Vietnam. By far the most exciting country I have ever had the pleasure of exploring. It has so much to offer – breathtaking nature, buzzing cities, beautiful buildings, delicious food, lovely people, heartbreaking history… Everything about it is unique. Here are a few of my observations and things you should know before travelling to Vietnam.

Vietnamese are excited to see white people.

Prepare to be stared at, asked for a selfie or to practice English. It’s not that Vietnamese have never seen a white person – they have more than enough tourists flooding into the country. But they just find white skin really attractive. They don’t like to tan themselves but of course, their skin is naturally of a darker shade. So don’t be surprised if people stare at you or tell you how beautiful you are – it happens a lot! [EDIT: Okay, it happens way more in China…]

When I was in smaller towns such as Ninh Binh or Sa Pa, I had to pose for a lot of selfies. I actually found it quite amusing – we see a lot of Asians in Europe but would you ever think to ask them for a selfie? Probably not, right…

Ohh and Vietnamese kids are the cutest! Almost every single kid you come across will greet you with a loud “Hello!”

The traffic is SUPER crazy.

There are no rules in Vietnam. It’s never really clear who gives way, people drive motorbikes in the wrong direction, on the pavement, on red light… It’s chaos. But somehow they make it work. Motorbikes rule here and pedestrians are a minority everywhere in the country, so be careful when crossing the road – sometimes there are traffic lights but they don’t mean much in Vietnam. Most of the time you just kind of have to close your eyes and go…

One tour guide told us: “You have the freedom of speech – in Vietnam, we have the freedom to drive on the pavements.” I think that sums it all up.

Honking means: “I’m letting you all know I’m here.”

Everyone honks ALL THE TIME. But unlike the western world where it translates to something like “You are an idiot and you’re doing something wrong”, in Vietnam people simply like to announce their presence on the road. So never take it personally if you get honked at.

Renting a motorbike isn’t always the best idea.

Travelling Vietnam by motorbike is VERY popular. Understandably so, you get to see every little corner of the country, can stop everywhere you fancy… BUT before you decide to do this, you should know that Vietnam is one of the countries with most fatalities on the road per year. Accidents happen a lot. Even I was in a small accident (nothing major, but a motorbike hit the taxi I was in).

You may be the most experienced driver but you can hardly predict what the Vietnamese will do on the road (refer to the point above). If you do drive a motorbike in Vietnam, be EXTRA careful and always be prepared for anything. Red doesn’t always mean stop and one way is never just a one-way.

The currency can be confusing.

Oh the Vietnamese dong… It has so many zeros! 1.000 is the smallest amount you can pay in Vietnam so you normally have hundreds of thousands or even some million in your wallet. But don’t be fooled – the value is actually very low. I find the best way to deal with the money is to ignore the last three zeros: your lunch simply costs 30, not 30.000 (the locals barely ever say the “thousand” anyway!)

Also, double check your notes. Some notes have almost the same colour as notes with a much higher value. At least there aren’t any coins to confuse you even further.

U.S. dollars are also widely used. However, paying in Vietnamese dong usually works out a bit cheaper.

The country is bigger than you think.

Okay, this is not really an observation, it’s more of a fact. When you look at the map, Vietnam doesn’t look that big. Probably because it is surrounded by even larger countries – like, ehm, China. I thought that my 4-week tourist visa would be enough to explore the whole country – wrong! I had to cross some things off my itinerary because there is just SO MUCH to see everywhere in Vietnam. You could easily spend months travelling in Vietnam and still keep discovering new places.

Overnight buses are the best.

Somehow, the Internet is full of articles warning you not to travel by night buses in Vietnam. I honestly don’t understand why! Vietnam has the most comfortable sleeper buses I have ever been on. I personally think they are the cheapest and best way to travel between places (you have to cover some long distances if you are travelling the entire length of Vietnam – why lose the day of travel!)

Not to mention, buses in Vietnam usually pick you up and drop you off at your hostel. And you can book tickets straight through your accommodation – how easy!

Just try to avoid the Queen Cafe Open bus. This company sucks, which I only learnt when they dropped us off in Nha Trang at 5am and left us to wait two hours for another (small and awful) bus to our final destination without any prior warning or explanation.

Don’t get treated like a tourist.

Tourists are welcome in Vietnam, but there are many people trying to take advantage of them. Don’t let them! For example, whenever you are getting off a bus or a train, be prepared to face a crowd of taxi drivers jumping at you trying to sell you a ride. Walk away from them, they are most likely from unofficial companies that will rip you off. The only two official taxi companies are Mai Linh and Vinasun. You can also use Uber or Grab (Asian version of Uber which is more widely used in Vietnam).

It goes without saying that you should always keep an eye on your possessions. In general, Vietnam is a very safe country, but since there are so many motorbikes, don’t ever stand too close to the road with a phone with your hand – you are making it too easy for someone to snatch it.

Don’t flush the toilet paper.

Just like in Thailand, people in Vietnam use toilet hoses instead of toilet paper. Therefore, toilets are not always able to deal with the paper and can get blocked easily. That’s why you should always put the toilet paper (which you have to supply yourself in many places) in the bin. You will sometimes see signs telling you this but it is not written everywhere. Unfortunately, a lot of tourists still seem to be ignoring this.

Smoking is allowed in public spaces.

If you are a cigarette hater like me, you will not be happy about this, but Vietnamese smoke a lot and everywhere. Including restaurants where you are eating…

These I just a few things I was surprised/fascinated by. Of course there is so much more to the Vietnamese culture. Their social tea drinking, karaoke, traditional Vietnamese music playing on buses, barbers doing their job on the streets, the traditional hats, agriculture, anti-pollution masks, street food culture, their obsession with dragons… Vietnam is fascinating and I can only recommend you to go and meet the country yourself. 😉

If you enjoyed this post, check out also my observations from Southeast Asia 🙂

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