A Spin in Saigon

We have just returned from a 5 day trip in the hustle and bustle of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City)! Thought I should share some of my insights whilst they're fresh in my mind.

Tourist Information

It appears that the Vietnamese government have not quite embraced and commercialised the tourism industry. As such, don't expect to find non-affiliated 'Tourist information' stands in the city, as you would in a city like Melbourne, Australia.

 

Travel agencies have taken to calling themselves 'tourist information' which I suppose they are (but with a commercial intent!). Having said this, our free STA map was sufficient for us to plot tailors, food locations and navigate district 1.

Food

Not unlike Singapore, serviettes/tissues are not widely available in dining institutions. As such, be prepared and have a packet of pocket tissues with you.

Vietnamese eateries often supply wet wipes, sealed in a packet - These are optional to use and cost extra e.g. 2000 VND (~10c USD) in case you wonder about the miscellaneous items on your bill.

 

The advice I kept receiving from my mother prior to my trip, was to avoid uncooked foods and local drinking water. Sounded good in theory, but in practice it was almost unavoidable - Particularly if you drink cold drinks. Whilst you may opt to drink a beer or a soda that is bottled, they are often not chilled and thus served with a glass of ice cubes - presumably made with tap water. Also, if you are interested in delving into the Vietnamese cuisine, you will discover they love their salads! Spring rolls, Banh Xeos are served with a plate of lettuce leaves for you to wrap your parcel of goodies and dip in fish sauce. I don't have a solution (except maybe pack gastrostop?!) but thought you should know!

Travel Insurance

Speaking of food and gastrostop, I had a severe bout of food poisoning on my trip and ended up with $US 600 of medical bills. It's not a bank-breaking amount but it is certainly a reality check when you consider a Vietnam trip would cost you less than that. 

 

As I actually had to make a claim- I was actually compelled to read the terms & conditions, which states that you are not covered for scooter/motorbike hire. As
we saw a few tourists hire motorbikes whilst in Saigon, it did make me wonder how many people thought they would be covered but are not?!  Buyer beware!

Souvenirs

I wanted to make a special mention about the touristy t-shirts that we bought in Vietnam. You know the type, with 'iPho' on the front, a faux 'Starbucks' logo or 'Ho Chi Minh' on the front. They were quoting circa 130K VND at Ben Thanh market but we paid 40VND from a little old lady on Bui Vien (parallel to Pham Ngu Lao/Backpacker st). I'm not hating on people who are strong negotiators and can achieve that price at Ben Thanh but I'd say 40VND as a fixed price is fairly effortless.

 

By the way, all the shops at the airport are priced in USD and will cost you two to three times Ben Thanh markets. Make sure you make all your purchases before you get to the airport!

 

Money

It is really important to have small notes coming into Vietnam. Quite often, taxi drivers would claim not to have enough change and therefore round up. Which is fine if you intend to tip them, but less so if it's not your choice. I overheard on one of our tours that this happened to tourists whilst paying for food bills also. When I say small notes, I mean 1000 and 2000 VNDs.

 

A handy tip that I read and prepared for my Saigon trip was a currency conversion card. As my 22 timetables (the conversion rate VND to AUD) are not particularly strong, I found it incredibly handy to have a small table of conversions to refer to. Particularly when negotiating in the markets!

 

My friend gave me a hot tip to carry some USD to Vietnam to avoid having to withdraw too much VND. I found this incredibly helpful for larger purchases such as booking tours and paying for tailors. Just be mindful not everyone will be able to give you change in USD. As at Dec 2012, the accepted conversion was either 20,000 VND to 1USD  or 21,000 VND to 1USD. Be sure to exchange all your Dong before you leave Vietnam, it is virtually worthless outside the country.

Tourist Sites

• Notre Dame Cathedral

I read on some Lonely planet website that this cathedral can be scaled- it can't. We specifically came back the following day to this site during visiting hours and it wasn't worth it. You're not really allowed far into the church and whilst the inside is interesting, it wasn't worth catering for the visiting hours which was ?am-11am and randomly 3-4pm on weekdays.

• Cu Chi Tunnels

We went with STA travel which was a group of ~20 (mainly Aussies). We also enquired with Sinh tourist but their group sizes were a staggering 40 people! I believe we got ripped off as we paid a $2 USD premium per person for a small group, when reality, I think the groups are roughly that size. Just book a normal 'large' group or enquire about the group size at the time of booking. I also overheard that some people negotiated the rates, which leads me to believe that everything is negotiable! We paid $US15  per person. The tour guide also asked for a tip at the end of the tour but this is optional.

 

By the way, you will make an unnamed stop en route to the tunnels at a 'Victims of Agent Orange' Wood Lacquer Crafts factory masked as a bathroom stop. The bathroom, quote my lovely fiance was "worse than a football stadium at half time". The toilets at the Cu Chi tunnels are cleaner.

 

There's already plenty of details about the gun shooting range online...but don't forget there is a minimum purchase of 10 bullets at a time. So be prepared to sink at least $US 10 if you want to try a gun out. 

• War Remnants Museum/Reunification Palace

Coffee, baking and architecture are not the only things that the Vietnamese inherited from France. They have also adopted "closing at lunchtime" which can be frustrating for tourists.

 

Be sure to check on the opening times of key tourist sites as both the War Remnants museum and Reunification palace close for ~90 minutes during lunchtime. I read on a website that the 'ticket window' closed at 12.00 so we arrived at 11.30am thinking that we could buy tickets and wander the museum during lunch time. This is not the case, the entire site is closed - not just the ticket window.

 

Keep the Change! Xx