This is a local tour operator which organised a fantastic 24 hour tour of the Mekong Delta on a sampan which had two double beds.

www.vidotour.com
145 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street, District 3, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
(84-8) 3933 0457

Google map: tinyurl.com/ye4kybb

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Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) is a huge place and although the centre can be navigated on foot reasonably easily, venturing further afield can be hot and thirsty work.

For the brave, a motorcycle taxi, or Xe Om, is a great way to see the city; travelling without a roof means you can take in a lot more of the city, provided you haven't clenched your eyes shut in fear. Since December 2007 all Xe Oms carry spare helmets for their passengers so this is now safer than it was. Be prepared to haggle for your fare though!

For the rest of us, taxis are a cheap, cool and comfortable. Escape from the heat and the noise of the city; a journey across the centre can cost as little as $1-2.

Be careful to go with a good brand like Vinataxi, Mai Linh or Vinasun though, as there are a few shady operators who fiddle their meters.

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The Vietnamese are not backward in coming forward, especially when it comes to asking for donations and their pièce de resistance is the sob story.

Probably the day after travellers first started trickling into the Prince Hotel just after Doi Moi, the local hustlers worked out that these young naive things would fall for anything involving "Communists" or "re-education camp".

Possibly back then there were a couple of ex-lawyers driving cyclos. Back in 1990 that would have made them ... how old? Let's see, 30 years old in 1975 ... so that would be 45. Plausible.

Seventeen years later ... they'd have to be 62 - at the absolute youngest. When your interlocutor is giving you his "doctor" story then weigh up ... is he at least 62? If he is then you'd be advised to take a taxi! (Well you'd be *always* advised to take a taxi, but that's a subject for another tip.)

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