Today we just wasted time waiting for our laundry because of a misunderstanding. We understood we’ll have to retrieve our laundry at 2.00 pm but in fact the guy from the laundry service meant 7.00 pm. So we’ve been waiting until 2 o’clock just to get the information to be too early. So we went to town in the afternoon to visit the Vietnamese Women’s Museum. On three floors this museum highlights the participation of women in Vietnam’s history especially their role in military conflicts and the family. Their role in the family was actually the most interesting thing for me. There are huge differences depending on the tribe from patriarchal to matriarchal everything can be found. According to the family system the groom’s or the bride’s family has to pay a marriage portion - apart from some silver or copper jewellery mostly practical things like animals or tools. Most of the other information we got I’ve already read in the travel guide. Summing up the museum was worth it to visit. Every description is given in English and French as well and there are many nice photos and traditional dresses, jewellery and tools from the minority tribes.
To avoid the taxi problems we’ve had yesterday, Ste downloaded the Grab app which works similar to Uber. You know the fare before you book while the driver knows the destination you want to go to. It worked very well. Finally our laundry seems to smell fresh although the white t-shirts aren’t white anymore and still look kind of dirty.
Since we’ve had a lot of time waiting for our laundry we decided to make a summary of our experiences of what we recommend to bring or not to bring to Vietnam. Of course it’s not complete but it maybe gives an idea or helps someone who plans to do a similar trip.
After spending almost one month in Vietnam we’ve made some experiences about what’s helpful to bring from home and what isn’t. Actually, it probably depends on the time when and how you travel what’s important and last but not least it’s a subjective impression. So we’ve been traveling in April and early May and tried to stay in simple, affordable hotels. This means we usually paid between 5 and 8 USD per person and night. Since we mostly avoided restaurants for tourists and favoured street food vendors or simple restaurants where local people eat we seldom spent more than 20 USD per day, including petrol and drinks. This calculation is of course without the flights and motorbike rent.
What you should bring with you from home
Courage to leave western expectations for cleanliness and food safety at home. We ate many times in restaurants and from street food vendors where my first thought was to walk on because of the hygienic situation. Finally we enjoyed some of our best dishes in exactly those places. Boil it, cook it, peel it or forget it? Most of the things you’ll get to eat is boiled or cooked. So we only hat very few problems with our digestion even thought we often had ice cubes in beer or coffee. Even simple coffee shops buy their ice in bags. And in case there are any problems:
Diarrhea medication (not necessary to be explained in detail)
Motorcycle helmet (clear visor recommended for rainy season), jacket with back protector, trousers, riding gloves. Yes, we’ve worn this protection stuff all the time. None of us would ride his bike in Switzerland without protection for 35 km. Why would we do 3500 km without them? We’ve seen many tourists riding their bikes in shorts, tank top and flip flops and we’ve also mentioned local people wondering about our trousers and jackets (which by the way both are made for hot temperatures - don’t bring your leather jacket!). One of the Canadians we’ve met at the beginning of our trip had an accident in shorts. I don’t want to explain how it looked and the Finns from Hue didn’t want explain to us how the situation in hospitals is either.
Hand sanitizer, dental floss, toilet paper (you’ll find it here, but not everywhere and in different quality)
Waterproof bag (and no, The North Face Basecamp Duffelbag is not waterproof)
Motorcycle rain jacket and trousers (for light rain showers) - we didn’t like the ponchos, at least for the somewhat rainy days. They certainly do have their place if it’s raining cats and dogs.
Paper map which you can draw on
Mobile phone with Dual SIM support, waterproof and durable if possible (for navigation and hotel research)
Travel guide (to avoid all places mentioned in it because of the mass tourism)
Google translate app with offline support for Vietnamese and your preferred language
Basic tools, pocket knife (you don’t have to bring many tools, there are garages almost everywhere) -Download Grab - Cars, Bikes & Taxi Booking App to order a Taxi in the cities. You know the exact price before you book and the driver knows the destiny you’d like to go to.
What you should leave at home
- Mosquito net: The places we’ve been to where a mosquito net was needed, there was one mounted already. Also we didn’t have many mosquitos in April.
- USD (except for a small amount upon arrival to get to the city, you’ll always get the same or better prices in VND)
- White T-Shirts (they will never be white again. No laundry was able to completely free them from the road’s dust.)
- Ear covers / pads for the helmet (just because it’s to hot. It’s a little louder without but you aren’t going to drive fast anyway.)
- Travel adapters (Euro plug and US works, no grounding anywhere)
- Any roaming options from your home mobile provider (60GB / 30d SIM card costs about 90k which is a bit less than 4 USD)
- Motorbike lock (all hotels will provide you with a safe place for your bikes; there are plenty of guarded parking areas around otherwise. You shouldn’t park your bike in an unattended area.)
About Money: Cash is king here. Credit cards are rarely accepted, ATMs are easily found but have some fees and sometimes low withdrawal limits. It’s best to always have some reserves in cash.
Of course we didn’t take pictures of the laundry service nor in the museum either so there won’t be a gallery today…
