When many people who haven’t yet travelled to Asia think of Vietnam, their minds instantly flash to images of chaos. The Vietnamese eat dogs. It’s a lawless and dangerous country. The traffic is a complete free-for-all and you’ll get mowed down if you’re not careful.
All of these ideas are rooted in truth, but those roots are pretty well buried at this point, and some of them are just cultural misunderstandings.
I’ve created this guide to unpack some of the most common misconceptions about Vietnam that I’ve encountered while living here over the past decade.
For each misconception, I’ll explain why people might think that, what’s actually happening, and why Vietnam is so worth visiting.
My hope is that I can “demystify” Vietnam a bit for new travellers and make you feel more secure in visiting one of the most welcoming, accessible, and quickly modernising countries in the world.
1. Vietnam is heavily communist
One of the most common questions I get when I’m visiting Western countries and tell people I live in Vietnam is “aren’t they communist over there?”
It’s a fair question to ask; Vietnam was heavily communist in the wake of the Vietnam War, a time that left a lasting image of what Vietnamese culture is like in the minds of many Westerners. And “communism” is sort of a dirty word in many cultures ever since the Cold War.
A lot of people imagining modern Vietnam will picture breadlines and crowds of people in monotone clothing, or, at least, something very rigid and uniform. The reality on the ground feels almost the opposite, though.
The truth:
The Vietnamese government is technically communist, but most tourists won’t even notice it beyond the patriotic posters plastered around cities. Economically, Vietnam feels as capitalist as can be – a shift initiated by major decentralisation reforms in 1986. Nowadays, the country is highly entrepreneurial. You can walk down almost any street and find shops, food stalls, and cafes operating side by side, often with very low barriers to entry.
Perhaps the best illustrations of that are the vibrant late-night market districts found in every city and large town, most of which have a colourful, unregulated “carnival midway” feel that’s increasingly rare in Western countries.
Mega-malls stocking global brands, cafes that run the gamut from roadside dives to luxury hangouts, and a generally hyper-commercial street life will also make you question whether you misheard that Vietnam is a communist country.
2. Traffic is chaotic
Vietnamese traffic, especially in cities, is notorious for being a lawless free-for-all. Lots of people get one glimpse of the seemingly unregulated rushing river of honking motorbikes and cars flowing through the streets of Saigon or Hanoi and make up their minds right then and there that it must be dangerous.
It’s so much different than the comparative slow-drip of traffic in most “first world” countries, after all.
The truth:
Vietnamese traffic is not chaotic, it’s just governed by a very different set of rules than “Western traffic”.
Whereas Western-style traffic tends to regulate itself by keeping traffic flow slow and measured, Vietnamese traffic maintains an efficient flow of traffic and instead regulates itself via the constant awareness of the drivers.
Vietnamese drivers do abide by rules, but those rules are unwritten and ensure the driver and the other people around (both pedestrians and other drivers) remain safe without sacrificing efficiency.
The four “unwritten rules of the road” that govern Vietnamese traffic are:
- Flow matters more than right-of-way. Drivers don’t expect you to stop for them. They can maneuver around you. The reverse is also true.
- The horn = communication, not aggression. Vietnamese drivers use the horn to communicate that they’re approaching.
- Bigger vehicles get priority. There’s a hierarchy: truck>car>motorbike>pedestrian. When right-of-way is called for, ties go to whoever’s higher in the hierarchy.
- Lanes are flexible, which often means that they’re meaningless.
You’ll be surprised by how quickly you internalise these rules and start realising Vietnamese traffic just looks chaotic on the surface. I’ve been living in Saigon for over a decade and almost always walk to get around, and I’ve never been hit or witnessed a major accident once.
3. Vietnamese resent certain nationalities
Lots of travellers reasonably assume that most Vietnamese people will begrudge American or French tourists because their countries were partially responsible for the most traumatic periods in recent Vietnamese history (colonisation and war).
The truth:
Vietnamese people hold no grudges whatsoever.
In my decade living here and travelling the country, I’ve never felt discriminated against because I’m American, even by people who were directly involved with the war.
I’ve asked Vietnamese people what they think about the issue, and their response is always either “the past is past, and Vietnam is living in the present” or “it was your government doing all that, not citizens like you”.
4. Vietnam is unsafe
People hear that Vietnam has high poverty rates or is a “third world country” and assume it’s dangerous, especially for solo travellers.
The truth:
Vietnam is an extraordinarily safe country – most online crime indexes rank it as being about as dangerous as Germany.
The culture is very nonconfrontational and the ban on guns is very effective, two things that contribute to violent crime being almost non-existent. Nowhere else do I feel totally safe walking relatively empty city streets at 3am.
Petty crime like pickpocketing or scamming is more common than in most Western countries, but it’s much rarer than it was even a few years ago. Vietnam has a reputation for being absolutely rife with these types of crimes, but that reputation is, like much of this list, outdated.
5. Food is unhygienic
Street food is often at the top of the to-do lists of people visiting Vietnam, but there’s also this perception that you have to be really careful where you eat because lots of places will give you “Saigon stomach” by using unclean utensils, old ingredients, etc.
The truth:
Vietnam’s big cities have very hygienic food standards. They weren’t as great even a decade ago (and certainly not during the era after the War), but you have nothing to worry about now.
The main reason for the misconception is that Vietnam’s methods of ensuring food safety are totally different than most of the West, especially in terms of image.
The Western image of food safety is all about rubber gloves, stainless steel kitchens, and sealed environments. So visitors often balk at people with bare hands preparing food in open-air stalls or small carts and using a well-worn iron wok that was probably passed down from a great-grandmother.
Travellers often don’t understand that Vietnam’s methods of ensuring food safety instead involve buying fresh ingredients multiple times per day, cooking food at EXTREMELY HIGH HEAT, maintaining a fast turnover (which is why you should try to stick to crowded shops), and always keeping the chef’s hands clean.
6. Healthcare is low quality
I don’t think there’s a Latin name for the phobia of hospitals abroad, but it sure is a common concern for travellers. It’s no wonder why; an alarming number of travel blogs engage in borderline fear-mongering about the medical risks of travelling in a “developing” country like Vietnam, from decrepit clinics to rude and unattentive doctors to old-fashioned medical procedures.
The truth:
Medical establishments in Vietnamese cities and even large towns are nearly always modern, fast, and attentive. Wait times are short, medical staff almost always speak English, and prices are usually significantly less than in most Western countries, despite the high level of care.
Vietnam doesn’t have the top-of-the-line medical equipment that you would find in medical hubs like Bangkok or Singapore, but you can get all but the most complex medical maladies addressed with good-quality care right here.
The inexpensive, accessible, and thorough medical care in Vietnam actually attracts a lot of medical tourism from around the world. So I don’t recommend medical insurance to travellers visiting Vietnam, because I just don’t think it’s worth it.
7. Everything is cheap
It’s easy to think everything in Vietnam will just be one-third the price it is in most Western countries because it’s true that the overall cost of living is 25%-35% as much.
The truth:
There are two categories of products that are much cheaper (usually 20%-35%) in Vietnam compared to Western countries: domestic goods and labor. And, to be fair, those categories cover a huge variety of things, from street food using Vietnamese ingredients to medical procedures using equipment manufactured in Vietnam.
But “modern” products and services that utilise imported goods are growing more and more common, and they’re almost as expensive as they might be in the country supplying them.
If a phở restaurant opts for Australian beef because it’s more tender (and, believe me, it is), it’s not going to be so cheap anymore. If the dental clinic you go to uses state-of-the-art equipment made in Singapore, expect to pay double.
There are also straight-up imported products like high-quality athletic gear from Europe, complex electronics from Japan, or food from foreign restaurants. That stuff is often more expensive than it would be in its country of origin.
Even the products that aren’t imported are not as cheap as one might think. Maybe they used to be – my local 30-year old friends long for the days when they were kids and a bánh mì cost 2.000 VND ($0.07). Inflation is real, though, and today that bánh mì costs a bank-shattering 40.000 VND ($1.50).
Vietnam’s consumer economy is very price-sensitive, so there are cheap options available for nearly everything. But there are usually more expensive options, too, and more often than not you get what you pay for.
8. Vietnamese eat dog
Many outsiders are horrified when they hear that dogs are often used for meat in Vietnam. They’re man’s best friend, after all, and the idea of cooking up ol’ Fido is just one step away from cannibalism in some people’s minds.
The prospect of running into shops selling dog meat while walking through Ho Chi Minh City’s District 1 or Hanoi’s Old Quarter can be a serious deterrent to travellers who are also animal lovers.
The truth:
Vietnamese born during the past few decades tend to think of dogs in the same way as most Westerners. That is, they don’t feel comfortable with the concepts of dog meat and “puppy mills”. Especially in cities, raising dogs as companions has exploded in popularity over the past few years.
Most urban districts have phased out the sale of dog meat entirely. You might see the occasional shop selling dog meat (thịt chó) if you’re in a rural area, but even most of those sell pork made with certain spices that make it taste like dog and pass it off for the real thing – a confusing ethical situation for you to ponder.
Dog is still sometimes eaten at formal social gatherings in the north of the country, especially ones that are going for a more culturally traditional tone.
I tried dog meat once at a northern Vietnamese wedding a decade ago, and it was nothing special; it tasted like saltier pork with a firmer texture and lots of bones.
Note that inquisitive tourists play a big part in keeping the horrific dogs-for-food black market alive, so PLEASE take my word for it and skip it, even if curious.
9. Infrastructure is awful
Before going to Vietnam, many travellers think the country still has large stretches of dirt road or patches of jungle between cities. This will obviously make it difficult to get around. You have to take a plane from one destination to another, and even getting around in the cities might make for a bumpy ride.
I have to admit that I’m guilty of this one too. When I travelled to Vietnam for the first time in 2012 (which was also my first Southeast Asia trip), I brought hiking shoes for walking around the city and I wasn’t sure if parts of Saigon would consist of uneven dirt roads.
I imagined a half-village, half-jungle area that I may or may not be able to navigate with extreme difficulty. Those who’ve travelled abroad even a little bit (which I hadn’t at that time) can probably guess that my concerns were overblown.
The truth:
This is probably another instance of “Vietnam War snapshot effect”, when people (like 2012 me) base their assumptions about modern Vietnam on the footage they’ve seen from during or just after the war, when the country’s infrastructure was still largely nonexistent.
The modern reality is that Vietnam’s intercity infrastructure – highways, air routes, and especially its miraculous cross-country bus system – is one of the best national transit systems I’ve ever seen. And then there’s my favorite way of getting around the country, the North-South train line. It’s obviously not as fast as flying, but it’s extremely scenic and quite comfortable. I have a guide on exploring Vietnam by train that goes into details.
Within the cities, all the roads (except in some far-flung city outskirts) are paved. All major cities have bus systems, and most buses have aircon and wifi. Grab, the Southeast Asian Uber, is a quick and cheap way to get around, and Hanoi and Saigon are both building metro networks that are up to international standards.
Again, this section might seem obvious for experienced travellers, but it’s a real concern for some.
10. You’ll get bitten by a diseased animal and die
Lots of travellers are more concerned about this than they need to be; the “vaccinations and medical precautions” sections of most online travel guides do a great job of scaring people.
The main sources people are scared about are mosquitoes with blood-borne diseases like malaria or dengue and wild dogs who might be rabid.
The truth:
Unless you are visiting very specific areas of Vietnam, you don’t need to worry about it.
There’s a notion that “all tropical mosquitoes are at risk for carrying disease”, but that’s far from the truth. Only certain species that are present in small rural pockets of the country (not in tourist hotspots) can carry disease, and even those species are almost always safe except during outbreaks. Those outbreaks nearly always come during the rainy season, which is not common for travel anyway.
So the chance of you being infected by a mosquito, especially if you are travelling during dry season, is so infinitesimally low that you needn’t worry about it.
Vietnam does still have some stray dogs, especially in rural areas. And most of them, unfortunately, are not very friendly. Sadly, you shouldn’t try to pet them lest you get snapped at. As long as you take that precaution, though, there is absolutely no need to worry about getting bitten by a rabid dog.
They’re always more scared of you than you are of them; Vietnamese dogs have a funny habit of barking and acting tough until you get within a few metres of them, at which point they run away, tail between legs. Once you pass, they resume their post and bark at your back as if to say “that’s right, you’d better run!”
11. The language is impossible to deal with
Many travellers (and even some expats) look at the Vietnamese script and get overwhelmed instantly. A phrase like “trà sữa” can look pretty intimidating, after all.
The truth:
What if I told you that “trà sữa” is pronounced similarly to how “tra sua” would be in English? There are, of course, nuances to native pronunciation, but the point is that English speakers can easily pronounce an anglicised version of the Vietnamese language that will almost always be understood by locals.
Being able to read and roughly pronounce the language in order to refer to labelled items in front of you is a huge benefit to the Vietnamese script being based on the Roman alphabet.
I remember that, when I was new in Vietnam and didn’t understand the language, I would sometimes go to restaurants and play “culinary Russian roulette”. That is, I would look at the menu and order something without knowing what it was I was ordering. I would occasionally lose the gamble and get something I didn’t want, but most of the time I would get delicious new food and learn a few new Vietnamese words in the process.
In other Asian countries, a menu is just symbols. In Cambodia, for example, the restaurant next to my hotel was selling ក្តាម and មឹកអាំង (?). I also remember visiting Tainan and seeing 擔仔麵 and 棺材板 being sold at roadside stands. At least in Vietnam, there is always the option to wildly gesticulate what you want, use the actual language (which is manageable in Vietnam), and occasionally discover something great.
In addition to the script being romanised, most Vietnamese under 30 know at least basic English, especially in big cities and tourist hotspots. Since this age group makes up nearly half the population, you usually won’t have to look far if you need help translating.
The bottom line
Vietnam obviously differs in some ways from Western countries, and it can be a shock to the system at first.
The first street crossing feels like a game of Frogger. The first stroll down a crowded food street like Vinh Khanh feels extremely chaotic. The first interaction with a non-English speaker feels totally unnatural. Like jumping into a pool, though, the shock fades quickly.
The truth is that Vietnamese culture is not as “exotic” as you might think if you’ve never been here. Especially in the more Westernised southern part of the country (including Ho Chi Minh City), it’s closer to the cultures in America or Europe than most other Asian countries are. And most of the common misconceptions of Vietnam are based on either wartime propaganda or old-fashioned traditions that have mostly evaporated.
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