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title: Vietnam created_at: 2025-09-10T14:52:16.823Z updated_at: 2025-09-10T14:52:16.823Z tldr: humble culture, stunning landscapes and bloody good food is_published: true star: true category: tourism share_type: share

A very welcoming city, but almost everyone tries to cheat you out of money, lol. Being a tourist place, this is expected, but the ladies, damn, they command to cheat.... and ask you to go away - shoo shoo., I was tearing out with laughter. I, son of a businessman, have never been cheated with that much confidence. Underneath all this, there is an ocean of calmness; all the locals are very friendly. You will never be lost in this city / threatened. They recommend you be in your abode by 12pm, but it's fine to walk around the city even at 4 in the morning... The majority of the workforce here is day labor; they do understand day to day chores and struggles. They are very, very polite.

You will get lost in this country. Just lost, as in between figuring out how traffic works, or the graffiti on the walls, or the green long driveways, canals, culture, or just taking a simple walk takes you between a bitter coffee, damn good food, chilled beer, and relaxed men sleeping on a scooter with a cigar. I want you to experience all the touristy places for yourself. I just want to note on the culture and history itself.... in my view.

The county doesn’t have a religion, and most of them are atheists. They have a hierarchy; almost every pagoda has a hierarchy: past, present, and future. The emperor himself, Bai Dinh, believes in equality amongst all; the depiction of the emperor is a mythical dragon with a woman-like abdomen. This reflects in their normal day too, everyone works, i mean everyone, grandma, grandpa, husband, wife. After the liberation, the ruling party has made it easy enough to setup a new business right in their homes. The funny thing is, all the men, after a hard day of labor, hand over the earnings to their lady. Women run the household and the finances. This seems very non-typical, but I support this 100%, in a sense, if there is (touch wood, I wish not / any harm), there is one less earning hand, the house is stable to support it, and not get into a panic.

People believe in ancestral blessings. From the French colony, to avoid land taxes, the houses became narrower and taller. When the kids get married, they occupy the ground floor and the parents move to the above, and their to the one above and finally to heaven. Almost all the houses have a top floor dedicated to their late well-wishers. This seems like a joint family, but after night, its almost nuclear as each of the family does not cross the floor...

On to the history and politics, you can read most of them online, make sure the sources are cited from the country... The gov. has done a really good job of upholding the history in its war museum. Tho as always, the stories are retold in favor of the country. The history itself is shifted to blaming the US for invading Vietnam, rather than the civil war between the North and South. I understand the government needs to put up a good face, but history has a strange sense of repeating itself. Maintaining the facts as is would have been a better choice than avoiding an already written story. And one more thing, every leader of the ruling party needs to take an oath in front of the people that they are not religious and favor no religion... I have never seen a country follow the communist ideology of Karl Marx this hardcore... love it.

I still have 2 move visits left to this country, one for the bike ride from Hanoi to Cambodia, and the other is a hike in Ha Giang.

With all the admiration, I recommend this on your bucket list. Happy Touring.