We felt extremely welcome and everyone was very friendly and full of smiles, not what I had imagined in this Communist country. People here are very enterprising ,entrepreneurial and extremely hard working. Always negotiate any service or price of an object prior to the event or purchase ,they will try to profit anyway they can,but they keep to their word once a number has been agreed upon.Never use a meter on a taxi, prefix the price before you set off.
People live and work on the streets and rivers ,the pavements and waterways are alive with activities as you will have seen in the photographs.
The Vietnamese are of a small stature,but they make up for it with strength and determination ,they are very proud of being Vietnamese .I imagine it is probably difficult for tall ,larger tourists (,as most seem to be) to use the seating and transportation comfortably, the reclining bus for example was 7 iPads long by 2 iPads wide , fine for the likes of the Captain and myself .( I didn't have a tape measure!)
The country is 80% Buddhist ,and the influence is felt everywhere.especially with the smell of incense burning in every shop and restaurant,and on the pavements.Such a contrast when you return to Malaysia which is predominantly muslim, and not as friendly.
A Very nice place for a vegetarian also ,lots of choices as all the Buddhist monks are vegetarian.
The French influence is throughout the country,with the architecture especially,the faded yellow color of the paint on the walls and the muted green wooden shutters on the windows ,iron filigree work in the fencing etc. Wide tree lined streets giving shade when it is most needed,street vendors with baguettes and delicious pastries and cake shops.
We have travelled by foot,bicycle,scooter ,motorcycle,car ,bus train and plane so we have been able to get a real feel for the country and the way people live here. On the streets the scooter/motorcycle gives you the best feel for your surroundings,immersed with the sights ,smells and being part of the swarm of cycles as you go through the towns.
When crossing the roads ,nobody follows any real road rules as we know them in the west ,they do move at a slower pace though, so look at your first step off the curb ,then do NOT look at the traffic just face your destination and walk in an aggressive forthright manner across the road, do NOT hesitate , the cars and bikes will go around you ,scary at first ,but we got used to walking in front of moving vehicles!
The currency here has many zeros so it can be hard to work out prices some of the time, there are 20,000 dong to 1 dollar, also they have paper notes for 1000 dong (5 cents!) on upwards, this means carrying around wads of paper.Advice for travelers ,if you use the Citi bank ATMs you can take out up to 6,000,000 dong with only one fee for the transaction. Most other ATMs only give 2,000,000.
Hoi An was an extremely interesting and charming town, home of 200 tailors,and shoemakers,service in 24 hours. The captain had a new white tuxedo shirt made and I had a silk traditional Ao dai made for me to wear at the upcoming wedding of our niece in London at the end of May.It is worth coming with an empty suitcase and having clothes tailor made for you.
Dalat in the central highlands was a welcome change from the heat and frenetic chaos of Saigon. Our first cool evenings for months. It is known as le petit Paris,and is one of vietnams honeymoon destinations.
There are fields of greenhouses growing the majority of flowers to be sent all around the country.The soil is too good to grow rice ,instead they grow every vegetable and fruit you can imagine ,and were in abundance in the local markets,avocados,mulberries,bananas, asparagus,strawberries,artichokes,pineapples,guavas, etc etc. Nearby waterfalls and lakes lie amongst the pine trees.Very peaceful indeed.No wonder the French latched on to this town.
Our train journey from Hue to Hanoi was an experience, we were on the 1st class equivalent of a sleeper compartment run by vietnamese rail,supposedly soft beds,well the beds were hard and narrow , 2.1/3 ipads wide and 7.1/2 long. They say lock the door as people try to come in , we had one lady at 4 am ,but this was legit as the conductor unlocked the door. The train was extremely noisy and not very clean, but it was on time. The breakfast trolley had corn on the cob, rice buns ,coca cola and Vietnamese coffee, I had only coffee which was much needed and good, very dark and strong.
Hanoi is a buzzing city and staying in the heart of the old quarter was a great experience. We felt part of the city.We were awoken at 7 in the morning with the loud propaganda messages and music from the speakers in the streets, messages such as clean the streets and use your birth control....so we were told.
The restaurants have been excellent, and the tiny stools at night on the streets outside make -shift restaurants drinking with the locals ( beer 25 cents a glass )has been a fun adventure. They like to practice their english,ask about soccer and want to share their favorite English teams ,welcome us to their country and wish us well on our travels.
We walked miles and miles through all these beautiful cities,thank goodness for the enormous shady trees.
Sapa high up in the mountains has been so reminiscent of sun valley ,pine trees ,intense sun ,fast moving clouds and lovely cool breezes, we had ,as already mentioned our only and worst hotel on this trip here, my reviews on Trip advisor and agoda shall reflect this!
Schooling is only free through primary age and then they have to pay, in the hilly areas only 40 % attend through primary ,most have no schooling. How we in the west take this for granted, actually feel entitled to a free education.There is no free medicine,so there are many illnesses and birth defects walking around with difficulty, textbook pictures are on the streets! There is no income tax.
Hiking around and talking to other Vietnamese tourists ,which there are plenty of ,plus having some good conversations with our different tour guides Ta and Buddah have given us an interesting perspective on Vietnamese life and culture not just the propaganda that you read in the museums. The locals welcome all nations and seem to bear no grudges except for the Chinese of whom they are wary and just don't trust!
Recommendations if going to Vietnam:
The wifi has been excellent throughout the country, we did not need to buy a data chip as every hotel and restaurant had free wireless wifi, and a computer in the lobby for use.We were easily able to use Skype, viber and magic jack for all our phone calls.
Firstly the visa,it is not necessary to go to an embassy unless one is close by, you can go onto the Internet to
Vietnamvisa.org.vn
and pre book an introductory letter ( which you need to make copies of)at a 17 dollar fee per person,then on arrival (we were in Saigon which had an excellent new airport and facilities,) follow the signs for a visa and have a passport photo of yourself and 45 US dollars each, this gave us 30 days and only took 10 minutes.
One of the best sites for information about the trains is,
The trains in Vietnam have privately owned carriages that are pulled by the state run railway,so it is important to read this seat 61 website for information,
You cannot pre -book the trains online yourself ,you have to go through an agent,we used....Vietnam impressive travel and events
They were excellent, for a private sleeper carriage he sent us email vouchers which we were able to exchange at the station for actual tickets and for the state railway he sent the actual tickets to our first hotel address. Very efficient and timely indeed.
Travel light there are laundries everywhere ,back the same day and averaging 1 dollar a kilo! Plus there are plenty of clothes to buy :)
Go to Hoi an and have some clothes made.
If you go to SaPa use Vietnam nomad trails travel, the director Duong Thanh Tan was very knowledgeable , spoke English and French Vietnamnomadtrails.com
When you go to Hue use le family riders, (we took a local motor cycle tour,)
especially if you want to go by motorcycle from Hue to Hoi an, the route that was taken by Jeremy Clarkson etc in 'Topgear'
I recommend going to Saigon,Dalat,Hoi an,Hue,Hanoi and Sapa, as we did.They were all different .
Take a fold up umbrella and buy one of the cheap rain capes from any town street vendor,the rain can down pour ,but you don't want to cart a large Mac around.
The weather is hot ,so early mornings are best for exploring ,all our hotels had air conditioning so take a nap and explore in the evenings when the sun has gone down,(except in the mountains).
All the towns and cities are alive at night with many families out promenading as in Europe.
We used agoda to book our hotels and paid between 30-70 dollars a night,they were all good EXCEPT for the Grand View in Sapa, which did have a great view but not much else.
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