Why ill never return to vietnam

We can afford more than they can and them charging us what locals are charged is almost asinine. Again, I was in Hanoi 7 months and Vietnam for almost a year. I absolutely love your response. Thank you for sharing your thoughts in such a constructive, kind, and mature way. When I wrote that in the post, it was purely me trying to rationalize why we were treated the way we did.

It could have been a number of reasons. I definitely think that I went to Hanoi with a lot of naivety about the world. And honestly, I was soft. I completely respect your insights after having lived there for so long. Just, in my opinion, the way they went about it just left our feelings hurt. When we went to the Long Bien overnight market, we were going to show how we did groceries because we always shopped at markets. What hurt was being pushed, turned away, and yelled at for being in front of the stall when I was trying to buy something.

It hurt to not feel welcomed when in my mind, I had done so much to try and integrate into the culture. Again, naivety. Some people find the culture raw and refreshing! I also think it depends on where you stay in Hanoi, too. A lot of expats who stay in Tay Ho have a totally definitely experience in Hanoi than the one we experienced in the old quarter! At the end of the day, I think what it boils down to is me being too soft for that city and culture. And they will reap a lot of benefits from living in Hanoi.

The cost of living being a prime example. Thank you so much for reading the post and sharing your thoughts even when they countered mine. You needed history lessons and more discourse on colonialism. Americans especially are very myopic to a fault. You consider yourself too soft for a particular culture which you did not try to understand from their perspective.

I live in Nigeria and I found many similarities in their dealing with foreigners. Ripping foreigners that are definitely better off is a form of reparations. These people have a right to be resentful. You cannot simply ask them to forgive the devastation caused upon them.

As a person who grew up in a Third World country which has suffered due to colonialism India , I have to disagree. It is just as reprehensible when the Vietnamese do it or Indians do it as it is when Americans do it.

As long as I am decent towards other people, I expect them to return the favour. Ripping people off is definitely not a form of reparations. The merchants who do that also do that to their own citizens, they are just that way.

This explains why some countries continue to do poorly. It is not about Western colonialism always. You need to trust other people to do business.

I certainly aim to tell it like it is, when I eventually get around to writing one. Upon realising our dislike of Hanoi we quickly made plans to get out of there fast.

You really must go back to Vietnam. You definitely missed out on all the best bits! We loved Sapa and Cat Ba Island, and I know we would love the rest of the country, too, we just need a break!

I wish someone out there would have warned me about Hanoi before going, which is why I felt it was so important to share my experience there.

Hoi An is one of the places I really wanted to go to! Per chance, did you eve get a dress made in Hoi An? This post of yours has left me flabbergasted, especially since I am visiting Vietnam early next year. I am a big time dog lover and am very sensitive to animal abuse. Any place in Hanoi you recommend I should avoid so that I do not get to see dog meat or dogs in cages. That would totally ruin my holiday. Hope you have an awesome holiday and stay safe!

We stayed in Vietnam for 3 months and we would have come to the same conclusion you did if we had only stayed in Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi. People in Hanoi communist side are very rude and almost treat you like an enemy. My husband and I eventually went to Da Nang and Hoi An for a month which completely changed our mind about Vietnamese people. They were not rude and not trying to rip us off at every step. Instead, we found lots of honest and amazing people who were happy to go out of their way to help and be friendly with us.

We can genuinely say that Hanoi is the worst place we have ever visited so far and we have gone to war-torn hell-holes with friendlier people. If not for our old friend from University, we would have found Hanoi to be unbearable. But we are so happy that we got the chance to see other parts of Vietnam with warm-hearted people.

On another note, we are perplexed by Youtubers and bloggers who paint Hanoi as an amazing place to visit. Maybe if you are on a holiday mode for 2 days then it might be bearable. I feel exactly the same way! Good on you for leaving the north and exploring other parts! The trauma from the war is very real and runs deep. The amount of ignorance and condescension in this post and your market YouTube video is absolutely fucking insane. Try walking into a busy restaurant kitchen and doing what you did.

Do you think people will respond kindly? I respect your opinion and appreciate you sharing it, but I respectfully disagree. So when was the last time you were in Hanoi? Paulina, you deserve a swift punch in the face for such a poor and blind argument. Daniel and Annette are the quintessential respectful traveler, and have proven so.

Did we read the same article? Nobody grabbed a random woman or interrupt anyone else. At least as the author tells the story. You have a political perspective through which you are interpreting what you read. That perspective will not be shared by many others, including by people like me who are not white and grew up in a Third World country.

Being resentful at America does not explain the unfriendliness of locals at a day to day level. It will be different in Saigon, even though both cities are in Vietnam. Southern Vietnamese people consider people in Hanoi to be rude and obnoxious. They are probably right. To call someone pretty and touch someone is extremely odd in Vietnam, particularly in Hanoi. They consider your compliments as fake and disingenuous.

As someone has already mentioned, many people in Vietnam do not like to be photographed or videotaped. Cooking dogs is not everywhere. My family and many others do not condone eating dogs and to be honest, there are vendors that do that for the tourists. Prices in Vietnam are subjective and they change them a lot, even for other Vietnamese people. Lastly, you asked one local their opinion about the way you were being treated and took it as fact. Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, Kristine.

I really appreciate the time you took to share all that you did and in such a respectful and constructive way. We made a handful of Vietnamese friends while we were there and made it a point to learn directly from them about Vietnamese culture. I know that touching someone and calling them pretty is odd but how was I to react to a woman who went out of her way to physically overpower me into a basket of mangosteens.

Rather than let my emotions get the best of me I was polite and just made her uncomfortable by touching her shoulders purposefully. As I said in the post, never in my life had I been so mistreated verbally and physically. In regards to the cooking dog, everywhere we had been in the north did so. We witnessed everything from people killing the dog in front of us, roasting it, and serving it on the street.

Our homestay host even told us how her neighbor openly poisoned her dog so they could eat it. Have you been to Hanoi yourself? The South is a different culture that self identifies as something separate from Hanoi all together.

These are not our assumptions and are based on the many conversations we have had with people from Saigon and the surrounding areas. Furthermore, a lot of the Vietnamese-American tourists that we met while in Hanoi, also experienced culture shock and mistreatment.

I know about Vietnamese history. I AM Vietnamese American. Have you ever read SF news where someone was poisoning the dogs as well? If you spoke to people from Saigon, you might understand they have a deep biased hatred for those in Hanoi.

Almost like Republicans hate Democrats and vice versa. You just need more perspective and a bit more self-reflection, it seems. Vietnam is complex and the opinions of Vietnamese are complex. I have family that were both in the Northern and Southern army and were imprisoned. Someone with your type of influence should use it more responsibly. I hope you do one day. Thank you very much for sharing your perspective. I am simply exercising mine and using my platform to share my very personal experience in a different country.

I disclaim at the bottom of the post that my opinion is my own and not representative of an entire population of people. I am very happy you get treated with love and respect in Hanoi, and I sincerely wish for everyone else to have a very different experience than I did. With that said, however, I strive to be authentic in the way that I share my experiences.

The world suffers when people are afraid to respectfully express their thoughts, experiences, and perspectives. People read my blogs because they look for authenticity and my experience.

Until then, I will also remind you that you have the freedom to click on blog posts that are less likely to trigger you. Life is short, and the internet is full of opinions and perspectives that will upset us. Use your time wisely. No one is trying to educate you. You are exchanging and debating views. That way every Indian who bristles at criticism by a foreigner will be an expert on India. The fact that you are Vietnamese does not mean that your opinions about Vietnam are automatically right or they should necessarily be given more deference that that of a foreigner.

Different people will have different experiences when they visit a city. The author of this article talks about her experiences. I think she is being mature and brave.

She also admits that her using a camera and video made the situation worse. Clearly, she is a reflective person who can accept honest feedback. There are so many types of food for you to choose from, but food safety is a big problem in Vietnam. Street food is delicious, but most of the time, it is not clean and healthy. The sellers may not prepare them carefully, or because of the climate, the food may have some problems. I had a stomach ache and felt terrible after eating.

How to avoid that? Many people complain about the lousy service in Vietnamese restaurants. You should learn body language or learn some basic Vietnamese to use to order food or service. The best way is to have Vietnamese friends, so they can show you the right places to eat!

I suggest you try Couchsurfing, or even if you walk around, maybe some Vietnamese will want to say hello and talk to you. Here is the list of best Vietnamese street food you should try. I feel sad that foreigners will have wrong opinions about Vietnam due to these overpayments. Again, this situation is prevalent in Vietnam, and it happens to both foreigners and locals. So, take some tips below to avoid this. Very good and straightforward article. Every country has its good and bad things.

Thank you for sharing frankly about our country of Vietnam. We are in Vietnam at the moment and there are many good things about it such as the food, the parks, nature and some of the people. I was surprised however at the number of scams and opportunists in this country. What did bother me were the bars engaging in dodgy behaviour, such as providing additional drinks that were not requested, then charging for them. It seems everyone who is nice to you has an agenda and one must always be on guard.

I have found it to be a lot different from Penang where prices were always clear, people were not as friendly, but less likely to rip you off or to attempt to engage you in a scam. This may have to do with Malaysia having a stronger economy than Vietnam therefore the people are not as desperate.

Many tourists can be quite irritating, when we were checking in to our hotel there were a group of older Europeans who took a long time to check in and complained about the heat in their room and were unnecessarily rude, so in some ways I can understand why locals feel the urge to rip them off, however it does tarnish the experience for those of us who just want to have a nice time. I have no desire to come back here. For the last 20 years my wife Vietnamese and I visit different cities in vn.

We usually travel with family but sometimes head out on our own. I think bus tours are ok for first time visitors and reasonably safe. You spend too much time on the bus and to little time at the destination. They do a good job caring for you and feeding you safe food. Hopefully you can understand the tour guide. My best two tours were Angkor Wot and Ha Long bay.

How right you are. Periodically, I shout: Heil tsar Putin! But to me, they just appeared to be nationalistic, arrogant, xenophobic homicidal maniacs, and they find it difficult to like you or befriend you when at any time they might have to go to war with you. So, this general disregard for foreigners in the name of national security seems to drive them instead of chasing the tourist dollar. It may change in the future, but not in the near future.

Well, if you had to deal with hoards of grim looking, belligerent, heavy drinking Russians on a daily basis how welcoming would you be? They were exactly the same 7 years ago when there were no Russians here at all.

Stop talking about things of which you obviously know nothing. Pretty effing disappointed that whoever started this damn blog not only made an entire post about how shitty Vietnam is, but that people like you compare a city like Nha Trang to an entire country. I mean there are more Russians there than Vietnamese it feels like!

What a fucking snob. AND tourism numbers back this up, as I covered in the article. Thousands of article…your article is hyperbole and this comments cements it. First off, your very first experience is about you trying to shortchange the locals with dongs for a tow…the same thing you accused them of.

This article is pretty much rubbish. The only country that beats it is India with a staggering 60 million. Always ask for the price up front. Otherwise, you will get rip off. I will agree with you on one point: know before you go.

You say bias, I say honest…. Look back on history and anytime the country was invaded by Mongols or taken possession of by China or even more recently when it was part of French Indochina…..

And eventually they always got their freedom back. Cheers for that. You know, it is not only you, but also other vietnamese people who come from other cities have been ripped off and cheated by local people.

So, my apology to you. Thanks for the tips Nu. Wish you lucky when travel the others country, of course Vietnam,too, Thank you so much because used to visit my country. And you are right, I definitely had better interactions as a whole with teenagers and young somethings. They seem more open to foreigners and to learning about the world outside of Vietnam, as opposed to the elders.

In the end, as you said, no country is perfect. This unfortunately seems harder for the elder generation to do, but I have faith in the younger Vietnamese generation — especially when I hear from people like you.

I have found most Vietnamese people very friendly and especially young people. You are right no country is perfect. I hope that the general view of Vietnam expressed by travelers changes soon. Travel helps the Vietnamese economy and sharing cultural experiences has proven to build relationships rather than mistrust.

You are spot on, Matty. Sorry to hear of your plight. Nha Trang in particular is vile — full of wannabe mafia dirtbags. Hi Matty, I am a Vietnamese and I am so sorry and ashamed of the problems you encountered. As a local citizen, I am also sometimes ripped off when I travel to places, especially to the North. I had terrible experience there. But I had amazing time in Nha Trang. I do agree that our tourisim is not good and the goverment have not taken enough action to solve the problems.

But I do believe that most Vietnamese people are not that rude and nasty. I am truly sorry you met that minority group of people. Thanks, Yen. See Yen, you are proof right there that there are friendly, amazing, concerned people in Vietnam. Thanks for your offer to Matty. BTW, I spent two amazing weeks in Central Vietnam using Dong Hoi just north of you as a base and that was one of my favorite parts of the country.

There are plenty of other countries where people hand you back money when you overpay, rather than pocketing it and saying that is not enough, the price has changed now. I loved Vietnam when I went there long ago on a business trip. The food, environment, everything was just wonderful.

I was a 29 year old woman at the time, scared for my life for the hostility I felt. But I was also clueless of what they were referring to, still steeped in my supremacist mindset. How horrific it was when be bombed their land long ago, what atrocity an act it was to their people, let alone our own. I agree. Nobody there is ripping off anyone.

With their lives, their home, their families. War has never been for good cause. If we want to be well received in foreign lands, we need to treat those lands with humanity. And given that there is no shortage of articles scattered across the web written by people citing all the same criticisms I have on Vietnam, not to mention the comments here, I think its safe to say that Vietnam could use some…polishing. Local charms include cute lizards in your hotel room, along with scorpions, giant centipedes, the occasional cobra, and worst of all, street merchants.

If you DO come, have a nice trip ,if you survive! I found this to be a very truthful, honest and well written article about why tourist do not return. Everything you wrote cannot be faulted. I have lived in Vietnam for 2 years and agree with your comments. It is quite exhausting to constantly be on guard against being ripped off. I only recently discovered that taking an actual car taxi is cheaper than the taxi motor bikes xe om which charge almost double!

Several other professional travel bloggers took great offense to this article and thought I was wrong, rude and racist. But two years later, this article has withstood the test of time and people all around the world — even Vietnamese people — are conceding that yes, in fact, the things mentioned above are true. After two and a half months in Vietnam, I have to agree with constant rip-offs.

I was quite surprised to see the actual price in the appwhen our Vietnamese colleagues told us about the nontourist price. Even after two minutes of bargaining I had always paid double the price! If your pickup place is on a main street, using the app is no problem, if you are in one of the small side streets, they might call you to find you. The experience that other locals laugh at you while you are being ripped off was quite disappointing I held one finger up to show the guy at the gas station to put Dong of fuel in my tank which usually work, instead he just filled it up completely.

Young students are still really different, one of them took me on his bike from My Dinh station outside of Hanoi to my hostel cause he wanted to make friends with a foreigner. But you are so right, the youth of Vietnam are totally different! That gives me hope that in a decade or two, many of these complaints that tourists have will no longer be a problem. Hi TCN, I totally agree with your explanation and suggestion. That is the main reason for the bad attitude of Vietnamese people today!

If a country which is controlled by a group of uneducated mafia who only know how to cheat, how to rob their own people even to their last means of their life, their own house. What else they can do? Rip off the other to survive, it is very bad but they have no choice!

Derek, Unfortunately you come to our country at the wrong time, I mean if you holiday in Vietnam before , you will be very happy as you come to Japan now. At that time, VN economy is better than Philippine, Thailand, Korea, etc… About education, the children are taught how to behave and respect their parent and elderly they are taught to thanks to people who help you, the children are also taught about the beautiful, the value of religion and what are the end results if you hurt anyone.

And you know what happen to the children in VN now? They teach them that the Westerners are our enemy, they occupy our country and punish our people! They do not teach the children about the religious no religious under communist , they do not teach about moral! They have to cheat each other to survive! That are all why you hardly find good people in VN particularly in the North where they are under communist for nearly half of a century.

I am now 60 years old, who witness two political systems that is why I have a clear understand of the people attitude and totally agree with you about the bad things that you are experienced while holiday in VN. I will not holiday in VN if my mum is not there! Thank you. I agree with you! My family emigrated to the US , so I too am not treated as kindly there.

Locals are just down right rude and to address me as a Viet Kieu under their breathe is utterly disrespectful to say the least! After this trip… I am happy disassociate myself from the country that my mother gave birth to me and have now taken on a new meaning to being a proud American. I have just returned to Vietnam. Not, only did most of the people behaved great BUT also went beyond the call of duty like for example:.

We were going to sit down at a restaurant and eat when I noticed I forgot to bring my wallet. The host insisted we sit down and eat and bring the money later when we have time :.

Not only did the host did this but actually she offered us VND to get home in case we needed to buy gas for the motorbike. We were absolutely shocked came the next day, paid and also left a big tip. I swear to god we had to beg for the host to actually accept a tip of k.

We were trying to get our boarding passes printed but it was Sunday and whatever print-shops we encountered were closed. So I tried a random phone dealership cuz maybe I thought they had a printer. They did not print stuff for money but the guy offered to print for free. Our bike broke down, we took it to the repair shop. I was prepared. Hey Niculae, glad to hear you had a great trip. Wow, only 20, dong to fix your bike……that is phenomenal. Congratulations on finding one of the honest ones! During my three months and two dozen mechanics, only a couple times did I pay less than , Although sometimes bothersome depending upon the destination, they are normal and easy to ignore for experienced or long-term travelers.

However, I enjoy street food and especially love those small family restaurants open on the first floor of their home, cooking with family recipes that have been passed down for generations.

The closest thing to a menu any of those places have is photos or a price crudely written on the wall. In different place and different cities. Mostly in the north, but still….. She was small and got pinned down by the scooter yet none of the locals watching came to her rescue. So I did. Wrote about it in one of my first ever Facebook posts. Unfortunately even Vietnamese born people who have left the country for a few decades and then return for a vacation face similar discrimination, especially if they have a foreign spouse.

Having just gone to the ATM my wallet was flush with 10 million dong so there was no way I was pulling it out of my pocket — I had already learned by this point that prices change when someone sees you have more money.

Long story short, I had been in this town for a week using the same restaurant wifi to work every day, so the Vietnamese manager knew me, knew I had laptop and camera gear in my bag also, and came to my rescue.

Anyway, I apologize for rambling on. Seriously glad that you had a great time. Some people really do, and I encourage them to return. Just want you to know that I am not just some spoiled tourist but rather a professional nomad who makes a living producing travel videos for clients around the world. And I tried my best in the article to cover everything, even cite statistics and numbers…….

Thanks for the reminder Niculae. In regards to Thailand, oh yes there is no shortage of scams and touts in the popular destinations, however when comparing Thai people to Vietnamese people……well, there is no comparison. Thai people are friendly to strangers whereas Vietnamese people treat strangers as prey. Not all, but a far far larger percentage of the general population than I have ever seen anywhere else in the world.

Just returned from a wonderful month travelling around central and northern Vietnam with my wife and three kids aged 21, 17 and One of the best budget family holidays we have ever had — will definitely return. Would definitely recommend the place to other Australians as a place to visit.

Our children especially liked the country and soaked up its history, culture and richness. Glad to hear that you all had a great experience, thanks for sharing. You just left out one part about the amazing food there. I had some fun that week hanging out with you Steven Bloom but far too many negative experiences over my three months there.

It saddens me to hear that even you, as a person of Vienamese descent, encounters the same issues that I did. It really does. I hope this helps to serve as a wake up call to Vietnam. It is an amazingly beautiful country with a rich history and a proud people…but they have to learn how to better interact with not just foreigners, but also people of their own nationality who have spent time abroad.

This shall give you an insight into their mindsets, there is just no gratitude to the very people that help putting food on their tables and clothes on their backs. I really hate to have said what I just did because they would brand me a Traitor, but you know what, I rather be a Traitor than myself and others becoming victims.

A few tips for travellers to Vietnam:. We in the west want to be polite and graciously decline offers without appearing to be rude. In my mind, the street vendors are being rude to me if they keep on hasseling me, so i just completely ignore them as if they are not there unless i want to buy something. When bargaining always mention that their competitor the next stall away is selling the same thing.

Hold a price in your head that is fair — inexpensive for you and giving the vendor a chance to make some money as well because they have to feed their families. Say it with a smile and joke around with them. This is for a few dollars, not a multibillion dollar deal! Someone else will. In big cities like Saigon or Hanoi, I never take a motorbike taxi.

The regular metered taxis are so cheap. Always use Mai Linh or Vinasun. They are reputable. In Hanoi they may have a different brand. There may have been two different prices 15 years ago, but not now. But I eat my street food well away from the backpacker areas. Excellent advice and completely agree with it all. The same same tactic is a good one in particular.

Cheers and thanks for sharing! In so called western countries the saying is applied discreetly via bills sent through the Net, Tax, sales, etc.. An in joke is on those who enjoy it. There is also a saying: I will be leaving to fly home soon and the second mouse gets the cheese. I can cope with the minor crooks. Best wishes. I like Vietnam. What time period? And how would you know, you never lived in that period? And once were serious talking with taxi, that made some circle to that place because we ask to turn on meter.

Yes sir I have been, but I am sure it was way before you were born! It was in , the year things came to an end! Agreed Mariia, in such countries its always better to hang out with the locals. That is where my few really good experiences in Vietnam were, while with local friends. Vietnam was a fascinating place to visit for its history, food, and natural beauty. I had an incredible time traveling there, but of the Southeast Asian countries I traveled to, it was probably my least favorite.

I could not agree more Jeff. The country has plenty of great qualities but all of those are overshadowed by the onslaught of blatant scams.

Such a shame…. We concluded that this probably had to do with traveling with our own vehicle, rough camping and such. We camped, cooked, had people come over to see what we were doing and tasting our food. The one time we had a rip-off problem was when entering the country and my partner first had to take a bus to a city to arrange local car papers.

He needed that bus, and they knew that; he paid — big time. During that same trip other locals took him in, paid his hostel, took him to dinner and karaoke, and organized the bus trip back so the overall feeling was good. One tip about going out for dinner: we would have similar issues when eating in Northwest China Kashgar , where afterwards they asked more than agreed on beforehand.

In Vietnam we simply solved it by paying beforehand, and I have to say we never felt we did not get enough to eat or less than locals. I enjoyed Vietnam, but I also found it incredibly frustrating at times. I remember sitting on a beach in Nha Trang and a wave of peddlers came by with the same useless stuff that I finally got up and left.

I also did not enjoy being haggled while eating. This is something I have never experienced in any other country. Most people around the world know to leave one in peace while enjoying a meal. I had some great experiences though and would return in a second. Yeah, traveling Vietnam is a definite rollercoaster ride of ups and downs…one day will be perfect and then the next absolutely horrible.

After a while it really wears you down. Even so I will most likely still return for a second trip sometime. Am curious to see if the nation can redeem itself in my eyes and provide a better experience now that I know what to expect. You obviously have never been to Bali or Malaysia. Malaysia was in KL Jalan Alor where we experienced the constant pestering with useless items, laser lights in particular.

And you obviously have only read this one article on my six year travel blog. And yes, I do hate Bali with a passion.

Touts are an unfortunate staple of heavily visited areas. They respect intelligence and respect resilience. Mostly, locals were nice, some even helped us when we were lost in the street and afterwards we felt terrible for having been suspicious of their intentions.

Have you visited War Remnant Museum in Saigon?? The involvement of US military in Vietnam War are not really something to be proud of it might be different if you watch documentary in History Channel which is from your side.

Honestly, my eyes got watery to see the fact that on some other part of the world life could be very so cruel or people just born in vain. The Agent Orange is still affecting their generation up to now. Sad but true. What do you think?? But, unlike you, I still like Vietnam. Really want to travel back to Vietnam, take a road trip from north to south and one thing I really love from Vietnam is their coffee. Owch, thanks to French who brought this coffee culture to Vietnam.. Yeah, Halong Bay is one giant scam.

Especially sucks if you spend all that money and the weather ends up being crappy. I heard lots of complaints from a variety of tourists along my trip, which is one of the reasons why I wrote this. It seems to be the Westerners, whether American, Italian, German or whatever, who have the worst experiences in Vietnam.

Other Asian travelers do not report near the same level of aggravation or scams. As far as American involvement in the war, even back then most people were against it — especially the youth. Actually the current war in the Middle East has sparked similar outcries of peace as those heard back in the s and 70s, albeit much less far-reaching.

Not less active, just much less heard. Had Vietnamese coffee a few times but never tried any of the really good stuff, just street coffee while hanging out with my friends who own this motorcycle shop in Hanoi.

Thanks for the tip! Was there with you in Hanoi! I feel you on most of the stuff. The first time i was there, i loved it but then i started hating it as time passes by.

As i find it intrusive that sellers keep bugging you and rude girls that flirts with your bf in front of you and getting ripped of all the time bec you cant speak the language, but most of all when ex bf started flirting back with girls in front of you thats when i said enough. Yet, few years later fate brought me back for unintended reason, going to Cambodia that time from Manila has to go theough HCMC.

There I was meeting awesome people and ooportunities that regained my trust and appreciate Vietnam more. Who knows? Maybe you will rediscover a better Vietnam than your last visit like I did. The first time I was there, I loved it but then I started hating it as time passes by. Yet, few years later fate brought me back for unintended reason, going to Cambodia that time from Manila has to go through HCMC.

There I was meeting awesome people and opportunities that regained my trust and appreciate Vietnam more. Sounds like you had a really enjoyable experience as a result, only seeing the best of the citizens instead of the worst. I will say however that the local friends I made in Vietnam loved to laugh and were always fun to hang out with.

It does get extremely tiresome over time and wears even the most patient of saints nerves down. You do get exactly the same anywhere else of course taxi drivers in KL, touts in BKK etc but it is definitely more widespread and harder to escape in Vietnam. Like anywhere it is all about trying to see a place for what it really is, warts and all, and then still trying to find that thing that makes you fall in love with it. Very true L. Cabildo sometimes when you give a country a second chance you get rewarded with a better experience.

I still have several good friends there and I do plan on returning again soon, so time will tell. Glad to hear that you had a much better time in Vietnam your second trip.

Go to Iran if you want to know what a friendly, hassle free country is. Try Guinea in west Africa for a start, they could do with the money. Tajikistan is another good example of a tourist industry in its infancy but with hugely welcoming people. Taxi drivers are of course excluded from any analysis as they are bastards everywhere. I completely agree with that logic Graham. Unfortunately I fear that you are right about Vietnam and the current situation not being a result of tourism being in its infancy stage.

Although I have yet to visit anywhere in Africa I am very intrigued by that continent, particularly as it is one that so many other travelers bypass completely. Well done on maintaining your journalistic integrity, I cant criticise that. Sure you will love the Stans, though they are not a party destination but thanks to russian influence you wont have much trouble finding people to share a drink with.

I really recommend learning some Russian and the cyrillic alphabet as you wont find lots of english speakers. As the local turkic languages are very similar you can use a lot of the words or at least something very similar in the other countries — even for the Uighur in XInjiang — you often get a really great response for making the effort of being able to say hello, thank you etc Whilst on the subject of nice places and languages I am off to your beloved Indonesia soon and wanted to do a couple of weeks course in Bahasa when I get there, have you got any ideas of anywhere not too expensive for lessons pls.

Thanks very much for the tips, appreciate it. He is a another cool cat and self-described Silk Road expert. Lives in Kyrgyzstan now and has been doing a great job documenting the region, albeit in a somewhat less entertaining writing style than you. As far as Bahasa goes, I learned it by living with locals and from the onscreen work I did there, never took any classes.

However the main reason I never took any classes is that you have to stay in one city for the duration of the course, booked in monthly blocks that most often involve a 2hr class days a week that if I remember correctly. Beyond that, how much do you know about Bahasa Indonesia?

The lack of conjugations, tenses, tones and gender make the base words easy. However where it gets difficult is with the formal, the informal and the slang, the latter of which varies from city to city.

The schools will teach you formal and to a lesser degree informal, but none of the locals that most travelers interact with actually speak like that.

She is from the States and all she knows Bahasa-wise is what the basic textbook taught her. Although Bahasa Indonesia is the official language of the country, there are hundreds of regional languages spoken as well, from Javanese to Balinese to Acehnese, and locals often mix them mid-sentence. Despite the close proximity these different dialects have little if anything in common. I really appreciate you taking the time to pass on the advice re Bahasa — sure you have plenty of things to keep you busy.

I didnt have too grand a vision of what I could learn in a short time but your dose of reality will just have to inspire me to work a bit harder at it when I get there. What central asia has really reminded me of is that tourist basics in a language rarely offer real insights into a culture but going to the next level up, albeit with the limitations you refer to, open up more possibilities.

Its everyday life which interests me and often foreign language speakers in a country are not particularly representative of the bulk of the population in many repsects, so if I am able to interact with a few people to get a little better understanding of the culture then I will be happy. I dont mind commiting myself to staying put for a while to do lessons.

If you do know anyone who wouldnt mind sparing me a bit of time I would be grateful for the contact. I read with interest on the mostly negative comments re Vietnam.

I m Vietnamese Aussie. Last visited VN 5 years ago. Brief business trip. My parents go back every year. I talk go my Dad about the issues re VN and generally it s all negative. You have to understand that the culture has changed because the people running the country has allowed it to change.

When incompetency starts at the top it pretty much filters all the way down. A whole generation of confused and neglected population left grasping at the left overs after the Party members have taken their shares. Agree that the locals take advantage of westerners with regards to scams etc.

To some extent it is understandable. More so in Central and Northern parts of VN where the war took the most toll. If you choose to visit the Southern part I m sure you will experience better treatments. Southern Vietnamese are traditionally more hospitable mainly because they ve historically been more fortunate and affluent.

In this region you will meet the people representative of all that is traditional and good about VN. I m saddened by the negative comments that I read, however I m hopeful that my motherland will, in the not too distant future, rise once more to reveal her true self — that her peoples are generous, respectful, hospitable, considerate to their own as well as to the visitors of their home land.

Thanks for the comment TCN and all the interesting information contained within. And yes, I did experience much better treatment in the south — now I know why. However I too hold out hope that over the upcoming years the situation does improve, as more and more foreigners travel to Vietnam and express the kindness and compassion that they show to strangers, even if they are of a different nationality or faith.

Your storytelling is always entertaining. I believe that the person who dies with the most stories, wins! You will certainly be a winner.

Thanks for always reading with such enthusiasm, honored to be considered an entertaining storyteller. Wild stuff! I can understand the frustration and certainly saw it happen at my time in Vietnam.

However, there was one point that I think is worth pointing out — on being offered a place to sleep. Just because it occurred less frequently in Vietnam, it should not be conjectured to deeming Vietnamese people less hospitable. Just my two cents. I was just expressing a few of the things that I noticed during my travels there. For all I know, I could have just been meeting all the wrong people.

I could read your intentions but just wanted to clarify. Appreciate the acknowledgement and hopefully your second time around will improve! Perhaps contact Jodi from Legal Nomads about how she handles it after she spent months on end there? Yeah, we connected via Twitter earlier. I suppose you can agree to disagree, each to their own. Her passions lay in food where yours may be something different.

Sometimes you overcome the negative aspects because the positives are that much greater and I guess that may have something to do with her love of Vietnam! I actually really enjoyed my time in Vietnam and would definitely go back. Yeah, no doubt you are right. During my three months there I traveled with Vietnamese friends, by myself, and with other foreigners, and it was a vastly different experience when traveling with locals — as one would expect.

But if I was by myself or with other foreigners, everything was scam-scam-scam. I hear a lot of people hating on Vietnam, but usually the stories come from the North.

We stayed in the South for two whole months and loved it. Guess it all depends on who you meet. Keep me updated Steven! Yup Benjamin that is actually why I included the north-south bit in the piece, because once I crossed the old DMZ I noticed a difference. Oh I will be eventually return to give the country a chance to redeem itself Mike.

I went to the North. Had a lovely time. Felt respected and was treated kindly by all but one person. I know two people can do the same trip and have completely different experiences. But it seems like you went to a different country than the Vietnam I went to. Thank you Andrew! I was honestly hoping that more people who disagreed would leave a comment. One thing I noticed is people either love Vietnam or hate it, there is no middle ground kind of like with durian lol.

While the examples I listed might not happen to everyone, I found myself dealing with them on a daily basis regardless of city.

I would have just sucked it up and let bygones be bygones until I started hearing from others who suffered through similar ordeals. I spent 90 days traveling up, down and all around Nam on two wheels.

I traveled with Vietnamese friends, by myself, and with other foreigners, and each was a different experience with different reactions from locals.