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at the junction of Nguyen Hué and Le Loi, may give the impression of being venerable, in fact it has only operated as a hotel since 1976. Having started out as a garage for the Renaults and Peugeots of the city’s French expat community, during the 1960s it billeted American officers, and hosted regular press briefing sessions that came to be known by jaded members of the press as the “Five O’Clock Follies”. From its fifth-floor Rooftop Garden bar, the hotel yields a superb view of the whirl of life on the street below, best enjoyed over a fruit juice or cool glass of beer. At night, the hotel’s emblem, a giant crown, lights up on the terrace, providing the city with one of its best-known landmarks.

The southern face of the block south of the Rex hides peaceful Sri Thendayyutthapani Temple, whose gopuram (sculpted gate tower) stands at 66 Ton That Thiep. The place manages a certain rag-tag charisma, the lavish murals normally associated with Hindu temples replaced by faded paintings of Jawaharlal Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and various deities from the Hindu pantheon, plus a ceiling gaily studded with coloured baubles and lamps. Steps beyond the topiary to the right of the main sanctuary lead to a roof terrace that’s dominated by a weather-beaten tower of deities, whose ranks have been infiltrated by two incongruous characters dressed like public schoolboys in braces, shorts and striped ties, and waving merrily.

Ho Chi Minh City and around | The City | Around Nguyen Hué |

The Ho Chi Minh City Museum

Of all the stones of empire thrown up in Vietnam by the French, few are more eye-catching than the former Gia Long Palace, a block west of the Hotel de Ville at 65 Ly Tu Trong, built in 1886 as a splendid residence for the governor of Cochinchina. Homeless after the air attack that smashed his own palace, Diem decamped here in 1962, and it was in the tunnels beneath the building that he spent his last hours of office, before fleeing to the church in Cho Lon where he finally surrendered (see "Nguyen Trai and around"). Ironically, it now houses the Ho Chi Minh City Museum (daily 8am–5pm; 15,000đ), which makes use of photographs, documents and artefacts to trace the struggle of the Vietnamese people against France and America. Even if you’re not desperate to learn more about the country’s war-torn past, you’re likely to be enchanted by the grandeur of the building, and you might even witness couples posing for wedding photographs, as the regal structure and well-tended gardens are a favourite backdrop for photographers.

The downstairs area is a hotchpotch of ancient artefacts and antique collections, along with a section on nature and another featuring ethnic clothing and implements. The museum shifts into higher gear upstairs, where the focus turns to the war with America. The best exhibits are those showcasing the ingenuity of the Vietnamese – bicycle parts made into mortars, a Suzuki motorbike in whose inner tubes documents were smuggled into Saigon, a false-floored boat in which guns were secreted, and so on. Look out, too, for sweaters knitted by female prisoners on Con Dao Island bearing the Vietnamese words for “peace” and “freedom”. Elsewhere, there’s a cross-sectional model of the Cu Chi tunnels, and a rewarding gallery of photographs of the Ho Chi Minh Campaign and the fall of Saigon.

As with many of Vietnam’s museums, the hardware of war is on display in the gardens. Tucked away behind the frangipanis and well-groomed hedges out back are a Soviet tank, an American helicopter and an anti-aircraft gun, while out front are two sleek but idle jets.

Ho Chi Minh City and around | The City |

The Reunification Palace and around

Five minutes’ stroll north up Nam Ky Khoi Nghia from the Ho Chi Minh City Museum, a red flag billows proudly above the Reunification Palace (daily 7.30–11am & 1–4pm; 15,000đ including guided tour). A whitewashed concrete edifice with all the charm of a municipal library, the palace occupies the site of the former Norodom Palace, a colonial mansion erected in 1871 to house the governor-general