Phu My

Phu My is the gateway port to Ho Chi Minh City — still called Saigon by most of its residents — and the sprawling, dynamic southern metropolis that has been the commercial engine of Vietnam for over two centuries. The port itself lies 65 kilometres southeast of the city on the Thi Vai River, a deep-water facility in the Ba Ria-Vung Tau province that replaced the older Saigon port for large cruise vessels. The drive from Phu My to Ho Chi Minh City, typically 90 minutes through a landscape of rice paddies, rubber plantations, and the construction cranes of Vietnam's accelerating development, provides an introduction to the contrasts that define contemporary Vietnam — ancient rural traditions and breakneck modernisation coexisting in the same frame.

Ho Chi Minh City is a metropolis of nearly ten million people whose energy is immediately palpable in the river of motorbikes that flows through every street — an estimated seven million motorcycles share the city's roads, creating a traffic ballet of improvised choreography that terrifies newcomers and delights them in equal measure. The city's architectural palimpsest tells the story of Vietnam's turbulent 20th century: the neo-Baroque Opera House and Notre-Dame Cathedral date from the French colonial era, the Reunification Palace preserves the moment when a North Vietnamese tank crashed through its gates in April 1975, and the war remnants museum provides an unflinching, emotionally demanding confrontation with the human cost of the American War, as the Vietnamese call the conflict.

Vietnamese cuisine, widely regarded as one of the world's great culinary traditions, reaches its street-food apotheosis in Ho Chi Minh City. Pho — the national soup, a deeply flavoured beef or chicken broth ladled over rice noodles and garnished with fresh herbs, bean sprouts, and chili — is consumed at all hours, with the best bowls often found at pavement stalls where the broth has been simmering since before dawn. Banh mi, the Vietnamese baguette sandwich filled with pate, pickled vegetables, cilantro, and chili that UNESCO has recognised as an intangible cultural heritage, is the city's most portable and possibly most perfect street food. Com tam — broken rice with grilled pork, a fried egg, and pickled vegetables — is the quintessential Saigon lunch, served at casual restaurants that fill with office workers at midday.

Beyond Ho Chi Minh City, excursions from Phu My can reach the Cu Chi Tunnels — the 250-kilometre network of underground passages used by Viet Cong guerrillas during the war, now partially opened to visitors who can crawl through widened sections and examine the ingenious trap systems, ventilation shafts, and underground kitchens that sustained a fighting force beneath the feet of the American military. The Mekong Delta, beginning just south of the city, is accessible for day trips to the floating markets of Cai Be and the coconut-palm villages of Ben Tre, where sampan rides through narrow waterways reveal a timeless rural Vietnam of fruit orchards, fish farms, and hammock-slung riverside cafes.

Phu My is served by Holland America Line and Norwegian Cruise Line on Southeast Asian itineraries, with ships docking at the Ba Ria-Vung Tau port facility. The most comfortable visiting season is December through April, when the dry season delivers sunny skies and temperatures in the low 30s — though Ho Chi Minh City's tropical energy is compelling year-round.