just got back from HCMC, here are some things which may be useful.
Airport
[Immigration]
I landed on Sunday, approx 11am Vietnam time. The crowd was crazy. I was lucky that the officers on duty diverted us to another area where there was almost no queue and it took me around 20mins to clear immigration. Based on the crowd, I estimate that it would have taken me >1.5hours if it wasn't for the diversion.
Returning to SG on a Thursday evening (1940), I arrived at airport with just 1hour-ish away from boarding time. Traffic back to airport was slow with lots of motorcycles clusterf**king the road. No rush from checking in at counter to immigration clearance to boarding, ended up having to wait approx another 15-20mins from the stipulated boarding time.
Tourist SIM
average from 200k VND to 370k VND, personally I took the 350k VND (Viettel) from a random booth at the airport. In hindsight, I would recommend you to pre-purchase via
Klook and pickup at airport, hassle free and cheaper.
Transport
[Grab]
I didn't use any cash as most of the drivers will just say they don't have change. I just top up my Revolut and charge my Grab rides to it.
Do pay attention that vehicle number display on Grab app matches your vehicle before you board, especially at airport as some touts will either pretend to be your driver or coerce you to take their vehicle instead.
Weather
Exactly the same as Singapore, hot and humid.
Traffic
What you see on YT videos are realistic, cars/motorcycles do not care about pedestrain crossing and will continue to move along regardless of traffic light. Try to cross with others, and move in a steady speed (i.e. no sprinting, sudden brake, U-turn) and almost all drivers will move to avoid you.
Cash/Credit/Debit
It really depends on your itinerary. If you are mostly on visiting restaurants/bars/clubs, credit/debit cards are not an issue. If you intend to patronize the roadside stalls, then cash is king. I changed my VND in SG and was only given 500k (S$26.50) notes, and I just get change by buying small items (e.g. mineral water, sweet) from convenience stall.
I withdrew from VPBank using both my YouTrip and Revolut, no fees charged by VPBank and max I withdrew was 10M VND in 1 transaction (2% charge by YouTrip/Revolut on amount exceeding the free limit).
