Highs and Lows from Vietnam

Vietnam Highs

– New Friends – I’ve clearly been going on about this for a while, but meeting up with Jemma and Leanne made all the difference for my Vietnam leg of the trip. As a solo traveler, it was nice to find a temporary group so there were the same people around for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I didn’t have to consistently answer the “Where are you from?” and “Where have you been so far?” questions that are so prevalent among backpackers. I hope to visit both of them soon now that we are all back home.

What happens in Vietnam…

– Scenery – From forest covered mountains, to lazy rivers floating past small villages, to soaring limestone islands, to gorgeous sandy beaches, there was always something amazing to look at, even if it was just out the window of a bus.

Halong Bay

– Food – Everything we ate in Vietnam was amazing. I am particularly partial to spring rolls and the Hoi An white rose dumplings, and traveling with three people meant that we could always split these as an appetizer without the meals getting too expensive. Pho was always a good, cheap dinner (although sometimes the meat products contained in the soup were questionable), and who can forget our amazing street food extravaganza?

– Hoi An – One of the top towns I visited on my trip. Between the beaches, custom tailors, cooking classes, manicures, and the quaint old town full of shops and restaurants, it was the perfect site for a restful few days.

Vietnam Lows

– Tour Packages – I went on a slight rant about this in my Halong Bay post, but when I sign up on a tour for a particular sight, I don’t want to go to 10 miscellaneous shops along the way. I get this is a way for people to try and supplement their very meager income, but no one ever buys anything and it really is just a waste of everyone’s time and makes all the tourists overly frustrated.

– Feeling Taken Advantage Of for Two Weeks Straight – Don’t get me wrong, I met some kind and helpful people in Vietnam, and one that stands out is the woman who ran our hostel in Saigon. She put up with us extending our stays multiple times, booking tours last minute, getting locked out after “curfew”, etc., and always greeted us with a big smile and went out of her way to help. However, she and others like her were the exception. The amount of times we got ripped off is more than I can count. Some notable instances include: watching the cab meter jump $5 at a time and having the driver tell us to get out if we didn’t like it, getting screamed at by police for not letting a conductor help us find our train car only to have the so-called “conductor” demand $20 for this service and finally having cab drivers tell us our hotel was in the completely wrong direction just to get a fare. At least that last miserable experience helped me bond with my new friends.

– Pollution / Litter – Although Vietnam has some amazing scenery, there don’t seem to be any regulations to keep it all clean. Halong Bay was a prime example, and will be ruined for tourism in the next few decades if nothing is done to clean it up. Hopefully this beautiful country will realize that some outlay is necessary to maintain the scenery that is attracting all the tourists and their money.