HO CHI MINH City

	Land area: 2,090 km2 Population: 5, 037, 155 Ethnic groups: Viet (Kinh)
Located in the south of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh city is a new settlement, the word Saigon having been registered for the first time in documents dating back to 1698. There are two distinct seasons: the rainy season from May to November and the dry season from December to April. The climate is particularly favorable for tourism.   Ho Chi Minh City is divided into 17 urban districts and five rural districts. There are also 305 sub-districts and communes. Hundreds of rivers and canals cross the Ho Chi Minh City area, but most are mainly small. Saigon river, crossing the city on 106km, is the biggest. Means of communication by road, railway, or sea from Ho Chi Minh to all other provinces are also efficient.   One of the main characteristics that influenced the 300 years of Saigon is the combination of three cultural sources: Vietnamese, Chinese, and European.   The city's resources and accommodations are attractive elements for several tourists. Typical tourist sites would be counted here as Nha Rong Port (where late President Ho Chi Minh first left for France seeking the way to rescue the country from the colonists), Ho Chi Minh Museum, Thong Nhat Hall, Notre Dame Cathedral, Vinh Nghiem Pagoda and Giac Lam Pagoda.  Besides historical relics, the city charms its visitors with and many parks and flower gardens and entertainment resorts (Suoi Tien, Dam Sen, Water Park). Ho Chi Minh City is located in a special geographical position, converging many favorable conditions for economic development. Since olden time, the City has been a most strategic area on the South, a dense and prosperous trade center, a gate and a relation clue with foreign countries. In building the country, Ho Chi Minh City really has been an economic, industrial, financial center, an international relation and tourism center of the whole country, with amphibious communication clue and convenient air-line, a cultural and scientific technological center, etc…http://www.hcminvest.gov.vn