🇻🇳 Coming to Vietnam? 20 Tips You NEED to Know!

Hey foreigners! Vietnam has so many beautiful, incredible, wonderful places to see. So if you're thinking about traveling here or possibly want to live and work here in the future, then this video is for you. In this video, I'm going to give you 20 tips that will help make your life a little bit easier while you're here. And if you stick around till the end, I'm going to give you one bonus language tip that will help make your interactions with locals a little bit more fun every single day. Now let's get started. Number one. Visa. Getting a tourist visa to come to Vietnam can be quite simple. You just need to make sure you use the official government immigration website online. Using a third-party website or an agent here in Vietnam can often get you scammed, and I know lots of people that have been scammed out of money, so don't be one of those people. Always use the official website. Now, if you're thinking about living and working here, getting a visa to do that is much more difficult One, you have to have a company sponsor you, and that company has to have permission to employ foreigners. Two, you cannot have a job that a local Vietnamese can do. So for example, if you think you're just going to come to Vietnam, get a job at a local coffee shop, make some extra cash and support yourself while you're here, you cannot do that because working at a coffee shop is exactly what a local Vietnamese can do. My visa, for example, says I am an expert in my field. That means I am an expert in the field of acting and media. So make sure you get your visa situated before you get to Vietnam. Number two, crossing the street. If you look at videos online or talk to people that have already been here, you might think, wow, traffic in Vietnam is absolutely crazy. There's a sea of motorbikes, a ton of cars. There's no way I could cross the street safely. But yes, you can. And you've never truly experienced Vietnam until you've crossed the street during rush hour. Now, one thing I see a lot of people talk about online is crossing the street, but none of them tell you the safest way way to do it, which is to hold your hand up high. When you are crossing the street, you want to be visible as far away as you can be seen because the people closest to you might see you, but if your hand is down, the people behind them and farther away are not going to see you very well. Those are going to be the people that you need to be worried about and might have the highest chance of getting hit. So whenever you're crossing the street, do it consistently, slowly, do not hesitate and hold your hand up high so you can be seen. Actually, holding your hand up when crossing the street should be taught in schools around the world, and really, I'm not sure why it's not. In America, we're taught look both ways before you cross the street. Here in Vietnam, that is extremely important to do. Look both ways and hold your hand. And if you're crossing the street at night, you can actually turn the flashlight on your phone and hold it up high. That way, you are much more visible at night. Number three. Now, this is specific for people who are traveling in Vietnam. Whether you are at the airport or at rest stops traveling from city to city, make sure you check that the stall has toilet paper before you do your business in the bathroom. I don't even want to begin to tell you why I know this and why I'm having to give this as a tip. A lot of restrooms especially at the airport and rest stops will have toilet paper at the entrance to the doorway because they don't want to waste toilet paper and they know you will just take a little bit go into the bathroom do your business come back out but if they leave it in the stall you're going to use as much as you want and the sewer system in Vietnam is not designed to process lots of toilet paper so pro tip if you ever do use the bathroom at the airport or the rest stop make sure to wear a pair of socks that you're not afraid to get rid of Number four, take your shoes off. Before you enter into someone's home or even some businesses, make sure you always take your shoes off because the bottoms of your shoes are disgusting and wearing them inside someone's house is quite disrespectful. Back in America, I would often wear my shoes in the house and my mom would always say, take your shoes off before you go in the house. And I thought she was crazy. Turns out I was the crazy one. So here in Vietnam, don't wear your shoes in someone's house. Number five, businesses run from home. One thing that you will notice in Vietnam is that a lot of businesses are run out of someone's home, meaning either upstairs or in the back, you will be able to see the person's Bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, everything. And in the front, they will have their business. Now, I am specifically talking about tapua, which is like a little corner store that every single neighborhood has. So it is completely normal for you to want to go buy something and interact with a child. Meaning, if you want to buy a pack of cigarettes, that child will take your money, get your cigarettes, and bring you your change. It's very normal in Vietnam. Number six, the bum gun. So for those of you who don't know what a bum gun is, it is essentially a squirt gun for your butthole. That is what is used here in 90% of the bathrooms around Vietnam because the sewage system here is not designed to process a lot of toilet paper. It can cause clogging and sometimes can even cause pipes to explode. Number seven, take a local. So regardless of what you're doing in Vietnam, if you don't speak Vietnamese, it is very beneficial to take a local with you wherever you If you have to talk to the police, if you have to go to the hospital, the doctor, the dentist, shopping, anything like that, take a local with you if possible. Number eight, nap time. So when you first get to Vietnam, one thing you will notice is that around lunchtime from 12 to 1, most businesses shut down. Now for us, that seems quite strange. In America, yes, we have a lunch break where you go and eat lunch. Here in Vietnam, they eat their lunch and then they lay down and take a nap. This happens in schools. It happens in hospitals. It happens almost all businesses in Vietnam. So if you're planning on going anywhere during lunchtime, make sure you always call first to make sure they're open because there has been countless times where I have driven far across the city at lunchtime to go do whatever for a business and they were closed when I got there. Make sure you always call before you go. Number nine, don't drive at night. Now, if you're driving in the city, Driving at night is perfectly fine because the roads are well lit and the roads are also well maintained. But once you get outside the city, if you're traveling in Vietnam or if you're in rural Vietnam, you will notice that the roads are not well maintained and they are not well lit. Hitting a pothole at night can be very, very bad. Potholes in Vietnam can be huge and hitting it on a motorbike doing 50, 60 kilometers an hour, you could damage your bike, possibly even kill yourself. Now, you can take a bus at night, you can drive a car at night, that's fine. I'm specifically talking about motorbikes. Not to mention, the buses that do night trips from city to city, they drive crazy. They drive fast, they drive reckless. You don't want to be a motorbike that is having to deal with buses like that. It is much safer to just stay at a hotel after the sun sets, and then when the sun rises in the morning, continue your trip. Number 10, going to the hospital. A lot of hospitals in Vietnam are pay as you go, meaning if you don't have the money to pay for something, they can decline you service. And I know people this has happened to. Now, about four years ago, I had to have a procedure done with my shoulder where they had to put me on anesthesia and then put my shoulder back in place because it had been dislocated. So they told me the price of the procedure was nine million and that I needed to pay for it up front. Which I did, but it was at that point that I realized, if I didn't have the money, they weren't going to do the procedure. Also, there are some hospitals that will refuse you or turn you away because you are a foreigner. Don't be offended by this. It might just be they're not comfortable speaking English and they're worried about maybe doing something wrong to hurt that foreigner. So don't be offended by it. Just if possible, if you have the choice, try to choose a hospital that specifically has English speaking doctors. Number 11, speaking Vietnamese. Speaking and learning Vietnamese can be unbelievably difficult. But even if you've been studying hard for a year and your Vietnamese is perfect, there is going to be times when you talk with a Vietnamese and they have absolutely no idea what you're saying, even if your pronunciation is perfect. The only thing I can come up with is that because you're a foreigner, they're expecting you to be speaking English. So whatever you're saying in Vietnamese, they're thinking it's English and they just don't understand. So if you've been studying very hard and you sometimes encounter people that have absolutely no idea what you're saying. Don't be too hard on yourself. It could just be that they think you're speaking English and they don't understand. Number 12, learn the colors of money. In America, all of our money is essentially the same color. Here in Vietnam, it is different colors. Now this is something you should be wary of because the 20,000 and the 500,000 are both about the same color. So you don't want to accidentally pay too much or tip too much and not realize what you're doing. So just kind of keep track of the colors of your money. $20,000 BND is about $1, a little less than $1. $500,000 BND is about $20. Number 13, do as the locals do, except in traffic. Now here in Vietnam you will see a flood of motorbikes. It is a motorbike culture. It is not a car culture. You will see lots of locals not wearing helmets, driving against traffic, driving wrong down one-way streets, texting and driving, changing lanes without turn signal. You are not a local. You should follow by the rules of Vietnam. These locals have been driving like this for years and years and years, and essentially, they know how to do it safely. You are not a local. Do not drive like that. Always wear your helmet. Nobody is too cool for a helmet. As a police officer, I have worked many accidents in America that involve a motorbike, and I know exactly what happens when your head hits the pavement. Whether it's 5 kilometers an hour or 100 kilometers an hour, you want to wear a helmet. Same with driving a car, wear your seatbelt, And if you want to be twice as safe while driving a car, wear your seatbelt and wear a helmet. Number 14, rats and cockroaches. In Saigon, they are everywhere and you cannot defeat them. That is not a war you will ever win. You will see rats and cockroaches everywhere you go. It is just what it is. So if you're eating in a local restaurant and you see a rat run across the ground, in America, you're going to call the health inspector. Here in Vietnam, no problem. It doesn't mean that the restaurant is dirty, it just means that the rat on his way to rat school decided that cutting through the restaurant was a much faster route than running down the road. So if you see a rat, no problem. Number 15, Vietnamese have pictures of themselves on their phone. Now this is just a cultural thing. In America, if we were to see someone that had a picture of themselves on their phone, we would think, wow, that person is very conceited. But here in Vietnam, that is not the case. It is very normal to have a picture of yourself on your phone. Girls do it. Guys do it. Everyone does it. Lots of people have pictures of their lovers, their boyfriend, their girlfriend. That's completely normal. But even having a picture of yourself as your background on your phone is completely normal here. Number 16, crime still exists. Just because you don't hear about crime in Vietnam very much in the media does not mean that it does not exist. It does. Purse snatching, phone snatching, and having your bike stolen are three very common crimes in Vietnam. When I first got to Vietnam seven years ago, I rented a bike. That bike got stolen while I was teaching at a school. Through no fault of my own, it was the security guard's fault, but I learned a lesson at that time, and that is always be wary of who's watching your bike and where you park it. Now, if you park somewhere that has a security guard, which most places do, Try to always get a parking ticket. If you do not receive a parking ticket, that security guard is there to watch your bike, but it doesn't mean they're responsible if it gets stolen. So always be wary of your stuff. If you have the brand new iPhone 16 Pro Max Plus, don't be walking around the street holding it in your hand and, oh, blah, blah, look at that, look at that, look at that. No, it's going to get snatched. So don't do that. Keep your phone, keep your bag, keep your bike, keep anything valuable. Hidden somewhere on your body or at least somewhere that is not easy to take because crime can happen in the blink of an eye and it does. Number 17, tipping is not normal. Now what I mean by that is that there is not really a tipping culture here in Vietnam. Now sure, there are some restaurants where you can tip, no problem, but 90 to 95% of restaurants and businesses in Vietnam do not. ask for or do not accept tips it is just not a cultural thing like it is in america now If you want to tip, if you had a great server or you have some extra money and you really like the restaurant or anything at all, you can absolutely tip. There's no problem with that, but it is not the norm here. So just keep that in mind. Number 18, scams happen. Now, just like anywhere in the world, you can be scammed here in Vietnam for many, many different ways. But the way I'm going to cover is just one specific one. And this is really just for the party goers, the people that like to go out and have drinks. This is the lady bar scam. Now, it does not happen everywhere, but it can. So that's why I'm talking to you about this. Now, lady bars are the bars where you go and you sit and you have a drink for a pretty girl and you pay for your drink. You pay for their drink. You might pay for the other girl's drinks because they're all going to be asking you to buy their drinks. Okay, fine. My suggestion is after every drink you buy, whether it's yours or for someone else's, pay for it immediately. Don't wait until the end of the night when you're drunk and you're having a great time and they give you the bill because there's a chance there's going to be 30 different drinks on there that you did not order. Does it always happen? No, absolutely not. Not all businesses are like this, but it does happen. And paying for your drinks immediately after you order them completely eliminates the chance of getting scammed. Number 19, don't get angry in traffic. There is so many motorbikes and cars on the road at any given time, especially during rush hour. If you got angry at every single person who did something dangerous or cut in front of you, you would spend your entire time in Vietnam angry, and that is not a life you want to have. So the way I look at it is this. Traffic in Vietnam is essentially like ants. When you see ants traveling in a line, they bump into each other, they don't get angry, they don't argue, they just continue their day they bump into each other oh oh yeah sorry about that okay and then continue their day that is the mindset that you need to have when driving in vietnam's traffic because this city has 10 or 11 million people and probably 9 million motorbikes on the road at any given time so the chance of you getting cut off or someone doing something dangerous that affects you is very high But that also means that eventually you are going to cut someone off. You are going to do something dangerous that affects someone else. And as we say in America, no harm, no foul. Just continue your life and understand that danger in traffic is just part of the life here. Number 20, Vietnamese rubber time. Now, this was taught to me by a Vietnamese when I first got to Vietnam. Essentially, if you picture a clock, think about the hands made of rubber. So if someone says I'm going to meet you at 8 30, that could be 8 40, 8 45, even 8 50. It is just part of the culture here. Traffic is very difficult to deal with. It could rain. There's traffic jams for no known reason sometimes. There's flooding on the roads even when it doesn't rain. So Vietnamese rubber time is just part of the culture. If someone says I'm going to meet you at 9, just assume they could be there at 9 15, even 9 30. It's just the culture. Now, if you've watched all the tips up to this point, thank you so much. Now, you have earned your bonus tip. Now, this is going to be a language tip that can make it much more interesting to communicate with locals in your daily life. In America, or in English, when we see someone, we say, Hey, what's up? Hey, how are you doing? How are you doing? How are you doing? Here in Vietnam, yes, they often say, And say, That means, are you healthy? How are you doing? But a less common way, and a more local way, of asking someone how they're doing is saying 安康住, 安康住 That literally translates to, have you eaten rice yet? Which is essentially the same as asking, how you doing? So, in the morning, you can meet someone and say, Chào buổi sáng. Anh cơm chưa? That is the same as saying, Good morning. How are you doing? Now, if your Vietnamese is not very good and you say something like this to someone, they're going to be very impressed because that's a very creative and unique way to ask someone how they're doing. All right, that's all for this video. If you guys liked, make sure to like, subscribe, comment. I love reading the comments and interacting with everyone. If you have any advice or anything you didn't like, let me know in the comments and I'll see you guys in the next video.