9 MISTAKES I MADE TRAVELING VIETNAM 🇻🇳 (Watch Before You Go)

hello my name's Paddy i just completed an  epic eight-week trip from the very north   to the very south of Vietnam well almost and i  made so many mistakes and i learned so much so   if you're looking for travel advice for Vietnam  don't worry i've got you covered because i made   loads of mistakes and i i can't wait to  share with you what they were how you can   avoid making the same mistakes i did and get the  most out of your trip in vietnam so let's begin   the north is the jewel of not just vietnam but  southeast asia honestly the northern mountains   the roads the scenes the towns the viewpoints all  of the experiences that you can have in the north   just just out outclass the south if it was me  doing this trip again i would start from the south   saigon is a cool big city it's  quite westernized you know there's   starbucks and mcdonald's and lots of um designer  shops and fast cars and it seems like a cool   entry into vietnam it's not overwhelming like  hanoi can be quite overwhelming saigon is the   perfect place to break yourself into vietnam  it's a new culture it's a new country and   saigon is the safe place to start this is a big  city i could live here as you go further north   you will start with places like dalat and the sand  dunes of monet and things will start off quite   well but if you're coming from the north which  is so spectacular and so unbelievably beautiful   you'll just be left underwhelmed the more south  you go my advice start in the south and head north   by far the biggest mistake i made was  travelling vietnam during the school holidays   so without doubt you must avoid the national  holidays and the school holidays in vietnam   so vietnam has private public government and  international schools and they all have different   months and weeks of the year but overall in my  experience anyway june july and august are the   months where the kids are off and when the  kids are off the parents are taking them   on their holidays and because of covid and  because of the economic situation in vietnam   domestic tourism is the biggest market vietnamese  people do travel abroad but not as much as they   travel within their own country so on mass the  vietnamese will go to places like da nang munei   natrang dalat you will see coach loads busloads  of tourists turning up everywhere that's popular   especially places like sappa as well everywhere  i went basically in the month of july and august   i was just a little bit demotivated i was getting  to these places early doors seven o'clock in the   morning and the vietnamese wake up early they get  on to the buses early they hit these spots and it   was just a bit overrun everywhere i went it was  overrun and all of that could have been avoided   if i had waited until september or got a little  bit earlier in may because the summer months just   like anywhere in europe when all of the schools  in europe go on holiday everyone goes to spain   portugal turkey places like that and the airports  are just overrun it's the same in vietnam so avoid   the school holidays and the national holidays  there are quite a few national holidays and in the   description of this video i'll put the main ones  so that you can look at the dates and try to plan   around those dates because you don't want to be in  these towns during the school holidays the third   mistake i made and this is just like a nitpicky  thing but i think it's quite funny to include   in this list don't expect cold drinks and don't  expect cold beer everywhere you go unlike thailand   taiwan and other southeast asian countries there  are no 7-elevens in vietnam well there's a couple   in saigon i saw but that's it there are like  other chains of convenience stores but they're not   widespread each town might have one if you're  lucky um they're really not on every corner like   you would expect and they're the only places where  you're guaranteed to get cold drinks the fridges   are professional level but when you're driving  or when you're exploring other parts of vietnam   you will not be able to get a cold bottle of water  sometimes and getting a cold beer is almost next   to impossible in the north of the country unless  you're staying in a fancy hotel or unless you're   going into a nice restaurant but the amount of  times that i ordered a beer and it came as a warm   can of beer or a warm bottle unchilled and now  i served it was ridiculous i couldn't believe it   that was the biggest culture shock for me was  getting handed warm beer so yeah just expect   to not be having a nice ice cold beer after a big  day's adventure everywhere you go in vietnam which   is so sad the next big mistake i made was worrying  a lot about the local people and about how they   would be and about the language barrier so the  first few days that i started driving out into the   north i had lots of flat tires and i was having  lots of issues with my bike and one particular day   i broke down outside this family's guest house  and they took care of me they fed me they let   me stay in their guest house obviously they just  were amazing so hospitable they even cleaned my   jeans for me because they were covered in mud and  that immediately told me that the vietnamese were   not just hospitable and kind but they're also  really funny and just good crack the vietnamese   are actually proactive they just get their phone  out they open up google translate and they type   in vietnamese and then they press the english  translation and they show you what they want   you to understand it might be practical  information like oh you can't park here   or are you hungry what do you want the vietnamese  are well versed in communicating via google   translate which really helped especially trying  to get my bike fixed or solving problems on the   road on a day-to-day basis the language barrier  isn't an issue which i thought it would be so   the next few mistakes are really important because  they revolve around food and food is so important   to keep your morale and to keep your nutrition  levels high when you're in vietnam and the sad   part is the sad part is vietnam is not a foodie  destination of course vietnam food is famous   we all know and love fur and ban me and buncha  but the reality is when you're on the road when   you're not in the big cities anyway it's really  hard to find delicious food so many times so many   days after a day's drive or a day's adventure  i would try and rock up to a restaurant and get   something delicious and i would be let down the  food would be subpar it was difficult to find   and obviously sometimes they serve at you with a  warm beer so i was very demoralized sometimes the   best way to avoid this mistake pack ban me's ban  me's are obviously a vietnamese baguette sandwich   packed with deliciousness and you very rarely  get a bad bad meat so what i started doing   especially towards the end of the trip was if  i found a good coffee place and a good ban me   i would get a ban me and a coffee for breakfast  and a ban me to go and if you're going on an   overnight bus or an overnight train or you're  going to be on a long day out pack something   delicious maybe your hostel has delicious food  get get it to take out get it wrapped up and   bring it with you because there were so many times  where i would rock up to a place and it'd be a   big bowl of noodles with lacking flavor lacking  oomph and even at dinner time i was struggling   quite often to find good food sadly so it's  not a food paradise like in say thailand   um although vietnam is famous for delicious food  it was actually quite hard to find decent food   everywhere i went and another mistake i made  when it comes to food was i love chili i love   spicy food and i love to enhance the flavor  of foods like noodles and rice dishes but in   vietnam so many places would just give you like  a red sauce chili sauce on the table you know it   was just processed and it just really lacks flavor  and obviously spice and kick so easy thing to do   is just bring with you pack with you your favorite  brand of chili sauce maybe it's tabasco maybe it's   some kind of spicy sauce that you can get in the  supermarket so if you like chili and spice you're   gonna have to bring it with you this mistake i  made quite often and don't make this because it's   gonna cost you a lot of money and this revolves  around motorcycles whether you're gonna rent or   buy whether you're going to drive it from top  to bottom like i did or you're just going to be   renting it for a day here and a day there please  take note that you can't just park a motorcycle   anywhere like you can in places like thailand  you can't just rock up park on the pavement   uh pop into a restaurant and eat your lunch you  can't just park outside of a hotel or a hostel   um if it's on the street for example you have to  ask everybody for permission always can i park   outside don't just assume that it's okay maybe  you're gonna park your bike next to 20 other   motorbikes but what you might not know and this  is something i didn't know is that these bikes   will have permits they will pay a monthly fee to  park on this side of the street or on the pavement   or they might have given money to an old older  gentleman who's sitting outside smoking a bong   they will take a small fee and they will take  care of your bike and if you just rock up   park the bike and walk off then they are  likely to move the bike call the police   get the bike removed or the police which  would this happen very often in places like   hanoi and saigon the police will drive around with  a truck and they'll just look for bikes that are   parked illegally that don't have the correct  paperwork and just pick them up and move them   if you leave your nice helmet on the thing on  the handlebar it might go um i went to a cave   and i left my gopro on the handlebar and it was  gone it got nicked and motorcycles they are gonna   get nicked people are gonna steal them if you  leave the key in um i remember once i parked   dreamy my beloved dreamy i parked it outside of  the bus station in chiang mai in thailand and   i went to myanmar for two weeks and when i came  back i was trying to find my key and i realized   i'd left my key in the bike and my bike was still  there in thailand with the helmet on the handlebar   so in thailand people are less likely to steal  things in vietnam you have to be careful um   sadly it's commonplace for things to get nicked  and my gopro was stolen and i was very clearly   told that if i didn't move my motorbike several  times it was gonna get taken away by the police   so just just bear that in mind you can't just park  your bike anywhere be careful a big mistake that   i saw a lot of people make and arguably so did  i was trying to conserve my budget too much so   my advice when it comes to budgeting is don't be  afraid to splurge especially on these three things   the first is i would go on a luxury cruise in  halong bay it was amazing it was well worth it i   paid 300 but i organized it last minute you could  probably get it a little bit cheaper and for me   that was a once-in-a-lifetime thing and when are  you ever going to be in halong bay so if you are   if you're lucky enough to be there do it right  and go on a luxury cruise the second thing i would   splurge on is the high zhang loop the hijuang loop  if you are not a motorcyclist if you're too scared   to drive a motorbike by yourself then pay to do  the easy rider the hostels and the tour companies   for an extra fee will give you a vietnamese person  and they will drive and you can sit on the back   and then you can still go with the group you can  still stay in the hostels and have the social   experiences but you'll be sat on the back and  you'll see all the views and you'll experience   the loop and it's three days of pure heaven  it's three days of pure bliss and for for an   extra 150 dollars spend the money you can save  the money somewhere else you know staying in a   cheap hostel for a week um or whatever it  might be you can always cut back on savings but   do the hijuang loop don't don't don't miss out  on something so incredible just because it was   a hundred or two hundred dollars extra to get an  easy ride at all and the third thing is if i was   you when you go to fangnar and the caving you know  yes you can go to the dark cave and you can go to   the paradise cave for practically nothing you  know just just rental of a motorcycle and the   entrance fee but i would do the multiple day tours  that you can do with oxalis you know i would do   um we'll have a look at their website there are  three day there are four day tours two day tours   and yes they're 300 400 dollars  even us to 3 000 in some cases   splurge when are you going to be in this part of  the world where they have the biggest cave systems   in the world and when can you camp in the middle  of the jungle surrounded by waterfalls and and   you know swim in the caves for two or three  days in a row okay are we ready to get wet   i already went there i'm very excited bunch with  really cool like-minded adventurous people so   in vietnam yes it's cheap and yes you can travel  on a budget but don't be afraid to splurge money   on these big experiences these big ticket items  because they were the ones they were the memories   that i will take away from vietnam you know  the highest young luke was just unbelievable   the ha long bay cruise was really  special caving in fongnar was just   it was just incredible and everyone i talked  to and everybody who sees those photographs   and watches that video is blown away and it really  was just incredible but yeah it wasn't cheap so   don't be afraid to splurge your budget there are  so many experiences they just can't get anywhere   else and the biggest mistake i made and something  that you shouldn't do is don't try to see it all i   really wanted to see it all i know i went all the  way up to the north and not just hijuang loop i   went to the northeast i went to the north west i  went down through san la down to all these other   northern regions and provinces and then obviously  i did all of the central park and then apart from   i didn't go to natrang just because it was  a choice i couldn't really do both i had to   either go down the coast to natarang or up through  the central highlands to dalat so i had to choose   between the two but otherwise i did everything you  know i even went to the mekong delta south of the   of saigon and you know in a two-month trip trying  to see everything that's just not enough time   and sometimes you know when you see more you  experience less so my advice is see less and   experience more they were my nine biggest mistakes  after two weeks two months sorry in vietnam   let me know what you think i probably made a  thousand mistakes but these were the nine biggest   the 9 biggest takeaways if you want to say from  my trip in vietnam i hope you enjoyed the series   i hope this video was useful if you thought  it was slightly useful you'll probably love   my entire vietnam series the playlist is linked  below and i'll see you very soon the next video   i will be announcing and showing you and revealing  not just where i'm going next but my new motorbike

Channel: Paddy Doyle

Views: 290,332

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Id: w37yakVG2OE

Length: 15min 8sec (908 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 25 2022