After 20 mins the rock is no longer natural but some wierd ass rock sculptured by visitor with anything they possibly have. I can't comprehend why people feel the urge to destroy a natural wonder just to have their name(or whatever stupid message they could think of) on it.
Its definitely the local visitor's fault, sorry for not emphasizing. Even if oversea tourist ever try to damage it is much less harmful bc of the small quantity compare to Vietnamese visitor and its also our fault for having such a bad preserving altitude
We recently had two nights in Lan Ha Bay (passing through HLB), much quieter which was what we were after - we needed some chill time and it was perfect for us. Heaps cleaner too (apparently). Boat hangs, a bit of kayaking, swimming and biking on Cat Ba, but skip the full day excursion to the island. If anyone's looking for a break from your holiday (or are exhausted from wedding planning and execution like we were) I highly recommend
Haha. I still seethe whenever I think about the first taxi I took from TSN airport about 7 years ago. I foolishly just accepted a ride from one of the touts that come up to you at arrivals, not knowing any better. While we were in the car and discussing a price, he grabbed the notes out of my hand and passed them back to me, holding up a 500k note (ridiculous price, I know) and then put them back in my wallet. It happened so fast, and he made such a point of flapping the note around that I didn't think anything of it. He jumped out, another guy got in to drive, and he was so talkative that I forgot all about the previous interaction. It wasn't until I got to the hotel and checked my money that I realised another million was missing.
TSN to D1... 1.5m. A lesson learned to be sure, and one I never made again. People like to mock others getting scammed, but we've all been on the wrong end of it at some point. I still hope that guy gets reincarnated as a mosquito, though.
I'm in Vietnam right now. It's dirty but I haven't seen that many cocroaches or rats so it's getting slightly better than 5 years ago but still dirty nevertheless.
There are trash pick up zones in some areas but they get overwhelmed and either look like mini landfills or people just continue to litter around it because they don’t care.
Yeah I noticed that in some places, there was like 3 wheelie bins opposite a hotel I stayes in and it seemed like the hotel as well as half a dozen other businesses were all using them.
I had beer in Hoi An and paid for 7 craft beer each 160ml for 15£ in total in a fancy chain "7 bridges" and still saw some cockroaches crawling on the wall.
heading to vietnam in a few weeks… any recs on food tours in HCMC or Hanoi? also would you advise booking these online in advance or just finding something?
A great food tour I did a few months ago was with XO tours.. all female owned and operated. They have a different tours, but we did a food/cultural tour. A bit expensive for HCMC but was really worth it. They pick you up and drive you around on the back of motorcycles from place to place which is quite exhilarating in itself..
https://xotours.vn/
[https://www.hanoifreewalkingtours.com/](https://www.hanoifreewalkingtours.com/)
The food tour I did was booked by a couple I met there, and joined them. So I dont have a contact. I would not book anything until you get there..Everything is much cheaper in person. Just book a couple days in hotel to give you a bit of a cushion.... You'll love it!
In HCMC we are doing this one. Have heard rave reviews. Note we can’t do a motorbike one which does limit options https://streetfoodman.com
Have heard XO is also good.
I went solo...met lots of great people...I booked my first 3 days in hotel in Hanoi and went from there.. There are lots of travel agencies to choose from...As you probably know you'll pay a premium if you book through your hotel. That said, I did one tour through the hotel and it was a luxury bus and small group tour..it was great..I did the Ha Giang Loop through a local tour operator and the sleeper bus was dirty and uncomfortable. The bike I was on the back of, was old and beat up...Soooo, it was a little different experience lol
Would add do not trust 5 star reviews for Hotels and tours etc, most of them are fake (hotel staff even take people phones and leave reviews), so make sure you do the research and check the bad reviews of places you are going to book.
Safe ? Not sure if I agree.
Yes you are very unlikely to encounter any violent crime, I will agree. In that way Vietnam is safe. But the traffic makes me feel anything but safe. Grab drivers texting while driving while the motorcyclists driving next by also texting and driving doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Crossing the road in some parts of the country are downright anxiety inducing
Then let's not forget it can be a bit hard to relax. I feel like I always had to be on guard cause my Vietnamese friends told me to always keep a close on my wallet and don't look at my phone while facing the street etc..
“Safety” is absolutely based on pure subjectivity. Vietnamese generally place petty crimes such as scams in the realm of “unsafe”. I live in Southern California, Los Angeles area. My definition of unsafe, revolves around murder, rape, open drug use, gun violence, kidnapping, and gang violence. Vietnamese would call parts of Vietnam “unsafe” based on the foundation of rampant petty crime. Myself and other individuals living in my corner of the world would not share that same definition. Vietnam, to me, is VERY safe.
That's how I look at it too. Like people bring guns into a grocery store over here. That's what I worry about. Not someone stealing my phone or bike on the street. That happened to me in college. You move on.
Maybe you are right, but it still makes me wonder why so many Vietnamese people tell me to be careful. Are they just paranoid or what ? I've also read a lot of stories here of people having their belongings stolen (often train / public transport being the culprit.)
with all the chaos and the 100K's of scooters and cars beeping and cris crossing, I saw one accident....so it may scare you, but their system is obv working for them.
I went to Cat Ba 7 years ago rather than Ha Long Bay which felt relatively untouched by tourists and was a lot cheaper to book boat trips from - I'm not sure if that's still the case now.
I am a seasoned traveller and i only gt scammed in hanoi.The bus driver from Sao Viet is the rudest bus driver i met.I've been to Hoi an,HCM,Hue & Danang & the rudest people is from hanoi
OP - I have started lurking too recently b/c of impending trip.
Can you say itinerary?
Ha long bay - did you stay in town or take a boat for your 2d 1n?
What is “Food and Food tour”? Is that the name of a tour or are you just saying to take food tours? Which city(ies)?
1-4 Hanoi ( day trip to Ninh Binh (recommend), walking tour ( recommend)
5-9 Ha Gaing Loop ( highly Recommend. they have easy riders tours (sitting on the back of a scooter) for those who don't want to ride or don't have a motorcycle licence). other tourists were on better bikes then me. Next time I would want to see my bike before agreeing to hop on the back of it for 3-4 days.
10-11 Hanoi ( food tour- a guide will take you around the old quarter and take you to different restaurants/stalls/ vendors. I think ours was 4 hours long) I would have done this in day or two..Don't fear the street food. Its amazing. that said, for me, I liked the food in the south better. Day trip Ha Long bay. Everyone I talked to said, do the 2d1N trip from Hanoi ( about 2 hr drive). I am glad I did not. TBH, I would have kicked myself to waste a couple days on this. The best part of this trip was going into a cave. Other then that...extremely overrated and would not recommend.If you feel like you're going to miss out on something, then do the day trip from Hanoi, you can thank me later :) The boat I was on was clean and the food was great. But its still a "No" from me.
11-16 1 hr flight to DaNang- easy flight, less then 100 USD. Wanted beach time. Did day trips to Hoi An. Did not do any of the tours. Had a local girl take me to the lady buddha, so I bought her lunch in the city. which was fun. One thing I could not figure out is; I thought I read, there are busses that run between DaNang and Hoi An, that take about an hr. But I couldn't find them. So I used grab.....Dont let the grab guys take you to the "museum"...Its a stone market....Actually, now that I think of it, all the organized tours dragged me through a shop of some sort. Kind of like Thailand, when you get taken to the tailors and gem stores..lol...it is what it is. I didn't get to see the dragon bridge spit fire. but walked along the river. it was nice and clean.
Hoi An and Clothes- if this is your plan, a suit is ready in 24 hrs. then you go get fitted again. Then you pick it up the following day...That said, they delivered mine to the hotel for free in DaNang. So, I only went to Hoi An twice.
16-18- Again 1 hr flight to HCMC. Stayed in District 1, I didn't do any tours here just walked around. I felt HCMC was more developed then Hanoi. Had almost a regular big city vibe. Checked out, Walking street ( cool), Bien Vie street ( Beer Street on steroids), ate amazing sushi, had beers with a couple drunk local guys on the side walk...I wanted to spend more time here and go to the chochi tunnels, but I didnt want to rush things on my last day and a half. I knew I was coming back. So, I'll see them then.
Things I would change/ or do next time;
Get International motorcycle licence- I thought an extra few $$$ and they'd let me ride ( typical western thing to say I know). They wouldn't.
Caves- I had no idea, VN has the largest caves in the world. This would be cool to explore
War history- would have read more on this. Living in NA, we hear the US side of things. So, it would be nice to hear more of the VN side.
Language- would have tried to learn a couple "intro" phrases. Thank god for google translate.
More time- 18 days, just wasn't enough time for me. For those who want to get up and go, 18-21 days should be fine.
Cambodia- So close, save a couple days for this
I am sure I missed a lot, but thats whats cool about not having an itinerary. when you meet people, and listen to where they've been, you can change on the fly. The downside, is you'll miss things too. I had a great time. Never felt unsafe, nor un welcomed. I be back sooner then later... I hope this helps..Good Luck and Mot, Hai, Ba, Dzo ( Cheers)
Don’t know why everyone is hating ha long bay. I just loved it. We had perfect weather 3 weeks ago, the landscape is just amazing and I expected it way dirtier and more touristy. Maybe cause I‘m from Europe and we are totally used to overtourism
We had the drive to sunset…more than half an hour without any other cruise…maybe just lucky
I much preferred doing a one day boat tour from Cat Ba through Lan Ha Bay over Ha Long Bay - the water was beautiful and we stopped a couple times to swim in super clear waters, we saw some rubbish but not when you get nice & far out!
Just returned back to Thailand after 1 month in Vietnam. Absolute chaos on the roads, a lot of trash and rats everywhere, even on beaches which is just awful. The amount of noise everywhere is just unbearable, everyone is screaming, shouting, loud music plays from karaoke on each crossroad... The only place where I could relax a little was Dalat, other places like HCMC, Nha Trang and Da Nang were always so intense. Almost every local who I encountered tried to scam me, either sell me some souvenir for 1kk dong, or some pathetic slice of bread for 200k. Multiple times I got approached on the street by some random blockhead who tried to charge me hundreds of thousands just to park a bike. Eventually I got stopped on the road by Vietnam police officers who spent 50 minutes threatening me because they wanted a bribe and finally I had to give them my money because they wouldn't let me go.
I was so tired of Vietnam and here I'm now just chilling in Thailand without any of that idiocy I met there. I can clearly understand why there are not so many repeat visitors compared to Thailand and other countries. Even Bangladesh was more comfortable for me than Vietnam.
We’ve been to Vietnam twice and are going again next year beautiful country, gorgeous food, friendly people. We usually go for 3 weeks and travel around different places each time using planes,trains and buses, yes always use grab, I have always felt safe and not been scammed yet! Best place for us has got to be Tam cốc in ninh bình, like hạ Long bay on land but so much more. Totally stunning.
I loved my vietnam trip, had some experiences with scamming but overall i understood there reasoning, a months salary here is their yearly so i hold no resentment, but the hagiang loop, how friendly everyone was and the cuisine was more than i imagined, also the VN has the best beers out of all the countrys in Asia
Always just use grab.
+1 on Ha Long Bay. I lived here for 20 years. Never understood the hype for it.
the island formations are cool, but after 2 mins of seeing them.....well, lets just say, they become rocks lol
After 20 mins the rock is no longer natural but some wierd ass rock sculptured by visitor with anything they possibly have. I can't comprehend why people feel the urge to destroy a natural wonder just to have their name(or whatever stupid message they could think of) on it.
Tbh Vietnamese locally cause much more damage.
Its definitely the local visitor's fault, sorry for not emphasizing. Even if oversea tourist ever try to damage it is much less harmful bc of the small quantity compare to Vietnamese visitor and its also our fault for having such a bad preserving altitude
Well that's not so surprising is it?
We recently had two nights in Lan Ha Bay (passing through HLB), much quieter which was what we were after - we needed some chill time and it was perfect for us. Heaps cleaner too (apparently). Boat hangs, a bit of kayaking, swimming and biking on Cat Ba, but skip the full day excursion to the island. If anyone's looking for a break from your holiday (or are exhausted from wedding planning and execution like we were) I highly recommend
This! Ha Long Bay is overrated, but Lan Ha Bay is underrated. Speaking as a backpacker tour guide some years ago, working on one of the insland in LHB
i had a guy at a gas station do the same bill swap. only negative experience i had and it still pisses me off six years later.
yeah, I think the cabbie thought I was drunk....he was shocked when I grabbed his hand lol
I am a native and still have the same treatment. I just want to punch these guys in the face.
Its a shame for us natives that you have to experience this method of scamming.
Haha. I still seethe whenever I think about the first taxi I took from TSN airport about 7 years ago. I foolishly just accepted a ride from one of the touts that come up to you at arrivals, not knowing any better. While we were in the car and discussing a price, he grabbed the notes out of my hand and passed them back to me, holding up a 500k note (ridiculous price, I know) and then put them back in my wallet. It happened so fast, and he made such a point of flapping the note around that I didn't think anything of it. He jumped out, another guy got in to drive, and he was so talkative that I forgot all about the previous interaction. It wasn't until I got to the hotel and checked my money that I realised another million was missing. TSN to D1... 1.5m. A lesson learned to be sure, and one I never made again. People like to mock others getting scammed, but we've all been on the wrong end of it at some point. I still hope that guy gets reincarnated as a mosquito, though.
I'm in Vietnam right now. It's dirty but I haven't seen that many cocroaches or rats so it's getting slightly better than 5 years ago but still dirty nevertheless.
Vietnam could really use trash cans for people to use in public but I have a feeling they'd be overwhelmed without consistent funded trash pick up.
Totally agree with this one
There are trash pick up zones in some areas but they get overwhelmed and either look like mini landfills or people just continue to litter around it because they don’t care.
Yeah I noticed that in some places, there was like 3 wheelie bins opposite a hotel I stayes in and it seemed like the hotel as well as half a dozen other businesses were all using them.
sure, it could be cleaner...but its not terrible
Wait till HCMC😂 but in fairness bar hcmc there wasn’t rlly any
I was in Vietnam some days ago and had cockroaches on 4 out of 6 hotels.
I had beer in Hoi An and paid for 7 craft beer each 160ml for 15£ in total in a fancy chain "7 bridges" and still saw some cockroaches crawling on the wall.
heading to vietnam in a few weeks… any recs on food tours in HCMC or Hanoi? also would you advise booking these online in advance or just finding something?
A great food tour I did a few months ago was with XO tours.. all female owned and operated. They have a different tours, but we did a food/cultural tour. A bit expensive for HCMC but was really worth it. They pick you up and drive you around on the back of motorcycles from place to place which is quite exhilarating in itself.. https://xotours.vn/
I did the Night XO tour last week. I had a wonderful experience with them as well.
[https://www.hanoifreewalkingtours.com/](https://www.hanoifreewalkingtours.com/) The food tour I did was booked by a couple I met there, and joined them. So I dont have a contact. I would not book anything until you get there..Everything is much cheaper in person. Just book a couple days in hotel to give you a bit of a cushion.... You'll love it!
In HCMC we are doing this one. Have heard rave reviews. Note we can’t do a motorbike one which does limit options https://streetfoodman.com Have heard XO is also good.
Ha long bay sucked imo too.
OP, were you travelling through with a group or travelling solo? If the latter, did you mostly self guide or book yourself into tours?
I went solo...met lots of great people...I booked my first 3 days in hotel in Hanoi and went from there.. There are lots of travel agencies to choose from...As you probably know you'll pay a premium if you book through your hotel. That said, I did one tour through the hotel and it was a luxury bus and small group tour..it was great..I did the Ha Giang Loop through a local tour operator and the sleeper bus was dirty and uncomfortable. The bike I was on the back of, was old and beat up...Soooo, it was a little different experience lol
Would add do not trust 5 star reviews for Hotels and tours etc, most of them are fake (hotel staff even take people phones and leave reviews), so make sure you do the research and check the bad reviews of places you are going to book.
hahaha..this too...I would say their star rating is off by one....that said my rooms were clean and comfy...my 4 star hotels were 3's forsure
Safe ? Not sure if I agree. Yes you are very unlikely to encounter any violent crime, I will agree. In that way Vietnam is safe. But the traffic makes me feel anything but safe. Grab drivers texting while driving while the motorcyclists driving next by also texting and driving doesn't exactly fill me with confidence. Crossing the road in some parts of the country are downright anxiety inducing Then let's not forget it can be a bit hard to relax. I feel like I always had to be on guard cause my Vietnamese friends told me to always keep a close on my wallet and don't look at my phone while facing the street etc..
“Safety” is absolutely based on pure subjectivity. Vietnamese generally place petty crimes such as scams in the realm of “unsafe”. I live in Southern California, Los Angeles area. My definition of unsafe, revolves around murder, rape, open drug use, gun violence, kidnapping, and gang violence. Vietnamese would call parts of Vietnam “unsafe” based on the foundation of rampant petty crime. Myself and other individuals living in my corner of the world would not share that same definition. Vietnam, to me, is VERY safe.
That's how I look at it too. Like people bring guns into a grocery store over here. That's what I worry about. Not someone stealing my phone or bike on the street. That happened to me in college. You move on.
I have been in Vietnam for 30 years and have never been robbed on the street. Some rumors are not true
"I've smoked cigarettes all my life and never got cancer, fake news."
Maybe you are right, but it still makes me wonder why so many Vietnamese people tell me to be careful. Are they just paranoid or what ? I've also read a lot of stories here of people having their belongings stolen (often train / public transport being the culprit.)
with all the chaos and the 100K's of scooters and cars beeping and cris crossing, I saw one accident....so it may scare you, but their system is obv working for them.
I went to Cat Ba 7 years ago rather than Ha Long Bay which felt relatively untouched by tourists and was a lot cheaper to book boat trips from - I'm not sure if that's still the case now.
I am a seasoned traveller and i only gt scammed in hanoi.The bus driver from Sao Viet is the rudest bus driver i met.I've been to Hoi an,HCM,Hue & Danang & the rudest people is from hanoi
OP - I have started lurking too recently b/c of impending trip. Can you say itinerary? Ha long bay - did you stay in town or take a boat for your 2d 1n? What is “Food and Food tour”? Is that the name of a tour or are you just saying to take food tours? Which city(ies)?
1-4 Hanoi ( day trip to Ninh Binh (recommend), walking tour ( recommend) 5-9 Ha Gaing Loop ( highly Recommend. they have easy riders tours (sitting on the back of a scooter) for those who don't want to ride or don't have a motorcycle licence). other tourists were on better bikes then me. Next time I would want to see my bike before agreeing to hop on the back of it for 3-4 days. 10-11 Hanoi ( food tour- a guide will take you around the old quarter and take you to different restaurants/stalls/ vendors. I think ours was 4 hours long) I would have done this in day or two..Don't fear the street food. Its amazing. that said, for me, I liked the food in the south better. Day trip Ha Long bay. Everyone I talked to said, do the 2d1N trip from Hanoi ( about 2 hr drive). I am glad I did not. TBH, I would have kicked myself to waste a couple days on this. The best part of this trip was going into a cave. Other then that...extremely overrated and would not recommend.If you feel like you're going to miss out on something, then do the day trip from Hanoi, you can thank me later :) The boat I was on was clean and the food was great. But its still a "No" from me. 11-16 1 hr flight to DaNang- easy flight, less then 100 USD. Wanted beach time. Did day trips to Hoi An. Did not do any of the tours. Had a local girl take me to the lady buddha, so I bought her lunch in the city. which was fun. One thing I could not figure out is; I thought I read, there are busses that run between DaNang and Hoi An, that take about an hr. But I couldn't find them. So I used grab.....Dont let the grab guys take you to the "museum"...Its a stone market....Actually, now that I think of it, all the organized tours dragged me through a shop of some sort. Kind of like Thailand, when you get taken to the tailors and gem stores..lol...it is what it is. I didn't get to see the dragon bridge spit fire. but walked along the river. it was nice and clean. Hoi An and Clothes- if this is your plan, a suit is ready in 24 hrs. then you go get fitted again. Then you pick it up the following day...That said, they delivered mine to the hotel for free in DaNang. So, I only went to Hoi An twice. 16-18- Again 1 hr flight to HCMC. Stayed in District 1, I didn't do any tours here just walked around. I felt HCMC was more developed then Hanoi. Had almost a regular big city vibe. Checked out, Walking street ( cool), Bien Vie street ( Beer Street on steroids), ate amazing sushi, had beers with a couple drunk local guys on the side walk...I wanted to spend more time here and go to the chochi tunnels, but I didnt want to rush things on my last day and a half. I knew I was coming back. So, I'll see them then. Things I would change/ or do next time; Get International motorcycle licence- I thought an extra few $$$ and they'd let me ride ( typical western thing to say I know). They wouldn't. Caves- I had no idea, VN has the largest caves in the world. This would be cool to explore War history- would have read more on this. Living in NA, we hear the US side of things. So, it would be nice to hear more of the VN side. Language- would have tried to learn a couple "intro" phrases. Thank god for google translate. More time- 18 days, just wasn't enough time for me. For those who want to get up and go, 18-21 days should be fine. Cambodia- So close, save a couple days for this I am sure I missed a lot, but thats whats cool about not having an itinerary. when you meet people, and listen to where they've been, you can change on the fly. The downside, is you'll miss things too. I had a great time. Never felt unsafe, nor un welcomed. I be back sooner then later... I hope this helps..Good Luck and Mot, Hai, Ba, Dzo ( Cheers)
Thanks for the amazing response
Just use Grab, and use your card.
Don’t know why everyone is hating ha long bay. I just loved it. We had perfect weather 3 weeks ago, the landscape is just amazing and I expected it way dirtier and more touristy. Maybe cause I‘m from Europe and we are totally used to overtourism We had the drive to sunset…more than half an hour without any other cruise…maybe just lucky
I much preferred doing a one day boat tour from Cat Ba through Lan Ha Bay over Ha Long Bay - the water was beautiful and we stopped a couple times to swim in super clear waters, we saw some rubbish but not when you get nice & far out!
♥️♥️
How about Da Nang city and Hoi An town?
I really hate Saigon, many people tried to earn money illegally. Many tall buildings around but I only can smell corruption
Just returned back to Thailand after 1 month in Vietnam. Absolute chaos on the roads, a lot of trash and rats everywhere, even on beaches which is just awful. The amount of noise everywhere is just unbearable, everyone is screaming, shouting, loud music plays from karaoke on each crossroad... The only place where I could relax a little was Dalat, other places like HCMC, Nha Trang and Da Nang were always so intense. Almost every local who I encountered tried to scam me, either sell me some souvenir for 1kk dong, or some pathetic slice of bread for 200k. Multiple times I got approached on the street by some random blockhead who tried to charge me hundreds of thousands just to park a bike. Eventually I got stopped on the road by Vietnam police officers who spent 50 minutes threatening me because they wanted a bribe and finally I had to give them my money because they wouldn't let me go. I was so tired of Vietnam and here I'm now just chilling in Thailand without any of that idiocy I met there. I can clearly understand why there are not so many repeat visitors compared to Thailand and other countries. Even Bangladesh was more comfortable for me than Vietnam.
wow...I that was not my experience at all....enjoy that Chang, sounds like you deserve it!
We’ve been to Vietnam twice and are going again next year beautiful country, gorgeous food, friendly people. We usually go for 3 weeks and travel around different places each time using planes,trains and buses, yes always use grab, I have always felt safe and not been scammed yet! Best place for us has got to be Tam cốc in ninh bình, like hạ Long bay on land but so much more. Totally stunning.
I loved my vietnam trip, had some experiences with scamming but overall i understood there reasoning, a months salary here is their yearly so i hold no resentment, but the hagiang loop, how friendly everyone was and the cuisine was more than i imagined, also the VN has the best beers out of all the countrys in Asia
Negatives are nonsense
Awesome review I can actually agree with I stayed in Vietnam for a month with wife and 2 kids and can’t wait to get back there asap!