Vietnam has nature and beautiful scenery. In this S-shaped country, everywhere is an ideal destination for international tourists to visit and relax. Foreign guests love coming here not only to admire the beautiful scenery, enjoy delicious food…but the hospitality, sincerity and many beautiful features and unique traditions of the Vietnamese people are like invisible attractions. Let’s try to see in the eyes of foreigners, what impression do we have?
Tet holiday
Lunar New Year is the traditional Tet holiday of Vietnamese people. This is also an opportunity for Vietnamese families to reunite and bond after a busy year. For foreigners, Vietnamese Tet is a new experience.
A week or even a month before Tet, Vietnamese people spend time cleaning their houses with the strong belief that they can shake off the bad luck of the old year and be ready to receive good fortune in the new year. Vietnamese people are also interested in buying new clothes for children to wear in the first days of the year….
Contrary to the vibrant atmosphere of weekdays, Tet in Vietnam from the perspective of foreigners is extremely peaceful, all offices, service shops are closed, except for hospitals. Traditional Tet always has flowers and kumquats in the house. Peach blossoms are preferred by Northerners, while Southerners prefer apricot blossoms because of their glorious beauty. Besides the tray of traditional delicious dishes, Vietnamese New Year always has banh chung and five fruit trays or mam ngu qua. Everything Vietnamese people do is to wish for a lucky and happy new year. The city also has very little traffic…
Unique floating market in the West
The Floating Market is a unique cultural feature that only the people of the river can have. Floating markets are trading markets where sellers and buyers are forced to use boats as means of transportation. Usually the market will be held in the early morning at the intersection of canals and rivers, and the water level is not too low, not too high. The Floating Market is not only a place to buy and sell fresh fruits, agricultural products and many other items, it also attracts tourists to visit and enjoy discovering the special lifestyle of the river region.
The most famous floating market is the largest floating market in the West called Cai Rang in Can Tho. The market usually meets from 3 am to 9 am, but the days before Tet, the market seems to be all day, always vibrant and crowded. The highlights of this market is the sale of famous agricultural products such as Vinh Long pomelo, Lai Vung mandarin orange or Cai Mon durian or Tra Vinh waxy coconut … In addition to exchanging, buying and selling, visitors from all over the world can also enjoy specialties right on the hawker boats. Sitting and drinking coffee or going to pubs on the floating market will also be unforgettable experiences.
Second place is Cai Be market. This market has a unique point that is suitable to visit the market from late at night 2am to around 8am. Mainly this market is a place to transfer fruit to all regions and also sell household items: cloth, household items… Having breakfast on the river and watching the bustling atmosphere of the morning market is also a new and impressive way for tourists, not only locals but foreigners…
Learning Vietnamese is not easy
“The storm is not equal to Vietnamese grammar”, yes, Vietnamese is very difficult to learn, to write and to speak for foreigners. A lot of foreigners when they first learn Vietnamese think that Vietnamese is a complicated language system difficult to master. When foreigners practice speaking Vietnamese due to the complexity of intonation, they often come up with “immortal” sayings that are both silly and funny.
Vietnam is peaceful
Vietnam is a peaceful country. That is the comment of international tourists when visiting and staying in Vietnam. The common point people feels safe because this place does not have to face the fire of guns, there are no terrorist attacks and there are never riots. A Western photographer once said: “Vietnam is one of the safest and most peaceful countries I have ever been to, the people here are very kind. The potential of the Vietnamese people is great, they want and know how to work. Vietnamese people are trying their best to make tourists from all over the world love their country, with its rich and ancient history, its rich beautiful nature, its interesting traditions and its wonderful food.”
In Vietnam, there is peace everyday. The nature here is also so peaceful without earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis.
Iced milk coffee
Vietnamese coffee not only has excellent pure taste, grown and processed from vast coffee farms in the Central Highlands, but also leaves a mark in the eyes of visitors by the different combinations, the location of the café “thrilling” …. Vietnamese coffee always impresses visitors with its delicious taste and great variations. For foreigners, the most impressive special one is still iced milk coffee. In Vietnam, this is a familiar and typical drink.
Few years ago, iced milk coffee was voted by Bloomberg news as the top 10 best drinks in the world, proving the unbelievable appeal of this coffee-based drink. Iced milk coffee is very familiar to Vietnamese people, morning or evening, shops or sidewalks, people often enjoy this drink. Iced milk coffee causes memories for those who used to drink when visiting Vietnam.
Noodle
Pho is the most typical dish in Vietnam, even people who have not been to Vietnam when asked what they will eat here will not hesitate to answer pho. And of course, when coming to Vietnam, pho is always on the must-eat list. Pho has become a favorite and familiar dish of foreign tourists. Most international visitors can name pho, a nutritious, delicious specialty that can be eaten at any time of the day.
The main ingredients of pho are pho noodles and broth (or nuoc leo as the South calls them) along with thinly sliced beef or chicken. In addition, there are also spices such as: soy sauce, pepper, lemon, fish sauce, chili… These spices are added depending on the taste of each user. In the Southern provinces of Vietnam and some other regions, pho is served with a plate of herbs such as onions, bean sprouts and the leaves of coriander and basil, in which coriander is the typical leaf of pho; However, in Hanoi, there is no such dish of raw vegetables. Pho is usually beef noodle soup or chicken noodle soup, but sometimes there are other variations such as seafood pho, mixed pho, fried noodle, etc.
Lots of motorbikes
Vietnam ranks fourth in the top countries that consume the most motorbikes in the world, so traffic is messy and even dangerous. The first thing tourists need to learn when coming to Vietnam is the ability to cross the street. For many people, just crossing the road is a journey full of adventure. Even on many travel forums, tourists also exchange secrets to cross the road in Vietnam, and crossing streets become the famous Vietnam travel advice for tourists.
At peak hours on weekends and holidays, the number of motorbikes in circulation is unbelievable. Traffic jams on days also often occur in the city, at work and after shift hours. Street dust with loud sirens, making you mentally tired and inhibited about Vietnam’s road traffic. This is also considered a “specialty” of our country.
The largest cave in the world
Son Doong cave in Quang Binh province topped the list of new destinations of the 21st century voted by the Smithsonian science magazine. Son Doong is the largest natural cave in the world. Since exploiting tourism in 2013, Son Doong has become more and more known and attracted many visitors, especially those who love adventure and discovery. The New York Times ranked Son Doong cave at number 8 out of 52 places on the list of places to visit in 2014.
Son Doong Cave was formed about 2-5 million years ago, when river water flowed across an area of buried limestone along a fault line. The water flow eroded and created a giant tunnel in the ground under the mountain range. In places where the rock is soft, the ceiling collapses to form holes, which over time form giant cave arches. The cave has a width of 150 meters, a height of more than 200 meters, and a length of up to nearly 9 kilometers. The estimated capacity of Son Doong Cave is 38.5 million cubic meters (equivalent to 15,000 Olympic swimming pools). In addition, in some sections of Son Doong cave, the size is up to 140 m x 140 m, in which there are stalactite columns up to 14 m high. A splendid photo taken by photographer Carsten Peter in May 2010 recorded the cave with a width of about 91.44 m, the dome of the cave nearly 243.84 m high – can accommodate a 40-storey building.
In the cave, researchers also found an underground river 2.5 km long and there are stalactite columns up to 70 m high. The cave has coral populations and fossil animal remains.
World Heritage in Vietnam
Natural heritage, cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage, create unique imprints of Vietnam, nowhere else offers. Visitors from all over the world come because they want to admire the most splendid landscapes in Vietnam such as Ha Long Bay, Phong Nha – Ke Bang National Park, Trang An, learn about cultural features in historical sites such as Hue Ancient Capital, Ho Dynasty Citadel, or enjoy the beauty of natural characteristics of Central Highlands gongs music.
Long coastline
Vietnam has a coastline of over 3,260 km from Mong Cai in the North to Ha Tien in the Southwest (not counting the coast of islands), ranking 27th out of 157 coastal countries, island nations and other territories in the world. Along with more than 3,000 large and small islands, including the Hoang Sa and Truong Sa archipelagos, Vietnam is considered as one of the countries with great potential and advantages in terms of sea and island resources.
Vietnam’s sea is extremely favored by mother nature, bestowed with diverse beauty. The coastline from Mong Cai (Quang Ninh) to Do Son (Hai Phong) is an arc of Dong Trieu limestone mountain subsided by sea water, turning the mountains into thousands of islands of various shapes and sizes, creating the region. Ha Long landscape is classified by UNESCO in the list of the most beautiful natural landscapes in the world. The part of the Central Coast from Sam Son (Thanh Hoa) to the coast of the Central stretches and twists with many forms of high sand dunes or alluvial sand from rivers pouring into the sea. The Southern coast has a small protruding mountain region, that is Vung Tau – a famous tourist and resort area, the rest are alluvial flats at the mouths of the Mekong River, mangrove forests in Ca Mau and the last is a group of limestone mountains in Ha Tien (Kien Giang), one part is on the shore, the other part is under the sea, creating a natural scene similar to Ha Long in the North.
Friendly and hospitable people
For a long time, friendliness and hospitality is the reason why tourists come to Vietnam. Everywhere they can see the gentle smile of Vietnamese people. Despite the big language difference, Vietnamese people are always generous to help tourists. Local people are always ready to help you whenever they can, they can drive you out for free in their own car and tell you a lot about the city. “Friendly Vietnam” has been a keyword for those who have ever set foot in the S-shaped land.
The article on Hubpages when talking about Vietnam emphasizes: A good impression is the smile of the people here. They smile at anyone, anywhere in any situation.
Special street food
In Vietnam, the most diverse are the small roadside eateries and that is the best place to eat. Street food is extremely unique, diverse. Diverse dishes such as pho, vermicelli, pancakes, grilled dishes, ..
Street food also represents the dynamic and friendly lifestyle of Vietnamese people. At any time, we can also find all classes and ages of Vietnamese people gathering in street stalls and sidewalks. This excitement and bustle always makes foreign guests excited.
CNNgo page wrote, “America has given birth to mobile restaurants, but Vietnam is the real street food paradise. Nowhere has a culinary culture like this place”.
