Saigon street life: sidewalks, alleys and Phạm Ngũ Lão

One city, two names

Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam's largest city and its economic engine, spread along the Saigon River in the south. It received its official name in 1976, but Saigon is still used every day, especially for the older central districts. The city grew from a Khmer settlement and a Vietnamese citadel into a colonial port, and it has never stopped growing since.

Life on the sidewalk

What most visitors notice first is how much of life happens outdoors. The sidewalk is a café, a kitchen, a parking lot and a meeting room. Low plastic stools appear in the morning for coffee and broken rice, and come back in the evening for snails, grilled food and beer. Street vendors push carts selling bánh mì, sugarcane juice or fruit, and motorbikes flow through all of it.

The alleys

Behind the main streets is a second city of alleys, or hẻm, many barely wide enough for two motorbikes to pass. They hold homes, small shops, family eateries and altars, and they are often quieter and more personal than the avenues just a few steps away.

Phạm Ngũ Lão

Near the city centre, the area around Phạm Ngũ Lão street has long been known as the backpacker quarter, full of guesthouses, travel agencies and bars, with the busy walking street of Bùi Viện close by. The street is named after Phạm Ngũ Lão, a general of the Trần dynasty in the thirteenth century, a reminder that many street names in Vietnamese cities honour historical figures.

Rain and rhythm

Saigon has two seasons rather than four. In the rainy season, roughly the middle of the year, short and heavy afternoon downpours are common, and the street empties and refills within an hour. In the dry season the heat builds steadily. Having lived and worked in the north, I always find the southern pace striking: faster, more open, and more improvised, a city that seems to be open at every hour.

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Photos: olgaozik, 4601460, faizkun on Pixabay, used under the Pixabay Content License. These are not my photographs.