I'm going to Vietnam for 2 weeks on Saturday, focusing mainly on the North with 1 night in Ho Chi Mihn.
I'm not a hugely experienced traveler and the only Asian country I've been to before is Japan, which I know is completely different from most of SEA.
Any advice? Must see places? Things to watch out for?
I also lost my glasses and am wondering how easy it would be to get a replacement pair over there?
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NICE GOING FOUR-EYES LMAOOOOO
🙁
Kek, just teasing.
I'm planning a sort of inverse of your trip, 3 weeks in Vietnam with the bulk of it planned for HCMC. Doing the cu chi tunnels and a trip along the Mekong delta. Thinking about doing some kind of group excursion from HCMC to Hanoi via motorcycle but I'm still milling it over. What kind of stuff interests you?
I'm more of a nature person than a city person. Definitely going to book myself onto a tour of the Ha Giang Loop, and I'm also debating whether or not to book one of those mini cruises around the Halong Bay.
Do you know if the tunnels are doable as a day trip from HCMC? I'd love to see them but only have 20 hours there before I have to catch my connecting flight to Hanoi.
There's nothing on the $$$ Ha Long cruise you won't see by simply taking a Ha Long - cat Ba ferry for pennies. It's just more Karsts and they do get old fast anyway.
You can do the tunnels from HCMC, but it takes time. Tour groups go to the crowded Ben Dinh site, where the tunnels are in parts artificially enlarged to fit in the lardbeasts and their tourist wallets. Ben Duoc has the more genuine tunnels and can be reached via local bus (with one change, you'll have to look up the bus numbers since I don't remember them). I would not advise it however if you have a connecting flight to catch. IMO, it's either Saigon or the tunnels, and the former will be a lot easier on the stress.
Viets are notorious scammers and profiteers. Do not trust a single word that comes out of their mouths. If you come back thinking they're nice, helpful and honest people, you were taken for a ride and haven't even noticed.
Alright good to know, thanks. Looks like I'll have to give the tunnels a miss. Are there any specific scams to be mindful of?
Nothing in particular, just be wary and don't trust their advice much in general, especially if unsolicited and involving money. If they say there's no bus, 99% there is one, they just want you to pay them for a lift. If they whistle at you, jump in front of your bike and demand you park it now for VND whatever, it means there's five more touts like that down the road and a nice free official parking space right in front of whatever you're trying to reach. That sort of thing. Be assertive and cynical and you'll be fine.
On the plus side, you can just say "frick it", overpay willingly and any issues will just solve themselves as there's always someone out there looking to profit off your trouble.
>Are there any specific scams to be mindful of?
Taxis are the main scam - just always use Grab, you can even get a bike taxi that way if you want
The Ha Giang loop is probably the coolest thing I've done in my life. Definitely do that. Make sure to go to up to the China Border, and go down to Du Gia.
I've booked a 4 day tour for just under £200. Not sure what the exact itinerary is.
::(
>how easy it would be to get a replacement pair over there
Fairly easy, just accept there is always language difficulties.
Things to watch out for?
Getting a mototaxi late at night, mate had a lady take him a complete different direction and tried to give him an handjob on the bike, refused to drive him home until he paid.
We were only about 1km from the hostel when he left.
Jesus, is it best to stick to certain apps to order taxis then? I heard grab is the most popular one is SEA, is that right?
I just did Vietnam for a month with my wife. Halong bay was nice for the view of the rocks but you get on the boat late like 1 to 2pm and the suns gone by 5 to 6 pm so you can't see frick all at night anyway
Did you do a multi night cruise or a boat tour?
I did one of the most expensive luxury ones it's a french name. I wouldn't do the one night cruise again it's just so rushed and not worth it.
>Locations
North of hanoi, ha giang loop, it is a must for experienced motorbike riders, not sure how good it would be for someone who doesn't ride though.
Ha long bay is nice and while I didn't get a cruise, they look nice. I caught a ferry to cat ba and that gave me a decent view anyway. Speaking of cat ba, that's a nice place with a nice ferry ride over, only need 2 nights there if you want to go.
Just south of hanoi is ninh binh and tam coc. You say you're a nature person, go to tam coc, the mountain formations are incredible. Only a 1hr bus ride from hanoi with plenty of accommodation.
Outside of the north, I recommend hue for a relaxed city, phong nha ke bang is the most famous national park with huge caves. Hoi an is a tourist trap but it's still worth visiting. I thought da nang was boring.
>Accommodation
If we had a list of countries by number of hostels, vietnam would be pretty high up, so if you like shared accommodation like me it's good. Otherwise, there are a lot of cheap private rooms anyway if you prefer.
>Transport
Vietnam has a great network of buses. For longer distance trips, overnight buses save you money and time.
Grab is the uber of SEA. Just take a backpack so you can ride on the back of a motorbike.
>Other tips
Familarise yourself with how much things cost ASAP. Go into a convenience store as soon as you get there and note how much you should expect to pay for water, beer, cigarettes if you smoke, basic foods etc. This will help you avoid scams.
Don't be afraid to eat food off the street, millions of vietnamese eat from street stalls and pop-up restaurants every day and are perfectly fine. That said, if you can buy some anti-diarrheas medication, it will come in handy for the first 3 days.
How doable is all this and other shit from Hanoi as a base - like, basically every day. It looks like a minimum of 2-3 hours travel in most directions. My wife does not want to hop around on buses and transport and stay in different hotels, so I'm looking at one single hotel in Hanoi for the whole 3 weeks.
>My wife doesn't want to hop on buses and stay in different hotels.
The frick? For 3 whole weeks? High-maintenance b***h, let me guess she's taking a huge wheelie luggage bag with a kilogram of makeup in it.
It isn't hard to take your bag onto a bus, go from hanoi to tam coc for an hour and stay in a hotel there for a few nights, then get a bus to the next place. If she can't handle doing that I really don't know what to say. It would be MORE hassle to take 2 busses every day because you have to be back in Hanoi every night. You'll be spending minimum 3 hours sitting on a bus a day.
My advice is unironically reconsider your entire trip if your wife won't budge on this. It is very clear that she doesn't want to 'travel' she just wants to go and relax somewhere exotic for a couple weeks. That's ok, but hanoi is not the place to do it. She's probably picturing something more like Vanuatu or Phuket. You know, tropical paradise sipping pina coladas out of a pineapple kind of thing, Hanoi does NOT offer this. Are you in the US? Maybe look to the carribbean, bahamas or something a bit closer.
If your wife actually says 'no babe I really want to see Vietnam, I'm not just looking to sit in a resort for 2 weeks looking pretty and eating lobster every night', then you need to tell her that staying in one hotel for 3 weeks in Hanoi will get extremely boring (Hanoi isn't the most exciting city and not as massive as tokyo/nyc) and making regular day trips to other places will be shit as 3+ hours on a bus a day will become shit quick and she will be wishing she took your offer of going to Vanuatu or the bahamas.
Thanks for your response. I'm kind of forcing the trip in the first place. She WOULD rather go to one of those places but I don't want to. Is there a sweet spot location VIET that is central to a whole lot of cool shit?
>She WOULD rather go to one of those places but I don't want to. Is there a sweet spot location VIET that is central to a whole lot of cool shit?
Lol, Hanoi is the absolute worst place to stay if she would rather relax and chill. I'd say find a beach resort in the Da Nang / Hoi An area, she'll like Hoi An for the shopping and it's worth seeing, and you're close enough to visit Hue and I think there's DMZ / war history tour shit in the area if it's something you're into.
>one single hotel in Hanoi for the whole 3 weeks
Tell her we told her that it's fricking moronic.
That other Anon is spot on with his reply. You will not enjoy this. You will be miserable. Do not travel with people who have vastly different expectations for the trip. It never works out.
>Is there a sweet spot location VIET that is central to a whole lot of cool shit?
No. Longcountry is long. Probably Hanoi is the best you're gonna get if you absolutely need one base but you're still looking at multiple hours of bus rides back and forth to get anywhere.
I know people somehow stay in fricking Hoi An for weeks but I've no idea how they do it, I'd die of boredom five days in.
Screenshotted, thanks anon
To add on to other tips:
Read the reviews online, those cruises in Ha long bay seem like epic traps to me (ie: they put you on a different boat to advertised, they charge extra for basic shit), read the reviews to get the good stuff, that goes for everything in every country: accommodation, tours, transport, restaurants, everything.
Hijacking your thread for a sec to ask whether october is alright for visiting Vietnam. I would be going north to south during the first half of the month. I read it's not ideal but not the worst either, and unfortunately that's when i can get my days off
You should be fine. Monsoons are annoying but they're over quickly and rather predictable, usually hitting at almost the same hours every day. It's a heavy shower and we're done sort of thing instead of the day-ruining constant dripping in more temperate climates.
I went for a month in the tail end of October, so November mostly, but it was fine overall. North to South too. Barely had any rain whatsoever in the North and lucked out massively in the center.
Any tips on getting a happy ending in HCMC?
Frick off sexpest.
How easy is it to find weed in Hanoi? Will the police care if they catch you or will you be able to bribe them?
Just go to thailand degenerate
I'm going there after Vietnam
The cops smoked with my friends and it was the cops weed, and that was like 10 years ago.
If you do manage to piss them off enough to get in trouble it's only like a $100 fine
https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/vietnams-cannabis-laws-fine-for-recreational-use-jail-time-for-criminal-offenders
Would you guys recommend going there at the end of July/start of August? I have a two week vacation and have no clue where to go outside of Europe because it's either winter or rain season everywhere else. I don't mind if it's not hot, but I don't want to spend two weeks in the rain
>find a hotel ready for an insanely cheap price (it's an inn/apartment in kabukicho)
>ask person who's supposed to come with me with they want to come
>no response
>trying to jump on the chance to go to japan and have shit ready for next year and made the mistake of asking someone to come with me thinking they would be able to make any kind of effort to plan the trip and communicate when they want to go
>have to do all the things on my own
bros maybe i'll take the solo pill and go on my own at this point and uninvite this person. $440 for one week saves me so much money for my trip that I can relax and not pay for anything else or anything more.
oops wrong thread kek my bad all these asian threads rook the same
What shoes do you guys wear to VN? I'm thinking of buying Teva's and wearing those for a month but i wanna keep it SighSee
Also socks for the times I want to wear sneakers, i hear it gets humid there so are there any good socks recommendations?