Here are the last five tips you should know before you visit Ho Chi Minh city:

#1: Find the airport taxi rank

You should find the representative for either Vinasun or Mai Linh taxi firms once you get out of the airport. Do not follow others who are trying to persuade you to use their services since it will be more expensive than the two above. Besides, if you are using taxi services, please make sure that they are using GPS. Otherwise, they may take you around the city to get paid more. Further, you can use the taxi apps, such as Grab, to have the lowest cost of a ride.

#2: Do not deal in dollars

When you travel to Vietnam, of course, you will need Vietnam dong. Vietnamese people are using cash for most-to-all of their purchases. There are too many convenient stores owning by a single-family or person, and they might not be able to exchange dollars to Vietnam dong and vice versa. Therefore, you will need to get some cash for your travel. The bad thing is the rates are changing over the sites. One recommended place to exchange your money by Simon Stanley (the author who wrote the article I am referencing) is the currency exchange shop (it is also a souvenir outlet) at 135 Dong Khoi Street, District 1. Besides, you can use the counters in malls and department stores or through your bank. There are ATMs located all over the city. If you are not exchanging your money at the bank or malls, or department stores, you should not do that unless you already know the entity.

#3: Use alleyways/shortcuts (called “hem” in Vietnamese)

Saigon has a lot of alleyways or shortcuts, so please make sure that you download a local Google map to your phone so that you can use it. Besides, you can ask anyone around (prefer the ones standing under a house) to show you the shortcuts. One additional note to this is some little restaurant (I call a restaurant, but it is street food) locates on alleyways, and it will take you a lot of time to find it if you don’t know the road or have no instructions from the local people.

#4: Be careful when you are walking on the street

Vietnam has a lot of motorbikes and bikes, especially in a big city like Saigon. They have traffic lights and sometimes police officers to help with traffic jams. However, during the busy hours of the days, people are driving crazy to get through the traffic. They can go on the pedestrian side, so if you are walking on the street, please be aware of those. If you are driving, especially with a car, please notice other vehicles, such as motorbikes and bikes, or even people crossing the street, because they can cut through you and the front vehicle without any notice. For your information, the busy hours start from early morning, like 6 AM to 9 or 10 AM, then from noon to 7 PM.

#5: Stay dry

If you are traveling during the rainy season, as mentioned in the Geography & History portion, it is from May to November, you should have a raincoat, not an umbrella, whenever you go outside. Besides, you can somehow predict if it is raining soon through dry air, cloudy weather, and wind.

Credit to Roadandkingdoms.com