VIETNAM
João Petersen · Last updated September 2, 2026
It finally hit me! Oh yes, this is South East Asia!
After two weeks between Hong Kong and Macau, with casinos and expensive stores, I finally had a taste of the real Southeast Asia.
A Slap Of Reality
At Hanoi’s airport, I joined a couple that decided to take an adventure with me, Reshma, and Konrad. I needed help filling out my Visa paperwork, and they gave me a hand. With that instant-forever-friendship-bond, we ordered a Grab (Southeast Asia version of Uber) and went to the city center.
No, really, who would tell I’d become the 3rd wheel of a traveling couple for more than a week just by asking them for a pen? Seriously… come on, just start your solo trip already! It is that easy. I’m quite sure during my 3-month solo trip in SEA, I was perhaps 3 hours (maximum) alone on a beach in Cambodia without meeting anyone new.
The Journey
So we got on that Grab and started seeing a massive amount of smog in the air. Hanoi's sky was completely grey. Everybody passing on motorcycles had masks on.
Of course, the masks were the minimum you could find strange on a Vietnamese driving a motorcycle, going from entire families of 5 on a scooter to pigs, cows, chickens, massive pieces of furniture magically balanced at the front of the bike, and other interesting combinations.
After dropping my bags at the hostel, which was quite awesome, with curtains in each bunk bed, plugs, and all the commodities (after sleeping in a decrepit hostel in Hong Kong, this was way unexpected!), we went to have dinner in a small street with a lot of tourists.
Got some 20-cent beers, ate Vietnamese Hot Pot, got harassed by a cookie-seller woman who, after passing by us 1000 times demanding us to buy her cookies, felt offended that we didn't and kicked me... not figuratively, she kicked me... fun!
The reality slap didn't end up here and went on for the rest of the trip.
The Adventure In Vietnam
Here it's a list of the main events that marked my stay in Vietnam:
Ate dog on a street market in Hanoi, yes...dog, I'm a horrible person, I know!
Driven scooters in every city I visited, with that chaotic traffic.
Visited Halong Bay with its surreal movie landscapes (they actually filmed the last King Kong movie there).
Realizing that surviving on this trip, while not being ripped off, was going to be a challenge:
Watching people pay USD 300 for 3 days 2 nights on a boat around Halong Bay with everything included, and, in the end, there wasn't even a boat, and everybody was made off between them, Mafia style.
Understanding that almost every tourist product is a copy, like Kopi Luwak coffee (the Indonesian "cat"-pooped coffee beans) and Adibas sneakers.
Learning how to avoid paying extra fees from the vendors-hostels-restaurants that try to rip you off, every... single... time... just because you're a tourist.
Develop that 5th sense for scams and tourist traps.
Met an amazing Portuguese Guitarist, Manel Ferreira (you can find his YouTube page here and be astonished by his skills)
Joined the coolest German-Argentinian-Uruguayan group (Mirco, Sam, Iara, and Marina) and ventured ourselves through cities, beaches, jungles, parks, street markets, waterfalls, caves...
Getting around with luxurious night-buses, scooters, bicycles, on foot, by plane... Just check the video of the trip here and get inspired!
My itinerary was: Hanoi - Halong Bay - Càt Bá Island - Ninh Binh (Tam Coc) - Phong Nha - Hué - Hoi An - My Son - Ho Chi Minh (in 12 days).
I Wanna Go Back!
I will for sure return, buy a moto in Hanoi, visit the rice fields of Sapa and be with the local communities, see Mui Né’s dunes and do some Kite/Windsurf, visit Nha Trang beaches, the Mekong Delta region, Pho Quoc island, and many other places.
Vietnam was by far one of my favorite countries, on the entire trip, making me wonder why I don’t just buy new tickets and restart the adventure?!
The next destination on my trip is Cambodia which will also have its own Youtube video!
The next publication on the blog will be another episode of “Routes” and will be about a famous bearded man, who had a “different way” of traveling than Marco Polo
Hope you enjoyed the post and until then,
The Portuguese Traveler
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