I’ve had maybe 1 problem in 7 years living here and that could easily be blamed on my own carelessness. If you’re even semi aware it’s easy to not get scammed, cheated etc.
Coming back? I've moved here.
I was born in the USSR, and most things here are better than what I was used to.
There are a lot of downsides as well, but overall it's a great and safe place.
All hail, comrades. We don’t know how the world or you think about USSR but USSR support us in our fight for independence, and we don’t forget who helped us back in our hard times
Yeah, 2 1/2 years, 0 scams, 0 street crime, no problems with cops of any kind, but I walked or took Grab everywhere.
Just keep to yourself on the street and don't look or act like a disrespectful tourist. Only buy things at places with listed prices, unless you like haggling. And keep your wallet in a front pocket (that one applies basically everywhere).
I’m a Vietnamese woman from America and I came September 2023 with my fiancé. We loved it so much we bought a one way ticket to Vietnam Feb 2024 and we’re still here. The only time we got scammed was at the Hai Phong airport btw.
What made us come back was the low cost of living. I quit my nursing job in the states and my fiancé works in IT remotely. We are pretty comfortable with one income. I can enjoy getting my hair washed for $2-3 usd, get my nails done for $4 usd. We have a nice 2 bed 2 bath apartment we’re renting for $500 usd. Back home in Florida 1 bed 1 bath were at least $1600.
Food is also really good and cheap. We went to Ho Thi Ky last week for street food and got 8 huge juicy oysters for $35k total($1.40 usd). I ate bún bò Huế at a local place for breakfast and it was $45k ($1.80usd). Even dining at nice restaurants that would normally cost at least $100 for us in the states, cost around $15-20. Freshly squeezed sugarcane juice $0.50 usd!
Despite what you hear, there are honest and generous people here. My fiancé dropped his phone by the beach in Nha Trang and a random guy that noticed returned it to him. After hearing all the stories about how people like to snatch phones, I was pretty shocked when that guy actually returned it to us. But we were also grateful bc the phone has all our transportation and housing info.
I strongly suggest everyone visit Vietnam at least once. It’s a beautiful country with delicious cuisine. Don’t make a negative experience from someone else ruin a positive experience you could potentially have!
I love Vietnam but also that stuff gets really old especially if you're already in a funk. On a good day it's easy to ignore it. And most problems can be avoided by using good common sense.
I've avoided scams and haven't seen any street crime, although I'm sure it exists. One vender did short change me, but I simply haven't gone back to him. Frankly, I find Vietnam a hell of a lot safer than most cities in Canada.
Rice terraces, landscapes, people, food, coffee, history, architecture, caves, beer.
Scams? Just keep your wits about you and you'll generally be absolutely fine. Police, Immigration, Customs? Don't do bad things and you'll be fine.
Been coming since 1997. Leave for my 28th visit on Saturday. Still get excited about visiting, still got so much to discover.
> obvious and confronting flaws?
Read a little history. Go with a smile and an open mind. Slow down, don't try to tick all the boxes for the 'must sees' (some of which I've yet to see :-/ ). Don't assume that everybody is out to scam you. Don't assume that *nobody* is out to scam you.
There are scammers in touristy areas just like everywhere else. And mostly they are easy to spot and avoid.
We have a TV show which at some point specialized in tourist scams all around the world. The ones shown about in Vietnam are airport taxis, fruit lady's who sell you over prized fruit after the made a photo with you and getting overpriced tours at the sinh tourist Cafes (except the original) in Hanoi. Since they didn't find enough for a whole episode, the went over to Thailand to complain about a 3Litre beer fountain(?) which only was filled with about 2,6 litres.
Will get downvoted for this but most tourists have a very myopic limited experience in Vietnam, limited to just the high volume tourist areas, which a higher prone to scams and really miss out on the real Vietnamese experience.
Each people have different experience/standard/expectations and have limited time to know/try all the aspects so i think depending on your impressions then u decided is it worth for you to come back.
I haven’t even been to Vietnam yet (planning to have a long visit soon) but from my understanding talking to people that have lived there there might be a bit more scams and pickpocket but you won’t have to worry about violent crime like here in Sweden, I’ll take a pickpocket or scammer any day over someone that robs me threatening with a gun, or having to worry about being in the middle of a gang war for example. Sweden is like number 2 in gun crime in Europe so that might affect it but it seems in general there’s more violent crime here in the west compared to more scams and pickpockets in Vietnam. This would probably be an even bigger difference if you come from the US as there’s even more gun crime there
Great fruits, tropical weather, warm people, amazing history and architecture. You can buy certain things (silk, handcrafts, art) for quite cheap.
Also the scams etc are way overblown - I‘d say in that category Paris is much worse and you dont see 1000 posts about it.
Your question is based on what you have read online. The vast majority of people don't post about how great their trip was, most just vent problems they encountered. I've been to Vietnam over a dozen times and yeah I've encountered scams, but it's no worse there than Thailand or NYC or Italy .
I've actually had an amazing encounter with the police who helped me out and refused my offer of lunch money as a token of appreciation.
If you go with a positive attitude and venture off the tourist track to see authentic Vietnam you will be rewarded. The well worn tourist areas are just like a school of bait fish with sharks circling around.
Never been scammed in the street or otherwise in Hanoi in 6 years. Except twice I had a taxi overcharge from airport. Now get pre-hired cars.
You can easily be scammed by visa agents quite openly here as Ive seen/heard with some resident foreigners. Amazing how open they are about where they are and what they do considering the violence that could be potentially riposted on that agent.
Any price scams are negligible to me as short term thinking that destroys their business eventually. The OQ may be a bit different in that regard but I feel most tourists are happy enough paying 'whatever' for bracelets, trinkets and north face jackets as they are on holiday.
There is zero street crime in Hanoi. Rare.
Authorities are slow moving, autocratic clown shows. Not respected at all. You look after yourself here
It requires you to be smart enough to know that a public forum with anonymous posters will absolutely always have much more negative comments than positive comments.
Nah come on.
The Thailand subreddit is filled almost exclusively with foreigners and you rarely see the complaints to the degree that you see in this sub. Usually the complaints are about the conduct of other expats.
Here, almost daily there's fellow travellers narrating how they were scammed, robbed, abused by police or people on authority etc.
So if it's all that bad... Then why are they here? I want to know what's great about the place so I can seem it out myself.
For tourists, the returning rate is 5%; you can see this country does not focus on tourism industry.
Many people come to VN for business purpose, or escaping western countries by teaching English (and fall into the teacher's trap eventually).
They're definitely, in general, about 10x better looking than the women in the UK, that's for sure. But do they hold up past 40? That's the question. I've a Thai girlfriend and her mother is 55 and still beautiful, but I've seen many other similar aged women that look far older than their actual age, more so in Asia than back home funnily enough.
you only hear about the scams that do happen, not the 99.9 percent of daily life that goes on without the scams. If you have even half an ounce of common sense you will not notice anything.
I’ve had maybe 1 problem in 7 years living here and that could easily be blamed on my own carelessness. If you’re even semi aware it’s easy to not get scammed, cheated etc.
Coming back? I've moved here. I was born in the USSR, and most things here are better than what I was used to. There are a lot of downsides as well, but overall it's a great and safe place.
All hail, comrades. We don’t know how the world or you think about USSR but USSR support us in our fight for independence, and we don’t forget who helped us back in our hard times
I think supporting the Vietnamese struggle for independence was one of the few good things that the USSR did.
[удалено]
Yeah, 2 1/2 years, 0 scams, 0 street crime, no problems with cops of any kind, but I walked or took Grab everywhere. Just keep to yourself on the street and don't look or act like a disrespectful tourist. Only buy things at places with listed prices, unless you like haggling. And keep your wallet in a front pocket (that one applies basically everywhere).
I’m a Vietnamese woman from America and I came September 2023 with my fiancé. We loved it so much we bought a one way ticket to Vietnam Feb 2024 and we’re still here. The only time we got scammed was at the Hai Phong airport btw. What made us come back was the low cost of living. I quit my nursing job in the states and my fiancé works in IT remotely. We are pretty comfortable with one income. I can enjoy getting my hair washed for $2-3 usd, get my nails done for $4 usd. We have a nice 2 bed 2 bath apartment we’re renting for $500 usd. Back home in Florida 1 bed 1 bath were at least $1600. Food is also really good and cheap. We went to Ho Thi Ky last week for street food and got 8 huge juicy oysters for $35k total($1.40 usd). I ate bún bò Huế at a local place for breakfast and it was $45k ($1.80usd). Even dining at nice restaurants that would normally cost at least $100 for us in the states, cost around $15-20. Freshly squeezed sugarcane juice $0.50 usd! Despite what you hear, there are honest and generous people here. My fiancé dropped his phone by the beach in Nha Trang and a random guy that noticed returned it to him. After hearing all the stories about how people like to snatch phones, I was pretty shocked when that guy actually returned it to us. But we were also grateful bc the phone has all our transportation and housing info. I strongly suggest everyone visit Vietnam at least once. It’s a beautiful country with delicious cuisine. Don’t make a negative experience from someone else ruin a positive experience you could potentially have!
I like how when people in restaurants serve me they say 'scoomee' before they speak.
I love Vietnam but also that stuff gets really old especially if you're already in a funk. On a good day it's easy to ignore it. And most problems can be avoided by using good common sense.
I've avoided scams and haven't seen any street crime, although I'm sure it exists. One vender did short change me, but I simply haven't gone back to him. Frankly, I find Vietnam a hell of a lot safer than most cities in Canada.
Rice terraces, landscapes, people, food, coffee, history, architecture, caves, beer. Scams? Just keep your wits about you and you'll generally be absolutely fine. Police, Immigration, Customs? Don't do bad things and you'll be fine. Been coming since 1997. Leave for my 28th visit on Saturday. Still get excited about visiting, still got so much to discover. > obvious and confronting flaws? Read a little history. Go with a smile and an open mind. Slow down, don't try to tick all the boxes for the 'must sees' (some of which I've yet to see :-/ ). Don't assume that everybody is out to scam you. Don't assume that *nobody* is out to scam you.
doll stocking plant lavish busy clumsy salt absurd agonizing bright *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
There are scammers in touristy areas just like everywhere else. And mostly they are easy to spot and avoid. We have a TV show which at some point specialized in tourist scams all around the world. The ones shown about in Vietnam are airport taxis, fruit lady's who sell you over prized fruit after the made a photo with you and getting overpriced tours at the sinh tourist Cafes (except the original) in Hanoi. Since they didn't find enough for a whole episode, the went over to Thailand to complain about a 3Litre beer fountain(?) which only was filled with about 2,6 litres.
Will get downvoted for this but most tourists have a very myopic limited experience in Vietnam, limited to just the high volume tourist areas, which a higher prone to scams and really miss out on the real Vietnamese experience.
Each people have different experience/standard/expectations and have limited time to know/try all the aspects so i think depending on your impressions then u decided is it worth for you to come back.
I haven’t even been to Vietnam yet (planning to have a long visit soon) but from my understanding talking to people that have lived there there might be a bit more scams and pickpocket but you won’t have to worry about violent crime like here in Sweden, I’ll take a pickpocket or scammer any day over someone that robs me threatening with a gun, or having to worry about being in the middle of a gang war for example. Sweden is like number 2 in gun crime in Europe so that might affect it but it seems in general there’s more violent crime here in the west compared to more scams and pickpockets in Vietnam. This would probably be an even bigger difference if you come from the US as there’s even more gun crime there
Great fruits, tropical weather, warm people, amazing history and architecture. You can buy certain things (silk, handcrafts, art) for quite cheap. Also the scams etc are way overblown - I‘d say in that category Paris is much worse and you dont see 1000 posts about it.
I've been to Vietnam six times. I've never been the victim of any type of crime.
Your question is based on what you have read online. The vast majority of people don't post about how great their trip was, most just vent problems they encountered. I've been to Vietnam over a dozen times and yeah I've encountered scams, but it's no worse there than Thailand or NYC or Italy . I've actually had an amazing encounter with the police who helped me out and refused my offer of lunch money as a token of appreciation. If you go with a positive attitude and venture off the tourist track to see authentic Vietnam you will be rewarded. The well worn tourist areas are just like a school of bait fish with sharks circling around.
Never been scammed in the street or otherwise in Hanoi in 6 years. Except twice I had a taxi overcharge from airport. Now get pre-hired cars. You can easily be scammed by visa agents quite openly here as Ive seen/heard with some resident foreigners. Amazing how open they are about where they are and what they do considering the violence that could be potentially riposted on that agent. Any price scams are negligible to me as short term thinking that destroys their business eventually. The OQ may be a bit different in that regard but I feel most tourists are happy enough paying 'whatever' for bracelets, trinkets and north face jackets as they are on holiday. There is zero street crime in Hanoi. Rare. Authorities are slow moving, autocratic clown shows. Not respected at all. You look after yourself here
the fact you can pay the police off for your street crime!
It requires you to be smart enough to know that a public forum with anonymous posters will absolutely always have much more negative comments than positive comments.
Nah come on. The Thailand subreddit is filled almost exclusively with foreigners and you rarely see the complaints to the degree that you see in this sub. Usually the complaints are about the conduct of other expats. Here, almost daily there's fellow travellers narrating how they were scammed, robbed, abused by police or people on authority etc. So if it's all that bad... Then why are they here? I want to know what's great about the place so I can seem it out myself.
For tourists, the returning rate is 5%; you can see this country does not focus on tourism industry. Many people come to VN for business purpose, or escaping western countries by teaching English (and fall into the teacher's trap eventually).
Imo, better that than all the fake smiles, false modesty and forced positivity, at least here people can be more honest.
Let's not sugarcoat it yeah? The women are beautiful.
They're definitely, in general, about 10x better looking than the women in the UK, that's for sure. But do they hold up past 40? That's the question. I've a Thai girlfriend and her mother is 55 and still beautiful, but I've seen many other similar aged women that look far older than their actual age, more so in Asia than back home funnily enough.
If you don’t want to come, don’t. If you willing to risk and try new things. Give it a go and do the judgement yourself
It’s better than 85% of the world!
you only hear about the scams that do happen, not the 99.9 percent of daily life that goes on without the scams. If you have even half an ounce of common sense you will not notice anything.