Day 1, Vietnam

THE DATE: April 21, 2012

THE TRIP 

00:30          Divimom and I arrived at Tan Son Nhat International Airport. Before we left the airport, we had 50 USD exchanged to VND. There were two currency exchange stations open – one was owned by a bank and the other used the Saigon Taxi stall as their stall. The former (which is an official exchange station) was offering 20,600 VND for 1 USD while the latter was offering 21,100 VND for 1 USD. I hesitated for a while but decided to exchange 50 USD with the latter. BAD DECISION. I didn’t notice that they have commissions. So I received 20,000 VND for every USD. The other one was not charging anything and I would have gotten a better deal out of my money.

01:30          I had a two-day trip to Saigon last year (will post my trip last year after I’m done with my Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand report) and that time, there was a line of Saigon cabs waiting outside the arrival gate, so I was pretty confident that we won’t have any problem looking for a trustworthy cab. Unfortunately, Saigon cabs were nowhere in sight. Afraid of being scammed, I told divimom that we have to look outside the airport for either a Mai Linh or Vinasun cab. Outside the arrival gate, we walked to the right, and crossed the parking lot until we reached the road outside the airport. There were other taxi drivers asking us if we need a ride but I politely dismissed them. We found a Mai Linh Taxi after 10 mins. We told the driver to use the meter. This is our only taxi ride on our 12-day trip.

02:10         Our cab driver was feeling adventurous as he was driving at 60 kmph. The maximum speed is 40 kmph, but I think they can go upto 60 on the highway. We arrived at De Tham Street in Pham Ngu Lao within 40 mins. Transportation: 124.50k VND

02:15          We spent 15 mins looking for a place to stay. I didn’t book or reserve a place because I thought that we could stay where I stayed last year. The guesthouse was located in an alley in front of Sinh Tourist and charges only 10 USD. We got there and knocked but no one answered. So we moved on looking for a place that charges 10 USD.  I told Divimom that there are guesthouses deep in the alley but Divimom didn’t want to explore the alleys as it was dark and we’re carrying a heavy bag, plus there’s a creepy old man who looks drunk. Three buildings to the right of Sinh Tourist was a hotel that’s open, the same hotel where the cab driver dropped us off, the Hoang Linh Hotel.  The rate was 15 USD. We asked to check the room first. Since we’re already tired, we decided to get the room. They asked for our passport but I asked if they’ll accept a photocopy instead and they agreed so I gave them a copy. I’ll write a separate post for my review but for now I’ll give them a 4 out of 5 rating. Accommodation: 15 USD

09:00          After having our breakfast in an alley after De Tham, we went to the bus station across Ben Thanh market. We have to wait for Bus no. 616 (blue bus) which will take us to Dai Nam Park.

09:30-11:15          The bus ride took almost two hours. It’s not that far but the driver is being an obedient citizen, driving at 40 kmph. The bus has aircon and is not crowded. Also, it stops for a couple of minutes only to pick up passengers in the station.  Transportation: 25k VND each.

11:15-15:00           Entrance fee for the park is 70k VND and there’s a separate entrance fee of 70k VND (I think) each if you want to go to the zoo or the beach. We just purchased tickets for the park itself. The place is huge, so don’t forget to ask for a map. In fact, you have to ride a ‘train’ from the entrance to get to the amusement area. It’s like Philippine’s Enchanted Kingdom plus Splash Island plus Avilon zoo in one park. There are bikes for rent if you get tired of walking. There are also buildings that narrates a story in Vietnamese but we didn’t go there since we won’t understand what they’re saying. It would be nice if the administration would translate them in English. The park is a good place for photo ops, especially the Golden Temple. On a scorching hot summer day, the temple area is a nice place to relax as it is surrounded by trees and the place is not full of people. Though it is summer, it rained hard around 3PM. Vietnam weather is unpredictable, so bring your umbrella.

15:30-17:30          We have no idea where to wait for the bus so we proceeded to the ticket counter to ask the guard standing there. He couldn’t understand us. Good thing there was a man with his family who understands english. They’re also going to Ben Thanh. We end up waiting near the ticket counter for Bus 616. Transportation: 25k VND each.

17:30 onwards          Since I love Pho Quynh’s beef stew, I brought Divimom there for dinner. However, she didn’t like the mint leaves in Vietnamese dishes, so we bought bread after. We went to the alley where we had breakfast to look for a 10 USD room. We found one and asked if we could check in tomorrow afternoon and the owner agreed. Thereafter, we went to Ben Than’s night market to look for souvenirs and compare prices.

THE EXPENSES

For consistency’s sake, 1 USD is 20,800 UND and 1 USD is 43 PHP.