travel tips pt. 2

I give you "Travel Tips Part 2: The Vietnam Edition"!

1. Ride a motorcycle! Totally necessary! It's a great experience and so much fun to see the cities and sights blur past you, the way most of the population sees Vietnam. Don't accept your first offer for a ride, though. Walk away multiple times and say no. A lot. They'll bring their prices down spectacularly! For a day of driving around, you don't want to pay more than $10-$15.

2. Don't shop in the main tourist areas. The prices there are much higher. If you stick to the smaller streets and smaller markets, you'll get a lot more for your buck! (And bonus: you'll see more local life in action!) For instance, the areas around the Backpacker District in Ho Chi Minh were significantly cheaper than the places near the Central Post Office.

3. Be confident and assertive when crossing the street. If you start to cross the street, you have to keep going. The likelihood of you getting hit by an incoming car or motorcycle is greatly increased by hesitations and pauses while walking. Traffic will move around you based on the path that they predict you will take. So stick to that path!

4. Eat the dragon fruit! Dragon fruit in Vietnam (among other things such as pho and french pastries) is delicious! The best I've ever tasted! Buy it, eat it, stuff your face with it! You'll never taste a better one anywhere else. I promise you.

5. For drinks in Ho Chi Minh, go to the Backpacker District. It's cheap, it's fun, it's lively! There's a strong concentration of travelers and backpackers in the area, thus its name, so you'll meet tons of cool people and have great conversations. All over cheap beer and drinks! And chances are, across the street or right next door, there'll be a small food joint open for late night munchies.

6. Hold onto your bags and walk on the inner part of the sidewalk! Drive-by robberies happen often to tourists, unfortunately. There was a girl in my hostel that was a victim of one, even. Two men on a motorcycle robbed her, snatching her shoulder bag as they drove past. She tried to pursue them but legs vs. an engine on wheels isn't really a fair race...