Film buffs will have recognized in the title of this article a reference to the excellent film “Good morning Vietnam” with the late Robin Williams, of which I am an unconditional fan. In spite of the quality of the film, I hesitated to use this title after having visited the war memorial in Ho Chi Minh City. My first impressions of Vietnam are not excellent. I am there for 15 days and I just spent 2 days in Ho Chi Minh. I hope that the rest of the trip will change my opinion on this country.
After 2 days in Ho Chi Minh, I really don’t like this city.
When I arrived in Bangkok, I was surprised, probably like all westerners, to discover a noisy city, agitated by a large traffic and which seems anarchic, but also a city surprisingly quite clean, animated and cheerful, filled with a noise that comes largely from the traffic, but not only. There are also bars with music, street musicians, etc…
In Ho Chi Minh, ALL the noise comes from the traffic. It is quite unbearable. It is probably the city in the world where there are the most scooters, much more than cars. The traffic is very anarchic, with scooters passing each other, brushing against each other, touching each other in all directions. Everyone honks their horns at the same time, which obviously serves no purpose, and it is very complicated for a pedestrian to cross, although it seems that the Vietnamese have a technique for that 
On the other hand, the city is very dirty. I had been pleasantly surprised by this detail in Bangkok. My son had indicated to me that he found Bangkok dirty. I found this dirtiness very relative. Certainly, garbage accumulates especially in the evening, but all that is cleaned every day.
This is not the case in Ho Chi Minh. The city is extremely dirty. The “beautiful district” of the center, around the opera house, the central post office, the cathedral is very clean and you can see sweepers there. Elsewhere, nothing. It’s really disgusting.
Second detail that surprised me in this city: almost no street food here, unlike in Thailand; Decidedly for what I’ve seen so far, I think it’s better to come to Vietnam before going to Thailand to not be disappointed. But above all, it is NOT GOOD. Sorry for the Vietnamese, again, I hope to change my mind later, but I haven’t eaten anything good here in 2 days.
However, as in all cities, there are nice places to visit.
– The cathedral inspired by Notre Dame looks very interesting. Unfortunately, it’s under renovation, so I couldn’t get in
– The central post office, designed by Gustave Eiffel, is a very interesting building 
– The reunification palace is nothing exciting architecturally, but provides some pretty interesting historical knowledge – What about the war memorial? The Vietnamese did not establish any censorship on the photographic documents. One must have a good heart. Even if one can consider that the presentation of the Vietnam war is biased since from the Vietnamese point of view, one understands all the abjection of the United States government in using the Vietnamese population as guinea pigs for the new American weapons. Some visions of shredded bodies are unbearable, but the worst is undoubtedly the smiles on the faces of some G.I.s during torture sessions or executions of women and children. Rooms are dedicated to the testimonies of American soldiers and civilians who fought against the war, sacrificed themselves, etc…
I didn’t know this historical event very well. I must admit that I had a great time visiting this museum.
To finish on a more positive note, the markets are really interesting here. The quantity of clothes, leather goods (counterfeit unfortunately) is impressive, at quite correct prices. 
My first impression of Vietnam is therefore quite negative, especially compared to Thailand, where everything is much better, cleaner, more smiling, much cheaper.
Icing on the cake, I have just after examining the websites of the different golf courses around the city, which all look more beautiful than the others, selected one to play today. This is the only course that has a rate on their website that makes it affordable. the others are overpriced. Unfortunately, they told me that the rate does not apply in my case, because I am alone. All the while being unpleasant and not at all welcoming. I’m not going to shy away from quoting it: it’s the West Lakes Golf Course. So I won’t play golf in Ho Chi Minh. Even that sucks!!!
Vietnam is definitely a disappointment!
To be continued…
