Vietnam - The Rough Guide to Southeast Asia on a Budget - page 830

avoid taking a xe om or cyclo by yourself
- take a taxi instead.
If you have anything valuable stolen ,
go to the nearest police station and ask
for a report for your insurance company;
try to recruit an English-speaker to come
with you - and be prepared to pay a few
dollars (usually around $20) as a “fee”.
Photographing military installations ,
border regions, military camps, bridges,
airports and train stations is never a good
idea, as you may be stopped and fined by
the police.
Undetonated explosives still pose a
serious threat throughout Vietnam (see
box, p.867): the problem is most acute in
the Demilitarized Zone. Always stick to
well-trodden paths and never touch any
shells or half-buried chunks of metal.

VIETNAM ONLINE
W vietnamtourism.com Government

tourist information site, listing basic
background information about the
country and its main tourist attractions,
and also offering an expensive hotel and
tour-booking service.
W vietnamnews.vnagency.com.vn

Online version of the national English-
language daily newspaper, with brief
snippets of local, regional and
international news.
W diadiem.com Vietnamese online
mapping service, which works better than
anything else when it comes to finding
obscure streets in Vietnamese towns.

11

worth getting a local SIM card from
Viettel, Vinaphone or Mobifone. SIM
cards can be purchased at the airports and
from company stores; these cost around
160,000VND per package and a prepaid
package typically includes an hour's
worth of local calls, eight minutes of
international calls and 600MB of internet
data. Top-up packages are available in
20,000-100,000VND, and international
calls are charged at between 7000VND
and 14,000VND per minute.
he general enquiries numbers are:
International Operator T 110; Directory
Enquiries T 116.

MEDICAL CARE AND EMERGENCIES
Pharmacies can generally help with
minor injuries or ailments, and provide
some medication without prescription,
though fake medicines and out-of-date
drugs are common, so it pays to bring
anything you know you're likely to need
from home.
Local hospitals will treat minor
problems, but are overcrowded and not
many have a licence to treat foreigners.
In a real emergency head for Hanoi,
Da Nang or HCMC, where excellent
international medical centres can provide
diagnosis and treatment.

CRIME AND SAFETY
Violent crime against tourists in Vietnam
is extremely rare, but there are a few
things to be wary of. Some tourist
destinations, such as HCMC, Hanoi and
Nha Trang, have more than their fair
share of pickpockets and con artists, and
some cases of bag snatching - day or
night - are occasionally reported. Always
take care when carrying valuables and
money, and wherever possible leave them
in a hotel safe. You should also be careful
with taxis and cyclos.
Penalties for buying and using drugs
are severe.
Vietnam is generally a safe country for
women to travel around alone; that said,
it pays to take the normal precautions,
especially late at night, when you should

INFORMATION AND MAPS
here is no such thing as an impartial
tourist o ce in Vietnam; government-
owned enterprises such as Vietnam
Tourist are travel agencies looking to
make a profit, so your best bet for
information is the many travellers' cafés
and your fellow travellers.

EMERGENCY NUMBERS
Try to get a Vietnamese-speaker to phone
for you.
Police T 113
Fire T 114
Ambulance T 115