Saigon/HCM?

Good afternoon fellow expats!

This site was a great resource for me in preparation of me traveling from the U.S.

Now, I look forward to returning the favor in sharing my adventures/experiences with friends/family and future travelers back home and around the globe.

My name is Angela Schonberg and I have been residing in the Motorbike city for almost a month now, and continue to ask myself what I should call my new city. Everyone around me seems to use the names interchangeably. What's your vote?

Hi Angela Schonberg, Saigon is an old name, was used during war time. Now we just call it Ho Chi Minh city. You can see all information you get now is under the name of HCMC, not SaiGon. It's good to go forward, not to pull back the history, so I think just follow the current trend.

Ward regards,
Annie

Hi Angela.My old Vietnamese friends told me that some people still use the word SAIGON now adays and this is to refer to OLd HCM or SAIGON to refer to District 1.

Hi Angela,


My name is Vergel. Im a Filipino. Same here, ive been here for almost a month now.

The difference is I think you are a tourist but for me I am here for work.
So I think Im gonna stay longer than you.

So, are you staying in the main District which is D1?

Have a nice day!


Cheers!

Thanks for your input everyone!

@Vergal-

That's awesome!

I do love exploring and I plan to travel as much as I can but, to answer your question I am, also, working and will be living here for at least a year.

I hope you are settling in well and enjoying your new location/job position so far.

I am staying in D3- how about yourself?

Have a great day!

G'day Angela.

I've been living here for about a month too & am also finding my way around with the culture etc.  From my brief interaction with local colleagues & some friends, I think the 2 names are used interchangably among the older generation. The younger ones <40's seem to be a little more adamant in using HCMC.

Have fun.

when i was travelling through Vietnam last summer i found thatmost Vietnamese referred to HCMC city as HCMC and it was only really British amd American tourists that called it Saigon, this is from a bog standard tourist perspective though