Just like Marmite, you either love it your hate it. Vietnam is definitely the odd one out of the SE Asia countries we cycled round and a complete shock from sleepy Laos: it's loud, busy, fast-paced and wily. You need your wits about you from day one. There are people who will rip you off, but there are lots more who are genuinely helpful and friendly.
We cycled down from the Laos border to Vinh, caught the train to Hanoi and took an organised trip to Cat Ba Island in Halong Bay, then visited Cuc Phuong national park before riding down the coast between Hue and Nha Trang and finally through the Mekong Delta from Ho Chi Minh City to Chau Doc.
General guide
- Drive on the right.
- Budget around $25 per couple/per day for food and accommodation.
- Cafés only serve coffee and drinks, never food. The best places for a drink are garden cafés found on the edge towns. Restaurants often serve only specific kinds of food.
- Roads are well sealed but busy and noisy - people use their horns constantly.
- People don't stop when they approach from a side road, they just honk to warn you.
- Small villages are not always signed and merge into each other. They are difficult to identify on a map. Markers have different names for the same town; TT means town, TX means bigger town, TP means city.
- Nearly everyone speaks some English.
- People are very nosey, forward and touchy-feely; they can also have a cruel sense of humour. People will fiddle with your bike, try on your helmet and bell or have a ride. They will "help out", whether you like it or not.
- Kids sometimes hang onto your bike or take a swipe as you ride along, but most are friendly.
- It's polite to bow slightly when entering a room. Use both hands when giving or receiving money or business cards, unless you're older than the other person or a customer in which case use your right hand.
- Ask prices before you buy, expect to be told that someone hasn't got change and carefully check any change you are given.
- It's usually compulsory to park bikes in designated motorbike/bicycle parks in cities or at monuments, costing roughly Ð1000 per bike. Don't take bikes into ticket offices or buildings unless invited.
- There are NO good bike shops in the country; any parts are poor quality Chinese ones. However, good bike mechanics in small towns can work wonders.
- In the winter, North Vietnam is cool and cloudy while South Vietnam is hot and dry. The wind blows north to south for 3 months a year, roughly between October and December.
- Bike train tickets are only available on the day of travel. Bikes are tagged and left at the luggage office then loaded onto the train by porters. We were sometimes charged extra for compulsory storage and loading/unloading. Ticket office hours can be 7am to 12am, 2pm to 5pm and 7pm to 9pm. Platforms are often closed until the train arrives. Timetables are available on the Vietnam Railways website.
- Vegetarian (an chay) is not widely understood - people think it just means that you don't drink alcohol. However in com chay restaurants, all food is vegetarian and the tofu dishes are excellent.
- Hotels take your passport at check-in. Many hotels in Hanoi will give your room away (sometimes rudely) if you don't book tours with them.
- At Têt accommodation and transport gets much more expensive and quickly books up.
Vocabulary
- hello = xin chao (sin chow)
- thank you = cam on (carm on)
- bicycle = xe ðap (zay dap)
- hotel = khach san - but often signed hotel
- guest house = nha nghi
- restaurant = nha hang - but often signed restaurant
- toilet = ve sinh (vay sin)
- vegetarian = an chay (an jay)
- vegetarian food = com chay (com jay)
- 1,2,3,4,5 = mot (moat), hai (high), ba (bar), bon (bone), nam (narm)