One month in Vietnam

So after a month of getting our hearts and stomachs full in Thailand (read about it here) we hopped on a flight from Bangkok to Saigon. I was now a freshly engaged woman, still in a bit of a daze about it, and we were not ready to go home yet. Half of our two-month escape was behind us, and we still had Vietnam to figure out.

The plan was a loose triangle: a few days in Saigon to land and adjust, then almost two weeks chilling in Phu Quoc to recover, then up north to Hanoi for the last stretch. Vietnam wasn't on our radar as much as Thailand was, so I had way fewer expectations going in. Which is maybe why it ended up surprising me in both directions.

Saigon (5 days)

I loved the food and the cocktails. Truly. We had banh mi from a sidewalk cart that ruined every sandwich for me forever, and the cocktail bars in District 1 were honestly fancier and better than anything we had in Thailand. We did the War Remnants Museum, which is heavy and a lot, but felt important. And the Ben Thanh Market is fun if you don't mind being haggled at from every direction.

I hated almost everything else, if I'm being honest. Saigon was just too dirty and messy for us. The traffic is on a completely different planet from Phuket, it felt like the motorbikes had personal beef with my ankles. Bui Vien walking street at night was overstimulating in the worst way. After Thailand we had been spoiled with calmness and Saigon was the opposite of that. Five days felt like a lot. I think three would have been plenty.

Phu Quoc (almost 2 weeks)

This is going to be hard to write about without sounding like an ad. Phu Quoc was the kind of place where you arrive and immediately understand why people skip the rest of Vietnam to just stay here. It's an island in the south, the beaches were the most empty beaches I have ever seen in my life — and I have been to plenty of Estonian beaches in winter, so that says something.

I loved the slowness of it. We spent days at Sao Beach with literally no one else around us, the sand actually squeaks when you walk on it and the water was the kind of warm that doesn't even register as temperature. Long Beach for sunsets, every single evening, never got old. We did one snorkeling trip out to the An Thoi islands and the water was so clear it felt fake. The Duong Dong night market in the evenings for seafood was perfect — pick your fish, they grill it, you eat it on plastic stools for a third of what it would cost in Phuket.

I loved that we had time to do nothing here. Two weeks is a lot for an island and somehow it wasn't enough. We had a routine — coffee, beach, lunch, nap, beach again, dinner, repeat. The kind of routine that resets your nervous system. I genuinely think Phu Quoc was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of stay for us. Not because we can never go back, but because catching it that empty and that chill probably won't happen the same way again.

If I have to find one downside it's that the inland of the island is not particularly pretty to drive through, lots of construction and half-finished resorts that hint at what Phu Quoc will look like in 10 years. We tried not to think about it too much.

Hanoi (3-4 days)

Hanoi was a complete vibe switch and I was here for it. The Old Quarter is genuinely one of the most walkable, photogenic city neighborhoods I have wandered. Narrow streets, tiny plastic stools spilling out of every doorway, women cooking pho on the sidewalk, motorbikes everywhere but somehow more polite than in Saigon (or maybe I had just made peace with the chaos by then).

I loved the egg coffee. I had heard about it and went in skeptical — coffee with raw egg yolk?? — and walked out a believer. We had it at Cafe Giang which is one of the original places and yes it's touristy but it's touristy for a reason. I loved Hoan Kiem Lake at dawn, walking around it with old people doing tai chi and groups of women dancing to speakers, the city waking up around you. I loved the Temple of Literature, super peaceful escape from the streets. And bun cha for lunch in a tiny family-run spot — different from pho, lighter, with the grilled pork and dipping broth — became my new favourite.

What I didn't love was that 3-4 days is just enough to skim the surface. We didn't make it to Ha Long Bay or Ninh Binh, which I now feel like we were supposed to. Next time. Also it was a bit colder than I had mentally prepared for — Hanoi in February is not exactly tropical, I had been in flip-flops for two months and suddenly needed a jumper, which was annoying.

Vietnam vs Thailand

If you forced me to pick, Thailand wins. The overall experience there was just better for us — the beaches, the variety, the ease of moving around. But Vietnam has its own thing going on, and the food and cocktails were honestly a level above. If you can do both back-to-back like we did, do it. If you can only pick one, Thailand for a first-timer in Southeast Asia.

To sum it up

Three weeks in Vietnam felt like the right amount, but I would skip a day or two in Saigon and add them to Hanoi. Phu Quoc could have been even longer and I wouldn't have minded. The biggest takeaway is that flying back into Tallinn winter after two months of beaches and 30°C was the cruellest thing we have done to ourselves, so plan your return carefully.