Holiday Festivities in District 1

A few years ago, 2 days before Christmas, we checked what District 1 looked like during the holiday season, and it was PACKED. So we’ve always made a conscious effort not to get stuck downtown during Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve.

This year with mom visiting, we wanted to try and see what’s up in District 1 and the fact that we couldn’t see the fireworks from our place at all. We also had a Photo Oi event at the Sheraton last night so hubby had to help out a bit too.

At 3 pm, the streets were still clear and traffic was non-existent.

At 6:30 PM when we came out for dinner, the huge glowing globe in the middle of Nguyen Hue Street was attracting people like moths.

Vendors were starting to set up shop at the side of the streets as well.

People like me, my mom, and basically everybody else, just had to stop, stare, and take photos of the beautifully lit up District 1.

The details and effort put into these structures paid off. Gorgeous!

The globe showed what time it is in different parts of the world. It was quite chaotic too in the middle with motorbikes parking right by it.

I liked the glowing blue facade of Sun Wah. It looked nice too in the morning as it’s like snowy figures.

More pretty details of Nguyen Hue lights.

I wanted to take pictures of Dong Khoi Street too but my mom and hubby said no. 😛 There was just too much bikes in this area.So I just took a photo of the Esprit building. 😀

Then we walked up to Sheraton, dropped off hubby and proceeded to Lam Son Square.

Whether it’s morning or evening, the Saigon Opera House never fails to take my breath away!

We walked back to Nguyen Hue and its teeming with people.

Still passable though.

I crossed the street to take a photo of the huge Lotus flower in front of the People’s Committee Building.

The Saigon Tax Trade Center has the best Christmas display of all!

Rex Hotel looked sad across it. Except that Rex sidewalks were all prettily lit up and the revolving crown on top was a nice touch.

More people.

By 9 pm, Le Loi St. was closed to vehicles.

Occupy Nguyen Hue was in order as well.

The globe and Bitexco. Along the way we’ve seen vendors selling toys that light up and of course, cotton candy. 🙂

We came back out at 11:30 PM which was a mistake as the best spots to watch the fireworks have been taken.

It was no fun lugging two sleeping kids. 😛

We ended up waiting for midnight at the corner of Bitexco. Ham Nghi St. was filled with people and people on motorbikes waiting for the fireworks display. When the fireworks began, we had to run to Nhu Lan so we could watch. We didn’t get the best spot but it was great to see the fireworks in person nonetheless. Our eldest happily watched on hubby’s shoulders.