What I Wish I Knew Before Traveling Vietnam
I had never considered traveling to Vietnam before I moved to Australia. But once I lived there, all I heard about was the Ha Giang Loop, a multi-day motorbike group tour through the mountains of Ha Giang, Vietnam.
Then I started to see photos of the famous train street and thought, “Why not?”
I bought plane tickets to Ho Chi Min City and from Hanoi and let the rest fall into place, which means I learned how I wished I had traveled through Vietnam as I was doing it. This is what I learned after two weeks in Vietnam:
Where To Go
My friend and I spent two days in Ho Chi Min, four days in Hoi An, and two days in Hanoi. Three additional days on our trip were spent doing the Ha Giang Loop, which was my favorite part, and each day that we traveled we still had time to explore as the internal flights were short.
Each city has its own charms. Looking back, my time spent in Ho Chi Min was perfect, I could have spent one day less in Hoi An, and one day more in Hanoi. It is easy to get trapped in the touristy streets of markets and shops lined up and down the city centers, but I realized there is so much more to the countryside of Vietnam once I was there. If I could go back, I would have researched more day trips to take from those city centers.
Traveling During The Wet Season
While I enjoyed each city so much, I struggled to explore them because of the heat in September.
I booked my flights in September because my one-year visa in Australia expired and I wanted to travel before going back to the U.S. Because this was sort of my only option, I don’t regret it. However, if I had the choice I would visit sometime during the dry season from November to April.
It was either raining and humid, or sunny and humid. Either way, I was drenched in my own sweat. And as someone who struggles in the sun, I found myself going back to our hotel after each activity to sit in front of the air conditioner and rest. I often felt pretty sick from the heat and I found that I am reaching an age and/or point in my life where it is more difficult for me to travel comfortably in 90-degree heat. (I am only 27).
The upside to traveling Vietnam during the wet season, was the quick turn around time for custom made products. In Hoi An, the streets seemed less busy than they likely would be during the dry season, and we got our custom-made shoes back within 1-2 days. I would imagine if there were more tourists, we would be waiting longer. Especially since some of these locations have recently gone TikTok viral and have visitors flocking to them.
And this leads me to my next lesson.
Custom-Made Products
Vietnam is known for tailoring clothing and jewelry making. If I could go back, I would have planned out what I wanted to get custom made. Instead, I decided when I arrived to these businesses, and the rush of how quickly everything moves there overwhelmed me when I made my choices.
For deciding on a whim, I truly loved what I had custom made. My friend found a Tik-Tok viral jeweler, known as “Jimmy’s Jewelry” who custom makes rings. We showed him a photo of inspiration rings we found on Pinterest, and he created exact replicas in a few days. We also hand-selected the gems he imbedded into the silver. My rings cost around 50 USD each. I also purchased two silver necklaces for about 30 USD.
My friend had Birkenstock-inspired slip on leather shoes made to fit his feet perfectly for about 70 USD, and I got a pair of linen pants custom made for about 60 USD at a tailor shop. When we entered these shops, they took us right away, got our measurements, had us pick out material, and sent us on our way. While I like how my pants turned out, looking back that would have been a great opportunity to get something more special made, so I suggest looking at inspiration photos of clothing before going.
The Ha Giang Loop
I was nervous to do the Ha Giang Loop, despite everyone I knew who did it telling me I “had to do it.” I had a fear of getting in a motorbike accident as the roads can be dangerous, but I had no issues with the safe “easy rider” drivers with the tour company BiBi Hostel.
I made an entire YouTube video about our experience because everything about it was perfect. We were satisfied with doing 3 days instead of 4, because by the third day my butt hurt, and I was so tired from all of the activities on the trip I was falling asleep on the back of the bike.
We opted for the private rooms and bathrooms because they weren’t that much more expensive than the hostel/homestays. However, the hostels were extremely nice and I would have been completely comfortable staying in that option as well.
This was the most incredible travel experience and I am happy I had my digital camera strapped to me to take photo and video while on the back of the bike. But be cautious with your things, my $200 sunglasses fell off of my t-shirt and down a whole on the side of the mountain, and I will never see them again.
There was a typhoon traveling through North Vietnam when we arrived, which did not interfere with our travel. However, this can be a risk when you travel during the wet season here. It was pretty serious, and the Ha Giang Loop also did flood a couple of weeks after our tour.
Accomodation
Different countries can have different experiences with hotels, vs. hostels, vs. Airbnbs. The hostels I saw throughout Vietnam were extremely nicer and cleaner than hostels I have seen in other countries, including Australia. And the hotels were more hit or miss. Photos of hotels online were very deceiving and reviews on Booking.com could not be trusted. We found that Google reviews of hotels were more reliable and we were better off walking up to a hotel and asking if they had availability when we could actually see what the hotel looked like in person. It is worth spending a bit of extra money for a 4 or 5 star hotel here as it can really impact the experience. With Airbnbs, I enjoyed staying in local apartments. I always felt the hosts were nice and accommodating, the reviews were accurate, and while some photos can be deceiving, we never had a bad experience with an Airbnb.
My favorite accommodation of the entire trip was the MaiChi Villa in Hoi An, which we booked on Airbnb.
The Food
I had a bad Bahn Mi experience in Ho Chi Min that almost deterred me from trying more, but we thought the bahn mi got better the more north we traveled. Hoi An’s best bahn mi was from Bahn my Phuong (an Anthony Bourdain favorite) and Madame Khanh, and our favorite in Hanoi was Bahn Mi 25. My only regret for food in Vietnam was not eating more bahn mi.
Hanoi also has the restaurant Obama and Anthony Bourdain ate at together in 2016. When you walk into Bún chả Hương Liên, there are photos of them on every wall and the exact meal Obama ate on the menu. It was one of my favorite meals of the trip.
I also liked the coffee more the north we went, my favorite being in Hanoi.
Biggest Regret
My biggest takeaway that I will bring with me on my next trip to Vietnam is that the nature of the country was my absolute favorite thing about it. The activity I recommend to everyone who is planning a trip there is a Ha Long Bay cruise. We met people on the Ha Giang Loop who had done it, and their stories sounded amazing. I would have much rather spent less time in the cities and fit in a multi-day boat trip along the river.