I just spent 2 days in Vietnam.

[Repatriate]

Just a short and sweet trip report.

I just spent 2 days in Ho Chi Minh City aka Saigon to get a new Thai visa. I thought out of all the SE Asian countries i've been to this was definitely the most compelling one for asian-americans or western expats in general to find women. I can totally see why Taiwanese men marry so many Vietnamese women now. They tend to carry themselves very well and many of them have the traits that Taiwanese/Chinese men find beautiful in asian women. They are generally petite, many have cute faces, and seem much smarter than their other SEA counterparts.

At the hotel I was staying at there were two receptionists there that had absolutely lovely personalities. Very chatty and helpful as in genuinely happy/nice and not fake nice like Thais often come across as being the majority of the time. Plus I chatted up quite a few Vietnamese people when I was around town and they were definitely a much sharper bunch. They seemed more worldly and also had better english.

I knew a lot of Vietnamese people in CA and they were generally high achievers like TW or Chinese people. I see a lot of good things for Vietnam's future.

The city itself is undergoing some interesting development. There are a lot of nice restaurants, bohemian hangouts, with a very good vibe. The quality of restaurants that I saw was pretty decent too. I ate at a lot of random places and didn't have a single bad meal. Price for food and accommodation was generally lower than Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia too and better quality.

Plus HCM city has something that I haven't seen in very many SE Asian cities..they actually did some good urban planning and planted a lot of trees and greenery around the city so it doesn't look dull and drab like so many cities in Thailand or Cambodia.