Final Blog - Vietnam - A Summary

Helen and I had wanted to visit Vietnam for quite some time so it was great to finally make it here. And it was a first long-haul trip for the kids as they left Europe for the very first time. Overall we loved Vietnam - there's something so unique about SE Asia - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the flavours, the beaches, the driving - and Vietnam has it all. You can tell tourism is a relatively new industry here but they are investing heavily in it in terms of infrastructure and advertising. Although some travellers say it has already changed beyond recognition, based on the extensive construction we saw throughout the country it is only going to get bigger and busier. There's no doubt the relative lack of tourists due to the Coronavirus meant we had a very pleasant and unusually quiet time here. Many tourist attractions which are almost "no-go" areas anymore due to the number of visitors, were all relatively quiet when we visited. And any day trips we went on were half full at most. It made for a very relaxed trip for us but you can only feel for the hoteliers and tour operators who are clearly facing very hard times unless the foreign visitors are either allowed to (in the case of China) or want to (in the case of nervous Western visitors) return.

The people are nice - very respectful and helpful. There's no doubt the significant language barrier makes it harder to get to know the people properly but there was no grabbing, hassling, invasion of personal space etc which you find in most other countries in the region. No significant hawkers on the streets either and haggling is fairly quick and painless and is generally done in good nature. And an incredibly handy version of Uber (called Grab) makes travelling around by taxi a doddle. The people seem very honest too. It means that you quickly feel at home and comfortable in what is quite an alien environment compared to western Europe.

The country is geographically diverse and very beautiful - from the stunning beaches and clear waters of the South East coasts to the mountains and clean air of the central of the country, the stunning Halong Bay in the North to the modern and buzzy Saigon in the South. And it is all very cheap throughout - an "expensive" dinner of local food costs about €10 a head and you can easily eat a good lunch at one of the street food vendors for about €1. That said, if you want to go "Western" in either food or goods, then prices are very comparable to Europe. The "no drinking water from the tap" situation was very well handled - all the accommodation we stayed in left plenty of water and all flights/day trips etc also provided bottled water - it wasn't an issue at all in the end.

The roads in Vietnam are as chaotic (to us Westerners anyway!) as most of the region, though we've certainly seen worse. However in Vietnam the motorbike really is king. They reckon there's 40 million motorbikes in Vietnam and at times in rush hour in Saigon it felt like they were all there at the same crossroads! Highlights we saw on motorbikes were a guy carrying a 6m ladder, a guy with 8 huge bags of rapidly melting ice (we figured would be just 8 empty bags by the time he got wherever he was going), the water-guy carrying 15+ 20L bottles of water and a family of 5 people on one motorbike - this was impressive enough but Ant who lives in Hanoi has seen 7 - the mind boggles. All curbs in cities are sloped to allow motorbikes easy access to drive on the pavements - and they do, particularly at rush hour. And the main purpose of pavements are for parking for motorbikes. Pedestrians really are an after thought though in truth very few Vietnamese walk anywhere - it's all motorbikes or taxis even for very short journeys.

Despite its relatively open economy and its emphasis on tourism as a growth industry, Vietnam remains very much a Communist country. The huge red flags of Vietnam are flown pretty much everywhere you go. Tourists are quite closely monitored - every hotel you stay in has to photograph your passport and upload details of your stay - they want to know where you are at all times. We saw almost no police on our stay - the army has a far bigger presence, certainly in cities. It does to a certain extent feel that the people are quite obedient - hearing them speak of Ho Chi Minh or of their Unification (they never mention a war - just the unification) is almost like they are reading from a script. But for what is a relatively poor country, the standard of living seems decent with no obvious homelessness or very poor living conditions.

It's been a wonderful 2 weeks. The french have a lovely word for it - dépaysage - which roughly translates as taking you far from your own country. And it really has felt like a proper bit of travelling even though it's been only 2 weeks long. The kids' highlight was the wonderful couple of days on Whale Island (crystal clear water, beach huts, snorkelling, other kids to play with) and although Helen and I very much enjoyed this we had different favourites. Mine was Saigon - a truly great SE Asian city with all the hustle and bustle you'd expect combined with a modern city skyline and huge selection of restaurants, bars etc - a real mix of east meets west , past meets the future. Helen's favourite was Train Street in Hanoi - a tiny street which is about 2 feet wider than the train track that runs through the middle of it. Rather than complaining, they turned the houses on the street into little cafe/bars selling drinks to tourists who sit and watch as the train rolls by just a couple of feet in front of them.

It has to be said we were very lucky with the weather - we had just 2 days of significant cloud on the whole trip and both fell on transfer days so didn't matter anyway. The heat at times (high 30s) in Saigon was a little oppressive but when there's aircon and a pool not far away it's manageable!

Overall, a brilliant stay and a great, easy country for first time visitors to SE Asia with lots to offer the seasoned travellers as well.