Lonely Planet Review
When Graham Greene (and later his fictional hack Thomas Fowler in The Quiet American) frequented the Arc En Ciel in the early '50s, both the hotel and the Cholon district were very different places. What hasn't changed is that Cholon is still Chinatown and the hotel is still popular with Chinese businessmen.
And you can still dance at the Arc En Ciel, as Fowler did with Phuong, but the music is likely to be very different - these days it's the Rainbow Disco Karaoke that attracts the crowds. Apart from the historical value (the Art Deco facade is still notable), the hotel is probably the best in downtown Cholon, which is a totally different world to the rest of Saigon. From the many pagodas to shops full of fireworks, the Chinese influence is everywhere. The hotel itself has three types of rooms, differentiated only slightly by size and the colour of the decor (red carpet is uniform but some rooms are orange, some green and some blue). And the cheapest rooms are best, in our view, because they're much quieter than those facing the cacophony of the street. Be warned that the beds are made for Chinese guests, (ie pretty hard).
Review by author
Andrew Burke