They say 95% of people who come to Vietnam dont come back. I am one of those people. Ive had a good time but there is not much to do or see here. There is heaps but it is so so.
I loved the south. Saigon is a bit crazy and touristy, but the people are friendly and easy to get along with. The Delta was good to see even tho it was just a quick look.
Hoi An was my favourite place on the trip. It is one of the most touristy places I have been but I still loved it. It was kinda understated and layed back and deffinately my favourite place.
Sapa was a huge shopping mall and the same as Bali. Replace the Billabong and Quicksilver with North Face and Columbia and you have Sapa. The scenery in the north makes it all worth while but I wouldnt like to do just the trip from Hanoi to Sapa and back. You gotta get further out than that.
Hanoians are ruder than the Chinese.
Transport is more comfortable than in Loas. At least they dont over load the busses. In the north it is slow because of the narrow winding roads but that is improving and they are working all over the place on the roads. In the south the traffic is slow because af all the traffic. 60% of the population live in the south and something like 12 million bikes in Saigon.
Food is not outstanding. Ive tried lots of things that I wont mention here. (Ash get upset about me eating small fury animals) I am sick of noodles in soup with green stuff and some meat. They serve it up all the time just give it different names, and its pretty bland. The last couple of days I have hunted out some rice for dinner.
Shopping is not as great as I was led to believe. Lonely planet says it is 1/4 the price of home. Well I found some more shopping places today but still not that cheap. Sure you can get cheap T shirts for $2 but shoes and shorts (of any quality) are not much cheaper than home.