About Vietnam

Go here before it’s too late – you still have a few years so you don’t have to rush. It’s quite a lot of tourists already, but more the kind of advanced travelers and Backpackers, no mass tourism yet.
Places like Nha Trang, Mui Ne and Dalat are not crowded at all even a lot of tourists already. We mainly meet them on the buses between destinations and on arranged trips but the beaches are almost empty.
Coming here it’s only necessary to book the flight and maybe your first night at a Hotel for the rest of your stay it’s no problem to get Hotel rooms and also more cheaper this way because most of the Hotels listed on the internet are the more expensive ones. There are a lot of small hotels and guesthouses that are perfectly ok even as low as from $5 a night. It’s possible to live here for $10-15 a day food and accommodation included. Travel is also cheap; a bus ticket from Mui Ne to Saigon (200km) is $5 an air ticket from Saigon to Dalat (40 min) $40. A whole day trip with sightseeing from your hotel including lunch from $8. I met somebody who had traveled by bus from Phnom Penh in Cambodia to Saigon included river crossings and hotel for $12.
The only thing that disappointed me in Vietnam was the food; even the “west food” they try to make is no good. I was in a “Mexican Restaurant” and ordered some tortillas, salsa and guacamole but it tasted absolutely nothing…and the salsa was not salsa and the guacamole probably not guacamole but some other green stuff….or what about Spaghetti Carbonara with beef!!! I also experienced that the cleanliness was so so and generally not very good so best to be careful with what you eat..
Peoples knowledge of English is also limited which resulted in some problems when ordering…like you get ice tea instead of hot tea etc.
And it’s the sellers and beggars; people going around selling things you don’t need coming in to restaurants while you are eating can be quite annoying. It’s maybe more disabled people here than normal elsewhere maybe because of the war. It feels much better to give them money than buying some rubbish from the street sellers. In Saigon particularly there are also a lot of children going around selling chewing gum that can be quite difficult to get rid of but things like this you have to expect in countries like this.
Vietnam is a country with some beautiful scenery and not at all like I expected. I want to come back and then visit the North with Hanoi and Halong Bay. Hanoi is a much nicer city they say and also the capital. Halong Bay is on the world’s top ten list of special places and also Sapa Highland on the border to Laos and China. Also in the complete south of Vietnam on the border to Cambodia is an island, Phu Quoc, with some fantastic beaches.

Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

Saigon is the biggest city in Vietnam with about 5 mill. inhabitants. Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam but after the war Hanoi in the north became capital. A few years after the war Saigon was renamed Ho Chi Minh after the late President of North Vietnam. HCM is the official name but Saigon is still in use.
HCM is situated by the Mekong delta and the Saigon river is running through the city. It's a busy, noisy and I would say a bit dirty city in most areas as you can see a lot of litter and garbage around along the street except for the main business area with foreign companies and embassies.
Thousands or millions of Motorbikes makes a mess and the few cars that tries to make their way through the streets constantly using their horn to be able to make some progress. The horns on most cars also seems not to be the original ones, but much stronger and louder which makes the noise unbearable. Particularly buses and trucks have horns that might wake up the dead.
Motorbikes are often parked on the pavement making it difficult to walk and sometimes it's completely blocked so you have to go out in the street to be able to pass. Along the street many are just sitting on their bikes to watch the daily life or to offer you a ride. It seems almost like these people are living most of their lives on the motorbikes...sitting there all day, sleeping and eating and drinking, couples in hot embraces etc.
For short distances it's of course much cheaper and faster to go by bike than Taxi but also more dangerous. Whatever you do try to stay away from the guys with these bikes with seat in front aimed at tourists, they are expensive and the only kind of people in Vietnam who will try to cheat you.
Saigon used to be a cosmopolitan city and during the Vietnam war the Americans had their headquarter here. After many years of little contact with the outside world Vietnam is now starting to open up and the city and the business is staring to come to life again and foreign businessmen and tourists are returning in big numbers. Vietnam is "hot" at the moment both for investors and tourists. If you have some money to invest, I have some good ideas!
I have been three times in Saigon now during my time in Vietnam and I must say that my first impression has changed some. I haven't met anyone yet who has had anything good to say about Saigon, everybody says; no good! This time I found some nicer places and cleaner areas than before so things are not always as bad as you first think.
A Taxidriver told us he was half Chinese. His father was a soldier in the war on the American side and he was killed at an age of 25 by the Viet Cong (VC) soldiers so he had never seen his father. A bit unusual story since China supported North Vietnam and had soldiers on that side but I guess that's how war is; it has many "sides".
It is not very many attractions in Ho Chi Minh except for the War Museum, Pagodas and some big Churches. But it's possible to take some trips outside Saigon to visit the underground tunnels where the Viet Cong soldiers launched their last big offensive against the Americans.
Saigon is also a perfect starting point for exploring the Mekong River Delta.