Vietnam has become a must-see place amongst the travellers lately. With the length of 3000km from the north tip to the south tip and the two thousand kilometer coastline, the country features several amazing landscapes such as the winding roads in Ha Giang Loop to the white sandy beaches in the central coast and the vivid light from the cruises drop the anchor in Ha Long Bay and vibrant cities with millions of motorbikes in Ha Noi or Ho Chi Minh City. Before your trip to Vietnam, Junetours list the insights to provide you more information about our country :
1/Weather :
Vietnam is divided with weather from the north to the south. The best time to visit up north is from September to May next year when it is autumn and winter, it can be freezing up the mountainous area in coldest days but it is dried and shining most of the time. From June to September, summer is very warm and humid with the temperature can be up to 42 degree and most annoying thing : mosquitoes. Up the mountain this time, it can be rainy all week long with the landslides as the result. In the central, the best time to visit is in the summer from April to September when it is warm as well as dried. The rainy season is from October to March next year which causes the flood as the result.
In the south, there is no winter at all. It is basically hot and hotter but it can be rainy with the tidal season in November or December.
2/Currency :
Vietnam is quite complicated at our currency. The biggest note in the world now is 500.000vnd ~ 20usd. A good meal on the street can be just 50.000vnd~ 2usd but a dinner for two at the restaurant can cost 20usd. We normally replace three last zeros with “k” so instead of saying 500.000vnd, we say 500k.
When you get involved in services, tipping is recommended. It can be 30k at the restaurant for the waiters or 100k~4usd/day/person for the local guides. Tipping culture helps people out and a vital way to encourage them in their services.
3/Food :
When it comes to food, Vietnam is one of the best places in the world. You can either grab a loaf of bánh mỳ full of topping at some random street stalls or sit down on little chairs to try a bowl of Phở with beef or chicken. Despite of being sold on pavement, they’re served warm and fresh. Rice is main ingredient, all types of noodle are made from rice powder and even whisky is extracted from fermented rice. During the Vietnamese trips, Junetours also provides travellers with the food tour with a local guide to understand more about the Vietnamese food culture.
4/Culture :
There are 54 ethnic groups of people living together in Vietnam. They speak their own languages or dress up different costumes but they are friendly and hospitable all the time generally. Viet people take up 85% out of 100 million inhabitants. Hmong people with population of 1.4 million who live up north between Vietnam and China border or Cham people with population of 200.000 who live in the southern land around Mekong Delta or Ede people who live in the central highland. Every ethnic group has their own culture but most of them worship their ancestors in their houses and pray twice a month.
5/Traffic :
Vietnam is actually quite chaotic at traffic with millions of motorbikesrunning like the beehives but somehow it works quite smoothly. Junetours can offer you from a easy going motorbike tour to see Hanoi or HCM city to challenging one lasting 4 days to see the mountain up north. In the cities, tech apps are commonly used. From place to place, wenomarlly use “limousine vans” which are comfortable but for thefurther places, sleeper buses are commonly use. Train is also a good choice but due to its long-time existence < from 1900>it is quite loud and uncomfortable, it is also not cheaper than flight, but you can feel like it was in 1980’s and the train journey along the country is amazing with the landscapes changing. When you take all those vehicles, let’s not expect the drivers communicating with you in English ! They just nod or shake their head in case of reply.
*DOS AND DONTS :
-Respect the local people and their culture.
-Shopping from street vendors is not recommended.
-Don’t take photos of police or soldier.
-Bargain is necessary but when the items worth less than 400k ~15usd, you don’t need to bargain.
-Package tours are convenient but solo travelling is not a bad idea, booking tours/services at the reliable tour agencies are recommended.
-Most of places turn down card payment so prepare a few million vnd for your expenses.
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Whatapps : +84378694469
Email : Contact@junetours.vn
Address : 442 Au Co Street – Tay Ho District – Hanoi 100000
