Below are some travel tips and advices given by the locals and experiences gained during my trip in Ho Chi Minh City or HCMC (abbrev.), aka Saigon, in Vietnam. As I did not travel much around HCMC, please feel free to contribute your tips in the comment box here, so that I can add on to benefit everyone who is going there.

1. Crossing the roads with full of motorcars!

HCMC is the capital of motorbikes, with motorists ignoring red lights, not stopping for pedestrians on marked crossings and driving on the foot paths. We hardly saw any traffic lights for pedestrians, so most of the time, we really have to watch out for the traffic and cross carefully.

Ok, how to cross the roads in HCMC? My two-cent worth of advice:

• If you are crossing a two-way traffic, look at your left first for any oncoming motorbikes and other motorcars, cross at a normal pace so that the motorists can sense your pace of crossing and usually, they will slow down when they are near you to let you cross the road. Then when you are near the middle of the road, look at your right for the opposite traffic. Similarly, cross steadily at a normal pace, the motorbikes will slow down to let you cross.

• However, when a car, bus, or bigger vehicle is going to cross your path, you have to be extra careful. I will only cross the road after such vehicle crosses my path. It’s sheer madness, yet if you cross steadily like I mentioned above, rest assured that you will always make it to the opposite side of the road!

2. What to do during your stay in HCMC?

Cu Chi Tunnels

This is a must-see attraction! Cu Chi used to be a bitter battle ground for many years during the Vietnam War. It’s an underground village with an intricate network of over 200km of tunnels at Ben Dinh, 50km from HCMC. You will get a chance to crawl in the tunnels! It is recommended to take a bus tour to Cu Chi Tunnels instead of taking boat. Price for a half-day trip to Cu Chi Tunnels: USD 5 per person, inclusive of air-con bus and tour guide; exclusive of Tunnels admission and video session fees at 80,000 VND, which is around USD 5.80. Departs daily. (Read post on Cu Chi Tunnels!)

Full-day Mekong Delta

If you like boat trips, this maybe the right one for you. I have never hopped onto so many boats within a day Read the full story

How could we afford to miss the Liberty?! The Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World was a gift of friendship from the people of France to the United States to commemorate the 100th anniversary of American independence. She was dedicated on 28 October 1886 and restored for her centennial on 4 July 1986. We were admiring her beauty on a Liberty Cruise.

At the pier, waiting to take the 75-min Liberty Cruise. It costs USD20 per ticket.
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After about 2-hour’s ride from Corning, we finally arrived at the main attraction of the day – The Niagara Falls, Buffalo.

The Niagara Falls are renowned both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Despite the hot summer weather elsewhere, it was very cold and windy at the Niagara Falls.

The ticket for the entrance to our boat ride – Maid of the Mist and the observation deck costs USD12.50 for an adult ticket. Before we boarded the boat ride, we were each given a souvenir rain poncho (raincoat) to save us from getting wet near the falls.

Saw this cute photo from somewhere: “Yo-Yo! See my poncho!”
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We boarded the hotel shuttle bus around 7:50am and took the designated bus at Disney terminal to Magical Kingdom first as we thought it would draw more crowds later in the day due to firework display at night.

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Having done with Magical Kingdom in the early afternoon, we hurried off to the last theme park on our list – MGM Studio, a movie theme park drawing inspiration from the heyday of Hollywood.

We were just in time for the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade. It was drizzling during the parade.
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We began our first sightseeing trip in the medieval Old Town Square where many historic buildings of Romanesque, Baroque and Gothic styles were erected around the Square.

The Gothic style Old Town Hall Tower is one of the most striking buildings in Prague built in 1338.

We waited at the Astronomical Clock on the side of the Old Town Hall Tower for the procession of the twelve Apostles. Every hour when the minute hand strikes twelve, a small trap door opens and figures of the Apostles and other moving sculptures would march out.

The poor horses had been standing in the Square for a long time, and air was filled with pungent urine smell.

I was particularly interested in this cool-looking statue and tried to take a picture of it without the bird on its head, but the bird just rested there for a very long time. In fact, most of the statues in Prague are very old and almost black; they are very beautiful and artistic, but with lot of pigeon shits too. It is also fascinating to see the dark coloured statues after the rain. The face of the statue looks just like it has wept.

The Old Town Square that glows in the evening.

Prague Castle!

Bian lian (变脸), literally “Face-changing”, is an ancient Chinese dramatic art that is part of the Sichuan opera. Performers wear brightly colored costumes and move to quick, dramatic music. They wear vividly coloured masks, and within a second, their masks’ change — revealing completely new and vibrant visages.

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