Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

crob · Post by **crob** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 8:13 am

Booked a trip for Vietnam in May... now I'm question if I should spend the 3 weeks hopping around and visiting a few locations as originally planned or just stay in Ho Chi Minh and Hoi An.

BobtheBillder · Post by **BobtheBillder** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 9:40 am

I think you'd be bored after more than a few days in Hoi An.

Doc67 · Post by **Doc67** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 10:56 am

I fancy a trip to Vietnam. I went once to HCMC and spent the entire 4 days in my room with food poisoning I got from PP. (The journey from the airport to the hotel was close to being a very traumatic event). From what I saw of the place it is too big and busy for my tastes.

I have been to Na Trang for 5 days and quite liked it, but everyone tells me there are far better places to go.

So, I am all ears. Where should I go for a week?

Ideally a place within a hour's drive of another place for a day trip. Da Nang / Hoi An looks interesting, so too does Qui Nhon, which looks more compact. Ideally, I want the basics such as beach, bars and restaurants within walking distance, I don't do bikes or endless taxi journeys to go everywhere.

Any suggestions?

crob · Post by **crob** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 11:06 am

BobtheBillder wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 9:40 am I think you'd be bored after more than a few days in Hoi An.

yeah that was my thoughts, think I time worked it out...

Land late in Ho Chi, 1 night Airport Hotel > 3 nights Hội An > 4 nights Da Nang > 4 night Sapa trek through intrepid > 4 nights Hanoi > 4 nights Ho Chi > fly home

feels rushed but after 2 years of no travel maybe a bit if chaos will be good

Alex · Post by **Alex** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 1:04 pm

I'll revisit the three big ones (Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang and Hanoi) first. If anything interesting comes up and if I have extra time to spare, I might make a few side trips. I've never been to Vung Tau and the Mekong Delta, so they're already on my list, but maybe for another trip.

ExPenhMan · Post by **ExPenhMan** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 2:15 pm

@Doc67 and @Alex I don't have recent experience with central and northern VN, and what I do know came to me during trips 10-12 years ago. So I am out of date. However, I have spent quite a bit of time in Saigon and Vung Tau pre-pandemic.

If you like craft beer (real ale in Britspeak), Saigon has loads of good brewpubs (some Da Nang). In Saigon, there is: East-West Brewing, Pasteur Street Brewing, Winking Seal, Heart of Darkness, Tê Tê Taphouse, Fuzzy Logic, plus Craft Beer (Biacraft), the latter a kind of small chain of pubs featuring Vietnam brewed beers.

Then there's the very decent locally made beers, 333, Saigon Red, Saigon Green, Hanoi, Larue, and finally all the bia hoi's (fresh, cold, CHEAP and GOOD draft) around the town and city sidewalks. Hoegaarden is brewed in VN.

Need I say how eye-opening cheap beers and liquor are? Same for cigs.

Weather note: HCMC is in the same state of heat and humidity as Bangkok now. However, Da Nang and north to Hanoi get stinking hot in June-July.

As for Vung Tau, where I lived about 3 years in total, is at about half capacity now, according to friends. Three prime bars are closed, Offshore (permanent), Red Parrot and Billabong. Lots of others still open, but it seems lots of former expat residents are still stuck at home in Oz, US, etc. Has some good restaurants (and bars) along Phan Chu Trinh St. and nearby area. Many, many hotels here too.

I will say Vung Tau, an oil and gas port much in decline, is a small city and doesn't have the big city buzz of Saigon, Hanoi and Da Nang. For me, that's great. Others have found it "boring" and "too quiet."

Bongmab69 · Post by **Bongmab69** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 3:20 pm

ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 2:15 pm @Doc67 and @Alex I don't have recent experience with central and northern VN, and what I do know came to me during trips 10-12 years ago. So I am out of date. However, I have spent quite a bit of time in Saigon and Vung Tau pre-pandemic.

If you like craft beer (real ale in Britspeak), Saigon has loads of good brewpubs (some Da Nang). In Saigon, there is: East-West Brewing, Pasteur Street Brewing, Winking Seal, Heart of Darkness, Tê Tê Taphouse, Fuzzy Logic, plus Craft Beer (Biacraft), the latter a kind of small chain of pubs featuring Vietnam brewed beers.

Then there's the very decent locally made beers, 333, Saigon Red, Saigon Green, Hanoi, Larue, and finally all the bia hoi's (fresh, cold, CHEAP and GOOD draft) around the town and city sidewalks. Hoegaarden is brewed in VN.

Need I say how eye-opening cheap beers and liquor are? Same for cigs.

Weather note: HCMC is in the same state of heat and humidity as Bangkok now. However, Da Nang and north to Hanoi get stinking hot in June-July.

As for Vung Tau, where I lived about 3 years in total, is at about half capacity now, according to friends. Three prime bars are closed, Offshore (permanent), Red Parrot and Billabong. Lots of others still open, but it seems lots of former expat residents are still stuck at home in Oz, US, etc. Has some good restaurants (and bars) along Phan Chu Trinh St. and nearby area. Many, many hotels here too.

I will say Vung Tau, an oil and gas port much in decline, is a small city and doesn't have the big city buzz of Saigon, Hanoi and Da Nang. For me, that's great. Others have found it "boring" and "too quiet."

Hoegaarden brewed in VN ?? Interesting !! You lived in V.T. ?? Interesting, it is already for years on my bucket-list, but knever been even in VN, how should i compare V.T. nightlife with Phnom Penhs ?? I was last years +100 days in a very quiet Phuket, and loved it really, Beer is Cheap in VN you say, but how cheap is that (cant imagine cheaper then PP) ?? Is it complicated to get from HCM airport to V.T. or even from the Khmer border ??
Cheers mate !!

ExPenhMan · Post by **ExPenhMan** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 4:46 pm

Bongmab69 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 3:20 pm
ExPenhMan wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 2:15 pm @Doc67 and @Alex I don't have recent experience with central and northern VN, and what I do know came to me during trips 10-12 years ago. So I am out of date. However, I have spent quite a bit of time in Saigon and Vung Tau pre-pandemic.

If you like craft beer (real ale in Britspeak), Saigon has loads of good brewpubs (some Da Nang). In Saigon, there is: East-West Brewing, Pasteur Street Brewing, Winking Seal, Heart of Darkness, Tê Tê Taphouse, Fuzzy Logic, plus Craft Beer (Biacraft), the latter a kind of small chain of pubs featuring Vietnam brewed beers.

Then there's the very decent locally made beers, 333, Saigon Red, Saigon Green, Hanoi, Larue, and finally all the bia hoi's (fresh, cold, CHEAP and GOOD draft) around the town and city sidewalks. Hoegaarden is brewed in VN.

Need I say how eye-opening cheap beers and liquor are? Same for cigs.

Weather note: HCMC is in the same state of heat and humidity as Bangkok now. However, Da Nang and north to Hanoi get stinking hot in June-July.

As for Vung Tau, where I lived about 3 years in total, is at about half capacity now, according to friends. Three prime bars are closed, Offshore (permanent), Red Parrot and Billabong. Lots of others still open, but it seems lots of former expat residents are still stuck at home in Oz, US, etc. Has some good restaurants (and bars) along Phan Chu Trinh St. and nearby area. Many, many hotels here too.

I will say Vung Tau, an oil and gas port much in decline, is a small city and doesn't have the big city buzz of Saigon, Hanoi and Da Nang. For me, that's great. Others have found it "boring" and "too quiet."
Hoegaarden brewed in VN ?? Interesting !! You lived in V.T. ?? Interesting, it is already for years on my bucket-list, but knever been even in VN, how should i compare V.T. nightlife with Phnom Penhs ?? I was last years +100 days in a very quiet Phuket, and loved it really, Beer is Cheap in VN you say, but how cheap is that (cant imagine cheaper then PP) ?? Is it complicated to get from HCM airport to V.T. or even from the Khmer border ??

Cheers mate !!

Phnom Penh has far more nightlife, by far. However, in VT, the nightlife is behind closed doors. And there certainly are a few bars of interest here and there, over a stretch of about 2-3 km. Remember, VT is not that big. I walk nearly everywhere. But will hastily add that I am a non-participant, i.e., out of the game.

A local 330 ml beer is about 20,000 to 30,000 VND, which is 75 cents US to just over a buck in bars. In VN, a fine craft beer runs about 80,000 to 120,000 VND, which is US$3.50 to $5 in Saigon or Vung Tau.

What I love about going to or from Saigon and Vung Tau is taking the fast ferry from the shore of the Saigon River, in District 1 downtown to the Front Beach in VT. It's 2 hours and 250,000-280,000 VND/US$11-US$12. You can take the cheaper VIP limos from the airport but the maniacs driving the small vans scare the crap out of me. I value my life.

By the way Vung Tau is far far away from the Cambodia border, on the east coast of the East Vietnam Sea, a.k.a. South China Sea.

And last but not least, in fact, rather important, the visa situation is not good at all. Only a 90-day Tourist visa, during which you have to get a residency stamp every 30 days. Before 90 days are up, you have to leave the country. However, it seems as though they are not offering this 90-day visa yet, according to a visa agent I have used before.

Bongmab69 · Post by **Bongmab69** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 4:58 pm

Ahaa, a ferry from HCM to VT, knever even thought about t, but seems to be nice alternative. Normally i would come to PP next autumn by car driving from Belgium, and it would be a nice visa-run ater 60 days PP, another 60 days in HCM and VT. First plan was doing it in Thailand, but i prefere VN, as i knever seen it. Thats all of course, if all the landborders open between Europe and PP. If not it will be an other year by air i suppose, and i could take that ferry and enjoy the ride, hahahah !! Any good usgestions for Hotels in VT ?? I know PP pretty good, and the real deal is very often to choose the right location in PP, if you want to be close to teh riverside, and you get a nice chepa hotel 5 kms away, you spend all the money on a tuktuk daily, and mostly are better of paying some more to the hotel and being in walking distance from your preferred watering holes (just saw, there is one also in V.T.). And is i dont know at all V.T. its a gamble without "inside-information" !! ?? In PP i useally pay around 25 US ?? Is V.T. similar in hotel prices ??

ExPenhMan · Post by **ExPenhMan** » Wed Mar 23, 2022 5:24 pm

Bongmab69 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 23, 2022 4:58 pm Ahaa, a ferry from HCM to VT, knever even thought about t, but seems to be nice alternative. Normally i would come to PP next autumn by car driving from Belgium, and it would be a nice visa-run ater 60 days PP, another 60 days in HCM and VT. First plan was doing it in Thailand, but i prefere VN, as i knever seen it. Thats all of course, if all the landborders open between Europe and PP. If not it will be an other year by air i suppose, and i could take that ferry and enjoy the ride, hahahah !! Any good usgestions for Hotels in VT ?? I know PP pretty good, and the real deal is very often to choose the right location in PP, if you want to be close to teh riverside, and you get a nice chepa hotel 5 kms away, you spend all the money on a tuktuk daily, and mostly are better of paying some more to the hotel and being in walking distance from your preferred watering holes (just saw, there is one also in V.T.). And is i dont know at all V.T. its a gamble without "inside-information" !! ?? In PP i useally pay around 25 US ?? Is V.T. similar in hotel prices ??

I never do hotel daily rates so am unfamiliar. But you can get a very decent hotel apartment for as little as 5 million VND/US$215 for the month. I usually pay 6.5 million to 8 million. 23,000 VND = US$1. You will want to stay near Phan Chu Trinh St., lots of bars and eateries. All the streets running off this one have small hotels by the dozen. Just pull up a booking.com map of this street and you will be flooded with options. Hotels are shoulder to shoulder on Phan Huy Chu, which is a good locale for bars and restaurants on Phan Chu Trinh. Oh, meter taxis are cheap.

Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

Re: Vietnam ministries back March 15 full re-opening

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