Ho Chi Minh City Warnings Or Dangers Tips by xuessium Top 5 Page for this destination

45 minutes to enter Vietnam

Brace yourself. It took me 45 minutes to clear customs to enter Vietnam. There was only a full queue of 6 persons ahead of me. You have to give the Vietnamese authorities full points for thoroughness. Each counter is manned by 2 officers. The prodecures go something like this: One officer will take a look at one page of your passport, pass it to the 2nd officer to take a look, who will then pass it back to the 1st officer...for every page they deemed important to check. All the while casting glances at you and the occasional scowl. And PRAY do write down the name and address of your lodging (if you had booked ahead) - it just bogged down the queue again if you don't as the officers are very particular about knowing where you will be. So brace yourself for a long wait, just in case....

Everybody Pees!

Watch out! The locals, especially the guys, just "do it" anywhere, anyplace. Be prepared to see the sights of guys facing walls and hedges, doing the deed. I had seen one guy doing his deed next to a traffic pole at a busy traffic junction in HCMC, oblivious to the passing human traffic.