Petrol During TET Holidays

Hello Hue1964,

at least for Nha Trang, the bigger ones will remain open, like usual. A few of the smaller ones and many thousands of the street sellers will virtually disappear.
The last few years, I had a small reserve at home - never needed. With the growing economical pressure especially to the small resellers - I would assume, more than ever will be working.

Thanks 13ully. If Nha Trang has stations open I guess HCM would be the same being a more developed city

Has anyone thought of filling up BEFORE Tet?

Hue1964 wrote:

Thanks 13ully. If Nha Trang has stations open I guess HCM would be the same being a more developed city

I would assume the same. Not by advance, just by size.

the big ones would usually stay open though, but it would be better to fill up if u are planning to take your bike out of town..

- Results 2012 - TET

It was like the years before - very where closed or open at shorter than usual times, plenty of street sellers in front of closed petrol stations during the day - after 8 pm, only few of the bigger ones and after 10 pm, only 2 of the usual 4 where open.

In my experience, most of petrols are closed on the 1st day of Tet's holiday and work normally from 2nd day. Of course, during holiday, petrol stations are usually closed earlier

majority of the petrol kiosks will be open during daytime.

I rode my motorbike from Saigon to Can Tho on THE DAY of Tet last year and most all the petrol stations were open. I was concerned they would not be, but had no problems. The bike I rode at that time would not make it all the way without stopping.

My recommendation is not 'if' but 'what'.
What is the quality of the fuel left available?
The petro companies enjoy their well deserved Tet vacation
and fuel trucks are few and far between.
So,with all the folks filling their tanks for a long journey to the home town,the underground barrel level gets low and stays low due to limited resupply.
Has anyone here ever had to drain a 5-20'000 litre underground tank?
It is not pretty.

jimbream wrote:

My recommendation is not 'if' but 'what'.
What is the quality of the fuel left available?
The petro companies enjoy their well deserved Tet vacation
and fuel trucks are few and far between.
So,with all the folks filling their tanks for a long journey to the home town,the underground barrel level gets low and stays low due to limited resupply.
Has anyone here ever had to drain a 5-20'000 litre underground tank?
It is not pretty.

Very good point jimbream.  Probably best advice would be to fill up your gas tank before the fuel stations get low on fuel.

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

jimbream wrote:

My recommendation is not 'if' but 'what'.
What is the quality of the fuel left available?
The petro companies enjoy their well deserved Tet vacation
and fuel trucks are few and far between.
So,with all the folks filling their tanks for a long journey to the home town,the underground barrel level gets low and stays low due to limited resupply.
Has anyone here ever had to drain a 5-20'000 litre underground tank?
It is not pretty.

Very good point jimbream.  Probably best advice would be to fill up your gas tank before the fuel stations get low on fuel.

Too true. If expats aren't already using it solely,then go for the 95 Octane pumps during Tet.
BUT unfortunately the first to be empty at the station.
That 92 octane stuff is like Diesel fuel at the best of times.
It's like that excuse for fuel they sell in Indonesia.If some splashes on your fingers,the fuel doesn't evaporate,it just leaves a greasy smear.

That's good to know because I plan to ride my motorbike from Saigon to Can Tho too.

saigonmonkey wrote:

I rode my motorbike from Saigon to Can Tho on THE DAY of Tet last year and most all the petrol stations were open. I was concerned they would not be, but had no problems. The bike I rode at that time would not make it all the way without stopping.

khanh44 wrote:

That's good to know because I plan to ride my motorbike from Saigon to Can Tho too.

saigonmonkey wrote:

I rode my motorbike from Saigon to Can Tho on THE DAY of Tet last year and most all the petrol stations were open. I was concerned they would not be, but had no problems. The bike I rode at that time would not make it all the way without stopping.

Are you planning to do it during the first day of Tết Nguyên Đán?  If so, you should probably rent the motorbike in advance.  Get a big engine motorbike or scooter (automatic motorbikes) since they're more comfortable for longer distances.  The route outside of HCMC to Mỹ Tho is full of potholes/broken asphalt since the heavy trucks have ripped up the road big time.  They shove motorbikes to the road "shoulder" which is maybe 1 meter to 2 meters wide.  I usually ignore the shoulders because they have counter-flow (people going the wrong way) so every bump/crack/hole/uneven surface in the truck lane can be felt by my light bike.  The Mỹ Tho to Cần Thơ leg is much better.

Bring a good motorcycle helmet from Canada that is ugly so people won't want steal it but has a scratch resistant face-mask.  Trucks like to kick up little rocks that fly in your face.

Should I bring my full face helmet? I'll try to get a GN 125 or Honda Win but if not I'll be riding my fiance's 110cc motorbike. We'll be stopping at My Tho for a day.

I've rode 5000 kms in 5 days before so yeah big trucks don't scare me but with my fiance on the back I'll have to ride more cautious and slower than usual.

I remember the first time I had her on the back she was screaming because of my zig zagging through traffic.

khanh44 wrote:

I remember the first time I had her on the back she was screaming because of my zig zagging through traffic.

Read this sentence very quickly without thinking about the thread topic. Maybe I have a dirty mind.

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

Are you planning to do it during the first day of Tết Nguyên Đán?  If so, you should probably rent the motorbike in advance.  Get a big engine motorbike or scooter (automatic motorbikes) since they're more comfortable for longer distances.  The route outside of HCMC to Mỹ Tho is full of potholes/broken asphalt since the heavy trucks have ripped up the road big time.  They shove motorbikes to the road "shoulder" which is maybe 1 meter to 2 meters wide.  I usually ignore the shoulders because they have counter-flow (people going the wrong way) so every bump/crack/hole/uneven surface in the truck lane can be felt by my light bike.  The Mỹ Tho to Cần Thơ leg is much better.

This is only 90% true, because there are very few trucks on the road at Tet. Very few of anything except motorbikes, and that day, the motorbikes RULE the road, taking up ALL lanes - even the left side. I really enjoyed that ride. Wish I had a much larger bike, because I was going 80km/hr on my little Wave, and could have gone faster on a more powerful bike. DO watch for the potholes though.

saigonmonkey wrote:

Tran Hung Dao wrote:

Are you planning to do it during the first day of Tết Nguyên Đán?  If so, you should probably rent the motorbike in advance.  Get a big engine motorbike or scooter (automatic motorbikes) since they're more comfortable for longer distances.  The route outside of HCMC to Mỹ Tho is full of potholes/broken asphalt since the heavy trucks have ripped up the road big time.  They shove motorbikes to the road "shoulder" which is maybe 1 meter to 2 meters wide.  I usually ignore the shoulders because they have counter-flow (people going the wrong way) so every bump/crack/hole/uneven surface in the truck lane can be felt by my light bike.  The Mỹ Tho to Cần Thơ leg is much better.

This is only 90% true, because there are very few trucks on the road at Tet. Very few of anything except motorbikes, and that day, the motorbikes RULE the road, taking up ALL lanes - even the left side. I really enjoyed that ride. Wish I had a much larger bike, because I was going 80km/hr on my little Wave, and could have gone faster on a more powerful bike. DO watch for the potholes though.

I'll go with that...and the CSGTs are home enjoying the holidays so go as fast as you can possibly slam on your breaks in time to avoid the:

drunk driver in front of you
person stopping to make a left turn
person stopping
person yakking on their cellphone
person merging without signaling
dog running across
the empty sugarcane drink cup that someone in front just finished and toss on the road in your path

hmm..what else can you expect during Tết Nguyên Đán?

I think that's why the speed limit is 50 kph outside urban areas...the planners knew there'd be stupid people on the roadways.