Vietnam

[jeemak]

G'day Woofers!

I'm about to take up a new role in a Melbourne based business, though the first few months of the gig will see me based in Hanoi, Vietnam. It's likely thereafter I'll be spending a reasonable chunk of the next 6-12 months working through the region - providing they want to keep me post the probationary period!

I assume plenty of Woofers will have traveled through the country and hopefully they can be generous and provide some recreational tips, however, I'd be really interested to know if anyone's had experience working in Vietnam?

[Happy Days]

Re: Vietnam

Going in November so following.

[macca]

Re: Vietnam

Just jotted a few points:

Hanoi - Halong bay amazing place , its one of the wonders of the world . Do a 3D 2 night tour, and sleep on the boat as it sails you through the cays.
Food, food and more food. Eats lots of vietnamese food. Street food I have never had a problem. This place is awesome with all sorts of food from all over vietnam:

https://www.tripadvisor.com.sg/Restaurant_Review-g293924-d1124698-Reviews-Quan_An_Ngon-Hanoi.html

they have branches everywhere. I was only able to sit there for 4 hours, as I could not eat any more. If I had duoble stomach would have stayed there until they served dinner and supper.
Dog meat is common in north vietnam. never tried it myself.
Sapa- north west of vietnam. Highlands where the Hmong tribe of people live( different ethnic group). 12 hours by train, so its a bit of an effort.

Central:
Hue - beautiful ancient capital. i recommend to fly into Hue from Hanoi, and take the bus down to Haoi An( or vice versa) . The view along the coast and down the mountain is breath taking, and only 4 hours , if bus not break down.
Danang : has lots of resorts now, sadly locals have been pushed out of these area.

Hoi an: the best place personally I have visited in vietnam. People are most friendly and genuinely care for tourist. Off the beaten track you can pop into one of the local houses and ask them if you could have dinner with them... it may be an interesting evening. A few old champa ruins( like the ones in Angkor wat, dot the place) . There are many stone masonary shops along the coast, so good place to get a few small jade items. Renowned also for their tailors, Make sure you bring a few samples as they make clothes in vietnamese styles, and add a bit more room for weight gain. Bloody business pants, they have short crutch area. Cant wear any of them now

South:

Saigon: business captial, city never sleeps and over crowded. Get out as soon as you can.
Phu Quoc : Become like the Bali of vietnam. Lots of new resorts to see.
Nha trang : beach place
Vung Tau : another beach place 80 km from Saigon .
cu chi tunnels : very interesting historical site to see how the viet cong survival tactics in the war.

Working:
Drinker partner ; not kidding ,everything is literally done via wine and dinning people. Your liver will get a workout. Get a drinking partner who will do the drinking for you to save your liver.

Corruption : everything is done by someone getting paid off. Just know how much its going to cost to get something done, Upfront. Also be careful who you deal with , eventhough someone may offer a service ( i.e an employee) they would be hiring someone they know and maybe getting kick backs. Inside jobs of thefts are common.

Language: learning Vietnamese will help immensely. If you make the effort to learn the language and have fun whilst doing it, people there will see the humour.
I have found the northerners to be a more serious ( maybe life is harsher there) . And people in the south, have good sense of humour.

Coffee culture: lounging at a cafe is way of life there. So if your from melbourne, its just matter of getting use to the ice coffee with condensed milk.

Hierarchy: older people are highly respected. Find out who is most senior and respected person in organisation, and develop relationship with them. Also, you will find that that person's son or daughter have been gifted senior roles in the organisation, so learn to deal with them pretending to their jobs.

Showing face: always be respectful of people, regardless of how annoyed or pissed off you may get, as people will hold grudges. Get a good translator as its important to know what is being said. Especially for contracts, they are iron clad ( as contracts are negotiable).
Motorbikes: everywhere, so be careful how you ride as its fast and dangerous. Hire a motorbike taxi( xe om - translate to " transport by holding" i.e holding onto the seat as your a pillion on a motorboike) , or find one who can become your regular ( trust is a big thing here) .

People:
the people of vietnam can be split into 3 groups:
North
Central
South.

They all speak with a slightly different accents. The people from DaNang, are impossible to understand as they have a local accent which is equivalent to IrishMan from Cork speaking english ( as a comparison, no pun intended and hope I have not offended anyone) . Get to know their nuances and particular behaviour. I have found the people who from Danang who move to the south, are very street smart.

The north Vietnamese have particular accents i.e Ysound, as in Young, is a Z sound, so Zoung. In south they will say a Y sound, so Young.

The general population is quite young and they are hungry from input from the west. You won't have any troubles making friends, its a matter of developing trusting relationships with people. Be careful of who becomes your friend.
The older generation, i.e above40 years old, there is a bit of animosity between north versus south because of the war. But generally speaking the young people are just getting on with life and embracing the new capitalism and digital world.
Hope this helps. PM if you have any further queries.

PS. vietnam has good exit points to Cambodia( angkorwat) and South china i.e kunming ( Lijiang and DAli) so you can plan a few more cheap trips to these places. Worthwhile seeing.

[jeemak]

Re: Vietnam

Can you please put a bit more effort in next time macca? Jesus.

Thanks mate. Much appreciated.

[bulldogsthru&thru]

Re: Vietnam

Well macca has pretty much covered it all! The only thing i will add is that i enjoyed Saigon. Yes it's a bustling city and has a western feel to it but i enjoyed it. Be sure to try Banh mi there at My Banh Mi (https://www.tripadvisor.com.au/Resta...Minh_City.html). It's almost gourmet Banh Mi and was the best Banh Mi i had in vietnam. Of course, ensure you have it from street vendors too. You can never have enough Banh Mi and Bun Cha!

The Vietnamese are very friendly (although not as friendly as the Cambodians!). It's a fantastic part of the world with something for everyone

[macca]

Re: Vietnam

happy to put in the time for a woofer!

this is forum is one of the rare placest where people are actually nice and passionate about the things they love in life. And over the years its been a wonderful resource for all things at the kennel, and general banter and blitching about the bias AFL.

[EasternWest]

Re: Vietnam

happy to put in the time for a woofer!

this is forum is one of the rare placest where people are actually nice and passionate about the things they love in life. And over the years its been a wonderful resource for all things at the kennel, and general banter and blitching about the bias AFL.

Plus1.

I haven't worked in Vietnam but I have been twice and echo what others have said. I haven't been to any part if the country that I didn't just love.

One place I did go to that nobody else has mentioned yet is Mui Ne. It's between Hoi An and Saigon and when I was there last it was just starting to become popular so I'm not sure what it's like now. But it's a beautiful coastal town, and as far as Vietnam goes it was relatively peaceful. So if you're looking for some quiet time, I can recommend it.

We ended up staying at a place named "Shades", which was nice, but probably the most we paid for accommodation in Vietnam (although still not that much). It was the only place we found that had double glazed windows. Bliss.

Plus it had a cool 24 hour bar directly across the road. Couldn't recommend it enough.

Otherwise, Hoi An has the best food I've ever eaten anywhere, I adore Hanoi and Sapa is magical.

I'm jealous Jee, you will love it.

[Daughter of the West]

Re: Vietnam

Enjoy Jeemak!

Macca has done a beyond brilliant job, so I can't add anything particularly. I was last there six years ago and it was completely fantastic. I could live on pho for breakfast every single day and not think twice about it. So jealous!

[jeemak]

Re: Vietnam

Going in November so following.

Where about's are you planning to travel Brother?

[jeemak]

Re: Vietnam

Thanks for all of the advice Woofers. It's sorely needed.

I'm really looking forward to the change in scenery and pace, it should be awesome.

[Happy Days]

Re: Vietnam

Where about's are you planning to travel Brother?

TBD my dude, my partner's been before so going to leave it mostly up to her.

[jeemak]

Re: Vietnam

TBD my dude, my partner's been before so going to leave it mostly up to her.

Cool, if and when you make it to Hanoi drop me a PM and I'll splash out and buy you both a $0.75 beer if you feel like it.

[Happy Days]

Re: Vietnam

Cool, if and when you make it to Hanoi drop me a PM and I'll splash out and buy you both a $0.75 beer if you feel like it.

Wow they're really 75c? That's incredible I can't wait.

[Bornadog]

Re: Vietnam

Thanks for all of the advice Woofers. It's sorely needed.

I'm really looking forward to the change in scenery and pace, it should be awesome.

TBD my dude, my partner's been before so going to leave it mostly up to her.

Any updates recommendations not already covered in the thread? I am planning a trip in early March, just a couple of weeks and will try not cover too much as it is a long way from top to bottom.

[jeemak]

Re: Vietnam

Hi BAD, if you're looking for a reliable and medium to high end hotel chain in the north down to Hoi An, I can recommend the La Siesta chain. They do everything well, and do tend to go that extra mile. I stayed in the Hoi An resort, while many colleagues have used their hotels and tours and have been more than satisfied.

It's been a funny old time in Vietnam. It took me longer to adjust to living there than I thought it would, and I probably haven't gone to enough effort to make the most of my downtime other than visiting Hoi An for a weekend and exploring Hanoi on the weekends.

I plan to get to Sa Pa sooner rather than later (just waiting for the weather to turn) and be a bit more proactive after mid-January by when I'll have longer stints there without coming home.

The food is excellent, but I'm definitely not as enamoured with pho as everyone else seems to be.