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Lucky for you - they are close together!

See:
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I read in an travel guide that the average speed is approx. 7km/hour. Is it really that slow? Must have been Lonely Planet - full of effluent.

I frequently travel Q1, Q7, Q5 and Q10 and my speeds are often up in the 40/50KPH range. Within Q5/Q10 about 30/40PKH.

BTW. these districts/quans are know as Cho Lon or Chinatown.

Oh wow, that was a really fast answer. I'm very surprised of this blog. Tank you for your answer.
Could you give an advise, what we should consider regarding the feasible distance for daily travel to work an back? Or would you say that everything between the river and the airport is all more or less close together?

Most of the whole of TP HCM "is close together", too close.

The average time from the airport to 'downtown' (Hai Ba Trung and SaiGon River) is around 30-40 minutes evening/day run.

Tank you. This information will help us a lot for selecting an accomodation and a job.

There are a few highrises in the area - one is above Hung Vuong Plaza which you can locate using < >.

I'm working nights this week!

Hi
im Joe from Australia, i ve been saigon for over 9 years
i think district 3 is suitable for u, as it near both D 10 and D5.

I use to live in District 3. Drove to Binh Thanh district everyday for work. About a 30 minute drive give or take. But eventually moved to District 2 to nicer, cleaner house. Takes less than 15 minutes to get to work. Makes things a lot easier so far.

If you do stay and work, highly recommend getting use to driving a motorbike. You can drive slow like 7 mph as suggested and you'll see why, but yeah I'm up there with at least 40 mph. Just don't over do it during certain hours where the police are out. Usually early morning and late afternoon. I guess around lunch and dinner time are good times to go all out.

Thank you for sharing your information. You said that you would recommend to buy a scooter. Thats exactly what i plan to do. I have experience and even the licence to drive a bike. I guess for Saigon it would be enough to have a 50ccm scooter.
I know that there are a lot of blogs to that topic, but they are more confusing to me than really helpful.
So again:
Is it allowed to drive a 50ccm scooter without a special drivers licence? I couldn't find a clear answer in the blog.

I'm really looking forward to my time in HCMC....

You could also take the bus from 6:00 AM to 8:00 PM.  Many people don't use or know how to use the system but at .25 or .30 cents/ticket (depending on route) you can't beat it.

I know how to go all over HCMC and am safe, comfortable and alive.

Buses are what they are. Convenient sometimes and cheap (buy books of tickets from a bus station for even cheaper fares). Travel across town if you want or 500 m up the street. Often crowded, sometimes relaxing and cool with the air con. Threat to some men's egos who consider them wussy etc etc.

Long routes have good buses eg new Korean ones on Route 104. Old buses on short routes at peak times are saunas.

Many routes have conductors. When crowded enter and exit through front or back, when not crowded just the rear. A nod to the conductor will signal that you want to get off at the next stop. Some routes/times have a box at the front only and no conductor, hence enter at the front.

Bus drivers seem to be like everyone on the road - never look behind. If there is a conductor, they will tell the driver to pull in. Some buses have bells, some of which work to signal you want to alight.

Never experienced a changed route - these aren't taxi drivers milking a fare. Given most of them are on the main roads, it seems a tad unlikely they will try to thread the rabbit warrens to the sides. At least in my part of town.

The pickpocket thing is just what a xe om driver who wants your fare will tell you. Just pack valuables away on you and the risk is minimal eg phone and wallet in a shirt pocket with your arm across it if standing and it is crowded. Sitting next to an old lady or one of the innumerable teen students who use the bus system is unlikely to be a big problem.

To answer the question at hand, Eluelf you have a motorcycle license already, which makes getting a license here much easier:







Here's a reference to the "50cc and under" law: 

...However, persons 16 years of age or older will still be permitted to ride motorcycles under 50cc without a license, and the minimum age requirement of 18 will remain as the threshold for applications for A1 licenses for motorbikes of 50cc and above.

Hello > just to inform you that some off topic posts have been removed.

Dear Christine
Thanks for the 'Big Hammer' approach.
That will stop people from 'bashing' each other and getting too opinionated about themselves!