Vietnam, have you been?
Discussion
Going to Vietnam next week, (Da nang and Hoi an). Done loads of research on Trip advisor so I’ve got accommodation and dinning sorted. Just asking if anyone has been and what was your experience, anything to watch out for and any must do’s. Will be done on a tight budget GBP 80 per day excluding hotels, two people, 14 days.
This is a response to my initial post “Vietnam have you been” well now I have. Thank you to all who have contributed. Because this will be a long post I will break it up in to several posts, as follows.
Background
The holiday that might not have happened
Vietnam first impressions
Accommodation
Cuisine
Automotive
Connectivity
People
Budget and finance
Final impressions
Background
The holiday that might not have happened
Vietnam first impressions
Accommodation
Cuisine
Automotive
Connectivity
People
Budget and finance
Final impressions
Background
This was my first foreign holiday for twelve years, excluding visits to the UK and business trips. Mrs. DG and I live in the far north east of China, close to the border with Russia. We have tried to visit the UK twice, but visa applications have been unsuccessful.
Mrs. DG is a Chinese citizen, so with territorial disputes with many of China's neighbours, options are limited, Vietnam looked the best option, even though still controversial.
This was my first foreign holiday for twelve years, excluding visits to the UK and business trips. Mrs. DG and I live in the far north east of China, close to the border with Russia. We have tried to visit the UK twice, but visa applications have been unsuccessful.
Mrs. DG is a Chinese citizen, so with territorial disputes with many of China's neighbours, options are limited, Vietnam looked the best option, even though still controversial.
The holiday that might not have happened
Checking on line Mrs. DG needed visa (no surprise there) UK citizen visa free access. Departed Daqing to Beijing 11:30 arrival 01:00, now Beijing airport is huge, finally get to departure gate 02:30: this is when a twist of fate came into play. Check in gate staff ask Mrs. DG if I have a visa, no l don't.
The staff are very polite, but inform us I can’t fly to Vietnam, I need a visa, strangely sleep deprivation makes it all very calm. I have checked on-line I should be OK. So 5 minutes to gate closing, they want to off load our luggage.
0ne of the staff gets clarification in English. However, their English is limited, therefore Mrs. DG and I translate “Holders of British biometric passports may enter for 15 days in transit to an alternative destination” or words to that effect. Seems we are good to go, next destination H.K. stopover, then on to Da Nang.
Now this is where the twist of fate comes in, I wanted to go for 21 days, however, because of my work schedule Mrs. DG suggested 15 days was more appropriate. Landed in Danang, immigration I present my passport, much inspection of my passport, you know I said earlier this is my first holiday in twelve years, but my passport is nearly full only two clear pages after a lot of business travel, then “how many days are you staying in Vietnam” “15 days” cur chunk, that was a very satisfying sound.
Been awake now for over 24 hours, these visa rules appear to be recent; we were told in Beijing of a Canadian who flew to Ho Chi Min and was sent back on a return flight to Canada.
However if are you are going to Vietnam, check VISA REQUIRMENTS
Will post more later in the weekend
Checking on line Mrs. DG needed visa (no surprise there) UK citizen visa free access. Departed Daqing to Beijing 11:30 arrival 01:00, now Beijing airport is huge, finally get to departure gate 02:30: this is when a twist of fate came into play. Check in gate staff ask Mrs. DG if I have a visa, no l don't.
The staff are very polite, but inform us I can’t fly to Vietnam, I need a visa, strangely sleep deprivation makes it all very calm. I have checked on-line I should be OK. So 5 minutes to gate closing, they want to off load our luggage.
0ne of the staff gets clarification in English. However, their English is limited, therefore Mrs. DG and I translate “Holders of British biometric passports may enter for 15 days in transit to an alternative destination” or words to that effect. Seems we are good to go, next destination H.K. stopover, then on to Da Nang.
Now this is where the twist of fate comes in, I wanted to go for 21 days, however, because of my work schedule Mrs. DG suggested 15 days was more appropriate. Landed in Danang, immigration I present my passport, much inspection of my passport, you know I said earlier this is my first holiday in twelve years, but my passport is nearly full only two clear pages after a lot of business travel, then “how many days are you staying in Vietnam” “15 days” cur chunk, that was a very satisfying sound.
Been awake now for over 24 hours, these visa rules appear to be recent; we were told in Beijing of a Canadian who flew to Ho Chi Min and was sent back on a return flight to Canada.
However if are you are going to Vietnam, check VISA REQUIRMENTS
Will post more later in the weekend
Vietnam first impressions
Schmalex, Did you try Uber over there? No had a bit of a mess up with our mobile networks.
My apologies for the lack of pictures, Mrs. DG mobile was stolen on our return to China, no worries I wanted to buy her a new one, she gives her phones a hard life, although relatively new I doubt it is worth more than a bowl of noodles.
Step out of the airport; it’s hot, very hot. There are motorcycles everywhere; this seems to be the main mode of transport. The currency is difficult to understand. Da Nang is a business/industrial city which I like, Mrs. DG is less impressed. We head downtown to my hotel of choice, however, it is fully booked, but finding an alternative proves easy.
During the afternoon we go for a wander, primarily to find a better hotel and somewhere for dinner, both achieved with ease. Mrs. DG is now warming to the city; the people are really friendly the architecture is interesting.
In the evening we have dinner in a western style bar (I know, when Rome, but) the staff are a good source of local knowledge, the food is good and the beer cold. However, 38 hours with out sleep, I'm done for by 22:00.
Schmalex, Did you try Uber over there? No had a bit of a mess up with our mobile networks.
My apologies for the lack of pictures, Mrs. DG mobile was stolen on our return to China, no worries I wanted to buy her a new one, she gives her phones a hard life, although relatively new I doubt it is worth more than a bowl of noodles.
Step out of the airport; it’s hot, very hot. There are motorcycles everywhere; this seems to be the main mode of transport. The currency is difficult to understand. Da Nang is a business/industrial city which I like, Mrs. DG is less impressed. We head downtown to my hotel of choice, however, it is fully booked, but finding an alternative proves easy.
During the afternoon we go for a wander, primarily to find a better hotel and somewhere for dinner, both achieved with ease. Mrs. DG is now warming to the city; the people are really friendly the architecture is interesting.
In the evening we have dinner in a western style bar (I know, when Rome, but) the staff are a good source of local knowledge, the food is good and the beer cold. However, 38 hours with out sleep, I'm done for by 22:00.
Accommodation
Not having credit cards makes life difficult; booking on-line is not an option. Therefore, the method was to find an OK hotel, then scout around for something better. The main priority was quiet, clean and convenient, this was achieved with ease. In fact in Hoi An we found fantastic modern hotel, complete with a decent sized pool for GBP 15 per night.
Cuisine
I’m not much of a cultural person, traveling mainly for food a drink and Vietnam does not disappoint. The choice is very diverse, living in the north east of China a cuisine wilderness; I wanted to sample a diverse range. We had American, Indian, Spanish, Australian and good range of Vietnamese all of which were excellent.
However, breakfast was something stand out, Banh mi this is baguette filed with a variety of ingredients, usually meat, salad, egg and sweet chili sauce mainly eaten for breakfast but can be had through out the day, good with morning coffee, oh coffee, the choice is huge and tastes great. There are small coffee cafes everywhere, great places to relax, and not a chain store in sight.
Not having credit cards makes life difficult; booking on-line is not an option. Therefore, the method was to find an OK hotel, then scout around for something better. The main priority was quiet, clean and convenient, this was achieved with ease. In fact in Hoi An we found fantastic modern hotel, complete with a decent sized pool for GBP 15 per night.
Cuisine
I’m not much of a cultural person, traveling mainly for food a drink and Vietnam does not disappoint. The choice is very diverse, living in the north east of China a cuisine wilderness; I wanted to sample a diverse range. We had American, Indian, Spanish, Australian and good range of Vietnamese all of which were excellent.
However, breakfast was something stand out, Banh mi this is baguette filed with a variety of ingredients, usually meat, salad, egg and sweet chili sauce mainly eaten for breakfast but can be had through out the day, good with morning coffee, oh coffee, the choice is huge and tastes great. There are small coffee cafes everywhere, great places to relax, and not a chain store in sight.
People
I knew before going, we would at some point face hostility, inevitable if one of you comes from a country laying claim to a large chunk of visiting countries territorial waters.
The people we met were friendly and helpful, one thing you notice is there are very few fat people I got the impression they are a very proud people and although diminutive in stature, tough and resilient.
In order to avoid confrontation we decided Mrs. DG should be Scottish for 15 days, this worked Ok until hiring a motorbike “you can’t be Scottish, I can understand you, also you’re not drunk”
All went well until the last night, when enjoying dinner in a large Vietnamese restaurant/watering hole. The adjoining table had a large group from Hanoi, including one of their members who had studied abroad and works for a UK company, first they wanted to join us for a friendly drink, however the atmosphere took a darker turn, let’s just say I had to be very diplomatic.
Did this put a cloud over the holiday, no, not at all; the vast majority people we met were great. Go to any place and you stand a fair chance of encountering an idiot at sometime.
Well that’s the locals dealt with, what about the foreigners, I think low cost air travel has a lot to answer for, in contrast to the locals, the number of huge specimens, resplendent with tramp stamps was a serious assault to my visual receptacles, now I’m no Brad Pitt, but some of these were absolute howlers.
I knew before going, we would at some point face hostility, inevitable if one of you comes from a country laying claim to a large chunk of visiting countries territorial waters.
The people we met were friendly and helpful, one thing you notice is there are very few fat people I got the impression they are a very proud people and although diminutive in stature, tough and resilient.
In order to avoid confrontation we decided Mrs. DG should be Scottish for 15 days, this worked Ok until hiring a motorbike “you can’t be Scottish, I can understand you, also you’re not drunk”
All went well until the last night, when enjoying dinner in a large Vietnamese restaurant/watering hole. The adjoining table had a large group from Hanoi, including one of their members who had studied abroad and works for a UK company, first they wanted to join us for a friendly drink, however the atmosphere took a darker turn, let’s just say I had to be very diplomatic.
Did this put a cloud over the holiday, no, not at all; the vast majority people we met were great. Go to any place and you stand a fair chance of encountering an idiot at sometime.
Well that’s the locals dealt with, what about the foreigners, I think low cost air travel has a lot to answer for, in contrast to the locals, the number of huge specimens, resplendent with tramp stamps was a serious assault to my visual receptacles, now I’m no Brad Pitt, but some of these were absolute howlers.
Budget and finance
As I said in the original post, I set a budget of GDP 80 per day and as hard as I tried I could not achieve this and believe me I tried, not even close. Total budget was USD 2,200, total spend USD 900. Please excuse currency, we work in USD (money of choice for most countries, RMB and GDP, all very complicated)
The rule here is to bargain for most things and of course use your common sense. Because the currency is rather confusing (GBP 1= 29493.63 VND) overcharging is fairly common place. However, if drawn to their attention in polite and civil way it was always rectified. Examples were adding products or services not taken.
Although, not a problem for Mrs. DG and myself, many places did not accept credit cards even if a visa sign is displayed.
Including flights, we came in at under GBP 1,000 for two, for 15 days, money well spent. Would l go again, yes. Mrs. Dg and l both had a great time.
As I said in the original post, I set a budget of GDP 80 per day and as hard as I tried I could not achieve this and believe me I tried, not even close. Total budget was USD 2,200, total spend USD 900. Please excuse currency, we work in USD (money of choice for most countries, RMB and GDP, all very complicated)
The rule here is to bargain for most things and of course use your common sense. Because the currency is rather confusing (GBP 1= 29493.63 VND) overcharging is fairly common place. However, if drawn to their attention in polite and civil way it was always rectified. Examples were adding products or services not taken.
Although, not a problem for Mrs. DG and myself, many places did not accept credit cards even if a visa sign is displayed.
Including flights, we came in at under GBP 1,000 for two, for 15 days, money well spent. Would l go again, yes. Mrs. Dg and l both had a great time.
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