ATTRACTIONS - Around Dong Khoi St

Dong Khoi, known as Rue Catinat in the days of ‘Old Saigon,’ is where Graham Greene’s Quiet American dined and countless war correspondents got drunk and exchanged battlefront tales. It’s now a district of souvenir shops, high-end hotels and galleries. A good way to see the area – with a declining number of French-era buildings – is starting from Dong Khoi’s beginning and wandering north. See Shopping and Eating for a few places to buy stuff and eat. At Le Loi St, you pass the old OPERA HOUSE.

A block south is the mint-and-green SAIGON CENTRAL MOSQUE (66 Dong Du St), under the shadows of the modern Park Hyatt and Caravelle Hotel. The ‘Jamia Mosque’ is a small place of worship for the small Muslim population in Saigon. There’s an Arabic school behind, and a place to eat curry lunch. Take off your shoes is you want to enter.

From here it’s less than 10 minutes to reach Notre Dame and others sights detailed in the North of the Center section.

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