Trip report VN vs Thai

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#71818 - 04/29/08 12:55 AM

Trip report VN vs Thai

Freddy45
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Registered: 02/14/06
Posts: 87

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VN vs Thai

Having been to Thailand three times previously our first trip to VN was always going to be one of comparisons. Reading other trip reviews I feel that the country you visit first becomes your favourite and in this I am no exception. So I am going to compare
some points of difference. Briefly, we fly from Bangkok to Hanoi for 2 nights,Halong Bay overnight, Hanoi overnight, Hoi An 3 nights and Ho Chi Minh City 3 nights, then back to Bangkok for Thai New Year.

Hotels – after reading many reviews and harassing my travel agent I decided the way to go was to book direct and look for 3 star hotels that other TA users recommended.
Golden Sun in Hanoi, bumped to the Loyalty on return from Halong Bay, Long Life (Thanh Xuan) in Hoi An and a place called the Dai Nam Hotel in District 1 near the markets in Ho Chi Minh. Of these I would only return to the Long Life. Mrs Moon’s
Golden Sun and Loyalty are in a great location but way too noisy so we never got a good nights sleep and the rooms just too small for us. Still good value for money and Mrs Moon Sister charming and helpful. I wrote a review of Long Life on the TA forum so read it if you are interested. Free internet at these hotels is a nice bonus.
The Dai Nam was booked for me by a travel agent in Ho Chi Min. A solid but slightly dated hotel, the room itself was fine and external noise was not a problem but somewhere in the hotel a motor ran continuously switching itself on and off (a pump?). Also the breakfast was woeful. Orange juice was weak cordial, bacon and eggs were cold, fresh fruit was yesterdays leftovers. Coffee and bread were good.
Sure, part of this is beginners luck. Originally I tried to book the May Hotel in Saigon but could not get response to emails – until I sent one cancelling.

Compared to Thailand? In Thailand there seems to be an oversupply of hotel rooms. This means the rates are low and the service good. In Bangkok we paid only $60AU per night for a 4 star hotel. Rooms a little dated (about same vintage as Dai Nam) and to be fair bathrooms probably need upgrading but facilities, service and food are of a consistently high standard. For that we get a room with 2 double beds and a safe.
Clean, comfortable and quiet.

Halong Bay vs Phuket Hongs.
Two similar experiences and I am glad we have seen both. For Halong Bay we booked Santa Maria and were not disappointed. Thanks to TA’s who recommended it as there are about 300 boats operating on Halong! Relaxing and peaceful after Hanoi and would have been worth an extra day there. By now you are probably realising we are lazy travelers and like to savour a location rather than rush in, hit the highlights and leave. The fishing village, limestone caves and kayak trip were all good despite
overcast weather and the misty morning. Food was good but not the best we had in VN.
In comparison the Hongs near Phuket are probably more striking in that when you kayak in they are smaller and more intimate. There we did the John Greys tour, which starts when the others leave and I certainly recommend it despite the price tag - day
trip about the same as Santa Maria overnight! Having been to Halong I regret there is not an overnight experience for the Hongs.

Service – In VN there are some great individuals but overall they do not yet understand service like the Thais. Partly this is English where often they can express themselves well but not understand what you are saying to them. We had ongoing giggles when asking for ice and they were hearing “eyes”. Let me recount an amusing experience on the Santa Maria. Following the afternoon kayak about 8 of us went to the lounge for drinks. Our guide tells us dinner will be at 7pm. A Thai soap opera comes on the TV and the whole crew from the Captain down sit in the public area glued to the TV. Only after asking we are served more drinks by a girl who keeps one eye on the TV. Once the soap ends dinner is served in a rush and on the table by 6.15pm. It’s not that they were rude but rather they did not understand that those who are paying expect to be put first. Also the TV was the only one on the boat and never made available to the guests.

Tours and Guides – We took standard tours in Hanoi and Hoi An. These are so cheap you wonder how they cover costs but often there will be a visit to what we call “my friend’s shop” where local tourist style souvenirs are sold at grossly inflated prices. The guide gets a kickback of some sort for taking you there. Same same in Thailand. The limitation with these tours in VN is they all seem to beat the same path. I am not sure if this is a function of government control or just because tourism is still developing. Also the guides know their script but seemed to struggle when asked specific questions.
In Saigon we opted for private tours, which cost probably 10 times more but we tailored the day to our desires by eliminating friends shops and visiting temples instead. The private guide was able to give great insights into VN culture and answer direct questions. I am sure this is the type of service Jason Superstar provides and why he is so popular.

Roads and Traffic – the obsession with using the horn in VN became monotonous. Yes, I thought Thailand traffic was bad but I was wrong. We did manage to cross the big intersection near the markets in Saigon unlike two TA’s who shall not be named – they rode a cab to get across. Roads are better in Thailand making tours safer and quicker - except during their New Year with over 250 fatalities in 5 days!

Food - Breakfast in the hotels was woeful in VN. We regret not eating breakfast elsewhere as most meals we had at restaurants were good to excellent. Overall the western food was superior to Thailand and in VN you can get great bread.
In Hanoi, Koto was a fantastic experience and just down from Golden Sun Hotel we ate a great pizza at Stop Café so went back for great pastry.
In Hoi An excellent Italian food at Before and Now with chocolate moose that was superb. Hope they maintain this high level.
Best Vietnamese food for us was at Pho True Vien near the Long Life where home style meals were finished with a complementary tea of the day. Search out this type of home style family run concerns both in VN and Thailand for cheap and delicious meals.

Monarch vs Socialism – In Thailand there is a passion for the King and support is shown with banners around Bangkok and people wearing shirts of the King’s colour – yellow. I was surprised there were few outward signs of state control in VN. On the
surface if appears to be an unregulated free market much the same as in Thailand.

Scams – You can get scammed anywhere, even in your home town, but a new one on me was being charged $1 US for one of those, covered in ads, tourist maps in the hotel in Siagon.

Ancient Temples
In Thailand we have previously visited Ayutthaya on an organized day trip. I was surprised to see that some Thai’s were still worshipping at these sites. This year in Vietnam we visited MySon near Hoi An. Similar type of crumbling ancient brick temples but I felt that they were not as spectacular or well preserved as those in Thailand. In hindsight I would have only done one or the other. My Son was super cheap but Ayutthaya was a better experience.

Regrets – Did not get to Sapa, Na Trang and could have stayed longer in Hoi An.

cheers

Freddy

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#71840 - 04/29/08 08:12 PM

Re: Trip report VN vs Thai [Re: Freddy45]

shwaygwailo
Member

Registered: 12/03/05
Posts: 255
Loc: OZ

Online

Hi Freddy, thanks for the trip report, agree with so much of what you said, I started in the south and by the time I got to Hue the love was leaving.
Thanks again.
shway

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"I ought not to let my mind wander, as it's too small to go off by itself"

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