May 03, 2019
When coming to another country, language is a huge barrier against you from experience the best journey you can get. It is very difficult to communicate with the locals, especially with countries that English wasn’t their second language. However, you would be glad to know that English is widespread in Vietnam and most people can speak English, or at least they can understand simple sentences such as Hello, Yes, No or numbers and animals, etc.
If you had a chance to visit Vietnam, you would find communication is very easy here. Even people with low education levels like street vendors and lottery sellers can talk a bit with foreigners.
Talking about transportation, if you are afraid of driving yourself in middle of the crowded street with many motorbikes, you can use the transport apps such as Grab, GoViet and Be. These drivers will reach you in less than 5 minutes and drive you to your destination with an affordable price.
Related article: Transportation guide in Ho Chi Minh city
In case you don’t know, there are two kinds of taxi:
- Traditional taxi: founded many years ago such as Mai Linh and Vinasun. Used to be only hotlines for calling taxi but recently, they had created applications too to compete with technology taxi.
- Technology taxi: new in Vietnam market but attracts more and more customers day by day. They are apps on devices to order a taxi or a motorcycle for transportation. They had opened delivery services recently.
In my opinion, traditional taxis are a bit safer, but technology cabs are much more convenient. They not only provide taxis for transportation but also use motorcycles as well as delivery services. If you are careful about dangers such as not entering the empty road or providing information about the driver for a companion before riding in the car, you'll be fine.
Grab is a very popular brand in South-East Asia. They are an multinational company having their application operates in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, and Cambodia.
In Vietnam, there used to be only 2 famous brands for taxi-booking mobile app called Uber and Grab. However, after a long time compete with each other, Grab has won the SEA market and acquire Uber in the SEA areas.
Grab was founded in 2012 by Anthony Tan, Tan Hooi Ling.
With Grab, you can register with your phone, Facebook account or Email account. It’s very convenient to use.
Grab is available for both Android and IOS. Click on the operating system name and download for free.
As top 1 transport app in Vietnam, Grab supply many services for its customers. You can either call for a car or a motorbike for transport as well as use their food delivery services and delivery services. Moreover, you can add credit to you mobile phone or pay the bills on Grab too.
For their loyal customers, they offer member packages which are much cheaper if you use Grab oftenly. And for all kind of customers, they have some promotion to encourage their users from using Grab.
Overall, Grab is the best choice for you if you need a transport service.
Although there is a Viet word in their name, GoViet is invested by an Indonesia brand, GoJek. They appeared in Vietnam in 8/2018 and gain a tremendous success after their marketing strategy. With the campaign of 5,000 VND for a motorbike ride, they are well-known throughout Vietnam in less than a month.
One fun fact is that when GoViet appear and quickly takes the majority of Grab customers, Grab immediately offer some promotion quite the same with GoViet to keep their customers. But when GoViet end the campaign, Grab’s promotions are disappear too.
GoViet is available for both Android and IOS. Click on the operating system name and download for free.
Unlike Grab, GoViet can only register with phone number and Facebook account.
If you are a smart user, install both application and take the advantage of promotion from both apps.
This article is summarized by Modoho - a trusted agency in Ho Chi Minh city. If you need any help from a local expert with free searching services (only landlord have to pay) feel free to contact us. Here is some listing for you:
October 20, 2022
October 18, 2022
October 18, 2022
Enter your email address to receive good tips about foreigner community