🇻🇳 Sabbatical - Vietnam I - The Ugly

October 20, 2025

VietnamSabbaticalTripAsia

This is Part I of my Vietnam travel series:

Vietnam I - The Ugly (you’re here)
Vietnam II - The Bad
Vietnam III - The Good

Three weeks in Vietnam after two months around Asia, and I’m still convinced this is the most chaotic country I’ve ever set foot in. I crossed the whole place from North to South: over 2000 kilometers, two domestic flights, two sleeper buses, more motorbike taxis than I want to remember, and five tours for good measure. Six cities later, I promise: this isn’t a dreamy “sweet and sour” blog post. The country confuses, impresses, exhausts, surprises, and sometimes terrifies you, often in the same morning. This wasn’t a honeymoon trip. It was mostly survival mode, and here’s what actually happened.

By the way, this post kicks off a three-part series. I call it “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”, but don’t expect the classic movie order. We’re starting with The Ugly, moving on to The Bad, and finally, saving The Good for last.

TL;DR

E-visa: Got in 3 days, $50 fee, here’s the official website.
ATM/Money: Use VP Bank (no commission). Currency exchange at jewelry stores in big cities, zero fee, and the best exchange rate ever. The ATM Fee Saver works in this country as well.
Payments: Most places charge 3–5% extra on cards.
Transport: Sleeper buses = danger, “Limousine/VIP/Boss/Premium” bus rides = not that premium and also danger, crazy motorbike mess everywhere. Not environment friendly, but use flights as much as possible!
Food: One of the best cuisines ever! Lots of cheap Michelin guide options in different cities.

Coffee: Unusual coffee options: salt, egg, coconut. But Western-style coffee is also available at new wave cafés.
Hygiene: It doesn’t exist much…
Safety: It doesn’t exist much…
Reality: Scams, price chaos, review farming, and more oddities.
Would I go again? Probably not. Maybe in 20–30 years, if tourism and infrastructure get a major upgrade.

Arrival

Getting in was technically easy: the E-visa took three business days, cost $50, and the official site worked as promised. Landing in Vietnam, however, was far from gentle. At Hanoi airport, I barely made it out before 10 or 15 fake Grab drivers started all shouting, all insisting they’d take me anywhere. Finding my actual, legitimate car that I booked from booking.com took ages and a lot of “no, thanks”. For peace of mind on airport transfers in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, booking.com worked, but always double-check prices.

When it came time to actually get to my hotel, things got worse. The arrivals area was chaos, but the traffic jam was even more chaotic! By the way, Grab works in most airports, but half the time, finding the actual pickup point might take some time.

International flights in Saigon? You’d better show up at least three hours early; otherwise, you can miss your flights because of the notorious airport queues. Reddit wasn’t kidding. Hopefully, this will get better once they open a new airport. Meanwhile, domestic flights are way less hassle: if you book something early or late, you’ll get through it all much faster.

Vietnamese Airlines? I used it for domestic flights, and it was a good experience in general. Online check-in works, and early flights were on time. No complaints.

Vietjet? Could you imagine that online check-in is not possible for a flight in 2025? If you use Vietjet, it’s possible… Say hello to long queues and frustration!

If we get back to my first hours, it definitely set the tone: every step forward meant facing a fresh challenge. I wondered many times if I’d made a huge mistake coming here alone…

Money & Payments

You reached your hotel, what’s next? It’s time to get some cash. You need it for almost everything.

There are two winners for money exchanges in Vietnam:

The winning bank is by far the VP Bank. Zero commission! It depends on which ATM you use as to how much you can withdraw, but the ATM Fee Saver app can help you see the maximum withdrawal limit of ATMs without visiting them.
If you come with USD or Euro cash, great! Because exchange at jewelry shops has the best rates ever, and they don’t charge any commissions. It’s old-school and honest. Show your banknotes, and they will use a calculator to show you how much they are willing to give you in VND.

Card payments? It was very easy in Ho Chi Minh City. But in other places, it was not possible sometimes. Also, hotels, restaurants, and even tiny shops almost always add an extra 3–5% charge. Don’t ask why: accept it or walk away.

Airport transfers booked with hotels can be three times the Grab rate. Yes, my first hotel in Vietnam tried to scam me as well… They wanted to add a 10% surcharge for card payment and charge a 3x rate for an airport transfer. I learned my lesson and never used these hotel services, especially in main cities.

And don’t get me started on magnets: the same one in Old Town cost 30k at one shop, 100k at another. All logic goes out the window. Even buying damn water in the same market two days in a row was at different prices! Absurd!

Getting Around

Let’s talk about moving in Vietnam: they don’t have public transportation, not in any practical sense. There is a metro in Ho Chi Minh City, and that’s it, I guess. The rest seemed completely impractical. And millions of people use motorbikes, or should I say everyone uses motorbikes?

If you’re not getting on a motorbike or squeezed in a car, you’re not going anywhere. Tourists like me are trapped using Grab or Indrive (thank god those work).

On the street? Walking is a disaster. I quickly learned that sidewalks are just motorbike parking lots, always full, every meter. Even walking straight for five minutes is a luxury. Crossing the street is a daily stress test. Traffic is pure, unpredictable chaos. The only technique? Close your eyes, pray, and keep your pace. You might make it, you might not.

Want to use the sleeper bus for long trips? Good luck. I’ve never feared for my life on a bus as much as in Vietnam. The roads are bad, the buses never stop honking, and every bump launches you a few centimeters in the air. Sleeping? Forget it. But hey, sometimes you don’t have another option. You go on “highways” but roads are so bad that the maximum speed is 60–80 km/h, and guess what, it’s still nerve-racking! Unbelievable traffic on highways as well! You might think that I exaggerate it. I’m adding a few links if you want to check it further: 1, 2, 3.

The so-called “limousine” between Ninh Binh and Hanoi was just as bad: two to three hours of top-level anxiety, the bus zigzagging across every lane, 3-lane highways packed with five cars side by side, the constant noise of horns, and the seatbelt barely holding you in place. Sometimes it didn’t! There are tons of operators, all with “VIP” or “Boss” or “Premium” branding (this is one of them; here’s another), but honestly, it’s the same shitshow everywhere.

The fake taxi/motor driver scam is relentless. Even inside the airport, they hassle you; in the city, they approach you all day, every day. Several times, I heard stories, of “Grab-like” cars driving you somewhere random and then demanding triple the fare for the return. Sometimes, if you decline, drivers get openly disrespectful or aggressive.

Mini story

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, checked into the hotel, went for lunch nearby, and was walking back to my hotel, my AirPods on, doing my best to ignore the whole chaotic universe outside. Some guy chilling on his motorbike tried the classic: “Hi, how are you?” I said “thanks” and just kept walking. Big mistake, apparently. The dude immediately yelled after me: “Fuck you!” And that’s it, his entire script: “Hi, how are you, fuck you.” Welcome to tourist zone hell, where getting cursed out is just part of avoiding a scam. There’s no way to escape from them, and they are aggressive when they can’t scam you. No guidebook prepares you for getting cussed out on a street in Saigon, but honestly, it’s not the worst thing here.

Disclaimer: Vietnamese traffic is next level. The number of motorbikes is honestly mind-blowing, way more than anywhere I’ve ever been. To be fair, if you compare it to Thailand, pretty much everyone here actually wears a helmet and goes slow enough for normal humans to process what’s happening. But even with helmets and less insane speeds, it was pure chaos for me. I couldn’t process the feeling that every street crossing or sideways walking was a struggle.

In summary, the entire transit experience, every arrival, every street crossing, every booking, and ride was a total mess. You’re always anxious, always negotiating your way through motorbikes, scams, or taxi hustlers. Of course, it changes insanely of your trip and experience. No filters, that’s exactly how it was! By the end of each day, I was mentally drained. Vietnam demanded all my patience and pushed my limits.