There is a core friends group that really bears through the stress and strain of time, and still coalesce in each other's company. One such disruption that comes in life, is fondly called marriage. The social act had finally breached the walls of our friendship castle. This called for a bachelor's trip.
Wannabe rich folks wanted to go somewhere fun but budget was already a constraint. So, we searched for Andaman & Nicobar Islands, only to realise that travelling within India is fairly expensive. Then, casually searching, I placed a DEL-HAN flight query on skyscanner. To our surprise, a return trip of Vietnam was cheaper than one way flights to Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This marked the beginning of our first ever foreign trip.
Where all did we go?
We planned for a 7 day trip focussed on North and Central Vietnam.
- Da Nang
- Hoi-An
- BaNa Hills
- Marble Mountains
- Dragon Bridge
- Hanoi
- Beer Street
- Ho Chi Minh Memorial
- Temple of Literature
- Haiphong
- Cat Ba Islands
The archipelago around the whole of Cat Ba and Lan Ha bay is just serene. The clearest of water with a lot of activities to undertake and have fun. I would strongly suggest this over the Ha Long bay, it being heavily commercialised.
- Cat Ba Islands
My Learnings:
These pointers are based upon my limited observations from the cities of Da Nang, Hoi An, Hanoi and Haiphong.
People
- Extremely polite and helpful. The language barrier is real. Translation app are helpful, but the non verbal communication is the key.
- Empathy outshines. People put in their time to understand your difficulty and help you find the best solution possible.
- No tourist sucking mentality. By that I mean, they don’t think of tourist as a target to extract money.
Food & Drinks
- Not a pure vegetarian goto place. Pork and Beef are part of staple diet. Thus, find their place in more or less every single dish.
- Veg and vegan options are available but take all options with a pinch of salt.
- Vietnam is second largest coffee producing nation. A number of coffee options across the country, be it coffee house chains like Highland, The Coffee House or local themed cafe’s.
- Egg Coffee is a local favourite. The taste was very good but I didn’t like it much due of the smell of the raw egg. Never have it as the end drink.
- Green Tea is preferred in different styles. I found Lotus and Jasmine Tea as something new.
Economics:
- Not too many cars but way too many 2 wheelers.
- The cars were majorly from Mitsubishi, Hyundai, Toyota and Vinfast (similar to Vietnam’s Tesla).
- Most cars were equipped with top quality features both electronic and comfort related.
- Expensive mobile phones, particularly the latest gen iPhones were extremely common.It appears to be more of a status symbol than actual utility given the average income of the country.
- The upliftment in living conditions and social status is kinda recent, with the youth being the visible proof of economic prosperity. The recent development schemes seem to have reduced the income inequalities.
- Not many international ATMs.
- Too many banks but none of them being very widely known.
Infrastructure:
The new and modern portions are really well planned with a both economomic and strategic long term objectives.
- Roads: Excellent weather proof roads all around. Despite being a high rainfall country, roads, primarily basalt based, are maintained well.
- Airports: Sufficient to contain the demands. Airport demand is quite peaky due to limited number of flights.
Gender Parity:
- Women are highly entrepreneurial and a major part of the workforce.
- Highly visible in maintaining their own hospitality driven businesses like food and drink outlets, hostels and hotels, travel bureaus etc.
- Prostitution is a white crime. It is illegal but happens in broad day light.
- Unique helmets that count in the hair knot for women with longer hair.