Ho Chi Minh City
— — the city the motorbikes never let go quiet.
Not only on a wall.
“Saigon, renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1976, still goes by both names. A river port that grew into the country's commercial capital, with a French colonial spine: the Cathedral, the Post Office, the Opera House, woven through twenty-two districts of street kitchens, alley cafes, and roughly nine million motorbikes. The light is humid and gold in late afternoon, just before the rain comes through.
Ho Chi Minh City, on ceramic.
Each tile is finished by hand in our Knoxville studio. Artwork is slowly infused into the ceramic surface under high heat and pressure, and rests beneath a thin glossy finish. The colour lives in the surface, not on top of it.
Pick any four 4-inch tiles — National Parks you've been to, a Smokies set, the four seasons of one place. $ for a set of , cork-backed, ready to live on the table.
The place, in three passes.
Ho Chi Minh City sits on the Saigon River in southern Vietnam, about 1,700 kilometres south of Hanoi and 60 kilometres inland from the South China Sea. The municipality covers roughly 2,095 square kilometres across twenty-two districts and is home to about 9.4 million registered residents, making it the country's largest city by population. Founded as a Khmer fishing village, taken by the Nguyen lords in the 17th century, made the capital of French Cochinchina in 1862, and renamed in 1976 after reunification.
The climate is tropical monsoon: wet season May through November, dry season December through April, with average daytime highs around 32 degrees Celsius year-round. Air thickens in the late afternoon before the rains break. Street life carries its own atmosphere: charcoal smoke from pavement kitchens, jasmine and frangipani in older alleys, and the constant low engine note of the city's roughly nine million motorbikes. The Saigon River runs muddy and warm through the centre, crossed by the Phu My and Thu Thiem bridges.
Most visitors base in District 1, where the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica, the Saigon Central Post Office (designed in the 1880s by the firm of Marie-Alfred Foulhoux), and the Reunification Palace sit within a walkable kilometre. The War Remnants Museum opens 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. with a 40,000 VND entry. The Cu Chi tunnel network lies about 70 kilometres northwest and is reached by half-day tour. Tan Son Nhat International Airport, the southern gateway, sits roughly seven kilometres from the centre.