My Holidays in Saigon Changed My Perspectives on Vietnamese Community

I visited my fatherland (Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City) during this lunar year. I had some interesting findings there.

1-I am trying to call HCMC as Saigon because HCMC might defame the people in Saigon. (Just for those who do not know the difference between Saigon and HCMC, Saigon was a name of HCMC before the Vietnam became one country in 1970s.) But people there actually call Saigon as HCMC, and my dad told me that people now would not care much about whether we call Saigon as HCMC or Saigon. This fact told me that there is now better integration of North and South Vietnam because people try to follow the name called by the current Vietnamese government.

2-The flag of Vietnam, as you may know, contains a big yellow star and red background, both of which obviously represent socialism. I thought Saigon (I still call Saigon to show some respect even if people there may not care.) did not want to put up the Vietnamese flags, but I saw many houses there putting up the Vietnamese flags. That scenery of houses with many Vietnamese flags told me that people now feel they are a part of Vietnam and not South Vietnam.

I have visited Saigon for many times, but this time was a bit more interesting as I tried to see Saigon with lenses that I had never tried to put on. :)