Happy to be in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam! ♥

Vietnam flag

Ho Chi Minh City, formerly named Saigon,

 or by the abbreviations HCMC or HCM,

 is the largest city in Vietnam 

the former capital of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam).

Tan Son Nhat is Vietnam's largest international airport.

The airport is conveniently located about eight kilometers away from the heart of the city.

The  Vietnamese Dong  is the currency of Vietnam.

It can get really confusing with all the zeros (0,00,000...)!

When we arrived,

 we had some of our US dollar$ exchanged at one of the foreign exchange counters inside the airport.

We were so amused with the exchange rate 

~ imagine, for a mere $100 USD,

 the exchange was worth more than 2 million VND?!

Tee-hee-hee-hee!

My uncle (Tito Albert) and I were laughing so hard 

when he took this pic of me with our "Dong millions"!

LOL ☺

And now...a bit of history:

Humble Uncle Ho

(19 May 1890 ~ 3 September 1969)

There is an aged face that smiles down from giant bulletins on the passersby in Ho Chi Minh City.

 He is present on every currency note; framed in many a classroom and office building; displayed on street posters and etched into art pieces in museums; his cyber-fans multiply a growing Facebook page.

Born Nguyen Sinh Cung and also known as Nguyen Ai Quoc, he was fondly called "Uncle Ho" by his followers, or Ho Chi Minh ("Bringer of Light").

 The former City of Saigon was named after him, attributing to his leadership of the country's independence movement in 1941.

 He first led the Viet Minh underground resistance against French colonial forces (1946-54) and then the fight against South Vietnam and the USA.

Uncle Ho lived a humble lifestyle, he refused to stay in the grand official residence of the former French leader of Vietnam, and instead, chose a small, simple two-bedroom house of stilts.

 He also asked to be cremated at death.

 "Not only is cremation good from the point of view of hygiene, but it also saves farmland," he said.

 Yet, contrary to his wishes, his embalmed body is now on triumphant display in a mausoleum in the city.

Ho Chi Minh's desire for his people to enjoy the basic necessities of freedom and independence is aptly reflected in one of his statements:

 "All men are born equal. The Creator has given us inviolable rights: life, liberty, and happiness!"

 Uncle Ho died in 1969, six years before U.S. troops withdrew from south Vietnam, but his revolutionary presence still looms larger than life.