Nicky why dig this up again you old dog....
Drifter-
Old people should avoid Hanoi......thats really odd, it seems its the youngsters that get scammed...as in the OP
110
ticotim
111
ticotim
Nicky why dig this up again you old dog....
Drifter-
Old people should avoid Hanoi......thats really odd, it seems its the youngsters that get scammed...as in the OP
112
iamaskier
I've been in vietnam for about five days now, and in those five days, i've gotten a horrible stomach bug and had to stay curled up in my hotel room for the first two days, and as soon as got better I had my wallet with all my bank cards stolen, and as a result have had to cut out half of my trip while I wait to get replacements for all that was lost. What's funny is that I'm still enjoying it here, because I'm determined not to let a few bad things ruin my trip. It's all in what you make of it, if you expect to be pleased, and want to have a good time, you will, no matter what happens. If you expect to get ripped off, ignored, scammed, and generally have a shitty time, you will, because your attitude is already so negative. The impressions you get of a country have little to do with what happens, it's what you make of it.
113
dreadfulheadfull
I had my wallet with all my bank cards stolen
You were probably showing a 'great deal of cultural insensitivity/ignorance'.
What's funny is that I'm still enjoying it here
Glad to see you've corrected that.
a few bad things
Hey! There are no bad things, you're slipping again...
If you expect to get ripped off, ignored, scammed, and generally have a shitty time, you will, because your attitude is already so negative.
...and because that bugger's just about spent your cash and he's looking for you again.
115
akirakhan
FYI: right now it's mercury retrograde -par for the course -just enjoy the things that come via these disruptions...
116
ginaje
It is a shame that you have judged the whole of Vietnam by a bad experience in Hanoi. Cities are not the best places to judge a country by. I think you will be missing an awful lot by dismissing Nam completely, I am sure there are lots of places there that you will love as much as you hated Hanoi!!!!
118
paddypackpacker
Eileen76!! You have to remember what the vietnamese people have been through in their lifetime! Most of the young people (30+) have seen their country ravaged by war, witnessed awful attrocities...worse than i'm sure you or i could even dream of!
Why did you go to Vietnam can i ask you?! A few little comments on some of your points:
"ignorant and stubborn Vietnamese" - you can't bundle a whole nation into one category, just because you "say" that you met some ignorant and stubborn Vietnamese. Did you ever stop to think that it was your intolerant, snobby, disrespectful, patronising manner that caused you problems????
"The a$$h*le" - You're just plain rude!!!!
"the snakey man"
"horrendous traffic at Hanoi" - Have you never encountered bad traffic in other countries??? Most big cities in the world have horrendous traffic, Paris, Rome, London, Dublin, New York....that's nothing to hold against the Vietnamese, plus they don't have the added bonus that "western" countries have as regards infrastructure!
"what's up with Hanoian's attitude anyway? They're rude, crude and uncouth." - As regards this point, i'd say AGAIN it was your attitude, you're supposed to treat people as you would like to be treated!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"OK, so they don't really speak English. Fine. I can accept it. What I can't stomach is the way they don't even looked at you in the eyes when you speak to them." - Maybe that's a cultural thing?!
"The same sour-faced and negative attitude" - Again, probably because they were looking at YOUR SOUR FACE!!!!!!!!!!
"Can I take a picture?" - LP ALWAYS recommends that you ask the locals of a country first if you want to take a picture of them. Right you did that, but do you not think some people would feel patronised by this?! What would you think if people asked to take your picture when you're at home?!?!?!?!?!
"Return to Vietnam??? Not in this lifetime" - I think the people in Vietnam who met you would probably be glad never to see the likes of you again. STAY AT HOME if you're going to judge countries the way you do!! You're supposed to be open-minded when travelling, you seem to be stuck in your own ways!! I wonder how people from your own country would feel being represented by someone like you abroad?! I know i'd be embarrassed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
119
bentobento
I am posting my experience here as well to let everyone know what they are in for
in Vietnam (or rather Hanoi).
My plan was to go travelling in Vietnam, all the way down from the north
(Hanoi City ) to the south (Ho Chi Minh City) in roughly 3 weeks.
Time-period is 1. - 18th August 2007.
In reality, I changed my whole plan... I flew to Hanoi via Bangkok,
though after a couple of stressful days in Hanoi I went on a boat trip
in Holong Bay (near Hanoi) which was alright. When I returned to Hanoi
I found out that there had been massive rain and floods down south
Vietnam. There would be no trains for another 4 days(12h travelling)
nor busses for another 2 days (+22h ride to Hoi An, the next town down
south). It really wasn't an easy decision but I decided to go back to
Thailand and spend the rest of my holidays in Krabi, Ao Nang +
Nopparat beach and Phi Phi Islands.
Reasons for not staying on Vietnam:
1. People are extremely arrogant, unfriendly and not in the least
helpful (Thailand/Japan is the opposite). Don't expect any smiles
either. When asking for the way to a theatre people just turn
their heads away in disgust and tell you to get lost (that's what I
made of it). I live in Japan, maybe I am just spoiled...
2. As a tourist I had no chance to make contact with friendly locals
(Thailand/Japan is way different, where you can talk almost anybody,
even if you don't talk verbally). Only talking to other travellers, without
any friendly interaction with the locals, gets kinda boring too.
This is not a country I recommend travelling on your own.
3. As a tourist you are a walking dollar sign and that's that. I didn't
even feel as a human being there. (In Thailand people want your
money too, but are way nicer and don't pester you all the time. They also
won't charge you 3 times the price you can always bargain, which you
can not in Vietnam, or rather Hanoi). Bargaining is nearly impossible,
and I had the feeling Vietnam is more expensive than Thailand, which it
shouldn't really, considering their stage of development.
4. In Vietnam (or Hanoi) you get approached by hawkers 24 h/day,
some of whom can be quite aggressive and keep on bothering you
even if you say 3 time "No, I don't need a bloody replica-watch!".
5. People try to rip you off wherever they can, hawkers, hotels,
taxi-drivers (some get aggressive when you don't want to pay
more than the average price). It's a pretty nagging experience.
6. I lost trust in the locals when my valuables-bag was nearly torn
away from strangers twice in Hanoi. I heard about 4-5 stories from
other travellers that all their valuables where stolen. One story
involved that her bag was slit with a knife right in front of her. Another
story was that a valuables bag was torn out through an open train window
when the train was about to pull out of the station (the poor guy was sleeping
with his bag as a cushion under his head, when strangers pulled it out through
the train window). Never-ending stories likes this made me feel like being in
a very hostile surrounding 24h/day, which made me pretty paranoid.
7. Finally the traffic in Hanoi is the hell on earth. About 90% are motor-cycles
and almost no cars. The motor-cyclist racing like crazy and don't give a damn
about any pedestrian. Also, the whole traffic emits a blast of honking, which seems
totally unnecessary to me. This creates an atmosphere of stress and hectic 24h/d.
8. At 11:30 p.m. there is a heavy curfew in Hanoi and all bars/clubs close. The city is
basically dead after 12:00 p.m. If you walks back home as a guy, you are very likely to
experience the following: a motor-cyclist with a whore on the back-seat pulls over in
front of you, hardly leave you any way to pass them. The whore jumps from the back
and approaches you, groping your testicles. If you incline and say you want to go
home the cyclist-pimp gets angry with you and tells you with a smile how great this
whore is (with the other hand on the trigger). Very convincing indeed.
There are some nice things in Hanoi, though I forgot what they where...
Some other travellers said that the Vietnamese are more relaxed in the
south, but then again not in Ho Chi Minh city either. I really wasn't
sure about it and just wanted to get away from this place and didn't
want to spend another 2 weeks of stress in Vietnam. When finding out
about no trains/busses to the south, I called it a day. I found an
cheap & easy option to go back to Bangkok and then down south to
Krabi/Phi Phi Islands with a budget airline (similar to EasyJet in
Europe) in one day.
Anyway, call me a looser, but I still had a really great time in south Thailand.
For me, the Vietnamese people (at least in the north) have to learn a lot in terms
of hospitality and kindness, otherwise their current tourism boom won't be for long,
I expect.
Please let me know if you experienced something similar. Every traveller should
know what they are in for with Vietnam. I would have chosen a different country for
travelling, if I had known the situation. Event the Lonely Planet Vietnam Guide only
makes one harmless remark about people and society, something along the lines that
travellers "lost trust in the locals"... I think the L.P. Vietnam Guide needs a proper update.
Please excuse my English, I'm a non native speaker (German).
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