I recently traveled to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly known as Saigon), Vietnam and learned a lot about its culture. I'd thought I list out some tips and thoughts to help people who may be traveling over there in the future.
- Bring clean / new currency to exchange. They won't take marked bills nor damaged currency.
- Get all the necessary shots 3 weeks prior to arrival
- Slip the custom guy $5-$10 if you have gifts and want to rush through the line without any hassles
- Upon arrival, only use the following 2 taxi services -> VinaSun or MaiLinh. It should only cost between $6-$10 to go from the airport to district 1. Expect a travel time of 30 minutes due to traffic congestion.
- If you're a foreigner, stay in district 1. For $40-50 / night, you can get a pretty good hotel room.
- ve sinh = bathroom (nu = woman, nam = man). You may have to tip 2,000 - 5,000 VND at some places.
- Bring bug cream because you'll definitely get mosquitoe bites.
- If you have an iphone, don't use it near the edge of a road nor in plain site because there's a chance a thief on a motorbike may try to snatch it. Same deal with other expensive items such as your purse, dslr camera, etc...
- Bring your own clean wipes for wiping your hands, especially after you've used the restroom because most places don't provide tissues nor hand air dryer.
- Don't drink the tap water. Always buy water in a bottle. Usually 6,000 VND for a small one and 10,000 VND for the larger bottle. Be sure to drink a lot of water during the day and stay hydrated because it's very humid in vietnam.
- Make a copy of your passport and store the original in a safe at your hotel. If you lose your passport, you'll be staying in vietnam for quite some time until you're issued one by your own embassy.
- Don't eat at outdoor vendors that don't have a menu with fixed prices because they'll haggle you for more money after you've done eating.
- When shopping, negotiate negotiate negotiate! Walk if you can't get a decent deal.
- Wear sunscreen or a hat during the day
- When crossing the street, walk steadily while checking incoming traffic and do not hesitate, i repeat do not hesitate! Motorbikes will typically avoid you, not the other way around.
- Stay at a hotel near pham ngu lao street if you're a backpacker. Lots of foreigners around this area.
- Fancy 5 star hotels reside around dong khoi and nguyen hue streets, district 1. $100+/night.
- Don't eat anything RAW or you will become seriously sick.
- Heinekin is everyone's beer of choice.
- It costs $100 for a round-trip between HCMC and Dalat
- It costs around 200,000 VND to take a speed boat to Vung Tau from HCM
Well, that's it for now and have a fun trip!
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