Vietnam: General Tips
Earlier this year, my friend and I set off on a 5-country trip across Asia, desperate for some adventure and an official break from college life before entering the world of PTO and having to request time off. One of the countries we visited was Vietnam and, given that I hadn’t known anyone who’d been there before, I was a bit surprised to discover it was one of my favorite destinations.
Now that I’ve been, I’ve seen, I’ve eaten, and I’ve fallen in love, it’s high time for me to share the joy with others. So, I’ve compiled a few tips and general notes that hopefully might help you out a bit in your planning, or perhaps just for a bit of inspiration :) Happy travels!
Explore multiple cities: Although Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) might be the more well-known destinations in Vietnam, I encourage you to venture outside of just this city. We went to both Hanoi and HCMC and I personally preferred the more laid-back energy of Hanoi. If your schedule allows, I’d seriously consider visiting cities across the entire country. Not only are the natural landscapes and overall vibes vastly different from North to South, but the food also presents slight variations which are really interesting to explore. As for the order, I’d decide based on the cities’ weather as the temperatures can actually vary quite drastically throughout.
Take walks, weather permitting: One thing I found I really enjoyed was actually just walking through the bustling downtown streets of Hanoi and admiring the liveliness tucked around every corner (Unfortunately, the heat of HCMC made this slightly more difficult). Additionally, as a result of French colonialism, many of the buildings still exhibit a distinctly French style of architecture which offers a fascinating juxtaposition with the obvious Vietnamese-ness of… well… everything else- especially in areas like the Old Quarter in Hanoi.
Crossing the Streets: Having said that though, walking the streets of Vietnam is not always the most relaxing. Yes, it’s the best way to see the most and get the most from your experience, but the motorcycle/scooter culture as well as a lack of stringent traffic regulation can lead to some close encounters. The biggest issue for us was crossing the smaller streets where there are actually just no traffic signals to be found at all. Just remember, there is power in numbers- link arms with your travel partners and take that step the second you see any semblance of a gap between vehicles. Don’t worry, they will go around you because they, like you, want to avoid accidents too. If you find yourself alone, try to hustle up behind a local or a fellow tourist as they brave the streets with you. Stay safe out there babes.
General Safety: Before we left for our big trip, Vietnam was the country our family had the most concerns about, and I don’t blame them given everything the internet and news cycle so often tells us. Thus, we made sure to stay extra vigilant keeping our bags close and our phones clutched. However, I feel it’s my duty to inform the readers that I personally did not feel unsafe at any point during our entire trip. In addition, we made it out unscathed with all our belongings intact. That’s not to say that other travelers don’t have their own horror stories, and obviously you should practice vigilance and caution just like with all travel. But I just want to advise against letting a few scary rumors deter you from visiting this beautiful country.
Café culture: As a chronically avid café hopper, this was actually one of the country’s coolest surprises for me. We had heard of Vietnamese coffee and egg coffee before, so we expected to spot a few cafés on the trip, but I had no idea just how deeply entrenched café culture is in Vietnam. Some of the greatest cafés I’ve ever been to are hidden up two flights of stairs, tucked in the alleyways of Ho Chi Minh City. Across our entire trip through Asia, I also fell most deeply in love with Vietnamese food & drink — so much so that I wrote another post wholly dedicated to it. So, if your travel itineraries mostly just revolve around your meal/snack times like they do for me, you should give it a glance.
LIMES: You guys, these limes… I am a whore for citrus, so suffice it to say that if I am given a lime, I will be drenching all food with said juices. But I swear these Vietnamese calamansi limes are laced with illicit substances. Yeah, there’s really not much else to say for this bullet point besides that I loved the limes.
Now for some city-specific notes…
Hanoi
Ha Long Bay day trip: If you do end up visiting Hanoi, a Ha Long Bay Day Trip is a must do!! For a mere $40 per person, you can find a very relaxing, clean, well-organized day trip that takes you right from your hotel lobby to the beautiful islands of Ha Long Bay, and finally right back to your hotel all in one day. Not to mention the one we chose even included a meal, snacks, and a highly experienced tour guide. The stunning views are truly worth it.
Train Street: I was a bit lost when we arrived at train street, not sure why everything was blocked off with gates and barricades. Then, I learned we had to actually take a leap of faith and indulge the local man we initially tried to ignore, who was diligently urging us to follow him to his café. Turns out, at least at the intersection we were at, you have to get a local to take you through private residential alleyways in order to get a seat at a café along the railroad (we literally walked through open rooms of children taking naps and families going about their daily lives). Again, stay vigilant, but just know it actually is relatively more acceptable to follow the strange man to his home when it comes to train street.
Ho Chi Minh City
Stay educated: This might seem like a no-brainer, but one of my biggest regrets from our trip was not factoring in museums/experiences such as the prisons and Cu Chi tunnels into our itinerary. Unfortunately, I thought I wouldn’t be as interested in the history and could skip out given our tight schedule, but now that I’ve realized my mistake, it’s too late. If you sometimes find yourself grimacing at the thought of going to a museum, I encourage you to allow yourself to be curious about history during your travels. There is so much value in gaining a deeper understanding of a country’s past- right at the source, no less.
Stay cool: For most of the year, HCMC will be extremely hot. Bring water, return to your accommodation after lunch for a nap, or find literally any café to spend a couple hours in to cool down (because they’re all amazing). Again, I reiterate- INDULGE IN THE GLORIOUS CAFÉ SCENE. The have delicious drinks and, more importantly, AC!
