Saigon Survival by Simon Miller
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Having spent a lot of time traveling and living abroad, I felt I was in a good position to review this book. Before I began reading, I made a list of all the topics I’d like covered in a book like this, all the problems I’d have to solve when moving to a new city. And I told myself that if the book covered all those areas adequately, I’d give it 5 stars. It has, so I did.
I had already been living in Saigon for over a month when I first opened the book, so a lot of the information here I had already learned, some of it the hard way. A lot of the warnings here are spot in. Which taxi companies to trust and how best to deal with taxi drivers (carry small bills so they won’t claim they “can’t” make change), how to handle aggressive street vendors, and generally how to avoid ripoffs.
The description of the different neighborhoods was useful to me since that type of knowledge takes a long time to acquire. And the recommendations on day trips, though brief, were compelling.
One of the hardest aspects of life in Saigon (and Vietnam in general) is dealing with traffic, either as a pedestrian or as a motorbike rider. I believe the author’s analogy of traffic to fish is apt — I’ve heard it best described as a river, you just keep going and don’t stop unless you have to. Crossing the street here is intimidating the first couple hundred times, but then you start to get the hang of it. I’ve read some terrible advice in travel books in the nature of “just keep walking you’ll be fine.” Well, yes and no. You need to wait until there’s an opening, probably not enough of a gap for you to make it all the way across before traffic catches up with you but enough to where drivers can see you and go around you. I think the author’s advice on this topic is about the best I’ve read anywhere.
I would have liked a little bit more about information about motorbike driving. There are “rules” that are difficult to articulate and seem completely random to the novice. After you’ve been here for a while you, you begin to glean a certain method to the madness but explaining that method to anyone seems almost impossible. Also, this is just personal preference but I would tend to discourage all but the most skilled and confident visitors from renting or buying motorbikes in Saigon. It’s just too dangerous (to both them and other riders, not to mention the hapless tourists, inching their way nervously across the road). Again, just my opinion and not really an option if you live here for a while and don’t really have a choice.
Overall an entertaining read with a ton of useful information. Good job.