November 15th, 2024
Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia and shares land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. It shares maritime borders with Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia through the South China Sea. Vietnam is slightly smaller in size than Montana and slightly larger than New Mexico; it’s about same size as Japan. Its capital is Hanoi and its largest city is Ho Chi Minh City (commonly known as Saigon).
It’s a long, mostly skinny country; the south end of Vietnam is at 8º North and the north end at the border with China is at 23º North, so it stretches quite a ways. Here’s a map for reference:
Vietnam was inhabited by the Paleolithic age, with states established in the first millennium BC on the Red River Delta in modern-day northern Vietnam. The Han dynasty annexed Northern and Central Vietnam under Chinese rule from 111 BC, until the first dynasty emerged in 939. Successive monarchical dynasties absorbed Chinese influences through Confucianism and Buddhism and expanded southward to the Mekong Delta conquering Champa. During most of the 17th and 18th centuries, Vietnam was effectively divided into two domains and the last imperial dynasty surrendered to France in 1883. In the immediate aftermath of WWII, the nationalist coalition Viet Minh, led by the communist revolutionary Ho Chi Minh, launched the August Revolution and declared Vietnam’s independence from the Empire of Japan in 1945.
Vietnam went through prolonged warfare in the 20th century. After WWII, France returned to reclaim colonial power from which Vietnam emerged victorious in 1954. As a result of the treaties signed between the Viet Minh and France, Vietnam was also separated into two parts. The Vietnam War began shortly after, between the communist North, supported by the Soviet Union and China, and the anti-communist South Vietnam, supported by the US. Upon the North Vietnamese victory in 1975, Vietnam reunified as a unitary socialist state under the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1976. In 1986, the CPV initiated economic and political reforms transforming the country to a socials-orientated market economy. The reforms facilitated Vietnamese reintegration into the global economy and politics.
The Vietnamese flag with its red background symbolizes revolution and bloodshed. The golden star symbolizes the soul of the nation and the five points of the star represents the five main classes in Vietnamese society—intellectuals, farmers, workers, entrepreneurs, and soldiers. Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
Currency: Vietnamese Dong – 25,390 DONG to USD ; 18,019 DONG to CDN
The official currency in Vietnam is the Vietnam đồng, symbolized by ₫ or VND. Vietnamese notes are a mix of small paper bills (no coins are used), and larger polymer bills, in values from 10,000 VND to 500,000 VND.
Gas price: 18,570 dong per litre; $4.76 USD per gallon ($1.03 CDN per litre)
License Plate:
Beer: Saigon – good; Rooster, not so much to our liking and several more
After flying a total of eight hours direct and 6987 km/ 4341 mi, we landed in Ho Chi Minh City (also known as Saigon and still called that by many locals). We found sim cards right away before getting our baggage and the process took less than three minutes for both of us. We paid a total $16 USD for a 30 day plan for us each with their unlimited data! (Update: we were so astonished by how quickly that went, we forgot to ask what our plan was; based on the price we figured it out but then we learned a few days later that it may be called “unlimited” but it is actually limited to 4GB per day.)
Immigration was next; lots of people but not too slow; you hand over your passport and boarding pass and the officer looks for your visa in the computer. You have to get this online before arriving; takes about 3 days to process. We had them ready on our phones, but the officer didn’t even look at them.
We needed Vietnamese cash and looking at the baggage area, we couldn’t see any and Fran asked a lady at a little shop and was told there are ATM’s outside the arrivals area after customs. Our bags both arrived and we went through the customs security machine pretty quickly. We found two different ATM’s but they didn’t seem to like international cards.
We’d arranged a pick up taxi and after some confusion, then some waiting, our driver arrived and he took us to a cash machine enroute to our booked accommodation, but that one didn’t work. He didn’t speak a lot of English so he was phoning his sister and we spoke to her and explained we needed a major bank and she found an HSBC ATM which worked. Fran got the conversion rate wrong and we didn’t take enough out but can go back tomorrow.
Now remember this is after 10 PM at night and as soon as we walked out we felt the humidity. It’s about 26C / 79F still. Doesn’t drop much overnight either.
We were at the apartment by 11 and in bed shortly after. We’d booked a studio apartment for three nights for $122 USD total. It has a queen bed, a kitchenette, sitting and dining areas and a private bathroom. There is Wi-Fi and a swimming pool with a view on the 7th floor between the two towers. Most tourists stay in District One and we looked there too but we found this one right across the bridge in District 4 so we took it. We turned on the AC right away and had a quiet night. We managed to sleep till nearly 6 which was pretty good considering the time here is four hours behind Melbourne. We are back north of the equator but only about 10 degrees north. The days will be shorter here with the sun up by 6 and down before 6.
We awoke to a sunny day and left the apartment before 8 as we had a few things we wanted to get done in this large city. We walked across the bridge observing the crazy motor bike traffic, the dirty river, the garbage everywhere, the sidewalks full of parked motorbikes so pedestrians have to walk on the street and the many shops of various kinds. It reminds us of being back in Latin America (and you can’t put TP down the toilet like in Latin America).
It was already humid! But it could have been worse – at least the highs these days are only low 30’s C / 86 F not 40’s like in Mumbai or Siem Reap when we visited those cities!
So first stop was the ATM for more cash and then we found a dentist by fluke and they could take each of us right away for a clean and polish. The dentist found 2 small cavities that needed filling on Doug and that all cost us a total of $80 USD.
We found a small “spa” and both got pedicures; Doug wanted them to paint happy faces on his big toes, but they apparently don’t do that nor do they scrape your feet – what can you expect for $3 USD!? While Fran got a gel polish ($7) and was finishing up, he found a barber and got a hair cut and shave for $7.
We find the people very friendly and they try to help even if they don’t speak much English.
Next Fran had an eye exam done and ordered new glasses; with new frames, transition progress high index lenses, the price was $390 USD (her last pair two years ago cost $329 so we were okay with that price). Best part is they are ready in 3 days not two weeks.
The eye doctor told Doug where he could get his ears checked and went we over there and he had them checked and cleaned out (he often gets an excess of wax in them and that affects his hearing) for a total of $24 USD.
One of the huge roundabouts downtown:
We found a highly rated restaurant and had some lunch before Fran went off for a haircut (wash, cut, dry and style: $8 USD) and Doug took a moto taxi to go find and get an Echo cardiogram done – that cost $22 USD to have done and read by a cardiologist. Fran met him at the apartment (she’d walk back) and he took a taxi. She found a shop selling cold drinks and Doug found one selling beer on his way back.
We love the prices here! What we hate is the amount of garbage everywhere, some places worse than others and the incessant honking.
The traffic here like in many Asian cities, consists of a lot of motorbikes and here, they really don’t care about pedestrians even if you have a “walk” signal. They do swerve out of the way a bit but you really have to watch them. We do not plan on renting a car here. We will be here in Saigon till Monday and then begin our journey north ending in the Hanoi area where we have a flight booked back here to go to the Mekong Delta and a few other things.
So we’ve done most things on our “to do” list and we went for a quick dip in the pool and then got online for awhile before going out to find some dinner. Since we felt like it was after 9 pm for us, we went for an early dinner at 5:30 local time and found a cafe downstairs on the complex we are staying in and enjoyed a decent meal. We bought a few snacks from the nearby 7-11 and went back to our apartment for the night.
We were both up early Sunday morning and Doug went for a long run but it did not go well and he got lost. He started to walk back and ended up in the wrong direction and finally just used the little bit of money he always carries just in case and got a moto taxi back.
Around 10 we ventured out and went sight seeing. It was mostly just to see famous buildings and we did the Sky Deck at the Bixteco Building and finished with the market for lunch.
This building is all glass and quite spectacular with 81 floors and a deck that juts out but no, it’s not where the viewing is. That’s on the 49th floor just below deck – the deck is a helicopter landing pad!
We paid about $10 each to ride the elevator up and take in the views on this mostly sunny, but hazy day:
This is the Hotel Continental which was a French colonial style building where journalists and diplomats used to meeting during the Vietnam War – it was THE place to have lunch. The terrace has since been enclosed.
Then it was on to the Central Post office which is another French colonial building with a huge old map of Indochina.
This was right next to the Opera House:
and nearby was Book Street which is a pedestrian mall lined with you guessed it, book shops and cafes. There were plenty of books in English too.
We saw the outside only of the HCM People’s Committee Building (city hall) which you cannot enter anyway:
The weather was warming up fast now that the sun was higher in the sky and we were feeling a little draggy. We went into a super Christmas decorated high end mall for a break in the AC and to find bathrooms.
Then it was on to the Reunification Palace/Independence Palace – we thought this was free but no it was not and we did not feel like a tour as we were hot and hungry.
Here’s a pic of the outside.
This is where the Vietnam War ended. A North Vietnamese Army tank smashed through the main gates and one of the world’s bloodiest conflicts in living memory ended. The current building which is not that impressive, replaced the French Norodom Palace which was bombed in 1962. The jet and tanks are on display apparently. We have seen so many war museums on our travels, we opted not to visit this one or the history of the wars museums.
Last stop, the market – here we were too beat to do any shopping, not that we are shoppers anyway, but we did find a place to sit down and have a good lunch and cold drinks before catching a “Grab” (not Uber) back to our apartment. Doug managed to get the app and rides are super cheap.
Crossing the street as a pedestrian takes getting used to (like in other southeast Asian countries). There are few crosswalks with lights and you basically, just walk out and hope they all avoid you!
We spent some time planning our route, booking a private vehicle to take us to Nha Trang tomorrow and a basic itinerary for the rest of our trip. We will be back in Saigon on December 11th before leaving to go back to Melbourne on the 14th.
We had purchased tickets to see a Vietnamese cultural event at 6:30: a water puppet show so we left the apartment around 4:30 and went to a highly rated Italian restaurant for dinner. It was delicious – pizza just like in Napoli! The Italian owner’s friend, came over and chatted with us for a while. It was super cheap too. We walked over to the theatre after dinner and watched the 45 minute show. It was unfortunately all in Vietnamese with Vietnamese music with no translation or literature explaining the show. Some of it you could make out but most, not. It was only 45 minutes long and we took a cab back to our apartment afterwards.
At the end, the puppeteers all came out for a bow:
For all the Saigon photos, click here.
Monday morning, our car and driver arrived a few minutes late but we were on our way by 8:10 taking the tunnel that leaves the city under the Saigon River. This car and driver service cost us about $145 to go 440 km / 274 mi but we have to say we were disappointed. It saved us a 8-10 hour bus ride (we are not fans of buses especially overnight ones) but the driver was not all that good; he drove well below the speed limit on the tollways and on the lesser roads, even slower; spent too much time on his phone and it was quite a jerky ride as he seemed to like to drive just over the centre line so cars were often honking at him. We had asked him to make one detour that but a drive that should have taken 5 hours at max took 8.5! He was nice enough and spoke just enough English but this was supposed to save us the long drive.
As much of the drive was on a tollway, the scenery wasn’t the greatest until we pulled off to drive the requested Vinh Hy Road. We had seen plenty of farms growing rice, bananas, sugar cane, solar fields, windmills and lots and lots of dragon fruit trees which we’ve never seen before (we’ve eaten the fruit but didn’t know what the tree actually looks like).
We stopped about ¾ of the way for lunch (we’d already made two bathroom breaks) and man, it was cheap. We went to a local restaurant that Mr. Van had been recommended to by a friend who lives there and just asked for some rice with a bit of everything else they had that was not meat. For the equivalent of $4 USD we all had our fill! Doug went into a local shop to buy drinks for our next hotel and got soda as well as a couple of Coronas ($1.30 each).
We stopped at two view points to see the coastline along the Vinh Hy road – it was quite lovely but it was sad to see garbage on the beaches upon a closer look.
We arrived at the hotel we’d book and it was a slow check in. We’ve made the mistake of booking into a huge tower and like in Vegas, there are never enough staff to accommodate the numbers checking in.
Tidbit: Nha trang means reed river.
We had booked a king bed suite with a balcony and ocean view ($175 for four nights). Our first disappointment was the room we booked was not available but would be tomorrow – we said that was not acceptable as we did not want to have to pack up and move, so instead they offered us a room with two beds, one king, one double but no dining table. We had to pay a deposit for a second room key (we were glad to have done this not only so we’d each have one but when we went out together, we could leave one key in the power slot and keep the AC running).
We took the offered room and loved the room itself for the view. It did have its issues though like two lights didn’t work, not enough power sockets and the Wi-Fi only works on phones not laptops! We’d ever heard of this. But we were able to use the free Wi-Fi from the other hotel that shares this property so we got around that. The worst part was that the hotel was described as having two pools; one being rooftop with a bar. Turns out you have pay a fee to use that pool on the 40th floor but the 6th floor pool was free but no where near as nice and with little view. False advertising. Also we have have a kitchenette but it is not well stocked. There’s a big fridge (yeah!), a small microwave, a one burner stove, two pots, one pan, one spoon, one medium size plate and three bowls – WTH is with that? As the room had two beds, we had four pillows which we like and four towels but when they cleaned the room they only gave us two towels back!
However the saving grace was that view and the location – one block from the lovely beach:
Below our hotel is the Lotus Temple as well as the April 2nd square:
After dropping off our bags, we quickly went out to check out the beach as the sun was setting (5:15 pm here). It was very nice and no garbage! There’s a lovely boardwalk and park with a few bars and nice surf.
We’d put our Corona in the fridge on arrival but it wasn’t cold so we went for a drink on the beach. It’s quite nice, with soft golden sand and it’s lined by palm coconut trees. It’s very clean which is great compared to the beaches we’d seen on the drive here so we were quite pleased with that. We picked up a light dinner on the way back and some fruit and spent the night in the room.
Today as a two tunnel day.
Tuesday was the first of three days we’ll spend here in Nha Trang – they will all be relaxing beach days with no agenda. We thought about going to the mud baths but saw very few good reviews and there is snorkeling here but this is not a top rated spot in the world and we are concerned with the number of people they would put in a trip; there are lots of people here with us (lots of Russians!) and we know from some of our snorkeling excursions in Asian countries, they tend to overcrowd and feed the fish which we do not agree with so we think we’ll pass on that too. There is an island offshore with a huge amusement park / resort on it that you take a cable car to get to but we were not interested in that.
The weather was kinda cloudy when we awoke with low chances of rain. Doug went for a run on the boardwalk and Fran walked the beach southward – a couple of drops came down but it cleared up by mid morning.
After showering and enjoying tea on the balcony, we went out to try some coconut coffee that was recommenced to us by our friend, Gaye, who was in Vietnam recently. We went to the recommended shop and Fran had the coconut coffee and Doug had the coconut cocoa. Both were delicious! The two of them cost a total of $5 – take that Starbucks! We think we’re going to get addicted to this stuff!
Vietnamese coconut coffee, also known as cà phê dừa, is made with coffee, coconut milk, and either condensed milk or egg foam. The coffee: A strong, rich Vietnamese coffee, such as a blend of Robusta and Arabica, is typically brewed using a phin filter. The coconut milk: Full-fat canned coconut milk is recommended. The condensed milk: Sweetened condensed milk is traditional, but you can use sweetened condensed coconut milk for a dairy-free option. Egg foam: You can also add egg foam to your coffee.
It was nearly lunch time by now so we found a nice place to have lunch at But Viet where Doug had brown fried rice in a banana leaf bowl and Fran had veggie spring rolls.
Both were very good. After lunch we returned to the hotel, got changed and headed to the beach for the afternoon. When we were out there this morning the sea was pretty calm and the tide was low; this afternoon there was a red flag on the beach and the waves were some strong! We managed to nab front row loungers and an umbrella and enjoyed the show! Although there were a few food/drink vendors, it was surprising to us how few.
After about two hours, the tide was getting closer and closer and we had to move back.
The chair renter came over and helped Doug move the chairs under the palm trees and we spent another hour there before returning to our room.
A female vendor sold us a bunch of fresh fruit for a great price before we left as she wanted to end her day. Lunch tomorrow!
After it got dark we went out to check out Nha Trang’s night market which is right behind our hotel. It’s only a block long and really didn’t have anything we wanted but we did buy a bag of macadamias and cashews for a total of $5! When we came out the other end of the block, we saw a vendor selling crepes and ordered one of each kind (there were four) to take up to the room for dinner; we already had some cold beer in the room fridge. Dinner!
The temperature was not so hot today; only hit 29 and once the clouds dispersed the humidity level dropped too. Yesterday it hit 33 with a humidex of 35.
Wednesday morning, Fran did yoga on the balcony, (we could tell it had rained but that seemed to be over although the sky was still overcast and remained mostly cloudy all day) Doug went for a walk, we did several things online and then we went for coconut coffees/cocoa.
Our next destination is a ways away and we are both not keen on taking night buses/trains so we have booked morning a bus for Friday to get us almost half of the 500 km / 300 mi, we’ll spend the afternoon and night in Quy Nhon and then catch another morning bus the next day to get us to the city of Hoi An. There we’ve booked three nights.
Doug returned to the room for more KEGS work, and Fran went for her walk stopping at a large store to get a few things. The coffee cups in the rooms here are like very small tea cups and she’s sick of that for her tea, so she bought a souvenir proper sized Vietnam mug for $2 and a couple of face cloths (which they never have and we forgot!) for forty cents each!
So we had fruit for lunch and then went down to the beach for a few hours. It was overcast the whole time but a nice temperature 28/29C / 84 F with a slight breeze and the humidity was much lower today.
For dinner we went down the beach to Louisanne Brewhouse which was recommended in our guide book. It was a huge place with seating around a pool, away from the pool or along the beach boardwalk. We naturally took the latter and it was a very good meal but being a brewery, Doug never found a beer he liked so we both had a Frozen Mudslide.
Thursday started overcast again and you could see that it had rained earlier, not as humid and cleared during the day; Doug went for a jog, Fran walked to the other end of the beach for her walk. Late morning, we went for what is dangerously becoming an addiction a coconut coffee/cocoa. Doug tried a new one with peanut butter but it wasn’t as good so he ordered the chocolate afterwards. We went for a short walk and found a French chocolate bakery and although it was mighty tempting, we only bought two oatmeal raisin cookies which were delicious and filling.
Upon returning to the hotel we changed and went to the beach again. There is a breeze but very little humidity for a change with temps only reaching around 28C / 83 F – pretty perfect. Today the waves were somewhat calmer although still hard and fast just not as high, and we actually both went in and played in them. Great fun. We met a nice couple from the UK at the chairs next to us. Turns out Graham and Helen were staying in the same hotel, on the same floor and right next door to us! What a coincidence! We enjoyed a beer on the beach before returning to shower and change before dinner.
As things are SO cheap here in Vietnam we find ourselves eating out as finding groceries is a bit of a challenge and work. Tonight it was the Happy Beach Bar which also had a huge menu so it was hard to choose. After we ordered drinks and got them and ordered our food, the waitress told us they only take cash! (we had cash but that was besides the point – they should have told us before sitting down). Doug played dumb and said he didn’t have cash and we already had our drinks – what could we do. One of the three of them offered to take us to an ATM! LOL
We got our food but in a strange way. One of Fran’s two plates came, then the other, then a good five minutes or more later, Doug’s food came. Oh well, we weren’t in a hurry. We had the lovely beach view:
Friday morning, upon waking up before 7, Fran saw a message on her phone from the bus company that they would pick us up this morning. She responded with the name and address of our hotel and we waited. The bus is not supposed to leave until 10 so hopefully there’s time to hear back from them. We had planned to check out around 9:15 and take a taxi over to the pick up location they’d sent us as they want you there 30 minutes early to check in.
Fran did yoga on the balcony and Doug went for a walk – it rained on him a bit and the humidity is back. The bus company got back to us and we were told we’d be picked up at 9:20. We went downstairs and after some hassles, we got our 2nd key deposit back before heading out to wait for the mini van.
This is the link to all the Nha Trang photos.
The Vietnamese language was born around the 12th century. Prior to that time, people spoke Chinese. The alphabet has 29 letters including seven letters using four diacritics: ⟨ă⟩, ⟨â⟩, ⟨ê⟩, ⟨ô⟩, ⟨ơ⟩, ⟨ư⟩, and ⟨đ⟩. There are an additional five diacritics used to designate tone (as in ⟨à⟩, ⟨á⟩, ⟨ả⟩, ⟨ã⟩, and ⟨ạ⟩). The complex vowel system and the large number of letters with diacritics, which can stack twice on the same letter (e.g. nhất meaning ‘first’), makes it easy to distinguish the Vietnamese orthography from other writing systems that use the Latin script. Although the following four letters are in the alphabet, they are only used in words that have been added to the language from other languages: F, J, W and Z.
