A few people have asked me what it is like to be traveling in Vietnam on my own. So here’s a travel guide based on my experience. I have a few days left with one more stop to make. I have essentially covered the country from the north to the south. I’m in Saigon and I am going south by another few hundred miles before crossing the border into Cambodia.
I read and watched a lot of travel reviews on Vietnam and most of them began with the line, “be prepared for an assault on your senses.” This is an understatement for anyone traveling from most parts of the United States.
As I sit here reflecting on the last three weeks I think I can sum up a typical day in most of Vietnam’s major cities as a case of - you can do anything you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Beginning with the traffic and extending to most other areas of life that seems to be the case. There is a routine that begins everyday at sunrise and carries through the day. It is all about making it through the day. Everyone seems to be in a hurry but no one is in a rush. Things get done very efficiently once a decision has been made to do something. In between, there is a lot of waiting and watching the world go by.
Your experience depends mostly on what you are seeking. I have focused on visiting the country’s major cities and avoiding tourist sites unless it somehow helped me to see part of the country I would have trouble seeing on my own. I am staying in inexpensive hotels and hostels. I have never stayed in a hostel before this trip, and except for one place that did not meet my expectations on minimum standards and honest advertising about location, all my stays were good.
I am living out of a backpack. I have not rented a car or even a scooter to get around town. I walk, use a bike, or hail a ride in a cab or on a scooter. Vietnam has at least two Uber-like services - called Grab and Go Viet - that employ both cars and scooters. I have not used either, but lots of people do. I found it just as easy to accept and negotiate a scooter ride with freelancers. I have taken two internal flights and two bus trips.
It is possible to come to Vietnam, stay in a very nice hotel near the beach and never expose yourself to the grittier parts of life here, but that was not my purpose. I wanted to see how people live and what the country looks like. I do not want to go to the beach. In Da Nang, I drove past the beach. It’s nice.
Before I get into some detail about assaults on the senses, here’s my general itinerary:
Hanoi > Sa Pa > Hoi An > Hue > Da Nang > Saigon(Ho Chi Minh City) > Can Tho.
Hoi An was an important stop because it allowed me to visit Da Nang and Hue on the central coast. Can Tho is more rural and one reason I chose it is it’s relationship to the Mekong Delta. I decided to end my trip through Vietnam in Can Tho because it is close to the Cambodian border and would allow me to take a boat for part of the journey to Phnom Penh, but at the last minute I switched to a land route for scheduling reasons.
For me the Vietnam experience has been incredibly consistent. People live much the same way no matter where you are - it’s just a matter of degree of intensity. Hanoi and Saigon are the most intense. Similar to what you might experience in parts of New York City if you gave everyone a motor scooter to get around.
I think the first thing westerners will notice is the air pollution. Even in the rural northwest of the country many of the locals wear surgical masks all day to protect themselves from the foul air. For the better part of the month I have been here the skies have been hazy with smog every day. It only gets better when it rains and then only for a brief period of time. This means when you walk the streets you don’t primarily smell food coming from restaurants and street stalls, you smell exhaust fumes - and until you get used to it - it smells a lot like a forest fire. I hate to think what it is doing to the long-term health of the people.
Above: City skyline Da Nang and the Dragon Bridge, the longest in Vietnam.
Hotels, restaurants and other indoor public spaces are clean, but outside the streets do not meet the cleanliness standards you associate with places like the United States and Europe. You will smell trash and sewage. Public servants sweep the streets by hand, but it is an almost pointless losing battle. Street sweeper must be the most frustrating job in Vietnam. This can be a problem for some people since so much food is made and consumed on the streets.
The money is difficult to get used to. The Vietnamese dong is worth a fraction of a U.S. dollar. For instance, I spent the equivalent of $250 USD for a hotel in Hoi An for five nights, but paying in local currency the bill was over five million dong. That included some tours and other services the hotel arranged for me. Even though you know in your brain that five million dong is not five million dollars, it can be unsettling to get a bill with such high numbers attached to it. You have to get used to the idea.
You can get cash from ATM’s - usually with a fee attached. You can exchange money for a fee. And you can use a credit card, usually with a local fee attached. So it’s probably best to limit the use of ATM’s and exchange U.S. dollars at what ends up being a lower rate. I have been living on about $150 - $200 a week. My rooms have been $10 or less a night. Meals - except at nice restaurants - are often less than the equivalent of one dollar. It’s kind of crazy and I don’t know how anyone makes a living at these prices, because I don’t see lots of sales being made.
On the other hand, one morning I decided to have a banh mi sandwich for breakfast from a stand across the street from my alley located hostel. I was worried the elderly woman making the sandwiches would not have change for a 200 dong note, but when I gave her the bill she whipped out a roll of cash as big as her fist.
I tried to eat where locals eat. I looked for places with Vietnamese customers. If you are worried about food borne diseases, it’s best to always eat hot food. Most people here do even though temperatures are in the 80s and 90s most of the time. I drank bottled water,* soda and coffee. No tap water. Vietnamese coffee is very good. Very strong. Sweet if made with condensed milk. But it’s usually served in small cups like cappuccino. If you are searching for something more American, Highlands Coffee is a Vietnamese chain begun by a Vietnamese American and is similar to Starbucks. You can get a 16oz. cup of coffee and not feel shorted on the open ended caffeine scale.
At home, I exercise every day. That was a problem for me in Vietnam. Because of the air pollution, small interior spaces at my hotels, and personal security concerns in public parks,** I was only able to exercise about once a week. A few times I was able to find space in my hotels, but other than that - I found it difficult to find a place clean enough or big enough to move around in. I figure all the walking I did in high temperatures allowed me to break even on the exercise front. I also feel I was eating less than I do at home.
No matter the size of the town or the city there is always someone selling something. Many homes double as small retail stores or family restaurants. On the streets of larger cities street vendors can be somewhat aggressive, but will usually leave you alone if you say “no” with conviction. Walk with purpose as if you know where you are going even if you don’t. If you are lost, duck into a store or coffee shop and figure out your route. Another way to avoid street vendors is avoid eye contact. Eye contact gives peddlers a reason to engage. It’s a sign you are open.
I learned a trick from another traveler. Use a map application on your phone that has audio directions. Map your route, put in your ear buds and walk around town with confidence looking as if you are listening to music. In fact, a guide is telling you where to turn left and right.
Traffic rules are not adhered to generally speaking. If you wait politely for your chance to cross the street you will never get to the other side. Pick your moment and go. Do not stop. Everyone will go around you. This is how the system works. Mutually assured destruction. In close to a month I only saw one traffic accident.
You will see: People riding scooters on sidewalks, three to four people on one scooter (including small children), scooters carrying loads better suited for pick up trucks, scooter driving while using a cell phone to do personal banking, video chats, etc., and scooter riders making their own lanes and driving against the flow of traffic if it works in that particular moment. There is only one way to cope with the chaos and that is to accept it as normal.
People are friendly. I always felt safe, but never let my guard down. I felt largely ignored in a good way. In other words, no one saw me as an easy target for crime. I saw few signs of crime and I saw few police officers on patrol - on foot or in cars.
It strikes me that family is very important in Vietnam. Several people I interacted with were visibly sad and concerned that I was traveling alone and that I don't have a family of my own back home One young man (in his early 20s) almost began crying when I told him I was divorced. I tried to explain that these things sometimes happen in life, but he was beside himself. I could not console him. Another old woman told me she hopes I can come back someday with a family although I think it was because she wanted to grow her customer base.
In terms of what is called “the American war” in Vietnam, it was never an issue. A few non-Vietnamese asked me how difficult it was for me to travel here as an American, but it honestly never came up. Most of the Vietnamese I introduced myself to were excited to meet an American and one even said, "We love America."
The war was against our government not the people of the United States. Many if not most Vietnamese believe that most Americans opposed the war. When the war was mentioned on tours I took, the guides just looked at me and shrugged - as if it was all a big misunderstanding and Vietnam as a country has moved on.
I’m in my late 50s so some Vietnamese mistakenly thought I was in the war myself. I missed the draft by about ten years. Still, at one location, an elderly man from Vietnam, who may have been in the war himself, asked to take his picture with me. I didn’t realize why until after it happened, but it is the only explanation. He thought I was either once a comrade or the enemy.
At the War Remnants Museum in Saigon, a place that does feel somewhat anti-American, you will see young Vietnamese people slowly walking through and taking the information in as if for the first time. They had not been born during the war and must rely on the memory of others and official history.
In summary, if you are the kind of person who likes visiting the big cities of the world then I would recommend Hanoi and Saigon. If you prefer resorts - while I didn’t stay in any - I’m sure the experience would be positive if you choose wisely.
In the city and in the countryside in particular, be prepared to endure some guilt. While Vietnam’s economy is emerging, it is still a very poor country and the disparity between the money in your wallet on any given day and how most of Vietnam lives can be disheartening. Perhaps it is a good idea to see it now, before it all turns into an overdeveloped version of places you already know.
*Style Point: If you are going to make an effort to never drink tap water while in Vietnam, or use ice in your drinks, don't be a jerk about it and tell your Vietnamese host "I can't drink the water here [because it's so bad]." Just ask for a soda with no ice. Or a bottle of water - as if that's what you prefer.
**I was not concerned about my personal safety, I was concerned about the safety of personal items like my phone and wallet while I was focused on other things.
Credits:
© Dean Pagani 2019