Well, it is matter of time to get used - for me it took 6 month, for my wife - 2 years.

If you think that heat/humidity is show stopper, than you need to cross over whole South East Asia because of this.

oh man.. Cambodia/loas/Thailand? :(

Everything starting from Hong Kong and end up to Alice Springs. It is called tropics.

And something tells me that you are not going to enjoy living in Laos and especially Cambodia. Vietnam comparing to them is an upscale and developed country.

HCMC has the "craziest" traffic I have seen in the world, but the heat and humidity is everywhere in SE Asia. You could try visiting Chiang Mai in Thailand or Hanoi in Vietnam for cooler temperatures. (I'm still going with my Arizona recommendation)

Things to help cool you down :
During the day, stay inside. Shopping malls, movies, napping, eating at food courts, air conditioned taxis.
Go swimming.
Go extreme and exercise during the hot part of the day. Make sure you drink plenty of water.
Stop walking around! :)

You're not going to escape the heat and humidity anywhere in SE Asia. Winter is the best time to visit since it's the dry season. But if you plan to live there, be prepare for the wet season where flooding is quite common annually.

The traffic in Saigon is so bad because it was never meant to house that many people. There's about 8.4 million people living there and the infrastructure can't support it. Traffic is only going to get worse when people start driving more cars instead of mopeds.

When I lived in Saigon for the summer, my routine was get up early and stroll around when it wasn't too bad. During the afternoon, stay indoors with the AC and take a nap. Then go out again in the evenings. And drink lots of water. The plus side of the heat is that I lost weight because I didn't feel like eating because it was just too hot.

OP - I am curious to know your reactions to the construction (for the underground metro line) going along the Le Loi Boulevard. It was previously one of the prime downtown streets, along with Nguyen Hue and Dong Khoi. Now, all you see is corrugated steel fencing along the length of the boulevard. Crossing from one side to another can only be done in certain breaks in the fencing system. Blocks of buildings were demolished for the metro project.
I wonder if as a first time visitor, this construction area has any adverse impact on your expectation.

I updated yesterday's Day 7 post (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/28843073-post29.html) late last nite.

im from a major city where there's constant construction so I didn't think anything of it.
the only problem I had was the construction blocked my views from my balcony seat at a restaurant.. lol

also, I wonder why they did double layer instead of side by side train tunnels?
:confused:

I'll assume you haven't been to India yet.

:)

Day 8

Is the alcohol sold at the convenience stores (Family Mart) fake?

wanted some vodka but the local brands were like 25% abv.
Smirnoff is listed at 37.5%. it's 1/3 the size of the local brands but costs the same.

anyway, I've done 2 shots, and an 1/2 hr later I barely feel anything from it.
normally I would have a moderate buzz by now.

Attachment 40390Just go pick up some snacks:

Day 9
Went to the War Museum.
took me a while to figure out that it's 15k admission + 20k for the information booklet. (didn't see anything on Website saying the small information booklet was additional cost.)

learned many things there, like the US got involved over fake accusations of Vietnam attacking a US navy ship. :o
kinda like Pres Bush got involved in overthrowing Iraq over non-existent weapons of mass destruction.

And today is my Last day in Saigon. Flying out tomorrow back to the States. 10 days went by FAST! :(

Had a blast!
If I had to do over again, I would shave a day or 2 off in Saigon and maybe spend a day at the Ho Tram hotel 2 hrs away for the casino.

Hope you all enjoyed my Trip report...

Day 10
Flight back to the US.
at immigration, the guard asked for my e-Visa that I used to enter Vietnam.
I wasn't expecting this.
glad I didn't leave it in my checked luggage!!!!

So why did they ask for my e-Visa when leaving?

also, had 150k VND left. 'Grab' taxi to airport was 80k + 15k = 95k.
no clue what the extra 15k was for since it was in Vietnamese but it showed up on his Grab app screen.
my Grab app said 80k. was planning to let him keep the 100k anyway.

was planning to spend the left over 50k ($2.50 USD) at the airport but all the pricing at the shops are in USD.
the exchange rate at the food place I asked was 1USD = 23k.
so a $2 item cost 46k.
not bad since the official exchange rate is $1= 22735.

Yeah, I almost threw away my e-visa form at the hotel. Glad I kept it in my backpack. Didn't know they'd ask for it again upon departure. I can only guess that the immigration officers use this as an extra source of "income".

The extra 15k would have been the fee the airport charges to the taxi when they exit.

1hr connection at Tokyo.
Made it to the gate with 30min to spare