Travelog - A travel guide to Vietnam

Introduction
Saigon is a bustling city full of motorbikes.

For the budget tourist, there are 2 centers:
-The real center with some big hotels like the Rex
- The budget center along Pham Ngu Lao where all the budget accommodation, restaurants, travelagencies and internetcafés are situated. You can go by foot from the one center to the other in 15 minutes, a taxi will cost you 5000 VND.

For more info, buy the Lonely Planet Ho Chi Minh City guidebook (11/2000) price 11.99 US$

Getting there
By plane: There are numerous flights from all over the country into Saigon, as well as many international flights (in fact much more then to Hanoi). Saigon airport gets about 500.000 passengers each year.

To Saigon: from Hue & Danang 1.000.000 VND, from Nha Trang 650.000 VND, from Dalat 450.000 VND, from Hanoi 1.900.000

PS: prices for Vietnamese are about 50 of the above stated prices)

International flights from Saigon: to Pnom Penh 70 $, to Singapore 242 $ with Vietnam Airlines and 287 $ with Singapore Airlines, to Kuala Lumpur 160 $, to Bangkok 170 $

Transportation to/from Saigon-city :
Prices are not fixed here, so rip offs are common. Demand to put on the meter, normal price is about 5 US$, but no more then 7 US$!!. Our taxi driver put on the meter, and at our arrival the meter said 6.900 (underneath was written “Fare in VND”). Of course 6900 VND is 50 cents, so that’s way to low). So I presumed (correctly) the correct fare was 69.000 dong (which is 5 US$). The driver denied this and said it was 6,9 km, and he had to multiply this with the fare per km, thus he demanded 9 US$. We refused and paid him the 69.000 VND (he refused a tip of 11.000 VND !). So be firm, and pay the fare on the meter !! By bus Bus trips from Nha Trang are reasonably comfortable if you’re lucky the bus is not too full.

Getting around
Taxis are pretty cheap and reliable. Price in Saigon is 12.000 VND for the first 2 km, then 1200 VND every 200 m.

Cyclo’s can be fun, but of course prices need to be negotiated. We never paid more then 5000 VND for short trips like the center to the travelcafés.

Accommodation
One of the best hotels in town is definitely the New World Hotel. It’s an excellent hotel located at walking distance from both the center and the Pham Ngu Lao area. Rooms have everything like safe, TV, telephone, AC, minibar… They also have a swimming pool, tennis court and small golf court. Usual price is 120 US$, but the give a discounted price of 65 US$ + 15% charges for a double with breakfast. Check out there website for more info and reservations.

Another good place is the Equatorial hotel, but they have the disadvantage of being located away from the center. Still, a taxi to the center only costs 1 US$, and they have 5 shuttles a day. Rooms are big and have everything you could wish: AC, TV, telephone, minibar, safe etc… Their swimming pool is quite nice. They have special deals at 60 US$ + 15% for a double including breakfast. Check out their website for more info and reservations.

The KIM DO hotel has an excellent location, but unfortunately this also means that it is a bit noisy. There’s a Karaoke bar behind the lobby, and in the rooms we also heard noises from nearby bars. Breakfast was a good buffet, with even fresh pine apple juice. A double costs 40 US$, but due to the noise I can’t really recommend it. Check their website for more info.

The REX hotel is a classic, since it used to be the place where the American military held their daily press conferences, and thus you should have a look at their rooftop terrace bar/restaurant. It is a 4-star hotel, furniture is (of course) a bit
older . They also have a swimming pool. Price of a double is 59 US$ including breakfast and taxes, for 10 US$ extra they’ll give you a suite with other things. Check their website for more info.

Restaurants
Plenty of options in Saigon, both cheap (go to Pham Ngu Lao area) or more expensive but also very good (go to the area around Rex Hotel).

The Kim Café at De Tham street has good and cheap Vietnamese and other meals If you want to sit on a terrace, but more quiet then at De Tham street, choose one of the pedestrian streets running parallel to it. We went to Zen café which is known for its vegetarian dishes (but a bit spicy for us).

If you want to eat in style (and are prepared to pay for it), go to the Lemon Grass restaurant. It’s a trendy place popular among foreigners, count on 50.000 VND for a course. Service was a bit too fast for our taste though.

Nextdoor is the Brodard pastry shop.

What to do
It may sound a bit strange, but we had a great time walking around and just looking at streetlife (we had just arrived in Vietnam, so the busy streetlife was quite intriguing to us). A good idea is to hire a cyclo and indulge yourself in the traffic (10.000 VND is more the enough for a good ride). Also we took photographs of the motorcyclists (sometimes with 3 or 4 people) while we were in the taxi.

The War Crimes museum is open each day from 7 till 11.45 and also in the afternoon (no closing day contrary to what guidebooks say). Entrance is 10.000 VND. Outside you’ll see some American warfare (helicopter, tank, plane…). Inside you’ll see plenty of pictures of all the atrocities the US did to the North Vietnamese. There’s also 1 pavillion with pictures of all the rallies in support of the North Vietnamese from all over the world.

The Reunification Hall is not bad, but don’t worry if you miss it It is the former presidential palace. It’s opened from 7-11 am and 1-4 pm, entrance is 15.000 VND. you can see all the rooms of the palace, there’s also an American helicopter put on the roof, and in the basement you’ll see the commanding rooms.

Binh Tay Chinese market is far from the center. A taxi costs 3 US$. There’s nothing to buy for tourists, but a visit can be rewarding to see how the Chinese-Vietnamese trade their typical goods. Nice if you want to take pictures.

Shopping
Saigon is definitely a shoppers paradise for tourists. You’ll get the biggest choice of copied books here (even brand-new Grisham’s not even available in Belgium), and of course all the Lonely planets from Asia.

You’ll also find plenty of shops selling rucksacks of brands like The North Face, Jack Wolfskin, Lowe etc… You won’t see the difference with the real thing, but once you touch the tissue, you’ll see it lacks the strength of the real stuff.

Internet cafés
The cheapest connections can be had in Saigon where prices are 150 to 200 VND per minute.

The speed among different cafés can differ greatly, and in my point of view there’s 1 important trick to remember: go there where few people are surfing (and this often means going to the place where they charge 200 instead of 150 VND per minute. Why? The reason is simple: these cafés only have 1 modem, and they often (especially in Saigon) put 10 or 20 PC’s on this 1 modem. Thus, the more people surfing on this 1 modem, the slower you’ll go (and for them, their costs are the same, whether there’s 1 surfer or 20 surfers).

For an overview of the trips you can book at Saigon travelagencies, I refer to the page “travelagencies”. Most popular are trips to Cu Chi tunnels, possibly combined with a visit to Tay Ninh temple, and then of course there are the numerous trips to Mekong Delta.

(From 1000traveltips)