Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon)

Ho Chi Minh City(Saigon) is a city that you can shop cheap, eat and sight-seeing. However you must be able to stand the motorbike zooming around and vehicle horn sound from the busy traffic.

First thing when you arrive at airport, equip yourselves with the maps of Ho Chi Minh. The city is very easy to move around and the maps provides has lots of information too.

The city is divided in district. You can easy move around cab which are cheap, safe and comfortable.
But if you want to have a real taste of the life in Vietnam, you should try riding their taxi-motorbike.

Currency they use are in VND (Dong) and USD is also accepted in most stall. The conversion rate some store is charging is about 1 USD for 15000 -16000 Dong. Is better if you change to Dong before you go shopping, and it will help you to save alot. If you spending 3 days 4 night, bring $400SGD shall be sufficient, exclude hotel. http://finance.yahoo.com/currency-converter/?u#from=USD;to=VND;amt=1

Food you must try:
1) famous coffee - you can find any where along the street.
2) Nem Ran or Cha Gio (fried spring roll)
3) Vietnamese rice noodle, Pho
4) baguette - they sell a lot of sandwiches.
4) Lemon Grass is the famous resturant that you can try variety of vietnam food. Is located at 4 D Nguyen Thiep, Dong Khoi Area

Cheap things worth to get. Especially if you are seller. You can go to Benh Tahn Market (District 1) or Chinatown- Cho Binh Tay(District 5). Personally, I found that I can get very good bargain in Chinatown, especially if you buy in bulk. However you need to take special care when you travel in Distritc 5. Benh Tahn Market is more for visitors. You must really bargain when you shop in Vietnam! The price slash to 1/3 of the original price they quote.
1) handicraft (beads) bag
2) beads shoe
3) leather bag, belt and shoe
4) hair clips and hair accessories.

Must see and do in city
1) Notre Dame Cathedral - located at Quang Truong Cong Xa Paris, District 1
2) Ho Chi Minh City History Museum - located at 2 Nguyen Binh Khiem St, District 1
3) Reunification Palace (Independent Palace) - located 133 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia St, District 1
4) Ho Chi Minh Museum - 1 Nguyen Tat Thanh, District 4
5) Watch water puppet show at History Museum or Golden Dragon Water Puppetry Theatre inside of Tao Dan Park.

Budget Day Tour. You can go to Sinh Cafe located at Pham Ngu Lao to book your day tour when you arrive or thru internet. http://sinhcafe.com/index.htm. Cost about 45USD.
1) Cu Chi Tunnels
2) Mekong Delta