Alovely view from the rooftop bar of the Rex Hotel. I recently stayed there on my last trip to Vietnam in September of 2005. No wonder the CIA and all the news people flocked to this place during the war. It's spectacular and when the lights of the Party headquarters are lit up it's even more beautiful. The rooms are dated but the staff is very attentive. Breakfast buffet was a cut above the other hotels I've stayed in but the location is great, near the center of District 1. The Ben Thranh market is 2 blocks away as is Unification Palace and Nortre Dame Cathedral. Some excellent shopping is to be had here and I did pick up afew things for my daughter and my girl friend Cindylou.......purses and shoes it's a womans heaven. Some excellent dining awaits you too and don't forget the food stalls at the Ben Thranh Market after dark......excellent. There's always someone trying to sell you something along the streets of HCMC but they're not too pushy and a cordial "Khong moun" (I don't want) is usually all it takes to shoo them away. I passed a little hotel on my way to the market that I want to stay in on my next trip to VN, it's called the Hai Nam, it looked so quaint and casual.
1 comment:
Actually, the wartime Rex consisted of two buildings, the hotel proper, where the present entrance is, and an adjacent building connected to it by walkways, which was the MACV BOQ. The original rooftop bar and cafe was on top of this second, which is about two stories higher than the hotel. If you walk areound the block, you will see the BOQ entrance. It was a massage parlor in 2006.
Post a Comment