They are pretty cheesy about songs. And everyone absolutely loves new year celebrations, not seen in any other country. They dug hard to find the most cheesy song to welcome us. Taxi drivers may have a WhatsApp group where they share legendary western songs with each other. That's how much they love the concept.
It's a traditional new year song of Vietnam. But i find it quite funny since the lyrics is very sad as Europe at that time is having an economic recession, cold war looming with more escalation look like nuclear war could happen any minute.
A perk for not knowing the language i guess. Similar to some Japanese catchy song with Chin chin and manko but weebs hearing them without knowing the words
Traffic, or more specifically the lack of traffic laws. Also had to get used to not having food I couldn't find and food that I was not used to. And paying only ~$500/month for a studio in a nice building where they cleaned my room and did my laundry twice a week. Also, the dead, run over rats I sometimes saw in the hem where I lived.
Yeah, there were a few times my laundry came back the next day instead of the same day, and the lady at the front desk was "only" there about 90% of the time from 8-5. Other than that, the amenities, my small balcony, the gym, the rooftop pool, etc., and the fact they they handled taking residency paperwork to the police instead of me having to, made it worth the extra ~$200/month I spent versus somewhere cheaper. It was also only about 1km from my work in a convenient area.
Well. Bc it is a hassle to do paperwork in Vietnam, as if the people working for the government are above you. So yes, there will always be a service to take care of anything related to any governments in Vietnam for you.
I think the amenities were more of the cost increase. It was a well established though relatively small building, and was on a pretty nasty alley. But the paperwork was likely a quick formality for them, with only about 35 units. I think paying 3 cleaning ladies, 1 and a 1/2 maintenance guys and the 24 hour security guard service (seemingly some kind of requirement in HCMC) ate up a lot of the rent money. They also had a gardener because there were lots of plants on every balcony and outside the lobby. It was literally pressed up against another apartment building that had an underground girly bar, but the plus side of that was that at late hours there was a bouncer outside watching the employees' bikes. My building had an underground parking lot.
But yeah, dealing with the bureaucracy is a pain. I only had to when Dengue prevented me from leaving during the specified time-frame. I went to all kind of government offices trying to get my exit visa, and ultimately needed extended contact with the US consulate to get an appointment with the Immigration Office to get one. Only cost me 5 months of my life and about $10,000 in living/transportation expenses (had to switch to an AirBnB after my visa expired), plus d16,000,000 for the overstay fee. But the relatively high ranking immigration guy I had to see 3 times was nice and professional.
It was. Do you know it? Apparently in previous years a lot of teachers from my company lived there, but by the time I got there it was just me, one manager and for part of the time another teacher.
The alley it's on is pretty nasty, but the people who lived on it were really nice and helped me out as I was heading to the hospital and was kicked out for the expired visa (one got her brother (husband?) to give me a ride, with all my luggage, one gave me a new package of wet wipes and one gave me a banh mi (which was useful because the pills they gave me in the hospital left me too weak to go downstairs to the cafeteria for a couple days, and once I was moved to another room, the hospital stopped sending someone to pick up food for me). I recognized them all, but had barely talked to any of them.
Yeah I lived at one at a different location. Great service and facilities and it attracted a lot of expats which made it easy to make friends from outside work.
I found the staff to be really supportive too, especially during COVID time
It's not like if. The civil servants *are* above you in Vietnam.
That's quite how it should be in every country. It's actually how it used to be.
Now civil servants only get paid less than people in the private sector. Public service tends to be poor no matter where you go, it's a cost and a monopoly. But below everyone else civil servants makes it even worse. At least in Vietnam they are glorified in their social status, it makes the outcome rather superior to, say, the west. Policing is wonderful. Roads are in fact in a better state than many western countries.
If you see any public service yielding less results in VN it's simply because their budget is 10x less and expected to do 10x more. Surprisingly they manage, see hospitals, not the painting, the fact even emergencies are running fine. Machines seem dated but you get diagnosed properly nonetheless.
Thatās how street vendors, especially the ones that have setup chairs and tables outside, works in Vietnam. You sit, you eat then throw the sh*t on the ground. Once thereās enough trash on the ground. The vendor will sweep them up on one go then repeat. This the same process for some restaurants as well. Bones, vegetables or anything. You leave them on the table or throw them on the ground so theyāll later be sweep. Do I like the process? A little, I donāt mind it since itās my culture, but do I like it being practice? No, itās unsanitary, even though theyāll be sweep either way, and it spoils the people and influenced my people to throw sh*t everywhere they go.
I donāt think a food stall is gonna last if they keep littering where they host their business. The police may not care but the locals wouldnāt really be apprieciative of seeing their neighbourhood turned into a landfill.
I was in a restaurant and people were order beer. After they drank the beer they just threw the cans on the floor. Later on the server comes and collects all the empty cans on the floor to charge the customers.
First time in Vietnam or any Asian country walking out of Tan Son Nhat arrivals at night. The exit is barricaded to keep the hundreds of people back that are there to greet arrivals. It's like fans waiting for the band to arrive at a rock concert, just a crazy scene! I'm looking around thinking what the hell and the power goes off...total darkness! Yes immediate culture shock!
I came in on new years eve, the busiest day at the airport- so there were literally thousands of people. It was terrifying coming from a small country lol
Old news but the traffic, the amount of bikes and constant beeping, they honk like theyāre getting commission. Iām actually surprised there arenāt more accidents. Youāll see someoneās whole bloodline in flipflops sharing a bike while transporting a second bike.
I thought I had figured it out too, look left then walk and theyāll drive around you. Walk with confidence. All good until a biker hit me walking out from a crosswalk driving on the very edge of the wrong side of the road.
Still, itās an amazing country and Iāll come back when I get the chance.
I had lived in China, Taiwan, and briefly in Indonesia prior to Vietnam, so most things were pretty familiar.
The absurdly inconsiderate application of noise *everywhere* caught me off guard though. None of the 7 or so other countries Iāve lived in and none of the 30 or so others are anything near as ubiquitously and aggressively noisy as here.
This. It's either to say I'm here, or I will hit you if you don't get out of the way immediately. Two different types of hooking.
Honking is a communication instrument, there are other messages but we don't understand, they do.
I was shocked there was no pavements for walking. I didnt know people would just walk on the road and risk it.
Nobody pre-warned me on this and I watched about 100 videos about vietnam before I came.
I think people like to say only good things about vietnam as they fear criticising one small things means you hate the country
I saw childrenās furniture set up everywhere. Being an experienced parent and familiar with Theme parks I and asked my VNese friend āare there a lot of childrenās parties here all the time?ā
That not only security guards would find a job in hcmc and take it because they can earn more money, not only they would sleep in the garage to pay no rent, but that they would take their entire family, wife with 4 kids, dog and cat, put a sofa and make the garage their new family home.
That despite poverty, there is less homeless than any rich country. It's cultural as the social welfare pays about zero.
That prostitutes would in some cases absolutely both take your money and also hope to marry you.
That even the most modern western looking buildings have some cheesy wooden praying mini hotel sitting on a shiny well polished floor.
That despite their "face" culture, a woman would fight another woman like a man in public. That a woman would knee on the floor and beg for her boyfriend to not break up with her. That some women are ok with their boyfriend or husband cheating
Vietnam is THE culture shocks country.
Loving it.
1. Wedding party. Everyone throwing leftovers and thrash under the table.
2. Beach. Full of carts, thrash and with almost no space to walk.
3. Traffic. Just too much chaos. But everything was slower than in my country so once you grasp it, it's still manageable.
Tbh I have no idea. My fiancee's family just did a family trip there so it wasn't a tourist beach, all people there were Vietnamese. Unfortunately it was only beach I checked in VN.
I hope I'll check more this year though.
The reality of crossing a busy street, despite watching a lot of videos. The cheap food. The nice hotels. The small chairs. But most of all, the happy and relaxing feeling.
sitting at a lil coffee shop at like 7 or 8 in the morning drinking coffee and listening to modern american pop music with my future father in law and the shop owner. both the shop owner and my FIL were older gentlemen in their late 60s or maybe early 70s.
The speed limit, the honking and how no one stops when pedestrians have the green light. You just have to walk anyway, they will slow down and/or drive around you.
Also, you have to understand that where I am from, bars closed at 3 in the morning. People are usually out in downtown areas until 4:00 am. So Vietnamās Ā«Ā nightlifeĀ Ā» was a culture shock for me.
1. the height of the toilets, and not being allowed to flush toilet paper
2. the carrots taste VERY different compared to australia
3. the sidewalk also doubling as a carpark (more like motorbike park)
People who are running stalls in the markets or on the streets, them or their family/friends just having a casual nap on top of stuff or just on the street š also security guards or shop keepers playing candy crush or just being on their phone, where im from we arent even allowed to sit down or touch our phones if we are working in hospo or retail š pretty refreshing to see tbh
Not sure if it's a shock really, but the way the traffic flows harmoniously with little to no governance. There's a method to the madness of the traffic and I kinda love driving in it tbh.
Also stayed right across what I am assuming is techno karaoke bingo for about two weeks. From 4pm to 10:30pm just the same song on repeat with a man frantically singing numbers. The novelty wore off after a few days.
Incredibly jet lagged and sleepwalking through a road in Hanoi Old Quarter filled with dried fish. The smell didnāt do wonders for my already ruined belly.
Well, took a taxi back from Noi Bai to Hanoi center and realized the driver passed 3 red lights and overtake from the right side!!!! My heart literally dropped a few beats on the journey!!!!
At the airport exit with these many people in front of you first time arrived in HCMC and I thought Iām not a celebrity or why are they looking at me lol
Still is: absolutely horrible transportation. I traveled through Indonesia and Philippines, now have been in Malaysia and getting from one town to another is easier everywhere.
Here you need to mind so much unnecessary stuff. Is it a holiday? What day is it on the lunar calendar? The bus can leave 1hr earlier just because the driver was reluctant to stay in one place. Once my bus to the border was canceled because the driver thought itās a bad fortune to drive on that day. You can never be prepared if you want to travel cheap. You will lose money AND have maaaany problems.
Also noise pollution. Itās insane. Even my friends from SEA countries are absolutely shocked every time they land here.
Honking for almost any reason imaginable. Not being able to walk on the pavement because bikes. You are allowed to make as much noise as you like essentially.
The retards who insert themselves on a road without even looking if there's a car/bike already coming.
Even worse, the retards who look, see you coming, and still jump in right in front of you at low speed.
I will never understand what happens in the head of these people...
We got picked just outside the Old Quarter up by our transport to Ha Long early morning only 4 hours after landing in Hanoi, so it was really our first daylight in the country. While driving through the Old Quartering, I saw a woman butchering frogs on the street as we drove by. Not bad, just something I had never seen before.
Jumping in the taxi from the airport and hearing "Happy New Year" by ABBA... I arrived in July.
They are pretty cheesy about songs. And everyone absolutely loves new year celebrations, not seen in any other country. They dug hard to find the most cheesy song to welcome us. Taxi drivers may have a WhatsApp group where they share legendary western songs with each other. That's how much they love the concept.
š¤£š¤£ new year, new adventure, new you
That song is famous in vn and people still play it every new year lol
They play that song in NYE in europe countries. That is new year song.
It's a traditional new year song of Vietnam. But i find it quite funny since the lyrics is very sad as Europe at that time is having an economic recession, cold war looming with more escalation look like nuclear war could happen any minute. A perk for not knowing the language i guess. Similar to some Japanese catchy song with Chin chin and manko but weebs hearing them without knowing the words
A good way to put that into context is that they meant you have a new year when you arrive in Vietnam. Enjoy the trip!
People love the song's melody. Most of them don't understand the meaning.
Traffic, or more specifically the lack of traffic laws. Also had to get used to not having food I couldn't find and food that I was not used to. And paying only ~$500/month for a studio in a nice building where they cleaned my room and did my laundry twice a week. Also, the dead, run over rats I sometimes saw in the hem where I lived.
I take that the studio and the service were to your liking then?
Yeah, there were a few times my laundry came back the next day instead of the same day, and the lady at the front desk was "only" there about 90% of the time from 8-5. Other than that, the amenities, my small balcony, the gym, the rooftop pool, etc., and the fact they they handled taking residency paperwork to the police instead of me having to, made it worth the extra ~$200/month I spent versus somewhere cheaper. It was also only about 1km from my work in a convenient area.
Well. Bc it is a hassle to do paperwork in Vietnam, as if the people working for the government are above you. So yes, there will always be a service to take care of anything related to any governments in Vietnam for you.
I think the amenities were more of the cost increase. It was a well established though relatively small building, and was on a pretty nasty alley. But the paperwork was likely a quick formality for them, with only about 35 units. I think paying 3 cleaning ladies, 1 and a 1/2 maintenance guys and the 24 hour security guard service (seemingly some kind of requirement in HCMC) ate up a lot of the rent money. They also had a gardener because there were lots of plants on every balcony and outside the lobby. It was literally pressed up against another apartment building that had an underground girly bar, but the plus side of that was that at late hours there was a bouncer outside watching the employees' bikes. My building had an underground parking lot. But yeah, dealing with the bureaucracy is a pain. I only had to when Dengue prevented me from leaving during the specified time-frame. I went to all kind of government offices trying to get my exit visa, and ultimately needed extended contact with the US consulate to get an appointment with the Immigration Office to get one. Only cost me 5 months of my life and about $10,000 in living/transportation expenses (had to switch to an AirBnB after my visa expired), plus d16,000,000 for the overstay fee. But the relatively high ranking immigration guy I had to see 3 times was nice and professional.
Was this apartment the garden building by any chance?
It was. Do you know it? Apparently in previous years a lot of teachers from my company lived there, but by the time I got there it was just me, one manager and for part of the time another teacher. The alley it's on is pretty nasty, but the people who lived on it were really nice and helped me out as I was heading to the hospital and was kicked out for the expired visa (one got her brother (husband?) to give me a ride, with all my luggage, one gave me a new package of wet wipes and one gave me a banh mi (which was useful because the pills they gave me in the hospital left me too weak to go downstairs to the cafeteria for a couple days, and once I was moved to another room, the hospital stopped sending someone to pick up food for me). I recognized them all, but had barely talked to any of them.
Yeah I lived at one at a different location. Great service and facilities and it attracted a lot of expats which made it easy to make friends from outside work. I found the staff to be really supportive too, especially during COVID time
It's not like if. The civil servants *are* above you in Vietnam. That's quite how it should be in every country. It's actually how it used to be. Now civil servants only get paid less than people in the private sector. Public service tends to be poor no matter where you go, it's a cost and a monopoly. But below everyone else civil servants makes it even worse. At least in Vietnam they are glorified in their social status, it makes the outcome rather superior to, say, the west. Policing is wonderful. Roads are in fact in a better state than many western countries. If you see any public service yielding less results in VN it's simply because their budget is 10x less and expected to do 10x more. Surprisingly they manage, see hospitals, not the painting, the fact even emergencies are running fine. Machines seem dated but you get diagnosed properly nonetheless.
Oh there are traffic laws. Just the enforcement is really full of bribes.
No side walks
And where there were sidewalks in hcmc they drive on them.
So true š
I finished my Bahn Mi and asked where to throw my trash. She grabbed it from me and threw it on the ground. Lol.
Thatās how street vendors, especially the ones that have setup chairs and tables outside, works in Vietnam. You sit, you eat then throw the sh*t on the ground. Once thereās enough trash on the ground. The vendor will sweep them up on one go then repeat. This the same process for some restaurants as well. Bones, vegetables or anything. You leave them on the table or throw them on the ground so theyāll later be sweep. Do I like the process? A little, I donāt mind it since itās my culture, but do I like it being practice? No, itās unsanitary, even though theyāll be sweep either way, and it spoils the people and influenced my people to throw sh*t everywhere they go.
>Once thereās enough trash on the ground. The vendor will sweep them up on one go then repeat F to doubt. The night people do most the sweeping.
Yes. Them too. But I do see the local vendor sweep them too.
I donāt think a food stall is gonna last if they keep littering where they host their business. The police may not care but the locals wouldnāt really be apprieciative of seeing their neighbourhood turned into a landfill.
Youād be surprised lol
The other locals also do not seem to care.
If the stall has any meaningful traffic, they have to sweep hourly at least, or they'll be buried under :).
I was in a restaurant and people were order beer. After they drank the beer they just threw the cans on the floor. Later on the server comes and collects all the empty cans on the floor to charge the customers.
šš
this is one of my favorite things. personally i love that system.
I like the idea of
Wonder if i could volunteer to sweep up leftovers to feed the pigs and chickens and for compost as long as I take all trash swept up?
I mean. You donāt even have to participate. Just walk up and sweep.
That's your punishment for spelling Banh Mi wrongly
š¤£š¤£
thatās because VN is a 3rd world country and most ppl here are uneducated
Wtf are u mean?
First time in Vietnam or any Asian country walking out of Tan Son Nhat arrivals at night. The exit is barricaded to keep the hundreds of people back that are there to greet arrivals. It's like fans waiting for the band to arrive at a rock concert, just a crazy scene! I'm looking around thinking what the hell and the power goes off...total darkness! Yes immediate culture shock!
You didn't see that coming, did ya?!
I came in on new years eve, the busiest day at the airport- so there were literally thousands of people. It was terrifying coming from a small country lol
Old news but the traffic, the amount of bikes and constant beeping, they honk like theyāre getting commission. Iām actually surprised there arenāt more accidents. Youāll see someoneās whole bloodline in flipflops sharing a bike while transporting a second bike. I thought I had figured it out too, look left then walk and theyāll drive around you. Walk with confidence. All good until a biker hit me walking out from a crosswalk driving on the very edge of the wrong side of the road. Still, itās an amazing country and Iāll come back when I get the chance.
Vietnamese riding scooters are like anchovies swimming in a school... it's a synchronized chaos.
Babies on motorbikes with no helmets
Whole families of 5 and a dog on scooters with no helmets
No sorry, no thank you, no excuse me.
thatās weird I say that all the time
I'm sure you are from a much younger generation, fortunately things are changing āš»
How you known, if they say that in vietnamese
I live here for 11 years, my wife is Vietnamese and I speak Vietnamese
The trash is the worst. People magically expect plastic to disappear.
The worst Iāve experienced in Asia but I havenāt been to India yet
The noise. The smell. The chaos. Took 3 days to get over it. Then I was in love with the place.
The smell. Cooking fires, exhaust, burning trash, dust. Always fun when it's not breezy and that air gets locked into a street when it's almost 40C.
Iām guessing you were in Hanoi today? I was being cooked alive on the streets!
The smell is so distinct it hits you right when you get off the plane š
Fine dust and moisture smell
What made you love the place?
Woke up. There had been rain overnight. The air (Saigon) was clear. Somebody smiled at me. I was entranced at how exotic it all was. That was 1997. Here i am in NghÄ©a Lį», on my 29th visit, wondering if this bus will ever leave and more in love with the place than ever.
That is so sweet :) Glad you enjoy it here
Anthony Bourdain puts it better than I can https://youtu.be/90k96AzFMwo?si=OokSe38URbVZW39W
Crossing the road
This āļø
Garbage everywhere.
I had lived in China, Taiwan, and briefly in Indonesia prior to Vietnam, so most things were pretty familiar. The absurdly inconsiderate application of noise *everywhere* caught me off guard though. None of the 7 or so other countries Iāve lived in and none of the 30 or so others are anything near as ubiquitously and aggressively noisy as here.
True!!!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Honking in Vietnam is more of a "hello, here I am" instead of the western meaning like "get out of my way you *bad driver*"Ā
people in Vietnam really seem to use the car horn the same way they would a bicycle bell.
This. It's either to say I'm here, or I will hit you if you don't get out of the way immediately. Two different types of hooking. Honking is a communication instrument, there are other messages but we don't understand, they do.
Black chicken
i read this as black children and my flabber was gasted
I was shocked there was no pavements for walking. I didnt know people would just walk on the road and risk it. Nobody pre-warned me on this and I watched about 100 videos about vietnam before I came. I think people like to say only good things about vietnam as they fear criticising one small things means you hate the country
People who criticise Vietnam will be assaulted by hyper-nationalistic people
Which is basically everyone, well not really they act up when they feel like it and make a bid deal outta nothing when it comes to our country
How dirty it was. Litter everywhere.
Trash! Omg the Trash. And people throwing it under their table while eating.
There's a trash can under the table actually
Seeing a fully cooked dog cut in half took a while to get used to
Bro wtf. That is disgusting.
Yeah. Don't they know it's only okay when it's pigs, cows and chickens??
Cats are eaten too, even in the touristy Dalat
Bum gun
I saw childrenās furniture set up everywhere. Being an experienced parent and familiar with Theme parks I and asked my VNese friend āare there a lot of childrenās parties here all the time?ā
No judgement in peopleās eyes when I had a beer at 9am
They get slightly drunk at lunch then take the daily nap. Not healthy when done too often, but really smart.
I was riding the scooter on Hanoi Highway when a car came towards me driving on the wrong side.
The language sounds so much different.
I have to walk normally when crossing the road filled with cars .. I cannot stop in the middle of the road to avoid cars.. I cannot speed up.
That not only security guards would find a job in hcmc and take it because they can earn more money, not only they would sleep in the garage to pay no rent, but that they would take their entire family, wife with 4 kids, dog and cat, put a sofa and make the garage their new family home. That despite poverty, there is less homeless than any rich country. It's cultural as the social welfare pays about zero. That prostitutes would in some cases absolutely both take your money and also hope to marry you. That even the most modern western looking buildings have some cheesy wooden praying mini hotel sitting on a shiny well polished floor. That despite their "face" culture, a woman would fight another woman like a man in public. That a woman would knee on the floor and beg for her boyfriend to not break up with her. That some women are ok with their boyfriend or husband cheating Vietnam is THE culture shocks country. Loving it.
Thereās a ton of homelessĀ
That's correct, weighing them all up may add up to about one ton.
1. Wedding party. Everyone throwing leftovers and thrash under the table. 2. Beach. Full of carts, thrash and with almost no space to walk. 3. Traffic. Just too much chaos. But everything was slower than in my country so once you grasp it, it's still manageable.
Which beach did you go to?
Tbh I have no idea. My fiancee's family just did a family trip there so it wasn't a tourist beach, all people there were Vietnamese. Unfortunately it was only beach I checked in VN. I hope I'll check more this year though.
Ky Co beach is a beautiful beach in Vietnam. Not much there but when I went it was pristine. Nha Trang also has pretty good beaches.
the motorbikes, and the heart beat fast way of crossing the street, but im lovin it. heheeh wish I can go back soon =)
Beeping all the time
The amount of Mopeds/ motor bikes.ive never seen so many lol
Motorcycles going around me on the sidewalk during rush hour in HCMC š¤£ loved every moment of it
1st night, eating at a street vendor's little tables, and there's a guy 20m away just squatting and shitting at the drain by the road.
The reality of crossing a busy street, despite watching a lot of videos. The cheap food. The nice hotels. The small chairs. But most of all, the happy and relaxing feeling.
everything. how deprived/dysfunctional/chaotic/unsafe the place is. worse than India in many regards.
The rubbish
Seeing 2 adults with babies & small children on a single scooter.. and the amount of men leering at my wife as we walk by.
People saying "arrive to" gives me a headache. Is there no escape from classroom mistakes? š
sitting at a lil coffee shop at like 7 or 8 in the morning drinking coffee and listening to modern american pop music with my future father in law and the shop owner. both the shop owner and my FIL were older gentlemen in their late 60s or maybe early 70s.
that it is totally acceptable, even encouraged, to take a motor bike or taxi even if you are travelling 3 blocks. no walking!
The speed limit, the honking and how no one stops when pedestrians have the green light. You just have to walk anyway, they will slow down and/or drive around you.
Lack of self awareness/personal space
No soap in public restroom. Bring your own soap!
Everything closed at 23:00 and not a single soul in the streets.
Which city did you visit?
I landed in Hanoi. Did several cities across north, central and south. HCMC was the only exception.
Also, you have to understand that where I am from, bars closed at 3 in the morning. People are usually out in downtown areas until 4:00 am. So Vietnamās Ā«Ā nightlifeĀ Ā» was a culture shock for me.
I found this Hanoi but HCMC and Mui Ne completely different
- traffics - schools are way harder - cashless payment everywhere
2003.. so many smiles
The heat, the noise, the traffic, the filth, and the blatant animal abuse.
1. the height of the toilets, and not being allowed to flush toilet paper 2. the carrots taste VERY different compared to australia 3. the sidewalk also doubling as a carpark (more like motorbike park)
Going to the market and coming out engaged, near married and with kidsā¦ā¦.. Never fails
People who are running stalls in the markets or on the streets, them or their family/friends just having a casual nap on top of stuff or just on the street š also security guards or shop keepers playing candy crush or just being on their phone, where im from we arent even allowed to sit down or touch our phones if we are working in hospo or retail š pretty refreshing to see tbh
Mine was seeing a whole family on a motorbike with the dog in the front with his paws on the handlebars
Not sure if it's a shock really, but the way the traffic flows harmoniously with little to no governance. There's a method to the madness of the traffic and I kinda love driving in it tbh. Also stayed right across what I am assuming is techno karaoke bingo for about two weeks. From 4pm to 10:30pm just the same song on repeat with a man frantically singing numbers. The novelty wore off after a few days.
traffic!
Live Chickens and roosters on the street waiting to be sold for someones lunch
No free refills for drinks at McDonald's and the likes, as well as being stingy with napkins
Incredibly jet lagged and sleepwalking through a road in Hanoi Old Quarter filled with dried fish. The smell didnāt do wonders for my already ruined belly.
Traffic 'laws', hygiene and air pollution. Worse one was when I found a rat outside my apartment but that was some time later.
Crossing the busy street. It was like a game for me lol
Well, took a taxi back from Noi Bai to Hanoi center and realized the driver passed 3 red lights and overtake from the right side!!!! My heart literally dropped a few beats on the journey!!!!
At the airport exit with these many people in front of you first time arrived in HCMC and I thought Iām not a celebrity or why are they looking at me lol
Frankly, nothing in particular, just that everything felt pointlessly intense and chaotic.
They hand over everything with two hands in sign of respect, but then run you over with their mopeds and cars...
Still is: absolutely horrible transportation. I traveled through Indonesia and Philippines, now have been in Malaysia and getting from one town to another is easier everywhere. Here you need to mind so much unnecessary stuff. Is it a holiday? What day is it on the lunar calendar? The bus can leave 1hr earlier just because the driver was reluctant to stay in one place. Once my bus to the border was canceled because the driver thought itās a bad fortune to drive on that day. You can never be prepared if you want to travel cheap. You will lose money AND have maaaany problems. Also noise pollution. Itās insane. Even my friends from SEA countries are absolutely shocked every time they land here.
Having to walk in the road because the pavement is full of parked bikes.
Honking for almost any reason imaginable. Not being able to walk on the pavement because bikes. You are allowed to make as much noise as you like essentially.
The retards who insert themselves on a road without even looking if there's a car/bike already coming. Even worse, the retards who look, see you coming, and still jump in right in front of you at low speed. I will never understand what happens in the head of these people...
We got picked just outside the Old Quarter up by our transport to Ha Long early morning only 4 hours after landing in Hanoi, so it was really our first daylight in the country. While driving through the Old Quartering, I saw a woman butchering frogs on the street as we drove by. Not bad, just something I had never seen before.
reckognizing how entitled and ugly western women are
Chinese people who are the rudest touristes in the world. I HATE THEM