Vietnam
Area: 331,698 km2 (3.3% the size of Canada, 93% the size of Germany, 128x Luxembourg)
Population: 90,549,390 (2.6x Canada, 1.1x Germany, 179x Luxembourg)
Capital: Hanoi
Currency: Vietnamese Dong (VND)
Time traveled: 25 days
Distance travelled: 3,309 km (overland by train, bus and boat, 1,438 km by plane)
Highlights in chronological order:
- Meeting, Shaking hands, talking and taking pictures with Henri de Luxembourg in Hanoi
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Adrenaline Rush when crossings streets in Hanoi
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Eating Bun Bo (Vietnamese Beef with vermicelli)
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Kayaking in Halong Bay
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Cu Chi Tunnels
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Boat trip to An Thoi Archipelago
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Enjoying sunsets on the beach of Phu Quoc Island
Our expectations of Vietnam have been met. We had been told by travellers coming from there to rush through the country and now we know why. Indeed, it wasn’t as clean and as easy to travel as in China and to top it all off, people weren’t nearly as nice. Actually, there were the 2 extremes where some were really nice (unfortunately the exception) and other totally rude (unfortunately the norm). But even the ones that were nice, it didn’t seem to be genuine, more because they wanted to sell you something. Some people even grab your arm to pull you into their shops and got angry when you said that you didn’t want to buy anything from them. During our 3 weeks in Vietnam we saw more rats than in our entire lives combined. We also had 2 dishes with some extra protein (2 fried ants with the vegetarian spring rolls and a bug on the all-dressed pizza). Otherwise food was very tasty, but a lot less varied than in China. The quality of the mattresses and warm showers were a bit like playing roulette with chances of 1:31, but still ok. Trains and buses are made for midgets with us hardly ever having enough leg-room, but the Vietnamese are also a lot smaller, so that would explain it. People generally speak 5 sentences more English than the Chinese (and have a better pronunciation), but if they don’t understand you, they still say “Yes” and smile, so you never know if they’re really answering your question. In China they would tell you they don’t understand or don’t have (that piece of information), so at least you knew where you stood. Luckily we didn’t have any incidents, but we heard and read that it’s not too safe. You really need to worry about valuables as tourists are targets for pickpockets – cameras and bags grow feet on the bus, train as well as on the streets. Overcharging is also the norm, so we always had to calculate our restaurant bill ourselves and point to the menu when the prices magically changed once we got the bill. We think that if you want to have a nice vacation in Vietnam you shouldn’t worry about being ripped off (because they will!).
I think the biggest annoyance in Vietnam is the fact that everyone sees you as a walking ATM. There are millions of examples we could cite, but we’ll just stick to 3 here: 1) In Hanoi our hotel wanted to sell us train tickets to Sapa for $30 per person when they are only $16, insisting that the price we saw online wasn’t good. When we bought our tickets at the train station for $16, they didn’t talk to us anymore. 2) A bookseller on the street told us off aggressively when we didn’t want to buy a copied Lonely Planet at an inflated price. 3) The bus company we took from Phu Quoc Island to Cambodia told us we cannot make the visa at the border and should pay him $25 to do it for us. We knew it only costs $20 at the border so we did it ourselves and the guy got angry at us. The first and last person we dealt with (and everyone in between) in Vietnam tried to scam us, so it left a bad taste in our mouth.
It is unfortunate that we feel that way, but it is probably accentuated by the contrast to the easiness of travel in China. We also think that part of the reason people always try to get a quick buck is because they are poor, but also because it works with many tourists. People coming on a 2-week vacation through Vietnam don’t pay as much attention to one dollar here and 2 dollars there as budget travellers on a RTW trip do.
The sights were very nice though, but it didn’t make for pleasant travelling. We must also say that we didn’t go to Hue and Hoi An in Central Vietnam due to flooding in the area during the time we wanted to go, so our impressions only reflect North and South Vietnam. People who did go to Hue (the old imperial capital) and Hoi An (a nice town by the water with lots of tailors and shoe-makers) did love it, so perhaps there is a reason to come back some day… Phu Quoc Island was really nice though and none of the above apply to the island: it’s safe, people are nice, nobody’s trying to rip you off, food was delicious, so we are happy we ended our Vietnam trip there.