Thailand & Vietnam for 16 days - What I learned during my trip

If this is the first time you're reading my blog, you might not know that I wrote what I planned to take with on this trip (you can find the blog post here) and how my trips to Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang & surroundings, Ao Nang and Bangkok went.

The people

For both what surprised me the most was how different the people and the mentalities were. I have been in Japan a few years back and Japanese people are super shy towards foreigners (if they have to speak English) and their personalities are friendly but not overwhelming.

Vietnamese people are definitely kind and from the several conversations I had, they are mostly thankful for tourists as they help to bring in money for the country- this might sound bad at first but consider that tourists have only been a regular thing for the last 20 years. Vietnam was hit hard after the Vietnam War (which they actually refer to the "American War") and the country itself is located mostly by the sea. In general, they get hit by at least 4 typhoons per year but this year alone (2025) they have just survived the 13th ! While Vietnamese are used to flooding and the aftermath of it, it still costs A LOT to repair whatever gets damaged. The people are kind and they see tourists as good for them.

Thai people on the other end felt soooo much more pushy to me! Their whole mentality is based on making the most money from tourists (for themselves only). There were so many times I felt like they offered deliberately higher prices for items (always look for shops with fixed prices! If you walk in and just see a calculator and no price tags, you can basically just walk out. It wasn't worth the fight for me). I also didn't appreciate that some physically wanted me to go into their spa's or keep me in the store for longer by grabbing my arm.

The food

As a vegetarian who is allergic to soy I was afraid that I would have lots of problems finding food since soy sauce is a common part of their cuisine but I was wrong! In both countries, I was able to order without soy products and found items in the supermarket.

That being said, in Thailand almost every restaurant has Thai food in their menus. It felt like they were very proud of their food and fried vegetable rice as well as the different curries were perfect for me - though I only ate warm food in the evening time and went with water & smoothies throughout the day. The Thai culture is also deeply rooted with India which is another amazing cuisine for vegetarians.

You can expect food to cost about 200 Baht per meal (in a restaurant) = around 5€

Vietnam on the other hand was a bit more difficult if you try to find local food. While you can get Banh Mi (which is essentially a sandwich) as vegetarian version with eggs, it tasted fairly blunt.Spring rolls mainly had tofu in them which meant I wouldn't eat them either. I didn't tryy them but Papaya Salad & Lotus Fried rice are generally options too. Luckily Vietnam is more used to food from other countries so I choose based on whatelse I liked e.g. gnocchis or Udon noodles.

In Vietnam the average (in a restaurant) was 70,000 - 100,000 VDN which is about 2€.

Food Poisoning

This is a topic I believe is not being addressed enough when considering both countries for traveling. Generally Thailand feels like they are more used to tourists and therefore consider more things we might not want to have - Vietnam is still very much their own country and food hygiene is even more questionable.

Lucky for us, Vietnamese are very used to us Westerners having food poisoning over there and I wanted to be prepared so I bought a 3-day set of medicine the pharmacy would usually give and it only costs about 7€. I'm not saying buy medicine just in case but I felt better with it and I was happy I didn't have to use any of it after all.

To avoid food poisoning as much as possible those are my tips:

Look at the stall/ restaurant when you get there - if it looks dirty it's best to skip it
Best option is if you see a sink!! Food places there basically use ONE bucket the whole day to wash all dishes and possibly the food itself too - you probably hear about salmonella before... Just think of how many bacteria spreads if you wash a plate with dirty water over and over and over again...
Be prepared and check your vaccines before you even fly
Only drink bottled water - tap water is not clean
Avoid drinks with ice cubes - those are likely made with tap water if they are not cylinder-shaped and have holes in the middle (that's the ones you can buy)
If you can, go vegetarian for your trip or at least avoid pork as much as possible
Don't eat raw food! Food should either be cooked, fried or served in hot water like soups - this will kill a lot of bacteria
If it smells bad or you get a funny feeling, just stop eating - I had that once and it turned out to be fine in the end but I wasn't planning on getting sick
Don't trust online reviews in Thailand; in Vietnam I felt like they were fairly accurate

If you read my blog post about Da Nang, you know I had to go to the hospital due to a foot injury. Apart from me there were 5 other people in the ER and they all had food poisoning. It's not just a stomach ache, people feel REALLY bad! And if you do, just go to a hospital, they try to help as best as they can.

Accommodation & Transportation

We booked our accommodations over Booking.com and were fine with them overall. They might not be the same standard as you expect them to be e.g. not all had hair dryers in the room (but you could get them from the reception) and beds are generally rather hard. You may or may not know but Vietnamese actually don't sleep on mattresses so don't expect a cloudy bed.

Price-wise a mid-range accommodation costs about 30€/ night which really isn't expensive at all (breakfast not included).

To get around, both countries are very used to scooters. You can walk but it's not super common for those living there. Bigger cities have busses, subways and trains, otherwise it's super easy to get around with Grab. I usually ordered taxis which truly cost sooooo little but you can get a cheaper ride on a scooter & technically Uber exists there too but when I tried nobody accepted the request...

Weather

For Vietnam be aware that the weather can change FAST. They got hit by 13 typhoons this year (as of the beginning of December 2025) and you should definitely buy flights you can cancel/ modify when needed. We did this once with a Vietnam Airlines flight booked originally from Ho Chi Minh City to Hue and ended up flying a day later to Da Nang instead (due to flooding in Hue) but unfortunately I heard a few stories from people who were too sick to fly (food poisoning!) and had to move their planes too.

That's the reason why activities & accommodations in that area can usually still be cancelled free of charge up to 24h before.

Thailand is less prone to it as it's location is simply a different one yet rain season and general flooding is something to consider. When we flew from Dublin, there was no warning for Thailand - a few later we got there and the day after the government issued a warning for the following week due to heavy rain fall. It ended up being the worst flooding the South of Thailand experienced in 300 years.

Activities

In both countries, you can do most things yourself but group tours are faaaar more common.

We ended up booking 3 tours with GetYourGuide and I was happy with all of them. If we had more time, we definitely would have done more too.

On that note - always bring cash with! Most of the time the places you go to e.g. islands are remote and they won't accept cash payments. Be smart and check with your bank before if/ when you have to pay any fees for withdrawals. For Revolut it's either 3 withdrawals or 1,000€ (whichever comes first) and while Thailand and Vietnam are considerably cheap I ended up paying 3x 7€ fees (always 250 Baht) because I went over the limit.

Apart from one time where I was only able to take out a small amount (1,000 Baht with HSBC Bank) this was might fault for underestimating the amount of cash needed and I will consider adding an additional card for cash payments to avoid those fees for the next trips which will be longer.

What I ended up using from the things I brought

For reference, this is what I took with:

1) Toothbrush 2) lip balm 3) floss 4) deodorant

5) sunglasses 6) tooth paste 7) disinfection 8) shampoo bar

9) ear plugs 10) straw 11) body lotion 12) hair brush

13) lock 14) cables 15) sun creme 16) cleanser & cotton pads

17) hair tie 18) motion sickness pills 19) travel adapter

20) hair clip 21) power bank

Now to be honest, I used basically everything because I packed very smart.

The only 2 items I didn't use were a shirt I did not feel super comfortable with walking because Thai's do care about appearance quite a bit and I felt it was too revealing just for walking on the streets (would be fine for the beach though) and my travel straw. Those are personal preferences but otherwise you're pretty solid if you want to take this as a reference.

I knew that it's fairly cheap to get your clothes washed and that's what I planned on doing which is why I easily got away with only having 3 pants & 6 shirts for 16 days of traveling however I will definitely look for a portable cloth drying line for the next trips to wash and hang my clothes in the accommodations if needed.

What I bought in Thailand & Vietnam

Mosquito spray: When we first came to Bangkok, the most important part for me was getting mosquito spray - the small pink spray in the picture is the most common brand and since it's less than 100ml I was able to take it with everywhere though I learned in November they aren't as present (and I usually aaaaalways get biten!)
Inhalers: They are super good on days with lots of smoke in the air (which apparently comes from China) - don't pay more than 50 Baht for them though... I definitely overpaid
Electrolytes: Are great when you sweat a lot on hot days. Super cheap and definitely good to buy at Seven Elevens
Elephant pants: They feel like a must in Thailand but same thing don't overpay - 100 Baht is more than enough, everything else is too much
Magnets: In Vietnam those should not be more than 100,000 VDN (3€) but usually they are cheaper; in Thailand 150 Baht (4€) was my max but usually they were around 100 Baht; I also got a snow globe, a key chain & pins
Because of the Elephant tour we did, we needed to have water shoes - again I know I overpaid but they wanted me to pay 400 Baht in the shop, I paid 200 Baht (=5,40€ aka the price I suggested) but they probably would have accepted less too
Small bag: Vietnam is known for it and honestly for 100,000 VDN (3€) you really can't complain
Black clip: That's a small clip which helps to lock your backpack. I got it at a shop in Chinatown for 50 Baht (1,30€) - Thailand felt pretty safe but I would have gotten it either way
After Sun Creme: Learn from me and take it with in advance... Sunscreen & products are actually fairly expensive over there... But I thought it would be cloudy and got sunburned.. less than 100ml cost me 450 Baht (12€!) at a Seven Eleven
Food poison medicine: Like I said, I got the medicine to be prepared in Vietnam and luckily didn't have to use it (it was about 7€ for a 3 day pack which I bought at a local pharmacy)
Fabric: Another one I felt kind of tricked and definitely pressured into buying but hey apparently the shop was working with the government and a part of what they earned through tourists went towards rebuilding the country after the flood they just experienced in the south of the country. I won's say the price and just choose to believe I did something good by purchasing to be honest
Cash from both countries

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