We loved Cambodia. We loved it so much that whichever country came next on our trip was going to struggle to follow it. We liked Vietnam. It is possible if we’d visited the countries the other way around we would have loved it also but I’m not sure.
There were some things in Vietnam we really loved though – our top recommendations (in no particular order):
- the caving experience in Phong Nha. This in the top 5 things we’ve done EVER;
- the street food – everywhere we could try it;
- the lanterns and colours of beautiful Hoi An;
- the tranquility of Ha Long Bay; and
- being on 2 wheels (both motorised and not) – we loved the long cycle to My Son, the XO Tours scooter ride in Saigon, the views on the back of an easy rider in Da Lat, even the short transfer with all of our luggage in Phong Nha.
We were less impressed with the over development of some areas (Phu Quoc a prime example) and the lack of care for the environment (don’t burn plastic and don’t just throw your rubbish on the ground ARGH). We found the people friendly but not as warm as in Cambodia and saw some instances (at at distance) of violence.
Daz’s Hot Tips: Vietnam
- Book trains early! Especially around Tet (Vietnamese New Year) but keep checking even if there are no seats showing as seats are released closesly to the date of travel. Book using BauLau which lets you use international cards but uses the local official Vietnamese Rail site where you can see seat by seat and car by car availability;
- by night a 4 berth cabin seems to have only 4 (+children) passengers but by day the numbering of the seats seems to change and these become 6 (fitting maybe 8);
- the trains will be late! Do not rely on being at your destination on time. Allow 4+ buffer hours for overnight trains; and
- study the available ATMs near you to avoid fees. Many charge $5+ and only allow you to withdraw $100 to $200. I found that AgriBank was free of charges in most places.
Daz’s Beerometer: 20,000 VND / $0.85.
(Note: we have updated our trip dates based on our current plan, see the link from the homepage for details)
