Day 6 - Onwards to Vietnam!

The day had nothing booked, only to wait till the afternoon when we were driven to the airport (less than 10 min away) to catch the 6.15pm flight to Vietnam. So I spent a few minutes walking down the laneway where our hotel was to take a few pictures of the local area. The houses were 1-2 storeys high, with trees and vegetation in between. There were local stores selling food and drinks, a garage, and a couple of houses undergoing renovations. Residents avoided the harshness of the sun by either resting inside or under an extension of the front roof, whilst pet dogs would rather take naps under the shade or sun than go exploring.

Arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport, on Level 3 there's a strip of restaurants comprising of Japanese, Chinese, Thai, and Western style cafes. But across the gate there's a huge area of duty free stores and restaurants so there was plenty of time to kill.

Upon arrival in Saigon, the taxi took us to our first hotel, Halo Hotel (2 stars). The size of the room was very tiny, especially the bathroom which was almost as big as 2 public cubicles. Then again we're down 2 stars so what can I expect? Here in Vietnam, the owners pay rent based on the size of land taken and not by the total size of the building, so hotels and buidings aim to expand by adding more height.

The driving around here is CRAZY, almost like China but less cars more motorcycles. The roads were filled with them, followed by car and taxis. It's not strange to find motorcycles driving ever so close to cars, and here they use their horns whenever they need to turn or cross lanes as a warning to others. As for pedestrians, motorcycles come first so don't expect them to stop for you. It's something to get used to without thinking of the impending doom of getting run over, but drivers will of course slow down (just don't look back).

Taxis are great to get around, and they aren't pricey either. There are many brands in Saigon, but from research we only trusted/used 2: Malinh, which is green with their number 38383838 written across the vehicle; and Vinasun, a white colored taxi that's newer and you can't miss one driving by. Why I say 'trusted' was because we didn't want to run the risk of being cheated and charged over price.