Saigon Survival: How to Get a Tow Truck for Your Motorbike in HCMC... and How I Know This

D1 in the distance... so close, and yet so far. I had to leave it here for a bit...

Broken down on a highway or rural part of HCMC? I know the feeling.

Boy, do I ever.

Yesterday I had the unfortunate luck to develop a flat tire on my way to Vietnamese lessons (which are going much better than last year, btw!). The number of extenuating circumstances, however, were really just improbably high... 5 hours after it all started, I was finally on my way, my bike repaired.

But how did I get there?

Story time!

And BONUS - scroll to the end for contact information for what might be HCMC's only English-speaking Bike Tow Truck service.

I'm Legal!: How to Get a Driver's License in Ho Chi Minh City

Hey, look at this guy!

And what's that he's holding? Why, it looks like some kind of identification... MY GOD, IT'S A DRIVER'S LICENSE. Honest-to-God official, state-issued proof that I can walk into an office, hand them money, and pick up a real license 10 days later... with no driving test.

Yes, my friends, after 20 months of living in Vietnam, and a full 17 months of driving a motorbike (with no police incidents and only one minor fall!), I'm finally street legal, and covered by any kind of insurance that might involve an accident on the road.

For the moment, that is. Because, of course, there's a catch.

Read on to learn how easy it is (in Saigon, at least, although I hear that Da Nang and Hanoi are similarly conducive to foreigners)...

Vietnam's Visa on Arrival (VoA) Process

Vietnam's visa process is just a little stranger than most other countries, because of course it is. Of course it is.

My mother visited last year, and prepared my sister some instructions for when she prepared her trip to visit (she's arriving TODAY!!!!!).

Since it's all such good advice, I'll post it here. Easiest blog post ever? Yeah, probably.

Thanks mom!

"Vietnam visa" by Alex Steffler - originally posted to Flickr as Vietnam visa. 

Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Click through for the gory details (ha ha, just kidding! It's actually pretty easy. The waiting is the most obnoxious part)!