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Arriving & Departing
Ho Chi Minh City's Tan Son Nhat
International Airport ( SGN ) is the
destination of choice for those
coming to the city or anywhere else
in Vietnam. Flying from the United
States (generally Chicago or
California) usually involves a
stop-over in Asia, be it Seoul,
Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, etc.
so be prepared for a long haul.
Arriving
You will be given a two-part customs
form to fill out before your
arrival. Upon landing, follow the
signs to immigration, where you may
pick up your luggage. Afterwards,
you will head to the customs counter
to present your passport, visa and
customs form. They will take the
customs form and return you a yellow
receipt. Keep it! You need it for
departure.
Taxis may be accessed just outside
of customs. The cost to most hotels
in the city center is only $5.
Departure
Taxiing to the airport costs
approximately $3.90. Until recently,
a departure tax coupon ($14) had to
be purchased before entering
customs, but this is now generally
included in the price of your
ticket. After leaving customs, head
up an elevator, where you will
submit your departure tax coupon (if
required) and then head to
immigration. At immigration, you
present your passport, yellow
receipt for the customs form (don't
forget!) and boarding pass, and then
you may head for your departure.
Weather & When to Go
It rains a lot in Vietnam. A LOT.
The wet season lasts from May to
October in the south, and the best
times for traveling to Ho Chi Minh
City are late November through
January. Consider that "dry season"
is a relative term in Indochina.
Temperatures range from hot in the
winter to hotter in the summer, and
the humidity nears 100 about every
day. Expect tropical storms often in
the summer.
That said, the Vietnamese take
little notice of bad weather.
Nothing stops for rain (though you
might want to sometimes--road
conditions are still pretty poor in
some places and travel by bus or
motorbike can be extremely dangerous
in wet conditions). Air conditioning
is standard throughout the city so
you needn't worry too much about the
heat.
The biggest national festival in
Vietnam occurs in late January or
early February and is called Tet.
This is an excellent time to vist
the country, as the streets erupt
with color and... well...
festivities. Tet lasts about a week
(or, for some Vietnamese party
animals, up to a month) and is
scheduled around the lunar calendar,
so you'll have to check for this
year's dates.
This Saigon Ho Chi Minh City Weather
Page has annual averages for
temperature, rainfall and humidity -
as well as the up-to-the-moment
weather at Saigon's Tan Son Nhut
International Airport.
Ho Chi Minh Health & Safety
Being the biggest city in Vietnam,
Ho Chi Minh City inevitably invites
people from other provinces come
here to live, study and work with
hope for a better life and they make
the city so crowded. Generally it is
absolutely no danger to travel here,
no war, no storm, no flood, no
natural disaster, no political
issue, but caution is always
necessary. Watch out when you cross
the street or walk along the streets
as the traffic is almost out of
control. Some, not only poor people,
will look for chances to earn from
you, so keep your money and credit
card in your pants. Try not to carry
any bag when you go out. Cameras,
hand phones and bags are snatched,
not too often, but quite at higher
rate compared with other cities.
When talking on your mobile, stand
near a wall instead of walking and
talking in the crowded streets.
If you rent a motorcycle or a
bicycle, always let people keep with
a fee (VND2,000 or 3,000. U.S.$1 =
VND16,000 as of June 2006) when you
go into a shop or a market, etc.
Keeping it in a big parking lot of a
bank or supermaket, in front of
Fahasa book shops or inside any park
when you see keepers in military
colored uniform looks safer. It’s
common that a keeper after giving
you a ticket (as a receipt to keep
your bike) will normally takes your
bike to park somewhere, but it has
been reported that when you come
back, they say this is not the real
ticket.
If you travel alone, it's not
necessary to advertise this. It's a
tip everyone knows, but you can
always say your wife or husband or
sister is in the hotel, and you just
stepped out to buy something. Male
travelers may sometimes strike up a
conversation with a local lady and
wish to take her to their hotel
room. The hotel will keep the lady's
ID card and return it to her upon
departing. They may ask the lady to
leave after 10pm. Ask yourself "Can
you trust her?" Do you feel you're
safe with a stranger you just meet?
Remember if anything happens, people
will not report it out of shame.
Avoid dark streets at night.
Prostitution is strictly prohibited
in Vietnam but girls still stand
there to catch customers. The
problem is without a proof,
policemen cannot arrest them. Their
manager may rob your belongings, not
the girls themselves. You may see
“thin” hotels (small and with many
floors). See if you have exits in
case of fire. Houses burn down
occasionally due to bad electrical
wiring or any number of other
reasons.
Taxis are unregulated in Vietnam
which means owners can legally
charge whatever they want and they
set their metres to spin at an
alarming rate. If you get stung by a
rip off taxi driver, metre or not,
you can refuse to pay. This might
lead to a heated situation, but
eventually he has to take what you
offer. Use the word "tourist police"
a lot to get his attention. These
rip off taxis will sometimes not
drop you off in hotel aprons or near
other taxis because they know you
will then have people to support
you. If you do get into this
position, make sure you get the taxi
number and report it to the police.
To avoid this type of situation use
only company taxis. Hotels will
recommend them and some hotels
provide city maps with the names of
company taxis on the back. They are
distinguishable from private taxis
by the phone number on the side
which is much longer.
Ho Chi Minh Neighborhoods
Ho Chi Minh City is divided into 24
districts: 7 named urban districts,
7 numbered districts, and 5 outlying
named suburban districts. Most of
the things to do in the heart of the
city occur in District 1 and
District 3: this is where you'll
find most of your sights, museums,
best eateries, bars, etc.
The best neighborhood for the budget
traveler to stay is Pham Ngu Lao,
where cheap but reliable guesthouses
abound. You'll find the least
expensive accommodations tucked just
a few steps away from the most
obvious options, tucked away on the
alleys (this goes for throughout
HCMC). You can find your full of
food here for US $0.35 and up--don't
leave Vietnam without a hearty dose
of cheap street-side pho' (a hearty
noodle soup usually eaten for
breakfast).
The Dong Khoi area is one step up in
terms of ammenities and prices.
While you're in Ho Chi Minh City, be
sure to check out Cho Lon ("Big
Market"), where the city's ethnic
Chinese population is concentrated.
The market is also known as "Cho Tan
Dinh" where you get fair prices
although be aware of "fresh" quotes.
Make sure you negotiate pricing for
20-30 % off the quoted price. If you
are a foreigner, tell them that you
are an expat and are living here, so
please give you a fair price. Learn
some VN will earn some respect and
invite a more friendly negotiation
experience.
Another large market is just a few
blocks away from the five-star
hotel, Sheraton Saigon. It is a wise
bargainer who shops somes of the
hotel shops, small stores before
venturing into the markets. Another
tip - bargain in Dong, not USD as it
is much more finite in pricing and
the total price will be considerably
less rather than rounding to the
nearest USD (around 18,000 Dong to
$1 USD).
Ho Chi Minh Architecture
Unexpected architectural delights
found in Ho Chi Minh City are the
Post Office with its arched high
ceilings (look up!), and the Notre
Dame Cathedral, which is supposed to
be a smaller replica of the
original.
Ho
Chi Minh City History
Situated on the banks of the Saigon
River, Ho Chi Minh City has gone by
several names over the centuries,
most recently in 1975.
Ho Chi Minh City was originally
founded as Prey Nokor, a small
fishing village and main port of
Cambodia under the Khmer, in the
16th century. The name Prey Nokor
means "forest city" or "forest land"
and reffered to the swampy forests
upon which it was founded. In the
17th century, Vietnamese settlers
flocked to Prey Nokor and by 1698,
Nguyen Huu Canh, a Vietnamese noble
was sent to expand Prey Nokor into a
Vietnamese settlement. By that time,
Prey Nokor had became known as Gia
Dinh officially, but Sai Gon more
popularly (Sai Gon coming from
obscure etymology but most assuredly
reffering to the foresty area of the
city).
In 1859, the French conquered Saigon
and encorporated it as the capital
into the newly-formed French colony
of Cochinchina, which later became
French Indochina and subsequently
South Vietnam. There, the French
labeled Prey Nokor Saigon. The
French architectural style is
visible in many of the remaining
nineteenth century buildings, for
example the Museum of Fine Arts and
the Ho Chi Minh City Museum.
During the Vietnam-American War,
Saigon was the capital of the
Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam)
until its unification with the North
Vietnamese in 1975 which united the
two halves. It was subsequently
renamed Ho Chi Minh City in honor of
the pseudonym of the Vietnamese
guerilla leader-Ho Chi Minh (real
name Nguyen Tat Thanh).
Today, Ho Chi Minh City is the
largest city in Vietnam, larger than
even the capital Hanoi, with more
than 8 million people, and hosts the
largest number of businesses in
Vietnam - over 300,000. It is
climbing, slowly but surely, into
the new millennium.
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