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 Traveller's Tales: Doing business in Vietnam
Take note of the helpful information on business travel near in Vietnam. You may read about their business tips and guides. Find out the local business customs and guide on business travel. Also, you might want to read our
Central Vietnam city guide,
Halong Bay city guide,
Hanoi city guide,
Ho Chi Minh city guide,
Phan Thiet city guide,
and Hoi An city guide.
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| E Pinel |
06 April 2004 |
Stayed at Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Vietnam Immigration can be a long long waiting experience...as it seems several (big) planes always land in the same time. I have noticed that the flights arriving mid afternoon (around 3-4pm) usually give you way to desert immigration counters...such a bliss for whoever is used to the very long queues and the 1-hour-minimum-wait that is commonly associated.
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| J Burlace |
03 May 2003 |
Stayed at Empress Hotel Ho Chi Minh City - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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No hotel in Saigon is central, and I don`t know anyone who walks to get to see the sites that Saigon has to offer. However this hotel is near the main tourist market and the New World Hotel, together with one of recommended dining places listed in Lonely Planet.
If you need to get cash from an ATM then there is one opposite the hotel and there is a supermarket nearby that sells fresh bread and cakes. I would definitely recommend this hotel.
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| T Sarro |
24 March 2003 |
Stayed at Rex Hotel Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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The little Ciao Cafe is just a block away from the Rex, at 72 Nguyen Hue St. The gelato is perhaps not as good as in Rome, but is certainly refreshing in the Saigon heat! Nice if you want to get out of the hotel without going too far.
The main Post Office is worth seeing, and is an easy walk from the hotel. Plan on writing a postcard or two there, just to get the full effect. By the way, there is an ATM machine right across the street from the front of the cathedral, inside the HSBC bank.
If you can't see them in Hanoi, the water puppets are a must see. There are frequent shows at the History Museum of Vietnam, in the Botanic Garden.
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| R Sen |
28 December 2002 |
Stayed at Metropole Hotel, Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Remember that in Ho Chi Minh city the US dollar and local currency are completely interchangeable so as long as you have one of them, you can get around. Though cab drivers may not always have change so its advisable to keep some local currency in small denominations.
Cabs can be called quite easily by hotels, shops etc and are not particularly expensive. Motorbikes hoever are a common way to get around and don't be surpised to see them thronging a whole lane on the major thoroughfares!
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| A Bakalis |
11 December 2002 |
Stayed at Renaissance Riverside Hotel Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Vietnam is a nice country to visit. Quite some interesting things to see, and some nice places to stay (o.a. Nha Trang). It has its peculiarities though, and it's sometimes difficult to get people to understand your intentions, even though English is spoken widely. This makes sometimes less comfortable to, depending on what you're looking for of course.
Cost levels in general are low, except for hotels and domestic flights if not booked together with international flights.
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| P Peay |
04 December 2002 |
Stayed at Duxton Hotel Saigon - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Vietnam is a great place to visit. Recommend anyone visiting be prepared to wheel and deal. You can always find a great deal. Never pay the asking price. Hotels will book tours at a great rate, but dealing direct with the tour companys will say between %0 to 75%.
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| J Majeed |
28 September 2002 |
Stayed at Rex Hotel Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Ho Chi Minh is truly chaotic. It takes a bit of practice to master the technique of crossing roads: simply picking a direction and pace and maintaining it across intersections with constant traffic approaching from all directions.
Exchange rates make the city very cheap for most tourists, however this also makes you a target for anyone trying to sell, scam or beg. You'll find most things aimed at tourists quoted in US dollars.
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| A Timms |
24 September 2002 |
Stayed at Majestic Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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Great country, spend some time in the cities and some in the countryside. The Vietnamese are very friendly people, be careful you understand the exchange rate - dealing in 1000s of dong can be confusing at first!
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| R Bliss |
12 August 2002 |
Stayed at Bong Sen Hotel - Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Vietnam.
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I have been to Vietnam four times now (once in Hanoi and Halong Bay; once in Hanoi, Hue, and Hoi An; and twice in Saigon) and I have always loved it. I live in Thailand, and I find Vietnam to be cleaner and the people to be generally more efficient. This trip was marred by the theft of my wife's purse (a Fendi bad that I have given her on her birthday!) on the day that we were to leave. The bag contained her passport and visa. It was then that we were introduced to Vietnamese government bureaucrasy. We were able to get an emergency replacement passport at the U.S. consolate very quickly, but we had to stay an extra 24 hours to get the new visa (they originally said that it would take an extra week), and the total extra cost to us was about $400 (between passport and visa fees,
extra night's hotel and food, etc.). I imagine that in just about any other country, we could have taken care of the replacement visa at the immigration desk at the airport, and in fact we were led to believe that we would be able to. But when we arrived at the airport for our flight, they sent us back to the immigration office downtown.
Nevertheless, despite the official anti-US propaganda, I continue to find the Vietnamese people to be charming and genuinely friendly to Americans. I will go back.
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| A Gunning |
08 July 2002 |
Stayed at Green Park Hotel - Hanoi, Vietnam.
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I found Hanoi to be a great place to shop for things for your house. Shoes & clothes are not particularly good value, nor very nice. There's some fab art around and plenty of galleries.
We went to some gorgeous restaurants set in old colonial houses. But Vietnamese food was a little disappointing, good but surprisingly bland. We had expected and wanted spicy food. IndoChine had the most interesting menu and food.
We used taxis all the time. It's wise to carry a map as the drivers do not speak English. Nor do most people, actually. But they still know how to try and rip you off! The bargaining was getting exhausting as they always started off with a ridiculous price. We prefered to buy in shops with fixed prices.
We took a tour to Halong bay with Handspan Travel. Great guide, comfortable bus. We slept onboard a junk the first night. We say some caves, swam in the sea and had a lovely time. You get your own cabin. The max. amount of people in a group is 16. The next day we went to Cat Ba, an island resembling a building site. We did a trek up a mountain, quite a hard one. I'd recommend the first part of the trip but not the second one. Cat Ba was a place we could have done without seeing.
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