A month in Hoi An

[Quickstatus]

haggling storekeepers

what sort of discounts were you seeing?

 

[drcam]

it is standard practice to omit the last 3 "000"

Dong!**

**My version of "Damn!" with some degree of sarcasm added.

 

[GarrettM]

So... Saturday was a travel day home. We woke up early, ordered some coffee and fruit for brekky via Grab, and waited for our pre-arranged ride to Da Nang airport.
That arrived about 20 minutes early, and our host Minh was there to see us off. But not before providing us with some gifts. Evidently we were amazing guests, despite the occasional screams and high-pitched profanities. She said her father, who lives in the back portion of the villa, really enjoyed listening to kids run around for a change. The villa is usually booked by groups of travelling adults who all want their own rooms and come and go at all times. So having a family essentially in residence was a nice change.
Minh also told us having us stay for an extended period was good for her as it gave her a break from the stream of 3-4 day tenancies and associated cleaning and upkeep stuff. She runs two or three villas so I can imagine she gets busy.

In any event she gave us two large silk lanterns, and also TWO even larger wall hangings that we had to find space for in a suitcase. To be honest I think they'd been sitting around for a bit looking for an excuse to exist. But there was no prospect of us saying no as that would have been super insulting.

With all that out of the way the drive to Da Nang and check in for VN119 was smooth.

Security was not. Vietnam still enforces the shoes off policy at airport security. This came as a surprise to us, and a massive mental load for Miss10. Ordinarily she LOVES the airport security process, but the demand to remove her shoes really put her out.

I don't know that I've seen fish for sale at the airport before.


The wife did a little shop exploration before boarding, while I watched the kids.

Although at times the kids sort of looked after themselves.

Boarding was a bit of a mess, but we all got there in the end. The A321 departed about 1125 and landed in SGN around 80 minutes later.
I was in 26B, with the kids either side of me. MrsGM enjoyed some quiet time in 25C.
Smooth flight, nothing to report.

 

[GarrettM]

what sort of discounts were you seeing?

I didn't do heaps of shopping. But I can say when the family bought things the price paid was generally around 50% or less of the original price quoted.

As ever you have to hold your ground and be prepared to walk away.
I've seen sellers chase back a departing customer by agreeing to their price.
At the same time I keep in mind that everyone here is doing their best to survive, as there's no help from other sources. So every sale, every dong, matters more to them than me.

 

[Quickstatus]

As ever you have to hold your ground and be prepared to walk away.
I've seen sellers chase back a departing customer by agreeing to their price.

Yes
I'm happy to haggle but not so stingy
VND 100,000 = Aud $5 so haggling in less than 6 figure dong is hardly worth it.

 

[GarrettM]

Our immigration fast track got off to a ropey start when we couldn't find the guy we were looking for. Miss10, having still not recovered from the shoe removal incident, didn't help things much by demanding I find a new guy, presumably by just pulling someone from the crowd.

But after some back and forth messaging Johnny Visa's emissary eventually located us, and guided us through immigration. It probably saved us about 30 minutes in the queue. Given our plane was departing 40 minutes earlier than I had previously thought that's probably not a bad thing.

What was a bad though, was the order to again take shoes off. Knowing it was likely Miss10 was somewhat steeling herself for it.
But once we were through security, she basically fell into an almost hyperventilated state. We aren't sure what it is about the requirement that triggered her, but then again neither was she and that moment was not the time to unpack it all. It took about 15 minutes but eventually she calmed down enough to have a snack before boarding. Not a fun experience for her or us though, especially as her final memory of Vietnam.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Just spotted this on Fb @GarrettM best VND you spent I reckon!

 

[Quickstatus]

Why don't everyone just buy fast track ?

 

[GarrettM]

Just spotted this on Fb @GarrettM best VND you spent I reckon!View attachment 492082

Yikes.

 

[GarrettM]

Why don't everyone just buy fast track ?

That is a good question.

If not for the kids we probably would not have done so. Perhaps people are concerned about getting ripped off. I certainly had some doubts right up until we were through.

Maybe others don't know. It shouldn't actually be a thing, but it's no surprise someone found a way to squeeze more money out of airport travelers.

A case of Everyone'sMMV I guess.

 

[Quickstatus]

Perhaps people are concerned about getting ripped off

Especially when it is not service officially offered by the authorities.

We will be arriving into SGN at 1540hrs and departing 1100am from same. Likely at least the arrival will be in peak hours
Exit immigration is a PITA in KUL and seems to be also in SGN and i suspect Fast track is more important on exit than on entry.

Another question please. Did you use a local sim card?

 

[GarrettM]

Especially when it is not service officially offered by the authorities.

We will be arriving into SGN at 1540hrs and departing 1100am from same. Likely at least the arrival will be in peak hours
Exit immigration is a PITA in KUL and seems to be also in SGN and i suspect Fast track is more important on exit than on entry.

Another question please. Did you use a local sim card?

Happy to answer questions. It's not often my knowledge helps more experienced travelers.

I think most people do use it for arrival actually. The thinking being you've hopped off a medium haul flight and don't have the patience for queues. But you'd need to satisfy yourself I think. There are conversations around that discuss which times of day are better than others. But if you're willing to be patient you'll eventually get through no matter what. If we had been staying in SGN rather that connecting it's likely we wouldn't have worried about it.

I used an esim from Saily

$18USD for 30G / 10 days, and I hadn't used it all by the time we left. Obviously we had wifi at the villa, and most cafes and restaurants have open/free wifi.

It took me a bit of figuring out to get going, as I'd never used an esim before, but once I had it worked out it was seamless.

 

[Quickstatus]

Happy to answer questions

Thanks @GarrettM
VN "never ever" beginner here
I think we will be including more VN in the future.

Will start with 3 days in SGN in about a month

 

[GarrettM]

I can't imagine you'll be disappointed. Like most places, careful planning and wise decision making is crucial.
I'll have more in depth commentary in coming posts.

 

[Quickstatus]

I can't imagine you'll be disappointed

Correct, Have travelled to Asia lots just not to VN.
SGN this time was a spur of the moment when I though the original itinerary to MY/KUL was just a bit too long. But luckily for me an excellent VN TR popped up.
The heat and humidity will always kill me though

 

[GarrettM]

Correct, Have travelled to Asia lots just not to VN.
SGN this time was a spur of the moment when I though the original itinerary to MY/KUL was just a bit too long. But luckily for me an excellent VN TR popped up.
The heat and humidity will always kill me though

It was consistently 22-25 degrees for us. Somewhat sticky though.
Practically everywhere in SGN will have aircon to some degree. Our last trip there it was late spring. Pretty warm.