Thoughts on Vietnam

I don't think I really spent enough time in Vietnam but I did not enjoy it near as much as China. The travel in Vietnam really seemed to get to me more that it did in China. Maybe this was because I did not take enough rest days or just the fact that I have been traveling for over 4 months now. I tried to count the days where all I really did was check out of a hotel travel and then check into another hotel and this accounts for almost 1/3 of my time in Vietnam. The one thing I would do different in Vietnam is look into flying between some of the cities.

I felt like almost all of my time in Vietnam was spent at tourist hotspots and I had very little contact with the normal people. I found that I saw the worst side of some of the Vietnamese people looking to take advantage of the tourist. I was over charged and cheated a number of times and had 2 boys throw rocks at me in Dalat. Sorry to say this overshadows the wonderful people that I did met. On the good side was the lady that I set next to on the train between Danang and Nha Trang where it was really hard for me to pay for anything. She was always trying to pay for everything or the little girl that rode next to me on the bus between Dalat and Saigon. There was also the guy that kept squeezing my leg on the bus going to Halong city when we were packed in like sardines. Maybe he was coming on to me but I think he was just being friendly. I enjoyed setting on the beach in Nha Trang talking to someone that wanted to practice their English or all the students that wanted to do the same that approached me each time I set in a park in Saigon.

I think the highlights for me were my time in Ninh Binh and visiting the Cham towers at My Son and Nha Trang. I also really enjoyed all the bike rides even running into a girl in the Mekong Delta.

Well time to move on to Cambodia.