Saigon

[stojkovic]

Cheers,
looks good for booking flights at short notice.One deal there was €620 return to Saigon. Thats around half the price most airlines are charging. Dont know if id want to risk leaving it too late though, as I'm flying into Vietnam for Tet.

By your name I guess you've been there a few times.

Always wanted to go, whats it like.

How does it differ from the likes of Thailand (and I dont mean Bangkok and Pattaya).

Would you recommend Saigon or Hanoi, or both.

[gilberto_eire]

Might want to PM him tbh, he might never see this thread

[paul_oshea]

the battle of saigon.

we were out in saigon, remember that line in the a-team

[GuisaSaigon]

By your name I guess you've been there a few times.

Always wanted to go, whats it like.

How does it differ from the likes of Thailand (and I dont mean Bangkok and Pattaya).

Would you recommend Saigon or Hanoi, or both.

Yeah, I spent a few years out there, mental city, great craic. Its a completely different buzz to Bangkok. Saigon is Busy, noisy, hot, but it's got a population of over 10 million. There are more motorbikes in Saigon than there are people in Ireland, but for some reason it's also a brilliant city to live in.Beer is cheap, nightlife is 24/7 if you know where to look.
There's plenty to do, obviously lots of war related stuff, The nearby Mekong delta is amazing and the island of Phu Quoc is a tropical paradise probably something like Ko Samui 20 years ago. Vietnamese food is well worth exploring if you are a foodie, but you can get plenty international food there too if your not into snake or chicken embryo eggs.

Hanoi is different , firstly it is way smaller (2 million) the people are not as warm as the southerners and neither is the weather. It's still a nice city to visit, full of culture.

If you are thinking of visiting Vietnam, You should give it at least a month. Try to travel north to south or vice-versa. Travel is cheap whether you use busses, train or internal flights. Try to take in Mui ne, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue as well as the places i have already mentioned.
It's not half as modern as parts of Thailand but it's catching up, go there before they make a complete mess of it!

[stojkovic]

Cheers thanks for that.

[endabob1]

Stojkovic, The wife and I spent 2 weeks in Vietnam last year we flew into Saigon and travelled over land to Mui Ne Then up to Nha Trang before flying back to Saigon.

Loved every minute of it, We stayed in a really nice place in Mui Ne (Little Mui Ne Cottages) which are really pretty and right on the beach, they worked out about $30 a night and in Nha Trang we stayed in a New(ish) Hotel the Asia Paradise which was $40 a night. With the Dollar so weak at the moment it makes it very cheap to visit. There's a really smart place on the Beach in Nha Trang, the Sailing Club, I think it's Aussie owned but the food is great (if pricey by local standards) and it's really cool on the beach.
As Guisa says try the local food, the Pho is great and in Nha Trang we found a place where the litteraly barbeque fresh fish and lobster at the side of your table (for about the price of a Big Mac Meal!), it's like sitting on early Learning centre stools in the street but a great experience.
I personally found Mui Ne really relaxing, not much to do unless you're into watersports/kite surfing is especially popular but the place itself has a really chilled out feeling, Nha Trang is much more developed but has enough to keep you occupied for a couple of days, we did a snorkelling trip there and while it wasn't fantastic it was worthwhile.
The War Museum in Saigon is a must see, very interesting (and frightening) stuff and the Communist Propoganda on display is mind boggling. Oh and the Market in Saigon is madness but good fun, the trick is to be relaxed about stuff, don't stress about the crowds or being hassled to buy stuff and bargain hard when you do buy something.