Vietnam

darrenh

I have just traveled Vietnam and although it is a great country with lots to do and see, I have never met a ruder nation of people in all my life. Please and thank you are completely non existent. They are unhelpful, un-thankful, angry people. It was said to me before I got here and thought it was an exaggeration but it's clearly not. I have met very few friendly people. Nobody ever tells you anything and they always give you very little information. Hotel travel agencies use very aggressive sales techniques, as in, if you dont buy your bus ticket off them you are a scumbag. The list of complaints is endless. I could go on for ever.

Anyone else feel this way about Vietnam?!:mad:

InKonspikuou2

I can't say i had the same experience there. I used to have great craic with the people in the markets, tour operators and just most people i met in general. Me and my mate even stayed longer. I mean they're not rolling out a red carpet for you like Thailand friendly but i never thought they were rude. I actually hate the friendliness in Thailand. Seems forced and not genuine for the most part. One thing that did wreck my head in Vietnam though was that they were the most disorderly queuers in the world. They would think nothing of just walking right by you. I thought it was a thing they done to foreigners but they do it to their own people too. So guess a free for all is just the way they do things.

But i can understand why some people might have an unfriendly experience there as i wouldn't imagine they would be the most trusting of people given their past. One fella told me a lot of the negative attitudes towards white people is that they think you are American. Also they've been a divided country historically, numerous wars and invasions.

I guess sometimes it can be your attitude and approach or luck. I seem to have a knack for getting my humor across no matter the boundaries or language barrier.

jackbhoy

No, I loved it. As always people will have very different experiences that shape their perception of a country, I hated Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng in Laos but most people seem to love them. I might be wrong here but did you mostly stick to the "backpacker" trail, i.e. Halong/Hanoi/Hoi An/Na Thrang/HCMC etc? It's generally along these routes that you'll meet all the touts and scam artists who are not indicative of rest of the people at all.

Just one example of my experience of Vietnamese people: I hurt my back in Hanoi and spent 3 days in bed in our hostel, the guys at reception brought me breakfast to my room every day and even bought me medication from local pharmacy,refusing to allow me to pay for it. There are very few people in Ireland or anywhere else that would do that for a complete stranger. There are lots of other examples I could cite.

Overall I'd say that Vietnamese people are more vary of strangers than most and are more reserved but are very decent people when you make an effort and are genuine with them. Given the way they have been treated by Europeans and the U.S in the not too distant past it amazes me that they are not more hostile to Western people.

darrenh

Glad ye had some good experiences. Trust me, my 'attitude and approach' is always good and I make a point of it. The 13 previous countries I have traveled in the last 9 months, never had the type of people I have met here. Maybe it was because I was 'on the backpackers trail' but thats all I had time for. I've obviously been unlucky as it has been one thing after another here.

vixenbees

Thats really unfortunate you had such a bad experience in Vietnam. I agree with the above posts that many of the people I met in Vietnam were lovely, except of course the scam artists that hang around the usual tourist haunts but they are to be expected. I found the people in Hanoi a lot nicer than HCMC actually.

Also, characteristics of their culture might be percieved wrongly. You obviously know how to be sensitive to cultures since you've been seen many on your travels, so maybe it was just bad luck? The point made about thinking you were american is definately a possibility. I was in the middle of nowhere in Quang Ngai and got poked in my arm by an old man mumbling stuff at me angrily, as well as many many other dirty looks, couldnt wait to get out of that town to be honest but I realise he definately must've thought I was american -that area saw the My Lai massacre so I cant blame them for thinking that when they saw me. Basically, off the beaten track or not, these things can happen.

Perhaps some of the people you met had little to no english too, instead of saying thank you, they might just nod.

darrenh

I'm actually in Hanoi now and find the people a lot more pleasant. I understand the whole language barrier but if they cant say thank you surely they can say it in Vietnamese or nod with a smile. Its the ones who could speak English that I had most problems with in fact. To be honest we have just had a bad run of events over the last week or so, mainly brought on by the people in the tourism sector. When talking to other travelers here, I have always said the ones who have nothing to sell you are the nicest ones. Tour agencies, bus companies, hotels, guest houses etc etc are practically all scam artists. Also, the constant barefaced lies we have been told, guides who don't guide and rip off taxis. I bought noodle soup from a stall and asked the guy did he sell water. He flicked his thumb over his shoulder at a shop across the road without looking at us when we asked. I could go on but then I will just sound like a spoilt traveler, which I am not. Someone has said they find Thai friendliness fake. I couldn't disagree more. That amount of people couldn't all be faking it. Different strokes for different folks I guess!

vixenbees

I couldnt be more jealous that you're writing that from Hanoi aahhh!! Are you going to Sapa? its amazing..highlight of the north. I'm glad you're finding the people friendlier up there anyway. You've been travelling for a while so its easy get into a "im so sick of being screwed over" frame of mind. all ya can do is roll with it.

Oh when you talk about the blatent lies it brings back so many memories!! They will tell you anything to get you on their tour or their bus...whatever. Its just their way of getting business. I got on a bus at 10:30am one day and was told it was leaving straight away... sat there for hours. Their way of doing things was waiting until the bus was full to leave!!! At 12 they said soon soon.. at 1 they said soon soon.. At 3pm we hadn't budged so I tore my rucksack from the bus and walked back to the hostel! Wasnt funny at the time but its those stories you'll laugh about when you get home.

preddy

If you dont mind people smiling while swearing at you.
Met an irish couple who spoke the lingo and told us that alot of the time they are swearing or making fun of you while seeming genuine.

But sure didnt bother us as we had no idea what they were saying and most ppl seemed generally nice.

Watch out for taxi drivers, always always agree a price dont get robbed like i did ( all 8 dollars of it)

darrenh

preddy wrote: »

Watch out for taxi drivers, always always agree a price dont get robbed like i did ( all 8 dollars of it)

Already screwed in Saigon! Taxi driver brought us to our guesthouse. It took him about 15mins to get there. Charged us €10 for the trip on the meter. Found out the next day that the bus dropped us a 30 second walk from our guest house. Before anyones replies and says that it was my own fault, I know it was. 9 months traveling, I should have been a lot wiser. Thats the most I have ever been ripped off, so it's not that bad. Scumbag ass hole though. I can only hope his engine blows and he's put out of work.

jackbhoy

darrenh wrote: »

Already screwed in Saigon! Taxi driver brought us to our guesthouse. It took him about 15mins to get there. Charged us €10 for the trip on the meter. Found out the next day that the bus dropped us a 30 second walk from our guest house. Before anyones replies and says that it was my own fault, I know it was. 9 months traveling, I should have been a lot wiser. Thats the most I have ever been ripped off, so it's not that bad. Scumbag ass hole though. I can only hope his engine blows and he's put out of work.

Ah good old taxi drivers, they are the same the world over. Try getting a taxi in Dublin with a culchie accent and see some of the creative routes they'll take you! Having a city map out and constantly checking (or pretending to check) the route does dissaude some of them in Asia. I tended to use them very rarely as our budget was tiny.

InKonspikuou2

darrenh wrote: »

Already screwed in Saigon! Taxi driver brought us to our guesthouse. It took him about 15mins to get there. Charged us €10 for the trip on the meter. Found out the next day that the bus dropped us a 30 second walk from our guest house. Before anyones replies and says that it was my own fault, I know it was. 9 months traveling, I should have been a lot wiser. Thats the most I have ever been ripped off, so it's not that bad. Scumbag ass hole though. I can only hope his engine blows and he's put out of work.

Had a taxi driver try rip us off in HCMC too. It was our 4th taxi that day as it was absolutely pissing down. And each journey was roughly the same distance. The previous 3 had been 50,000 dong but the fella at the end was looking for 250,000 Dong. I wouldn't have minded if he said like 60,70 or even 100. It's feck all to me. But the fact that he blatantly tried to rip us off by such a jump we just refused to pay. He started to go nuts but i knew there was a police station beside us. So just told him to drop us off there and we get this sorted out. He didn't want that so charged up the normal price.

And that was me who said that i found something fake about the friendliness in Thailand. I'm not saying that it is fake. But something doesn't feel right about it to me. Yeah they are all smiles and khob kun Ka to everything. But i just found them lacking in the friendliness outside of the 'i appreciate your business' type of way that i found in Mexico, Guatemala, Cuba, Colombia, Indonesia, etc.

darrenh

What I couldn't believe throughout all the last 9 months and I have said it hundreds of times to fellow travelers and when ringing home, is the friendliness of all the people we have met. We really hadn't a bad word to say about anyone we had met. I probably sounded like a hippy saying the 'world is a beautiful place and so are it's people'! The fact is though everyone was friendly, kind and helpful. I just feel it lacks a little in Vietnam, although it would be wrong to brand the country as a whole, unfriendly. I'm all for paying a fair price and even a bit more than what a local will pay, but when you feel you are being screwed, left, right and centre, it can turn you off a place and it's people.

Anyway, Hanoi has been pretty friendly so far and might just make up everything else!

preddy

darrenh wrote: »

Already screwed in Saigon! Taxi driver brought us to our guesthouse. It took him about 15mins to get there. Charged us €10 for the trip on the meter. Found out the next day that the bus dropped us a 30 second walk from our guest house. Before anyones replies and says that it was my own fault, I know it was. 9 months traveling, I should have been a lot wiser. Thats the most I have ever been ripped off, so it's not that bad. Scumbag ass hole though. I can only hope his engine blows and he's put out of work.

Well my driver happened to hit the child lock swtich on the door on the way in and after we demanded him to pull over as the meter rolled around. He was banging the chair as i refused to pay saying "Me Mafia" I was laughing at him but GF insisted on just paying and get out so threw 8 dollars worth at him and rolled down the window and got out.