Although US dollars are still widely accepted everywhere in Vietnam, it sometimes pays to pay in dong. Most museums will quote a price in dollars, but accept dong at 10.000 dong to the dollar. Given the exchange rate of 11.000 dong to the dollar this means a 10 % profit.
There are quite a lot pirated English books for sale, especially in Saigon at incredible low prices. The 1995 edition of the Lonely Planet guide sells for $ 6. We won't be surprised if this information is not publicised in the next (legitimate) edition.
It's no longer necessary to show the receipt of your travellers' cheques if you're changing money. Cashing them is a hassle-free five-minute operation.
Like almost anywhere in Asia, tourists are overcharged in Viet-nam. Therefore always bargain for everything, it will make your stay in Vietnam a lot cheaper.
|
Immigration at the airport is very efficient, provided you have brought an extra visa form and passport-size picture. Money can be changed in an open-air bank, 40 metres to the right just outside the exit of the arrival hall.
Sinh Cafe has an excellent one-day trip to the Mekong Delta. It costs $8 and even includes a packed lunch. Our guide had been working for the Americans around the end of the Vietnam War and had been unemployed for 20 years after a six-month tour in re-education camp. In one day he tried to make up for 20 years not speaking English, so we got 10 hours of lecturing on all aspects of Vietnamese life from the cradle tot the grave. Great guy!
The Sinh cafe open-end tour to Dalat-Nathrang-HoiAn-Hué is not good value at $35 as they use over 30 year old fifth-hand Chinese city buses. It's even worse value the other way around, because they leave out Dalat, as the city busses cannot make the steep ascend from Nathrang tot Dalat. Fortunately we only took the Saigon-Dalat-Nathrang leg and minibuses for the rest of the journey. Use minibuses and buy your souvenir T-shirt yourself.
There is a Baskins and Robbins ice-cream parlour on Tran Hung Dao Boulevard!
According to the survival kit the revolutionary museum used to have very good guides. Well, that probably was the case when entry was free and the guides depended on tips for their income. Nowadays you pay 20.000 dong and the eager guides have become bored civil servants.
The war crimes museum is far from objective and at some times nauseating. There is an excellent small Pho restaurant opposite its main entrance and we suggest that you take your breakfast before visiting the museum.
There's a well stocked supermarket at the first floor of the department store at Nguyen Trung Truc street.
Crime is on the increase in the streets of Saigon and we not only say so because a pick-pocket stole our camera. We spoke to lots of tourists who had things stolen, and foreign residents told us that it is a real plague. How about a group of twenty elderly French tourists who were stripped clean of all their bags by a gang of 25 boys only seconds after they left their hotel to go on a daytrip? We weren't to optimistic about filing a report (for the insurance) with the police, but that went excellent in a little police station on Ho Tung Mau street. We were helped by a friendly female police officer who had learned all the relevant questions by heart (no much feedback though) and a policeman even walked us to a shop to get us a copy of the report. It's probably possible to buy your stolen camera back at the Huyn Thuc Jang market just south from Le Loi street where it was stolen.
The Vieng Dong hotel has non aircon rooms for $ 12.
|
Dalat
|
We did not encounter any problems with the authorities in Dalat. There are now more hotels allowed to accept foreign tourists. We paid $ 7 for a double in Cao Nguyen hotel at 90 Phan Ding Phung.
Motorcycles with driver are for rent at $ 6 a day. Make it absolutely clear that you've hired them for the day and that you are the one that decides where you want to go. Don't pay them before you're back at your hotel and if they want extra money during the trip, just walk away. Good, safe drivers though.
The sites in and around Dalat aren't so special and you can see them all in one day. After visiting the crazy monk we wondered who is crazy; the monk or the tourists. We won't discuss the quality of his paintings, but prices have gone up steeply. The monk asks now at least $ 10 for a small drawing. He is still a nice guy at the start of the meeting, but his attitude changes if you're not willing to pay the prices he asks. Even if only 10 % of the tourists fall for his sales pitch, than this means that the crazy monk is at least the richest monk in Vietnam and one of the richest inhabitants of Dalat.
Some prices: Bao Dai palace: 10.000 dong, Cam Li falls: 3000 dong (not worth it), Crazy House 3000 dong (funny!). Valley of love: 8000 dong (including insurance, For a quiet stroll you only have to pass the shops and walk 500 metres).
|
Just like Dalat, the accommodation situation in Nathrang has improved with a lot more hotels accepting foreigners. As we arrived in town just before the 30 April - 1 May holiday, it was a bit difficult to find a room. We found a superclean double with air-conditioning and hot water for $ 12 in the Huong Nam hotel at 13b1 Hoang Hoa Tham street. It's a very friendly family run operation that also books good value tours and minibuses.
The Cham towers are currently under reconstruction, but still nice to visit at 5000 dong. Try to plan your visit at a time when there's is not a cruise ship docking in Nathrang harbour. 700 American cruises descending on three small Cham towers is more than you can imagine. They make a good distraction for the 100 or so beggars also at the site.
From the back of the site of Cham towers you can see a shipyard about 500 meters upriver. It can be reached be leaving the Cham towers to the left. After 200 metres take the unpaved road to the left and find the shipyard by trial and error. It's a traditional operation with friendly staff that allow you to walk around and see everything. Please be polite, so this wharf will go on welcoming tourists.
The Mama-Hahn boat trip has become so popular, that they've chartered a second boat and sometimes over 60 people make the trip. We spoke to people who found so many people on the boat too crowded. We took a boattrip with South Sea Tours, not crowded, with good food and transport provided from and to our hotel.
|
We stayed in a large room in the Thien Trung hotel with airco and hot water for $ 13.
The Hoi-An tourist board sells a combination ticket that allows you to visit 4 sights from a collection of seven for $ 5. The Japanese bridge is included in the ticket, but can actually be visited for free, as it is on the public road.
A lot has already been said and written about the cafe des Amis. You choose between Fish and Vegetarian and that's the only choice you have. Le patron decides what you eat and after that his 10 year old waiters start bringing the great food, singing along with the French chansons from the worn-out taper ecorder. If after two nights and two great meals you decide to eat there for the third time, you are considered a special guest, and you get a whole duck for two persons.
Comparing the Cham ruins of My Son to the Borobodur in Indonesia is an insult to the latter one. We're not sure whether visiting the site is worth the cost of hiring transport to My Son (reckon about $ 6 per person) and the entrance fee of $ 5. Getting to the site from the river is easy, as the government has taken over the operation. You pay $5 for crossing the bamboo bridge over the river, the minibus to the ruins and the entrance fee. It's a great walk 2 mile walk from the bridge, but there are no discounts if you don't want to use the minibus.
|
The Morin hotel is currently under reconstruction until at least the beginning of 1997. The Le Loi Hue hotel has double rooms for $15 to $40 and very small single rooms for
The Hung Vuong hotel has double rooms with TV, airco and hot water for $ 10. The restaurant has good and cheap food. The hotel is also the agent for the Sinh cafe open end tour which is bad value at $ 35.
All the tombs around Hue cost a ridiculous $ 5 entrance fee. We heard from locals that tourists are actually avoiding the city or staying just a short time because of these steep prices. As there is no wall around Thieu Tri tomb, it can be visited for free and it doesn't differ much from the other tombs.
The road from Thieu Tri's to Tu Duc's tomb is bad, with a broken bridge about halfway. It can be conquered, but both halves are very steep. Take care!
The ambience at the restaurant on top of the Huong Giang hotel is great, the food is good, but we have serious doubts about the level of hygiene in the kitchen. We both had tremendous stomach trouble after eating there, which proves that in Asia it's best to see your food being cooked.
The cafe's opposite the Hung Vuong hotel rent bikes for 7000 dong a day.
A soft sleeper from Hue to Hanoi costs 48.000 dong. The railways don't want your dollars no more, but this is not the case for its employees, so they will happily sell you a ticket for $ 48. There are only 4 soft sleepers available for sale in Hue, so book in advance as far as possible. Buying a hard seat- or sleeper-ticket and bribing the staff on the train for an upgrade is no option, as most trains are booked out solid. |
| Copyright © - "Hans en Mirjam Damen" |
|
