Some people like to laze on the beach at Mui Ne, others love to wander the ancient streets of Hoi An, while many like the mountain vistas of Sapa or Mai Chau.
Well, now it’s time to find out, using the wonders of crowdsourcing list site Listiki. I’ve set up a simple list of my favourite places to set the ball rolling - now it’s up to you to add your own and/or change my rankings if you wish, and let’s see which destinations come out on top!
We have a Welsh rugby club coming to Vietnam in May 2011 and they would like to arrange a couple of matches against local expat clubs as follows:
22 May: Saigon
28 May: Hanoi or Phnom Penh (depends on chosen itinerary)
I’m assuming there would be some drinking/socialising involved after the game as well.
If you’re able to help, please email me on tim@comeandgovietnam.com.
Cheers!
I’ve just got back from 10 very enjoyable days in Thailand, attending meetings and a friend’s wedding in Bangkok and exploring the beaches of Phuket.
One thing that impressed me about the island (aside from the stunning beaches obviously) was that a company was giving out free prepaid SIM cards in the baggage reclaim hall. What a great idea - not only are visitors saved the hassle of tracking down (and paying for) a SIM card themselves, it also gives them a great first impression of Phuket and also generates extra tourist income, with people topping up SIM cards they may not initially have bothered to buy.
Great idea - how about it Mobifone/Vinaphone?
My latest travel article for The Word magazine…
With the recent opening of the Trung Luong Highway, the Mekong Delta is now a mere 90 minutes’ drive away from HCMC. Yet given its proximity to the metropolis, allied with its sleepy, laid-back ambience, its friendly people and its beautiful countryside, it’s amazing that so few HCMC expats bother to spend much time down there.
I suspect it’s because we all visit the Delta soon after arriving in Vietnam, usually on a rushed one-day tour being dragged from one fake ‘tourist village’ to another, and end up wondering what all the fuss is about. The fact that there is little in the way of decent accommodation in the region doesn’t help either.
And yet for a weekend break, the Delta has a lot more going for it than some of southern Vietnam’s more popular expat destinations. It’s a lot quicker to get to than Mui Ne for example, and it’s certainly a lot nicer and friendlier than Vung Tau.
Avoid the tourist traps of My Tho and Vinh Long, and you’re unlikely to bump into another tourist during your visit. Ben Tre province, for example, is within 2 hours’ drive thanks to the new highway and the stunning new Rach Mieu suspension bridge, and offers gorgeous scenery, quiet waterways and a pace of life barely comprehensible to HCMC dwellers.
Head a bit further down to Tra Vinh and you have the Delta’s Khmer heartland, a charming town dotted with Khmer temples, including spectacular Hang Pagoda with its hundreds of nesting storks.
Further west you have Sa Dec, former home of French novelist Marguerite Duras and still boasting some wonderful colonial architecture, as well as the famous flower village which supplies most of HCMC’s florists.
Regional capital Can Tho is famed for its bustling Cai Rang floating market, but it’s also a fascinating place to stay in its own right, with lively riverside restaurants and cafes and, in the Victoria Can Tho, one of only two luxury resorts in the whole region – the other being the Victoria Chau Doc, another must-see town close to the Cambodian border, and the departure point for speedboats to Phnom Penh should you wish to extend your trip into Cambodia.
Cambodia is also accessible via Ha Tien, the region’s westernmost point and arguably its most beautiful town – head across the border and you’re ideally placed for visiting southern Cambodia’s beaches and islands, or make the short trip along the coast to Rach Gia for hydrofoils onward to Phu Quoc Island.
So next time you’re planning a weekend away, don’t head to the same old beach resort – dive deep into the Delta and experience southern Vietnam at its friendliest, its most relaxed, and its most natural.
A great idea this - a photo contest to highlight the effects of climate change on the Mekong Delta, also known as Ricebowl of Vietnam because of the huge amount of food it produces.
So if you’ve been to the Delta recently and taken any relevant pics, visit the competition website and upload them!
Thanks to Thomas Wanhoff for the link.
I wrote this piece a couple of years ago for the Duxton Hotel blog. If anything the taxi situation in the city has gone from bad to worse, so time to tweak & repost it!
A frequent complaint from foreign visitors is of being overcharged, ripped off and generally mistreated by the city’s taxi drivers, particularly those operating at Tan Son Nhat Airport. Indeed, a 2007 survey discovered that the number one reason cited by tourists as to why they would not return to Vietnam was being overcharged by taxi drivers.
So how can you ensure that your visit to Saigon isn’t blighted by taxi cheats? Here’s my guide, based on 7 ½ years as an expat in the city!
Which Taxi?
In my 7 years in the city, only one company has an unblemished record with regards to overcharging - Mai Linh. Their taxis are white & green. Be careful – there are several fake Mai Linh taxis around using very similar livery and logo. In recent months they have become outnumbered by the ubiquitous Vinasun taxis - they’re mostly OK but are less fussy about who they employ as drivers, and tend to employ country bumpkins with no knowledge of Saigon and with zero customer service skills.
All other taxi firms should be treated with extreme caution!
Arriving at Tan Son Nhat Airport
When exiting the arrivals hall at the airport, you will be greeted by a huge crowd of people waiting for arriving friends & relatives. You will also be hassled by numerous taxi touts. Even if you ignore them and push past them to the taxi rank, things don’t improve, as there IS no taxi rank – just a mass of rival taxis jockeying for space and customers. In short, it is absolute chaos, especially when compared to the orderly system at Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport. So what do you do? Well, until the airport authorities take steps to install some sense of order, you have 4 choices:
1. Pre-book an airport transfer through your hotel or tour company. A more expensive option, but one that gives you peace of mind and eliminates hassle at the end of a long flight.
2. Book a taxi at the official taxi counter, which costs around $12 – again, more expensive than a metered taxi, but you get to avoid the chaos outside!
3. Fight your way past the taxi touts to the ‘taxi rank’, and flag down one of the reputable companies above. Have your hotel address written on a piece of paper to show the driver. Make sure he puts the meter on – if he refuses (he may try & offer you a “deal” or claim his meter is broken) get out and take another taxi. If he accepts, the fare into district 1 should be around 90,000-100,000VND. If it is substantially more, refuse to pay and get the porter at your hotel to sort it out for you. Also, if the driver asks you to pay any tolls en route, refuse – they are included in the fare.
4. A more crafty ‘insider’ option this one. On exiting the arrivals hall, turn right and take the stairs or lift up the departures area. It is much quieter there and you will be able to catch a taxi dropping off people at the airport, following the advice in point 3 of course!
Getting Around
Once you are settled into your hotel you’ll want to go out sightseeing or on business, and you may want to take taxis. Again, use the aforementioned companies, have your destinations written down, and make sure the driver uses the meter.
Aircon
After recent petrol price hikes, many drivers are turning off their aircon to save fuel. Not a good idea in a city where temperatures constantly hover around the 30C mark. If your driver refuses to turn his aircon on, get out and take another taxi.
Personal Hygiene
To many of the city’s taxi drivers, soap and deodorant seem to be alien concepts. If I get into a particularly malodorous taxi, I have no qualms about saying “Hoi qua!” (”It stinks!”) and getting out again, in the hope that the message gets through!
Tipping
Tipping is at your discretion and is not expected. If the driver has been polite, helpful or gone above & beyond what you would normally expect, feel free to offer a tip.
Beware of drivers “assuming” that you will tip them – e.g. the fare is 25,000VND, you give him 30,000VND, and he says “thank you” and pockets your money without giving you change. Or alternatively, he may claim he has no change. In this instance, insist on getting your change back and stay put in the taxi, or take your money back and get out. He will then miraculously find some change in his pocket.
Precaution
All taxis have the driver’s number in the window. It’s worth noting this down. If he gives you bad service or tries to cheat you, you can ring the company to complain and give them the number; and if you leave your bag or camera in the back of the taxi by mistake, you’re more likely to get it back!
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Don’t be scared by the above advice into thinking that every single taxi driver in Saigon is a crook, intent on preying on innocent tourists and business travellers! Sure, some of them are, but stick to the companies mentioned above and follow my advice, and you should have a hassle-free taxi experience during your visit. And if you have any other tips to add, please share them with me.
Here’s the slideshow from my social media presentation last week, brought to you by the magic of Google Docs…
I’ve long railed against the price-gouging policy of hotels forcing guests staying over holiday periods (such as Xmas or New Year) to pay for a “compulsory gala dinner”. Even when that dinner is decent value (say around the $30 mark) I still think it is unfair to deny guests who have already paid for a room the right to choose where they eat, and see it as essentially a room rate increase in all but name.
I stayed at a hotel over Xmas last year, and as a regular leisure client of the property I was able to negotiate myself out of their gala dinner, but it was typical of the genre - a standard Western/Asian buffet, with the mooted “entertainment” consisting solely of the hotel staff murdering classic songs, ie karaoke. Much better Xmas dinners were available in the town’s restaurants, and that’s where I ate.
So I was amused, shocked and forced to pen this blog posting when, yesterday, I received a new 2010-11 contract from a resort in Mui Ne. Like most resorts, they have a compulsory New Year’s Eve gala dinner. The price? $195.00. Let’s just type that again. $195.00. I had to look at it several times. Do they mean $19.50? 195,000VND? Or maybe even $195.00 per couple? No. It’s $195.00 PER PERSON! So if two people are staying in one of their rooms over New Year, that’s an extra $390.00 on top of the room rate.
Even worse, their Lunar New Year gala dinner is a mere $30.00, so whilst it’s OK to fleece Westerners celebrating New Year, it’s not OK to do the same to locals celebrating Tet. I thought dual pricing was illegal in Vietnam these days.
Now I don’t care if this meal consists of fresh foie gras, Kobe beef, and scallops freshly plucked from the sea and delivered to your table by a naked Cheryl Cole. It is an absolute bloody rip-off, as I told the resort in my reply. I expect, and I sincerely hope, that they have the lowest occupancy in town over the festive period.
Thanks to a genius new Tripadvisor app called Tripwow, I’ve put together a great new slideshow to showcase our top-selling Ben Tre tour (soundtracked by Autechre). Watch below, & enjoy!
Thanks to my fellow blogger Thomas Wanhoff for sharing this (on Facebook) - a great internet marketing campaign from the Icelandic Tourist Board, showing that you don’t have to spend loads of money to come up with effective tourism marketing (which is just as well because as we all know, Iceland doesn’t have any money!).
It’s simple, friendly, engaging, unintrusive and interactive - everything that good social media campaigns should be. And it even has the brilliant Olafur Arnalds on the soundtrack. Takk, Iceland!
