Rough Guide to Vietnam - Jan Dodd [48]
Getting about can be made a little easier by taking internal flights, or by renting a private car or minibus with a driver. Taxis are widely available in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and other major cities. Even so, trying to cross roads with speeding traffic and negotiating the cluttered and uneven pavements – where pavements exist – pose real problems. Furthermore, few buildings are equipped with ramps and lifts.
When it comes to accommodation, Vietnam’s new luxury hotels usually offer one or two specially adapted rooms. Elsewhere, the best you can hope for is a ground-floor room, or a hotel with a lift.
One, albeit expensive, option is to ask a tour agent to arrange a customized tour. Saigontourist (www.saigontourist.com) has experience of running tours specifically for disabled visitors. For general information, post a question on the Vietnamese-run Disability Forum http://forum.wso.net.
Travel essentials |
Travelling with children
Travelling through Vietnam with children can be challenging and fun. The Vietnamese adore kids and make a huge fuss of them, with fair-haired kids coming in for even more manhandling. The main concern will probably be hygiene: Vietnam can be distinctly unsanitary, and children’s stomachs tend to be more sensitive to bacteria. Avoiding spicy foods will help while their stomachs adjust, but if children do become sick it’s crucial to keep up their fluid intake, so as to avoid dehydration. Bear in mind, too, that healthcare facilities are fairly basic outside Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, so make sure your travel insurance includes full medical evacuation.
Long bus journeys are tough on young children, so wherever possible, take the train – at least the kids can get up and move about in safety. There are reduced fares for children on domestic flights, trains and open-tour buses. On trains, for example, it’s free for under-fives (as long as they sit on your lap) and half-price for children aged five to ten. Open-tour buses follow roughly the same policy, though children paying a reduced fare are not entitled to a seat; if you don’t want them on your lap you’ll have to pay full fare. Tours are usually either free or half-price for children.
Many budget hotels have rooms with three or even four single beds in them. At more expensive hotels under-twelves can normally stay free of charge in their parents’ rooms and baby cots are becoming more widely available.
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Working and studying in Vietnam
Without a prearranged job and work permit, don’t bank on finding work in Vietnam. With specific skills to offer, you could try approaching some of the Western companies now operating in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Otherwise, English-language teaching is probably the easiest job to land, especially if you have a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), TESOL (Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) or CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) qualification. Universities are worth approaching, though pay is better at private schools, where qualified teachers earn upwards of $15–20 an hour. In either case, you’ll need to apply for a work permit, sponsored by your employer, and then a working visa. Private tutoring is an unwieldy way of earning a crust, as you’ll have to pop out of the country every few months to procure a new visa. Furthermore, the authorities are clamping down on people working without the proper authorizations.
The main English-language teaching operations recruiting in Vietnam include the British Council (www.britishcouncil.org/Vietnam.htm), ILA Vietnam (www.ilavietnam.com), Language Link Vietnam (www.languagelink.edu.vn) and RMIT International University (www.rmit.edu.vn). The TEFL website (www.tefl.com) and Dave’s ESL Café (www.eslcafe.com) also have lists