Hello,

Planning a trip to Vietnam in March with wife and two teenage daughters. Tentative intinerary for eleven days is:
*Three days in HCMC
*Two days in Nha Trang
*Two days in Hoi An
*Three days in Hanoi
We'd like to see as much as possible, but don't want to feel like we're moving every day. Any thoughts on this itinerary... alternate suggestions? Hotel suggestions? Restaraunts? Other?

Many Thanks.

JohnL

hcmc:
1.war museum
2.chu-chi tunnels
3.former us embassy(you can not get in there)
4.markedes
5.cyclo trip(get somone who speaks english,and set the price before you start)
6.walk the back allys, see how people live.
7.plenty restaurants
8.hotels are from 10 us and up
9.stay in distric 1(lots of tourist stays there)
10.kim or singh cafe, for tours and bus tickets up to nha-trang.
11.watch out for pocket thefts
12.be carefull,the traffic is insane
Nha-trang:
1.beach,beach,beach
2.pleny hotels
3.rent a motorcycle,and drive outside the city, great landcape, and a LOT of beaches.
4.be careful when you drive!!!
5.sailing club, lot of tourist eat and drink there.
6.do the mama-hanh boat trip
7.nice islands, see them!!!
hoi-an:
1.tailors,tailors,tailors
2.shop til you drop
3.nice beach outside the city:about 5 km
4.lots of hotels
5.lots of nice restaurants down by the cannal.'
6.go wisit where the my-lai massacre took place, about 1hr south of hoi-an.
hanoi:
1.never been there!!!!

HAVE A NICE TRIP.

the people are frendly,and its a great country to visit, but you can get a bit tired of all the people who wants to sell you things on the streets.there is one atm at the new-world hotel,hong-kong bank, and i dont know about any others in hcmc!!!!and around new world hotel area there are a lot of shoe shops.when you are going to change money, do it in hcmc, and not at the airport, you will get a better rate in town.let me know if you need more info.

I would consider cutting out one or two days in HCMC, and adding the time to Hanoi (perhaps to see Halong Bay). HCMC is not too different that other large SE Asian cities, whereas Hanoi has a very unique feeling.

Generally agree with Ben re HCMC as such, but you could take a couple of enjoyable day trips from HCMC covering the Cu Chi Tunnels, the Cau Dai temple and the Mekong.

I would spend more time in the Hanoi/Northern Vietnam area. Halong Bay is a must, even if for just one day. Also, I'd add a couple of days in Sapa. Truly special and a place your daughters will really enjoy.

Skip Nha Trang and spent 2 days in Hue-hop on a motor bike booked via Mr Do or Mr Trung (very safe drivers) from Stop and Go Cafe and see the citadel, pagodas, royal tombs, enjoy magic dinner at his cafe for US$15 for 4 people. Stay at Saigon Morin for french colonial feel and lovely pool and grounds. Vietnam beaches are not that impressive compared to ours in Aust. Have a great trip and enjoy some sights you may never see in your own country.

Just back from a BKK-HAN-HKG-PEK trip. We spent 3 nights at the Sofitel Metropole & if I can get the double-charging to my Visa resolved I'd recommend them for the Hanoi portion.

Yes, there is much that is cheap. And there are many that advocate bargaining, but.....when you're literally looking at pennies and the local folks have so little we typically paid asking price and were happy. Obviously that's not always the case, but let your conscious be your guide.

There is a neat liquor product available in the street stores - the bottle has a scorpion or a cobra in it. We brought back a few for gifts & they were very well received. Pack them in a zip-lock or be sorry. Don't believe the sales pitch that they won't leak.

Now the down side: street hassles are immense. I mean immense. We started looking for excuses not to go outside the hotel. And the hawkers think nothing of getting physical - grabbing your arm, trying to hold you back, etc.

Be cautious with your family. We're 50 & my wife is large-breasted (by Asian standards). The oogling and obvious staring gave her the creeps. We had planned on going to HCM City on our next trip in the spring. She has told me she will never go to Vietnam again. We take at least 5 international trips a year - she just got new pages added to her passport - and so far this was her least enjoyable location. It wasn't high on my list either.

And finally, spend your currency while you're there because it's impossible to change it back once you leave. We couldn't convert our VND into anything at any of the airports we visited - BKK,HKG,PEK,LAX,DFW,ATL. We couldn't even get it changed at the Hanoiu airport on the way out.

/Dale & Kathy
Baton Rouge
[email protected]

Hi Dale & Kathy
I am an amazon 180 cms of real girl and they stared and stared and stared at me. My old man is a big guy and he copped it too! We just laughed it off because they look so different to us, it must be confronting when they see someone who doesn't look like they do! Sorry your wife was upset but Vietnam is worth the effort - we're returning in December for our second visit in 6 mths. Laughter is the best remedy!

I can sympathise, Dale and Kathy. Being a tad overweight, and often accompanied by other girth-challenged members of our Australian tour group, more than once I had the mortifying experience of having small Vietnamese children run up, pat my belly and yell out gleefully "Happy Buddha!" Other than threatening physical retaliation (which they don't take seriously), what can you do? I agree with Lyndie - all you can do is laugh it off. So uniformly slim and healthy-looking are the Vietnamese that in Hanoi I was quite startled to find a chubby one - but his home town turned out to be Memphis, Tennessee.

Street hawkers can be annoyingly persistent, but as far as I'm concerned not enough to deter me from a return visit.

I do support your comments about haggling - Vietnam is still a poor country, and I thought it somewhat obscene to see some western tourists expend great effort on doing a trader out of a few cents. A lot of these tightwads rationalise their behaviour on the basis that the locals will be disappointed (!) if they don't bargain them down. Yeah, right.