Had a great first day in Saigon. The thing I noticed about saigon after the heat and humidity is the smells. Malaysia smells like tobacco, sewage and car exhaust. Saigon has all these and another strange smell that reminds me of Chinese medicine.
After landing at the airport I needed to firstly get the landing visa. The landing visa is a bit chaotic with no clear instructions, just a swarm of people at the window. We gave them our passport, visa approval and photos. They stapled one of our photos to a form and we filled everything out except for our passport number because they had our passport. They told us we needed to fill it in even though they were still holding our passport. At this point the cashier called us to pay and we gave her our incomplete form, us$50 and she gave us our passport with the visa stuck inside. A very confusing experience.
I've read enough stories of taxi scams at the airport so to avoid any stress I bought a taxi coupon for 160,000d from Vinasun. These are available at a counter just before you exit outside. Throughout my holiday through Vietnam I've stuck to using Vinasun and Mai Linh and haven't had any problems. A local did tell me that it's not the cheapest option they are suppose to be more honest especially with seals on their meter to show that it hasn't been tampered with.
Ben Thanh market is a classic tourist trap. Prices are way too inflated but I did end up buying some shirts knowing it was a poor deal. Not a very nice place and you won't miss much by avoiding this market.
Nearby to Ben Thanh market is Saigon Central. Very much the same as Ben Thanh but with less people hassling you.
The war remnants museum is definitely a worthwhile visit, and cheap too. I found it interesting and informative though you should keep in mind that it may not portray opposing views adequately. If you only have time to visit this or reunification palace, then take this.
Where the war remnants museum is heavy on information and photography, the reunification palace has a bit of information but is more about admiring the architecture and art of the building.
With the war remnants museum and reunification palace, beware of the lunch time siesta as these places close down. This is between 1200 and 1330 hours.
