There are two things you should remember when you arrive here, says Mark Eveleigh at The Independent. First: “Vietnam has had so many wars (Chinese, Japanese, French, American, Cambodian, Chinese again ...) that for them there is no such thing as ‘The Vietnam War’: the one that ended in the Fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975 was the American War.” And second: “most people in Saigon don't call their hometown by its official name, Ho Chi Minh City.” Although many travellers “might be shocked when they visit Vietnam’s chaotic biggest city for the first time,” the city is “beloved by its residents as a place of surprising calm and order,” says Lindsey Galloway at the BBC. It also offers “friendly faces, an active social scene and some of the best (and cheapest) street food on the planet.”