ich can be daunting as the nearby spots get snapped up. Patience will reward those who dig deeper into the tiny alleys, which have a life of their own. The French and German embassies warn of taking "Open Tour" buses.
As you hop out of the bus, taxi drivers will surround you with questions like "Where you go?". You might be confused about your location in the city and the taxi drivers will probably try to benefit from that. You'll most likely already be in Pham Ngu Lao and when you tell taxi driver to head to the same place, he'll just zigzag around a few blocks, getting easy money from you.
Several companies provide bus travel from Phnom Penh, Cambodia, at approximately US$12 per person. Visas to Vietnam cannot be obtained at the border, so have one organized before you arrive. Capital Tours operates a popular bus line from the Capital Guest House in Phnom Penh that takes passengers to the border. After securing visas, passengers board a partner Vietnamese bus to continue their travel to Ho Chi Minh City.
Rail
Ga Sài Gòn is on Cach Mang Thang Tam (CMT8) northwest of the city center, and is a short taxi or public bus ride away from the main hotel districts. An official train ticket office is located in the backpacker’s district at 275C Pham Ngu Lao.
There are five daily departures from Hanoi along the "Reunification line". Although several of the trains are called "express", all journeys take about 30 to 35 hours. The fastest train is SE3 departing from Hanoi at 11:00 pm and arriving at 5:00 am two nights later. However, SE5 departing at 3:45 pm and arriving at 4:40 am has higher-quality tourist carriages run by the private company Livitrans attached to it. Ticket prices are from 1,008,000 – 1,547,000 dong for standard carriages and double that for the tourist ones
