Saturday, May 10, 2014

Museums in Ho Chi Minh City

HCM city has 11 museums. 

One of most exciting is the Museum of Vietnamese History. It is a museum showcasing Vietnam's history with exhibits from all periods( 300.000 years ago until 1930) and many cultures existed in the South of Vietnam. The Museum of Vietnamese History was built by a French named Delaval in 1927. It is located in number 2, Nguyen Binh Khiem street, Ben Nghe ward, district 1, inside the city zoo. With just 15.000VND for the entrance ticket, you will have a chance to see many amazing things.

Beside that, there are also water puppet shows (50.000vnd / person), coffee shop and sovenir shop inside the museum. The Museum is opened from Tuesday-Sunday from 8a.m to 5p.m. Have a look of this Museum when you visit HCM city and enjoy.

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Ho Chi Minh Private Tour


Saturday, May 3, 2014

Vietnam: Vietnam Area Codes

Following are Vietnam Area codes that may help travellers during their vacation. This would helps travelers calling from cellphone or telephone to local deskphone.

How to dial?
- From abroad: 
+84 - area code - telephone numbers (eg: +84-4-3555-3903)
- In Vietnam
            + Inside province/city:  telephone numbers (eg: 3555-3903)
            + Outside province/city: area code - telephone numbers (eg:04-3555-3903)
            + Internationla calls: Dial 171 (or 178) + 00 + country code + province/city + telephone numbers

Provinces / Cities Area codes
 An Giang 76
 Bà Rịa Vũng Tàu 64
 Bạc Liêu 781
 Bắc Kạn 281
 Bắc Giang 240
 Bắc Ninh     241
 Bến Tre     75
 Bình Dương     650
 Bình Địn 56
 Bình Phước 651
 Bình Thuận 62
 Cà Mau 780
 Cao Bằng 26
 Cần Thơ 71
 Đà Nẵng 511
 Đắc Lắc 50
 Đồng Nai 61
 Đồng Tháp 67
 Gia Lai 59
 Hà Giang 19
 Hà Nam 351
 Hà Nội 04
 Hà Tây 34
 Hà Tĩnh 39
 Hải Dương 320
 Hải Pḥòng 031
 Hoà Bình 18
 Hưng Yên 321
 TP.Hồ Chí Minh 8
 Khánh Hoà 58
 Kiên Giang 77
 Kon Tum 60
 Lai Châu 23
 Lạng Sơn 25
 Lào Cai 20
 Lâm Đồng 63
 Long An 72
 Nam Định 350
 Nghệ An 38
 Ninh Bình 30
 Ninh Thuận 68
 Phú Thọ 210
 Phú Yên 57
 Quảng Bình 52
 Quảng Nam 510
 Quảng Ngăi 55
 Quảng Ninh 33
  Quảng Trị 53
 Sóc Trăng 79
 Sơn La 22
 Tây Ninh 66
 Thái Bình 36
 Thái Nguyên 280
 Thanh Hoá 37
 Thừa Thiên Huế 54
 Tiền Giang 73
 Trà Vinh 74
  Tuyên Quang 27
 Vĩnh Long 70
 Vĩnh Phúc 21
 Yên Bái


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Tripadvisor

Benefits of Ho Chi Minh Private Tour


Hochiminhprivatetour.weebly.com

Benefits: - Many choices of transportation: Car/motorbike/walking
- Free choice of start time and end time
- Always say "yes" to customized tours 
- Show you the real city and countryside in Vietnam by following these tours:

+Private Food Tour

+Private Day-time City Tour

+Private Sai Gon Daily Life Tour

+Private Shopping Tour

+Private Cu Chi Tunnel Tour

+Private Mekong Delta Tour


+Private Vung Tau Tour ( 1 day or 2 days tour )

+Or  your customized tours


And more tours......

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Jetstar: Cheap Flight in Vietnam



I like travelling and I am also a tour guide. Many tourists asked me about the service of Jetstar so now I will write a review about it.
Jetstar is a popular cheap-flight brand. It has promotion very regularly. The most common one takes place every Friday in 8 weeks, you can buy a ticket with just 199.000vnd. They also have summer promotion annually.
The must-know rule of Jetstar is “no refund”. Besides, you should know that the cheap-flight ticket fare doesn’t include tax, checked  baggage fee. However, you still have the 7 kg carry on baggage included in the ticket fare.
Jetstar food is good at cheap price, about 40,000vnd to 80,000vnd per dish. Although flight attendants’ uniform looks funny rather than professional in my opinion, they are very friendly.
In short, I am quite satisfied with my flights with Jetstar. I recommend it to everyone.

On short flights around Vietnam, Jetstar is a good choice for everyone.

                                   Source from http://hochiminhprivatetour.weebly.com/index.html


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Vietnam: Banks & Money



Money: 
The official currency in Vietnam is Dong. The Dong is non-convertible and in summer 2013 trades at approximately 21,000 to USD. You can use thewebsite of Vietcombank to see the daily exchange rate. The U S dollar, preferably crisp clean bills, is widely accepted among major shops and restaurants. The downside to this is that the prices will be converted from Dong at the vendor's chosen exchange rate, which may or may not be close to the official exchange rate, and will be rounded up to the nearest USD, making it more expensive than the cost in Dong.
It is illegal to list prices or ask for payment in any currency that is not the Dong.
The Euro, Pound and various other currencies are also easy to exchange.  If you intend to exchange your home currency for Dong, ensure your notes are clean and undamaged, as banks and other exchanges will not accept any notes which are torn, excessively crumpled or have writing on them.  Visa and Master card are becoming more accepted in many of the bigger hotels and restaurants, especially in the larger cities with usually a surcharge of 3%. 
Make sure that the Vietnamese notes you receive are not torn, this is because many shops and restaurants will not accept them. Also try not to change too much money at one time, as you will end up with a large wad of notes. The largest denomination is currently 500,000 dong (approx. USD 24). Be careful, the 20,000 notes look only slightly different from the 500,000 one but the value is a big gap. Handy tip: Keep 500,000 dong notes separate from your other dong notes. Less chance of confusion then. Other paper notes are 1,000, 2,000, 5,000; 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000 and 200,000 Dong. Most are clearly identifiable by colour. 
When you are agreeing prices with Taxi drivers or shops, always use Dong to save arguments later about the exchange rate you were expecting.  While most will use the official rate of the nationals banks, some do try to argue differently.  Always double check the conversion rate you have been offered.
Also with such high denominations of note, be careful of common scams run by street sellers where you are short changed by a factor of ten (eg as part of your change, you may receive five 2000 dong notes as "100,000 VND!").
Outside Vietnam the Dong is normally not accepted (excluding Cambodia and Laos), so before leaving the country remember to exchange any Dong left. In Saigon airport you can change before immigration at two bank booth that use the standard rate plus 2% fee. After immigration there are two more small booths that charge no fee, no receipt and standard rate. On arrival there are two exchange booth with a normal exchange rate and a bunch of ATMs outside turning righ.
Banking:
There are a number of international banks operating in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City with 24hour cash withdrawal facilities. Most ATMs enables you to get cash from VISA, MASTER CARD, Cirrus, Maestro, Plus and JCB network.
Under Vietnamese law, ATM may only dispense cash in Vietnamese Dong. Current amounts that can be withdrawn at any one time is usually very low, 2,000,000 Dong with an additional usage charge variable from 30.000d up. On March 2014 the situation is getting worse particularly for debit card using MasterCard circuit (Cirrus, Maestro), while Visa debit is accepted by more ATMs. Banks are increasing fee against foreign debit cards, both Techcombank and Vietinbank charge 55.000d (the last even without showing the amount, just a generic message "There will be fees"). Avoid both, use SCB.
In HCM City the best choise is still (March 2014) Commonwealth Bank (Australia) with zero fee and a max limit of 8.000.000d, 4 ATMs around Bui Vien St, no plan to extend the net ouside HCMC.
ANZ has the max payout so far, around 10.000.000 with a 100.000 fee (5,000,000 costs 40,000 fee) in one hit, followed by HSBC with a max of 4,800,000 Dong but with 100.000d fees. Citibank ATM at HCM Airport permits withdrawals of 8,500,000 Dong. Donga can go up to 5.000.000 Dong but it only accepts card from the Visa circuit, no MasterCard.
There is nothing to stop you putting your card back in to get more money out, but remember you are still subject to your own bank's daily cash withdrawal limits, about 500E for Maestro/MasterCard network in Europe, and you pay your bank fee every time. Also, ensure you tell your bank before travelling to Vietnam if you intend to use your card to withdraw cash from ATM's. The machines here use the magnetic strip not the more secure chip technology.
Note for Australians:   Stored value cards where you preload with one or more foreign currencies are generally poor value.  To make up for "no fees", they generally offer a poor exchange rate.  Getting any unused funds back once you're home may also be difficult.    You can benefit if the exchange rate drops dramatically after you have loaded the card, but it could also go the other way.
Two cards available to Australians are the Citibank Plus visa debit card, which uses your own funds, and the 28Degrees MasterCard, which is a credit card (and which from Jan 1 2014 will charge hefty fees for cash withdrawals even for cards which are in credit). Both have no foreign exchange fees and one of the best exchange rates you'll get.  The 28Degrees card was the Choice Magazine "Travel Card of 2012".
Note for Italy: Only one fee free debit card exist, CheBanca (Maestro/MasterCard), zero fee, zero cost, standard MasterCard exchange rate but like other MC card limited support in Vietnam.

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Vietnam: Tipping & Etiquette

Etiquette


When eating with chopsticks, do not leave the chopsticks in the rice bowl at the end of your meal. This resembles the incense sticks used to commemorate a death and is considered insulting.   Place the used chopsticks side by side either on the table or more commonly, on top of the bowl.
Do not tap the edge of your rice bowl with your chopsticks: The older beleive that if you do such thing, next life you will not have enough rice to eat ( But in fact,  because tapping chopsticks to the bowl will cause chipping to the bowl hence dangerous if you swallow it accidental when eating your rice - )
Do finish until last grain of rice in the bowl. Sometime you can see people hold the chopsticks ( lay the chopsticks paraleil to the ground) and slightly bowed. That' s the gesture to thank God - Heaven and Earth - and people who work hard to produce the grain of rice to feed them.
If you are invite to a family meal, wait until the oldest member of the family eat, then you can follow after that: That' s the gesture to show your respect to them. And eat all things they put into your bowl: Your host chose the best bit to his/her guest. Is you had enough food , slightly cover your hand over your bowl and refuse politely and they will ( hopefully) stop adding food into your bowl.
Happy eating!!!

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Suggestions for Muslim tourists in Ho Chi Minh City




Many place in saigon you can choose for your jorney such as:
Enjoy halal food: halal saigon, banana leaf halal, shamsudin halal,.... especially PHO halal with basiroh restaurant
Muslim shopping:  Telekung, jubah cotton, baju kurung with mai collection, trucxinh, basiroh, benthanh market...
Muslim mosque: 
-Saigon central mosque: The Central Mosque
was built in 1935. It was originally constructed for worshipers from southern India then resident in Saigon, but now Muslims from all over the world would come here to worship.
Adress: 66 Dong Du Street, Dist 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
 -Cholon mosque: The Cholon Mosque is found in the Chinatown – Cholon – of Ho Chi Minh City, is an austere. The clean lines and lack of ornamentation of the Cholon Jamial Mosque contrast starkly with nearby Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhist pagodas.
Address: 641 Nguyen Trai Street, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
- Al Rahman mosque: 45 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia, Dist 1,Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
-Jamiyah Islamic mosque: 52 Nguyen Van Troi, Phu Nhuan Dist, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam


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Ho Chi Minh Specialty: Bun Bo Hue



Source from hochiminhprivatetour.weebly.com



I will introduce to you a very popular noddle soup of Viet Nam, BUN BO HUE. This is also my favorite Vietnamese cuisine. We usually have it for breakfast.
You can see the origin of this cuisine in its name, Hue, which is an ancient city in the middle of Viet Nam. The dish contains rice vermicelli and beef. Bun means rice vermicelli and Bo means beef. Its special flavour is a perfect combination of fermented shrimp sauce (especially Hue shrimp sauce), lemongrass, pineapple and of course, beef. Some people just simply use sugar and may skip the pineapple but that is one of the most vital spices. The sweet flavour from sugar is not strong and pleasant enough.
Bun Bo Hue is commonly served with a bunch of vegetables (thinly sliced water spinach, banana blossom,mint, basil, etc)
A bowl of Bun Bo Hue normally costs 25,000vnd-30,000vnd.  In Sai Gon, the popular brand for this cuisine is “Bun Bo Song Huong”.
Enjoy!
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