crowdedworldhome

globe

hirerob sullivan

photostreams

Airport Bus - Asia Airlines - Bus 18 - Buy Illicit Ivory - Ho Chi Minh City Bus Map - Phu My Hung to Saigon By Bus - Sleep In Beijing Airport -
NOT TOO MANY FOREIGNERS BOTHER TO CATCH THE LOCAL BUSES IN HO CHI MINH CITY. They might be scared of the idea, but personally I don't find the buses here too scary. In some ways, the alternative forms of transportation -- xe om, cyclo or taxi -- are scarier. To avoid taking a ride with these crooks I used to walk a lot around town, but this city is not an easy place for walking. It takes ages getting anywhere. This was during the American war with Vietnam, and plenty of reminders remain from this moment in struggle.

There are more than 30 companies registered to operate public transportation with over 2,500 buses for more than 115 routes to all districts in Ho Chi Minh City and to nearby provinces Dong Nai, Binh Duong, Tay Ninh and Long An. Ben Xe Mien Tay bus station is the gateway to the western provinces, and you can get there from Chợ Bến Thành (Ben Thanh Market) bus station for about 20 cents! Long An means "Safe Dragon" or something like that. The capital of Long An Province, Tan An, is 50km from downtown Saigon. Perhaps of more interest is Chau Doc, a Mekong Delta city near the Cambodian border. As the Vietnam Travel Guide reports, Chau Doc sees few tourists and has plenty of things to do. For information about other places reachable by public bus in Vietnam, consult this guide. Fare for one time use starts from VND3,000 per person. Prepare small bank notes for your convenience. Some of the city bus routes can be found at http://www.satranco.com.vn/vietnam/da... Catch buses #1 or #56 to Cholon from Chợ Bến Thành (cost is 3000 Dong.)

Bus #13

Bus #18 goes from Ben Thanh Bus Station to the Hiệp Phước New Urban Port. From what I have heard, the port is still under construction.

Bus 19 will take you to the Went to Suoi Tien Theme Park (STTP) today - sometimes called Suoi Tien Cultural Park. STTP is the larger of two theme parks in HCMC, the other being not-so-well-kept Dam Sen Park. Both have modern and mythical themes to it and are rather similar. Bus 19's outward and sometimes congested route is Chợ Bến Thành - Hàm Nghi - Hai Bà Trưng - Lê Duẫn - Tỉnh Lộ 13 - Quốc Lộ 1A - Suối Tiên. Entrance fee is 35k (adults), 20k (kids) and you pay additional for the rides inside. For daytrips close to the city, Can Gio Mangrove Forest is said to be good. From Ben Thanh Bus Station, catch bus #20 to Binh Khanh Ferry (Nha Be District, 3000 Dong). It costs another 1000 Dong to cross the ferry (the bus comes with you.) After passing the ferry, take bus #90 to Can Gio Beach (Huyen Can Gio).

VNTravelLive says: "At 7am, depart from the bus station in the centre city (opposite to Ben Thanh market)."

The stops betewen Ben Thanh and Nha Be Beach are: Lượt đi: Công trường Quách Thị Trang (trạm điều hành Sài Gòn) - Hàm Nghi - Nam Kỳ Khởi Nghĩa - Cầu tạm số 2 - Nguyễn Trường Tộ - Hoàng Diệu - Nguyễn Tất Thành - Cầu Tân Thuận 2 - đường vòng chân cầu - Trần Xuân Soạn (chợ Tân Thuận) - Huỳnh Tấn Phát - Bến Mũi Nhà Bè.

Before the trip, you should prepare necessary items, like hats, water, and food. Catch a bus from Ben Thanh to Nha Be (VND 3,000). Then get on the Binh Khanh Ferry. After that, catch a bus to Can Gio (VND 4,000). It takes you one hour and a half to arrive at the major tourist attractions in Can Gio, such as the 30-4 tourist site, Sac Forest, and Monkey Island..."

AIRPORT BUS: CHEAP AND EASY
Few visitors seem to take advantage of the #152 bus service which connects Saigon Airport with the city, and this is a shame because the bus is cheap and easy to ride and possibly even less stressful, than dealing with a Vietnamese cabbie. You will probably have a better chance ending up at the right place riding the bus than you would if you trusted your fate in an unfamiliar city, with some scoundrel of a taxi driver. The bus driver for example won't give you any nonsense about your hotel being closed for repair, or try to pimp you on to his girls. The bus is clean and not so crowded and follows a set route dropping you off at strategic points around the city. If you get into an accident I reckon the #152 bus would also be a lot safer than a taxi or the back of some guy's motorbike. And did I mention it is cheap -- ridiculously cheap in fact, even by Vietnamese standards. For the princely sum of 3000 Dong (that's $0.18 American, or 1.04 Norwegian Kronur) you can get downtown, and then just leg it to your hotel from there. That's what I did the last time I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, in March 2007. For the first part of the trip I only had a couple of young Japanese travelers for company. You can imagine their gasps of "Sugoi!" the first time they espied the gnarling and chaotic Saigon traffic. Scary and amazing stuff indeed. We were riding right above it though, ploughing through it, sitting pretty pretty close to the top of the traffic food chain in our old and battered bus. No one was going to mess with us.
To find the bus: exit the airport, sidestep the all the milling cabbies trying to shepherd you into their vehicles, and scoot past the aircon tourist buses picking up and depositing their passengers. Look for a battered city bus with the number #152 on it. Pay your 18 cents or single Norwegian Kronur (if you are lucky they might even forget to charge you.) It's that easy.

Bus route #54: This route seems to start or end at Cholon Bus Station, and heads east up Nguyen Trai Street, Tran Phu Street, then and do a lap of Diem Bien Phu Street, . I asked the FA if the heat could be turned down but she returned with two blankets for me instead. Silly me. As the flight is codeshared with Qantas you have to ask why Qantas dont put some effort into getting simple things right. They overcharge and make no contribution at all. This was my second round trip on VN Air to HCMC & I like the direct flight rather than spending extra time flying to places I don't want to go. I hope this airline get their act together soon, as I have plenty more flights coming up & it's knocking me about a bit.

m i e n + t a y + b u s + s t a t i o n

I HAVE LONG DISTRUSTED THE TAXI AND XE OM DRIVERS IN HO CHI MINH CITY -- for good reason it seems. There was a disturbing story in the DZ Times recently (November 2010) about young jobseekers being abducted at the Mien Tay Bus Station, and sold into slavery. The story goes: "Xe om drivers around Ho Chi Minh City major bus stations have abducted youth from the Mekong Delta and sold them to people who forced them to work without wages, according to a Tuoi Tre investigation undertaken following readers' tipoffs.

"The drivers operate at the Mien Tay Bus Station, where vehicles take people to and from Mekong Delta destinations, and people frequently arrive looking for jobs in the city..." According to the investigation, slavers also ply their trade at Mien Dong Bus Station, where passengers travel between the city and the central and northern regions. It has been said that one million Vietnamese people arrive in the country's main cities looking for a better life. It seems to be quieter in the first class section (because it is in front of the engines?) The plane doesn't seem to be rock around as much during turbulence in the first class section as well, which might be a reason some people shell out so much money to sit here.

Thanks to this site and helpful travellers, I am sucking down free beers, cruising the net and filled to the brim with food. I am gonna have a shower later on and some massage chair. Lucky for me, I happened to run into my fiancee who was meant to be on an earlier flight that got delayed and he is paying for a night in the terminal hotel after midnight! Sweet.

Consequently, when I stopped for an afternoon in transit at Ho Chi Minh International Airport today and headed upstairs to the bar and restaurant area, I was pleased to see they had a Singaporean diner. (Along with Japanese restaurants, Singaporean hawker food is fast becoming an airport cliche.) Out of the numerous items on the menu, I had to choose chicken laksa...

(Added 17 December 2009.)

c i t y + t o u r s

Luggage Storage are not available for the time being. Your will have to bring along all of your luggage out of the Airport.

Your tickets and send-along luggages will have been already checked-in when you come back to the airport for your flight, all you have to do then is go through Custom, Emmigration procedures and board.

---

Privacy Policy | Saigon Airport Vietnam | Jurong vs Kuala Lumpur Bird Park | Korean Dog Soup and Cat Wine

UNCLONED WORLD
Contact us by email: coderot@gmail.com  
phone: (090) 6039-9341 (JAPAN)