Hi there. I've been visiting HCMC/ Saigon since 2005 coz I have relatives there. I agree with most of your comments. The noise & air pollution, I can take but I also didn't like the motorbikes and how unsafe it was to cross the streets. One time, my mom & I were visiting. My cousin (who lives there) guided us. We were all crossing a big street and a motorbike bumped into my mom. She fell and was in pain (ribs) for a few days. The driver was a bit drunk - he had the smell of alcohol; it was late afternoon/ early evening. He prolly had a few beers after work. The scooter drivers swerve to avoid pedestrians but if they're drunk, then their reflexes aren't 100%. Re: trash, yes it's there & jarring to see. It's common in some SE Asian countries but still a bit tough to take. I did enjoy Danang & Hoi An but I think nowadays, it has too many tourists & expats. Maybe next time I'll check out Quy Nhon + Nha Trang and experience them for myself. You didn't like QN but I'll give it a try. Cheers & safe travels!
I am from Toronto but have lived in Ho Chi Minh City for 10 years and your observations are Bang on .The government here keeps statistics on how many tourists return and it’s not many .Thailand has a high percentage of tourists that keep coming back but once people come to Ho Chi Minh they will never return . Like you say for people not used to the traffic and people driving on the sidewalk it doesn’t make for a pleasant vacation. Personally I find all the Rats running around cute but it is a bad reflection on the cleanliness of the city. As for living full time here there are good areas like districts 2 and 7 as well as district 3 . When you live here it takes about 3 months to get use to the insane heat but about 3 years to get use to the stupid traffic situation. Tourist that only come for a short stay will never get use to the craziness of the city . Living here for years that doesn’t bother me but you must always keep your guard up for people trying to scam you or motorbike thieves that will try to grab your phone . Still love living here the cost of living is great and it’s just a short flight to Bangkok, KL and Jakarta for a vacation somewhere halfway normal.
District 4 is the most dangerous one and probably the dirtiest one. It's where the old mafia used to live. HCMC is one of my favorite cities in the world.
Fair comments. I've not been to Vietnam but I've spent extended periods on India. After a while your standards do tend to shift down to meet your reality. It could be argued that this isn't a good thing, but it's kinda necessary in order to keep your sanity.
Interesting perspective. I suppose it is difficult to keep up with your standards while traveling since you have less control and you're not around the things you're used to when you're at home.
for me this is just a part of travelling. you are of course allowed to complain, but everything cant be excactly like at home. some places are worse than others, but seeing the different standards of things give perspective when you go back home and make you appreciate the small things
this wasn't a video to complain though, they're just sharing their experience and telling other people to be cautious, which is a good thing. also, going somewhere, even as a tourist, doesn't mean there shouldn't be human decency or that you can't expect it to be there.
I stayed in Ho Chi Minh in District 3 and it was fabulous - Ho Chi Minh is a great city - I travelled from North to South over the period of a month and I did not see one rat the whole time. District 3 was clean and very safe. Loved it so much I am returning to Vietnam for a month next year. One of my favourite countries to visit.
Is it visa exempt for the USA? Like Thailand where they just stamp you in and you go? Or do you have to apply for a visa to get in to Vietnam? I’m headed back to se Asia end of July and wanna check some other places out.
The same thing really bothered me in India. People toss their garbage everywhere. I would walk kilometers without seeing a single garbage can. When I asked some people why there were so few garbage cans outside in the cities of India, I was told it was because people steal them. Tossing garbage in public onto the street is a cultural problem in parts of central and southeast Asia.
Totally correct! It really bothers us because it's take zero effort to throw it in a trashcan, but it takes so much more effort to clean it up afterwards. I guess growing up in a society that really promotes recycling and not to litter,, it always comes as a shock to see it.
Thanks for being straight forward. Its refeshing as too many are afraid to expose negatives. Ive been to Vietnam on business many times. I did not like HCM. Too much of a tourist trap. Hanoi is much more pleasant. Overall though, Vietnam was my least favorite country to visit in SE Asia.
Countries seem to go through transitions about trash. In Japan years ago the trash on the streets could be pretty bad, especially at the rest areas on roads through the mountains. It wasn't so uncommon to sometimes see cars stop and the person inside would dump their ash tray full of cigarette butts out the window. I even called out a few people on such a disgusting manner, I couldn't handle it. I think people knew it was a bad habit to be so inconsiderate, but expediency or ease to get rid of something, overpowered dealing with their trash in an appropriate way. Fortunately, it is very clean now, it seems like the government first has to implement anti-litter policies,, then the people's consciousness comes around to no longer be jerks about it. Sometimes still jerks about other things though.
Thats very interesting because you wouldn't think that about Japan. We were in Tokyo years ago and we did notice how clean the streets were, but at the same time, they weren't as clean as we thought they would be. However, much better than most big cities (I guess in Tokyo's case, massive city)
Sometimes in the big cities like Tokyo, especially in the entertainment sections, you will see a fair amount of trash left out around restaurants and drinking places and such. Not so much in the way of personal litter I don't think, just stuff from the nights activities at businesses. By the next day, I suspect in the early morning, it pretty much all mysteriously gets cleaned up. I understand that there can be a rat problem in the big cities, not surprising i suppose, given all the people going out for food and drink at night. Fortunately, Karaoke places are much in decline compared to past years, the sound pollution used to be everywhere. I'm thankful to not much hear all that moaning going on into a microphone anymore, like the person "singing" has eaten something very disagreeable to their stomach.
hi guys Iam from Sydney Australia I can handle snakes and spiders and many other animals but not RATS I would have been on the next flight back to Sydney lol😊😊
That's says a lot coming from an Aussie lol! We know rats are every where, especially in big cities, but to see it so out in the open and during the day, we had never experienced that before. We literally saw rats running to a cafe's kitchen and the staff inside started to scream lol. We still drank the coffee, but, it was the most uncomfortable coffee we'd ever had lol
We're actually planning to go to the Philippines, not sure where, though we already knew Manila wouldn't be on our list (but only because we're looking for a smaller beach town type of place). Thanks for the advice!
@@fulltimeabroad Dumaguete is probably the sweet spot for you guys, but there might be too many other expats for your taste, other spots could be San Carlos or Leyte
@@fulltimeabroadhi. I don't know if you've been to 🇵🇭 PH already, but if you haven't, then don't spend a lot of time in Manila. Maybe just a few days in Makati or BGC, then go elsewhere. If it's summer (March to May) and you want cooler temps, you can go north to Baguio. From Baguio, it's 1.5 hrs to a beach town, San Juan in La Union province. (pronounced as oo-nion, not yoo-nion, it's the Spanish pronunciation since PH was a Spanish colony..) You can also try Puerto Galera: bus from Manila to Batangas port then ferry to Puerto Galera. (You can stay at Jack Daniels apartments - they accept monthly stay; they have their own website. You can also stay somewhere near White Beach.) If in the central islands, you can try Cebu city & Drmaguete cities, which both have many expats. For fewer expats, try Panglao island near Bohol or Iloilo city/ Roxas city. El Nido in Palawan is beautiful but you might get bored there if staying for a month. Boracay is also a prime tourist spot but it's pricey & touristy. It's a small island & you might also get bored after a few days. If staying for a month, I suggest living in a 2nd tier city then go on 2 or 3 day trips to smaller islands. If you're a slow traveler, I suggest to avoid PH during the rainy season. Typhoons are common and they may affect your travel plans (cancelled flights & ferries). Safe travels!
Thanks for the excellent information. We haven't been and don't have any plans currently. But it could be added to our list on future trips. Thanks again!
@@slXD100that’s synonymous with poverty. When was the last time you saw a clean homeless person? Poverty in other countries is way worse than in the west. Like 10 fold worse. Philippines for instance have issues with black market baby sales, and worse things. Poverty brings out the absolute most animalistic sides of humans.
@@portlandGTR I have met plenty of people who will go out of their way to help you even though they live in poverty. who won't be careless towards the enviroment due to poverty, or their fellow human beings. people who don't choose to go with evil deeds due to poverty. it's the human behind, not the circucmstances.
Hi there. I've been visiting HCMC/ Saigon since 2005 coz I have relatives there. I agree with most of your comments. The noise & air pollution, I can take but I also didn't like the motorbikes and how unsafe it was to cross the streets.
One time, my mom & I were visiting. My cousin (who lives there) guided us. We were all crossing a big street and a motorbike bumped into my mom. She fell and was in pain (ribs) for a few days. The driver was a bit drunk - he had the smell of alcohol; it was late afternoon/ early evening. He prolly had a few beers after work. The scooter drivers swerve to avoid pedestrians but if they're drunk, then their reflexes aren't 100%.
Re: trash, yes it's there & jarring to see. It's common in some SE Asian countries but still a bit tough to take. I did enjoy Danang & Hoi An but I think nowadays, it has too many tourists & expats.
Maybe next time I'll check out Quy Nhon + Nha Trang and experience them for myself. You didn't like QN but I'll give it a try. Cheers & safe travels!
I am from Toronto but have lived in Ho Chi Minh City for 10 years and your observations are Bang on .The government here keeps statistics on how many tourists return and it’s not many .Thailand has a high percentage of tourists that keep coming back but once people come to Ho Chi Minh they will never return .
Like you say for people not used to the traffic and people driving on the sidewalk it doesn’t make for a pleasant vacation.
Personally I find all the Rats running around cute but it is a bad reflection on the cleanliness of the city.
As for living full time here there are good areas like districts 2 and 7 as well as district 3 .
When you live here it takes about 3 months to get use to the insane heat but about 3 years to get use to the stupid traffic situation.
Tourist that only come for a short stay will never get use to the craziness of the city .
Living here for years that doesn’t bother me but you must always keep your guard up for people trying to scam you or motorbike thieves that will try to grab your phone .
Still love living here the cost of living is great and it’s just a short flight to Bangkok, KL and Jakarta for a vacation somewhere halfway normal.
Thank you for watching. I'm happy to hear we're not the only ones to think like this! :-)
District 4 is the most dangerous one and probably the dirtiest one. It's where the old mafia used to live. HCMC is one of my favorite cities in the world.
Fair comments. I've not been to Vietnam but I've spent extended periods on India. After a while your standards do tend to shift down to meet your reality. It could be argued that this isn't a good thing, but it's kinda necessary in order to keep your sanity.
Interesting perspective. I suppose it is difficult to keep up with your standards while traveling since you have less control and you're not around the things you're used to when you're at home.
for me this is just a part of travelling. you are of course allowed to complain, but everything cant be excactly like at home. some places are worse than others, but seeing the different standards of things give perspective when you go back home and make you appreciate the small things
Great perspective! Appreciate your take on this.
this wasn't a video to complain though, they're just sharing their experience and telling other people to be cautious, which is a good thing. also, going somewhere, even as a tourist, doesn't mean there shouldn't be human decency or that you can't expect it to be there.
I stayed in Ho Chi Minh in District 3 and it was fabulous - Ho Chi Minh is a great city - I travelled from North to South over the period of a month and I did not see one rat the whole time. District 3 was clean and very safe. Loved it so much I am returning to Vietnam for a month next year. One of my favourite countries to visit.
happy to hear you enjoyed your travels. We also enjoyed Vietnam, but not so much our time in HCM, more in Nha Trang, where we loved it.
Is it visa exempt for the USA? Like Thailand where they just stamp you in and you go? Or do you have to apply for a visa to get in to Vietnam? I’m headed back to se Asia end of July and wanna check some other places out.
You should double check the VISA requirements for Vietnam for US passport holders, but I believe you will need to apply for a VISA to enter.
The same thing really bothered me in India. People toss their garbage everywhere. I would walk kilometers without seeing a single garbage can. When I asked some people why there were so few garbage cans outside in the cities of India, I was told it was because people steal them. Tossing garbage in public onto the street is a cultural problem in parts of central and southeast Asia.
Totally correct! It really bothers us because it's take zero effort to throw it in a trashcan, but it takes so much more effort to clean it up afterwards. I guess growing up in a society that really promotes recycling and not to litter,, it always comes as a shock to see it.
Thanks for being straight forward. Its refeshing as too many are afraid to expose negatives. Ive been to Vietnam on business many times. I did not like HCM. Too much of a tourist trap. Hanoi is much more pleasant. Overall though, Vietnam was my least favorite country to visit in SE Asia.
I wish we knew a lot of these things before we went, because we really would have reconsidered and instead would have gone to a smaller place perhaps.
Countries seem to go through transitions about trash. In Japan years ago the trash on the streets could be pretty bad, especially at the rest areas on roads through the mountains. It wasn't so uncommon to sometimes see cars stop and the person inside would dump their ash tray full of cigarette butts out the window. I even called out a few people on such a disgusting manner, I couldn't handle it. I think people knew it was a bad habit to be so inconsiderate, but expediency or ease to get rid of something, overpowered dealing with their trash in an appropriate way. Fortunately, it is very clean now, it seems like the government first has to implement anti-litter policies,, then the people's consciousness comes around to no longer be jerks about it. Sometimes still jerks about other things though.
Thats very interesting because you wouldn't think that about Japan. We were in Tokyo years ago and we did notice how clean the streets were, but at the same time, they weren't as clean as we thought they would be. However, much better than most big cities (I guess in Tokyo's case, massive city)
Sometimes in the big cities like Tokyo, especially in the entertainment sections, you will see a fair amount of trash left out around restaurants and drinking places and such. Not so much in the way of personal litter I don't think, just stuff from the nights activities at businesses. By the next day, I suspect in the early morning, it pretty much all mysteriously gets cleaned up. I understand that there can be a rat problem in the big cities, not surprising i suppose, given all the people going out for food and drink at night. Fortunately, Karaoke places are much in decline compared to past years, the sound pollution used to be everywhere. I'm thankful to not much hear all that moaning going on into a microphone anymore, like the person "singing" has eaten something very disagreeable to their stomach.
hi guys Iam from Sydney Australia I can handle snakes and spiders and many other animals but not RATS I would have been on the next flight back to Sydney lol😊😊
That's says a lot coming from an Aussie lol!
We know rats are every where, especially in big cities, but to see it so out in the open and during the day, we had never experienced that before. We literally saw rats running to a cafe's kitchen and the staff inside started to scream lol. We still drank the coffee, but, it was the most uncomfortable coffee we'd ever had lol
I'll save you guys some time and money... you probably won't like Manila either (except Makati and BGC)
We're actually planning to go to the Philippines, not sure where, though we already knew Manila wouldn't be on our list (but only because we're looking for a smaller beach town type of place). Thanks for the advice!
@@fulltimeabroad Dumaguete is probably the sweet spot for you guys, but there might be too many other expats for your taste, other spots could be San Carlos or Leyte
@@tomiesto240 we've been looking exactly there lol. Thanks for the tips!
@@fulltimeabroadhi. I don't know if you've been to 🇵🇭 PH already, but if you haven't, then don't spend a lot of time in Manila. Maybe just a few days in Makati or BGC, then go elsewhere.
If it's summer (March to May) and you want cooler temps, you can go north to Baguio. From Baguio, it's 1.5 hrs to a beach town, San Juan in La Union province. (pronounced as oo-nion, not yoo-nion, it's the Spanish pronunciation since PH was a Spanish colony..)
You can also try Puerto Galera: bus from Manila to Batangas port then ferry to Puerto Galera. (You can stay at Jack Daniels apartments - they accept monthly stay; they have their own website. You can also stay somewhere near White Beach.)
If in the central islands, you can try Cebu city & Drmaguete cities, which both have many expats. For fewer expats, try Panglao island near Bohol or Iloilo city/ Roxas city.
El Nido in Palawan is beautiful but you might get bored there if staying for a month. Boracay is also a prime tourist spot but it's pricey & touristy. It's a small island & you might also get bored after a few days.
If staying for a month, I suggest living in a 2nd tier city then go on 2 or 3 day trips to smaller islands. If you're a slow traveler, I suggest to avoid PH during the rainy season. Typhoons are common and they may affect your travel plans (cancelled flights & ferries). Safe travels!
Thanks for the excellent information. We haven't been and don't have any plans currently. But it could be added to our list on future trips. Thanks again!
TLDR: Inexperienced travelers encounter poverty.
poverty doesn't equal indecency and carelessness for the enviroment.
@@slXD100 Yeah it does. Have you seen the trash/poop rivers in Indonesia?
@@WhyteHorse2023 you can still be a decent human being even when in poverty
@@slXD100that’s synonymous with poverty. When was the last time you saw a clean homeless person? Poverty in other countries is way worse than in the west. Like 10 fold worse. Philippines for instance have issues with black market baby sales, and worse things. Poverty brings out the absolute most animalistic sides of humans.
@@portlandGTR I have met plenty of people who will go out of their way to help you even though they live in poverty. who won't be careless towards the enviroment due to poverty, or their fellow human beings. people who don't choose to go with evil deeds due to poverty. it's the human behind, not the circucmstances.
Why I won't return to this channel... Never again.
And they won't go back to HCM, ever.
Never again to travel to HCM city just because people throwing trash ???