I flew into Southern Vietnam, specifically Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon, the city goes by both names depending on who you talk to.  I had no real plans or itinerary, just figured I would get tips from other travelers as I worked my way North, the backpacker trail is well worn here.  The city is full of people, noise, and great food, nothing boring about this place, in your face Singapore.

To get into Vietnam there are couple options regarding visas, and Americans MUST get a visa prior to just showing up, even if it is still a visa on arrival.  Rules and regulations constantly change, and I am far from an expert, so do your homework.  1st, if you think you may pick up a motorcycle to take into Laos or Cambodia, DO NOT go with the “evisa” option.  You can also get one ahead of time by stopping by an embassy, but I chose to go online and then pick it up on arrival.  This only works if you are flying in, not at the land borders, for that you will need an embassy I believe.  I myself used an online agent, of course I have since deleted the emails so do not know who I used or how much it was.  The general process consisted of paying them to get me an approval letter, I chose a 3 month multi-entry visa in case I needed to leave and come back, but figured 1 month would not be enough.  I don’t recall how much the agency charged, but go with one that is reliable, as there used to be a problem with scams in the past…I will see if I can find it in a credit card statement.  You have to pick your entry day, you cannot enter prior to this date, but can arrive any day after that date.  In my case since I showed up 2 months after it, I only had 1 month remaining as the clock will start regardless to what day you show up.  Once this letter was emailed to me, I had to bring this letter, along with the arrival form (Link provided)  I previously filled out to save time, and 2 passport photos up to the counter, just follow everyone getting off the plane, this is prior to the customs or baggage pickup.  I gave them my paperwork and sat and waited for 15-30 minutes.  Then you will have to pay, so make sure you bring some US dollars with you, for a 30 day multi entry I had to pay 50 USD for the stamp, I think a 1 month is 25, but verify.  After that you can clear customs just like any other airport.

Hotels and hostels are plentiful in the city, so I exited the airport and took the yellow bus (Bus 109) for a whopping 0.80 cents from the airport to the last stop which is a bus station located in district 1, where everyone stays.  I grabbed a hostel in an alley off the main strip, which helps keep things a bit quieter than staying on the main streets of Bui Vien and Pham Ngo Lao.  There are plenty of bars and restaurants located here, and things are in walking distance, though I am sure there would be better locations within the city if you want to get away from this type of crowd, it is definitely backpacker central here.  Luckily there was a great group at the hostel I stayed at, probably true of most in the area.  Every night about 10 of us from around the globe would go grab some dinner, and possibly too many drinks, so I stayed in the city for a day or so longer than planned.  The problem with this group, was that there was a Canadian who had driven a motorbike down from Northern Vietnam, his buddy had ditched him temporarily for the Vietnamese chick he had picked up, so when he and I would hang out he was unknowingly rubbing the moto trip in my face.

I skipped most of the tourist stuff, heard mixed reviews of the Mekong Delta tour, as well as the Cu Chi tunnels, so said no thanks.  I did go to the war museum, and ht up the local market where someone taught the locals a few key phrases.  Every stall sold the same crap, and they all said the same thing, “Hello sir, would you like to buy a shirt”.  “Hello sir, what are you looking for”, it was like walking through a pet shop full of parrots.  Somehow a lunch turned into a Heineken tour, even though I don’t like Heineken, but it included an observation deck to view the city, and a few free beers so I followed along.  The tour was strange, they had a virtual reality presentation thing that was completely unnecessary, Foosball, pictures with virtual backgrounds, and a DJ table which I did jump on to get the party started…basically the corporate aholes sat down and said how can we drag this out for an hour before giving them beer.  They did give a personalized bottle of beer, and while I thought I was being clever when I wrote my name as “Wiley Washere”, they must have seen this trick before as they even added the space for me.  We finally got to drink and relax in the bar, and then after that we left and ended up at a couple more bars.  Eventually we even ended up at some club the Vietnamese girl the Canadian was with dragged us to, but for some reason they didn’t let me get on the tables and spin the wax.  Otherwise I just explored the city, and ate lots of cheap food, which I prefer to the tourist stuff anyway.

The stories of biking across Vietnam were haunting me, so on one of the days I swung by a shop to check out options, but in the end didn’t buy/rent anything.  I later mentioned this to the Canadian and he said his friend probably hadn’t even tried to sell his yet since he had been distracted with his Vietnamese girl, so a few texts were sent and 20 minutes later I now owned bike number 3.

Now most motorcyclists fill their garage with motorcycles, but not me, I buy and strategically place them around the world.  I have my main one in Socal to enjoy Cali and Mexico, another stored in Colombia for the rare trip back to S. America, and now a bike in Vietnam.  Why Vietnam, well buying a bike in Vietnam is easy as there are constantly travelers going back and forth between HCMC and Hanoi, selling crappy Chinese knock-offs that have probably exchanged owners at least 1000 times each, and sure to break down.  All you need to do is hand them cash in exchange for the “blue card” you do not need to register or associate the bike to your name in any way, which is why I can just give it away if things go bad.  The added benefit of owning a Vietnamese plated bike is that it is easier to get them out of the country, in case I decide to push on into Laos and Cambodia.  Thailand used to also be easy to get into though that has changed, but I have been there done that, so hoping to just get Laos and Cambodia if anything.  Now it was time to figure out how to get myself and this Chinese crap bike out of this city, traffic is a nightmare, and since I didn’t bring my GPS, I had to use my phone, which meant driving a few minutes, pulling over to see I had missed a turn, and repeating.  Finally…the adventure I had been looking for.