days spent anywhere on Earth - and visits to the various markets and street-food emporiums are an absolute must. 

More sobering is a visit to the Vietnam War Museum. It is not often that I’m rendered speechless, but that is how I felt after learning about some of the horrors of the Vietnam War. Indeed, like many visitors I was in tears - and altogether mystified as to how such horrors could have happened in such a beautiful and happy country.   

Altogether more jolly was a visit to Saigon’s massive central market where they sell everything from silk shirts to sea-cucumbers…

Back in the total luxury of The Reverie there’s time for one final swim in the rooftop pool before chilling out in the massive suite in the skies, before heading off to Ho Chi Min airpot for the Vietnam Airlines Dreamliner flight back to London.