Map of cities, knowing your way to avoid taxi scam

Hi all,

It seems that still not few posters had bad experience with taxi scam even though there have been quite brilliant advice here on TA (using the reputable taxi companies, negociating the price before hand, etc...). Here is another way to avoid such bad cases: knowing your way before you go.

Not sure that all you notice Google released the new service http://www.google.com/mapmaker last month. It is not as good as GoogleMap (but you can´t exploit GoogleMap for countries like Vietnam at the moment). However, with GoogleMapmaker, you can search and customize the maps of most places in Vietnam now.

http://www.google.com/mapmaker

When you search the map, one attention should be paid to is that Vietnamese is morphemically mono-syllabic. So, type Ninh Binh instead of Ninhbinh... (though Ha Noi or Hanoi are both OK in this case).

More good news: Google just released the tool for translating Vietnamese into/from many other languages. Although it is not perfect, now you can translate simple sentences easily.

translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en#

Map of cities, knowing your way to avoid taxi scam

More tools to come:

You can search the way to your address in the biggest cities in Vietnam (very similar as using GoogleMap for developed countries, but not as easy though).

http://diadiem.com or http://diadiem.vn

The tool is in both Vietnamese and English. By default, it shows HCM city but you can select other cities/provinces (on the top right). Now it the ';hard'; job for non-Vietnamese speakers:

1. Choose DIRECTION (on the right). You will see below it is A (Starting Address) and B (Ending Address). Since features in A and B forms are not the same in all cities, it is confusing.

2. After testing several way, my suggestion for non-Vietnames speakers is: type only STREET NAME (notice the field with the RED mark - required), and the number of the house (if you do not have an exact number, just put 1 or 2). First do NOT choose the fields ALLEY or DISTRICT.

3. In case there are two streets with the same name (possibly?, but very rare I guess), you need to add the District name too.

Repeat: Vietnamese is morphemically mono-syllabic. So, type Hang Trong instead of Hangtrong, Hoi An instead of Hoian.

Here we go. Just test and after 3 minutes you will handle it. Happy travel.

Map of cities, knowing your way to avoid taxi scam

Another simple way is after you land, ask for a free map from any travel company inside the airport. They’ll happily give you and ask “Do you need a taxi, Madam?”