"HCMC in 3 days!!" a Ho Chi Minh City Travel Page by sagamigal

So I arrived on Vietnam Airlines from Sydney and waited and waited for almost an hour in Immigration along with hundreds of other hot, sticky and anxious travellers. Finally, after exchanging money and paying too much (60,000 dong) for a hired taxi from the airport info counter, I saw the craziest, busiest traffic I'd ever seen. I'm very familiar with traffic jams, bumper-to-bumper cars and long waits, but nothing prepared me for the hundreds of rush hour scooters rushing centimetres close to the taxi and to each other in every imaginable direction! Drivers were honking one another, racing through red lights and dashing dangerously close to the edge!
I was glad to be safe and sound in my cab!

This was an awesome market where you could find every imaginable thing at a discount. There is a food section, clothing section (t-shirts, etc.), restaurant stalls and confectionary. I bargained for some deoderant and got a deal. I think at first I took the saleswoman by surprise because I had the balls to bargain...when she saw that I was looking at her competitors' stalls then she gave me a more reasonable price.
Take your time in the market and you'llbe able to find good souvenirs.

I booked this 8$USD trip from my hotel, The Omni Saigon. First we drove about 45 minutes out of the city to a laquerware factory. The workers were either orphaned and/or slightly handicapped. I couldn't understand our guide because of his lack of English skills. Furthermore he seemed bored and unwilling to give the three of us (it was a minibus tour) information about the surroundings. He expected us to buy lots of souvenirs instead. After the brief stop, we drove for another hour to the Mekong River. There we boarded a small river boat that took us to a small island nearby. We had a great 4 course lunch for 100,000dong per person, ate a big platter of tropical fruits and listened to Vietnamese folk singers. After that, the guides took us on what we thought would be a grand tour on a small tributary. It was a 10-minute boat ride down a river that felt like you were in a movie. Tall mangroves around you and other river taxis paddling by with their drivers wearing the tradiotional cone hats..very cool. Too bad it was so short!!
Anyway, after that we drove back to HCMC exhausted but wanting a bit more...something...maybe that's what you get for 8$???