Vietnam Holiday – Ho Chi Minh City: Day 1 Wandering Around

One thing to know about Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) is that there are over 9 million people and probably close to that number of motorbikes / scooters in the vast city!   And that’s not all, the central District – District 1 – is one of the most expensive – with a square metre than many of the Asian City counter-parts – it seems space in HCMC is a premium in this bustling city!

Taxi’s seem the best mode of transport to and from the Airport, and there are also Bike-Taxi’s everywhere – which seem interesting – though I didn’t want to test them, as riding around looked way dangerous.  I’ve tried riding in Jakatta before – and that was scary enough – lol.  The funny thing about the Bikes and Cars is that they seem to respect each other, they all drive crazily weaving in and out and changing lanes, but they don’t seem to have many ‘prongs’ with each other – don’t know how they avoid that, but they seem too! 🙂

This was similar for pedestrians walking across the road, it’s a bit scary to start with, but the general tip is you commit yourself when there is a space in the traffic and the bikes will manevour around you – you don’t need to run or anything, just keep moving forward.  It seemed to work!  I didn’t find it a problem, and the bikes did go either side of you.  Funny and quite an enjoyable experience 🙂

Going back to the Taxi’s – the two reputable companies are Vinasun (white) and Mai Linh (green) – but there seems to be several other private companies out there – and, unfortunately, a few copy-cat fake ones too.  Some even impersonating the more well-known ones…e.g. VinasOn or VinasuM instead of Vinasun or MEi Linh or Mai Lin instead of Mai Linh, so you have to be careful, else you will be ripped off!

Oh and there are bike-parks in every street – even restaurants and shops have their own secure bike-parks with parking attendants.