If you're looking for a holiday, Vietnam is worth considering - particularly if you live in Asia or Oceania. There are plenty of things to look at and especially if you're from a Western country, the culture is quite different. It is good to experience different cultures to mix things up and challenge our way of thinking.
My motivation to go to Vietnam was that my partner lives there - I am in a long distance relationship. This certainly made things a lot easier, since her English is quite good and she basically organised everything for me!
My biggest concern, once I'd organised my visa (dirt cheap), flights, travel insurance, had all the vaccinations recommended by my travel doctor and was on a course of preventative anti-malaria medication, was getting gastroenteritis. By avoiding drinking the tap water, uncooked foods and ice, I was able to avoid getting diarrhoea. However, I may have an unusually strong stomach due to my strong aversion to food wastage and habitually eating sort-of-past-the-use-by-date food. Therefore, I would still advise caution and do your research.
Before getting there, I was particularly concerned about bag slashing by criminals but I felt a sense of security by being part of a group of four.
I was very reliant on my partner to translate when going to restaurants and at the hotel, otherwise I had Google Translate on my phone (or the staff member's phone) as a fallback. That, however, requires an internet connection.
Da Lat
Da Lat is a town in southeast Vietnam in the mountains. It has quite beautiful scenery as well as high quality, low cost hotels. It was in fact a resort established by the French when they colonised/invaded Vietnam. The four of us stayed in Hoang Yen Villa.
There was a flower festival nearby that supports not only nice vegetation but a dragon!
In fact, this dragon was actually capable of eating money.
We also visited Cu Lan Village, a small development surrounded by forest. We went on a 4WD tour through a creek and enjoyed the various activities including rowing on a raft in the lake.
In town contrasted sharply with the tourist-y areas. Motorbikes, the Vietnamese national flag and the Soviet hammer and sickle flag were all common throughout Vietnam.
Ho Chi Minh
We stayed overnight in Ho Chi Minh. The traffic is a bit crazy for the uninitiated - motorcycles everywhere. The hotel we stayed in was cheap and consequently left a lot to be desired but did the job of providing rest for the driver (which fortunately was not me).
Rach Gia
My partner's home town was Rach Gia and so we stayed there for a few days in Sea Light Hotel. The view from there was spectacular.
Since it was just my partner and I, we didn't do too much.
However, we watched Avatar - The Way of Water at the cinema across the road as well as a horror movie called Dao Doc Dac and an action movie called Thanh Soi. We also ate at the local restaurants and cafes. We were unable to finish either the Korean barbecue or the Korean hotpot.
Hope you enjoyed and whether this helped you in deciding whether to visit yourself 😉