Vietnam February & April 2026 (In progress)
The Country
Sightly smaller than the UK, but with a greater population density. What was one of the poorest countries in the world has been developing fast, and from what I can tell has a substantial middle class and a decent standard of living, at least for the people in the cities. In the countryside living conditions can still be basic, some mountain houses having little or no electricity. In living memory many people used fireflies for light at night.
While prices are below those in the UK, it’s not far behind and for many packaged goods, just as much. Traveller dreams of living like kings on a pittance are long gone although you can still get a double room in a comfortable homestay for less than $10 a night.
The tradition and cultures have been strongly influenced by China in art, festivals and social structure, Mercifully, for an European traveller, writing uses the Latin alphabet originally developed by Portuguese missionaries in the 17th Century but with 12 vowels and 6 tones meaning a different pitch which alters the meaning of the word. These tones are important as pineapple, melon and coconut all have the same basic spelling. The pronunciation of ‘thank you’ is only subtly different to ‘shut up’.
Saigon - 9 million mopeds
The traffic in Saigon is bonkers. It's like Wacky Races, they come at you from every direction. Whole families (and the dog) on just one bike. They transport not just people, but all manner of unfeasibly large possessions and livelihoods. To cross the road you need to eyeball the most obvious threat and walk purposefully without stopping. Zebra crossings have no meaning beyond the moral high-ground you might feel in the A&E department. The traffic is determined not to stop but will weave round you. Saying all that, if you put aside the constant honking and beeping the drivers seems generally calm and skilful, but it's hard to adopt such an objective stance when you're a pedestrian
Saigon - War Remnants Museum
A poignant reminder of the American War. Millions dead and displaced. Hard not to draw a parallel with the destruction of Gaza
Saigon - Bui Vien Street
Saigon - Water Puppets
Nha Trang - Po Nagar Cham Towers
Ancient temple in the heart of a bustling city that is something of a Russian enclave
Mekong Delta - Coconut wine fortified with cobra
A Viagra substitute apparently
Dalat - Playing the Handpan steel drum
Dalat - Tet
Eating
Eating is the centre of Vietnamese culture. Like the English with the weather, the Vietnamese are focused on what they are planning to eat. Rice in particular makes people feel safe; for some a folk memory of when the threat of starvation was very real after WWII and after the American War.
Seating arrangements for street food and cafes are for the small-bottomed and strong-kneed - they are not well suited to an ageing 6'4" westerner.
Top Tip: Excellent Noodles in 'Pho Viet Nam' in Saigon
Linh An Pagoda near Dalat
Near Dalat in central Vietnam this pagoda is in a beautiful setting with an enormous Lady Buddha and adjacent to a waterfall.
The Tam Trinh Coffee Experience nearby served the most wonderful iced coffee with coconut milk at the end of a really interesting tour of the plantation and coffee making, although our guide was, frankly, appalled when we said we mainly drank de-caffinated coffee.
Hoi An
Ao Dai
Across Vietnam in the run up to Tet many young people have their pictures takes in the traditional dress - the very elegant Ao Dai
Caves in the Marble Mountains near Hoi An
Cham Island
This is a cluster of islands 10 miles off the coast of Hoi An. We stayed at a quiet (other than some painful karaoke on a couple of nights) fishing village at the far end of the island
Top Tip: Tao Tam Homestay - very basic but great location. Tam took me out to a snorkelling area in his Coconut boat
Hanoi
Hanoi is less frantic than Saigon. It has a great Old Quarter and serves magnificent Egg Coffee. (Top tip: Cafe Dinh)
In Hoa Lo prison the French Colonial administration executed prisoners by guillotine until the 1930s. The prison was known as the Hanoi Hilton in 1973 when it held American aircrew captured in the American was.
Graham's Waterfall - Ha Giang
We went on a day trek in the mountains from our wonderful Fai Thien homestay a couple of miles outside Ha Giang. In a shameless act of cultural appropriation I named this waterfall on Google Maps as no one else seemed to have done.
Ha Giang Loop
I'm sure it would have been more exciting if we were 21 and on a motorbike, but we're not and we took a Jeep. The majesty of the landscapes was spoiled a little by the parade of vehicles and too many scruffy settlements. Cloud clung to the mountains, denying us the perfect picture
Preparing the Rice Fields - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
Sapa is a big city, but if you're like us you come for the countryside. There is quite a lot of development going on but there are still hikes in the hills where there are plenty of hikes with few local people or tourists.
Water Buffalo - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
It must have been holiday season for the water buffalo. Lots of them, but they all seemed to be having a rather good time. presumably prior to being set to work in teh fields in the coming months.
Hiking - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
3 days of hiking. Met a H'mong family returning home from a funeral having consumed much 'Happy Water'
Cooking - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
Cooking - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
Cooking - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
Cooking - Lau Chai Valley, Sapa
Practicalities
If you are a UK citizen, it is a free ‘visa on arrival’ which means the immigration officer writes the date (45 days) by which you must leave in your passport. We wanted to stay for longer, so we had an excursion to Cambodia in the middle of our stay.
We travelled from South to North on our trip. We had uniformly good weather, although it was hot inland in April.
We were able to book a mix of hotels and (mostly) homestays a week or so in advance using Booking.com or Agoda for less than £20 per night on average in the south of the country and less than £10 a night in the north. Outside of the mountain areas, air-con is a must.
Eating out can be done on a budget so it simply wasnt worth buying food and cooking it ourselves. In the more expensive South we often had a Banh-mi (a sandwich-type roll) for lunch.
Everyone drinks bottled or filtered water, and ice is made from that too. Aside from the occasional poo-nami we didn’t get ill the whole trip, despite having a reasonable amount of street food.
It is a cash economy using the local currency. Most places we frequented unable or reluctant to take credit cards because of the high taxes. We tried to use VP Bank and our Wise cards to avoid fees on withdrawing our Dong.
For getting around we used ‘sleeper’ coaches and travelled during the day. We took the train from Saigon to Nha-Trang which was also great. We could have used this right up to Hanoi. The Grab taxi app was excellent and very cheap. A journey of 5km would cost only £2-3 or less, even though it might take 20 minutes or more because of heavy traffic.
You need to be fairly sure-footed walking around. Pavements, where they exist, are generally in poor repair and often blocked with parked mopeds, the overspill from shops and people cooking. Crossing the road in Saigon especially is not for the faint hearted.
Traffic aside, we definitely felt very safe on the streets at all times of day and night. There are mildly annoying street vendors and some street scams (coconut / shoe shine / incense sticks / Banh Ran (doughnuts), but if you’re alert then it’s no problem. The basic rule is don’t take what us proffered unless you intend to buy
There were some mozzies about – but not many at this time of year. Accommodation will have over-bed nets where this is needed. Bugs didn’t seem very interested in us, but a tube of hydro-cortizone is useful to have to stop any itching.
There is quite a bit of plastic packaging and other rubbish aound with road-side incineration the most common means of disposal. Some people make a real effort to keep their own houses and shop fronts well swept, but communal areas can be infrequently cleaned with street cleaners seemingly more interested in raking leaves than picking up rubbish.
We felt safe everywhere we went including in more remote areas and later at night. Local people were kind and welcoming. We had a great time and will definitely return to north Vietnam.