What do foreigners find most annoying about Vietnamese?

Question

Knowledge of Visiting and Travel in Vietnam: What do foreigners find most annoying about Vietnamese?

Answer 1

I’m a Chinese and I’ve been to Vietnam for two times. I like this country and met many new friends there. But still there’s something I’m not satisfied with this country, just my own opinion

1, the customs asked money from me

i got shocked at the first time when they asked money from me… they are official workers how could they do that!!!! They asked me to give them $2 or otherwise they won’t let me pass… the more disgusting thing is that after I checked with the other tourists in the line, I’m quite sure that they only ask CHINESE tourists for money

2. taxi drivers

Though most Vietnamese I met there were so lovely and nice to me (especially young generations) all the bad people I met in this country were taxi drivers…

when I arrived in Ho Chi Minh I wanna take a taxi to the city Center. The google map showed it will cost 87000 dong but the taxi driver asked for 500000… 6 times More than normal price…

in that time there was a private car passed by and told me that he could take me to hotel for 100000, so I get in, and there came the story…

.I was quite unfamiliar with the Vietnamese currency, so he said he would like to check the money for me. He took all my notes from my wallet and checked, taking out 100000 dong but also stole $100 from the notes but I didn’t see it… i didn’t know how he did it, and i didn’t realise it until I arrived at the hotel…………

.and also, everytime when I was in a taxi, the driver tried to charge me more by pretending that they couldn’t speak English….. one day I wanna go to my Vietnamese friend’s home for a visit, and the driver again started his show… i directly made a phone call to my friend and she talked with the driver. The driver acted like he’s innocent and i was telling lie to blame him…. I was just wondering whether Oscar Movie proze should prepare a medal for Vietnamese people……

3. Traffic problems

motors everywhere with very fast speed and careless of all the people walking passing by… I always got super nervous when crossing the streets

4.two faces towards other foreigners and Chinese

you can see that Vietnamese are so keen on whites as Korean and Japanese. I met many Vietnamese young people who told me that they were mixed by Koreans but in fact they were pure Vietnamese… and also, it’s very very very easy for an old fat white man to get a super pretty Vietnamese girl here. When I was in Nha trang, the host of the hotel was very proud to tell us that his hotel only accept foreign guests…

Vietnamese respect foreigner more than themselves

but the funniest thing is that when they meet a chinese, all the Vietnamese will soon become super patriotic……

.when I was in Ho Chi Minh city, I met a girl in red church. She’s a typical Saigon girl, very elegant and grew up in Europe, speaking good English. So we hang out together for the whole day, and at night when looking for pubs I asked her ““wow you got curl hair!!! So beautiful!! You were born with this or you made it in the salon?”

and this girl, who just took me in the city for the whole day, be so nice to me and bought me dinner, suddenly turned to me and said:

“we Vietnamese people are honest people, not like you chinese. All the fake products only made in China, you stupid tàu!!!”

Answer 2

I have been here in Saigon for a few months now. There are many pluses - the dynamic bustle, tasty food, the accepting culture and so on. But yes, there are some downsides

Pollution. As many others have commented, it is a real problem here as the economy is growing in leaps and bounds and the infrastructure to cope with the resultant waste is lacking. Compared to Cambodia and Indonesia, I do not find the street litter overwhelming but yes, everything is over wrapped in plastic and the air quality in the larger cities is horrendous. I talk to anyone I can about the dangers of unbridled waste and can use nearby China as a perfect example but still worry about the future of cities like Saigon.
Food hygiene. This is the reason for the over zealous packaging mentioned above. Vietnamese themselves will tell you to wash everything thoroughly before eating and can be very picky about what street stalls they frequent. It is very annoying to smell and see the wonderful food on offer here and then have to ignore most of the cheaper options due to the very dodgy hygiene of many stalls. Like I say, it has been my Vietnamese friends who have warned me about this, not some picky foreigner. Many dodgy imported foods from China, bad pesticides and so on. If you eat fruit, buy it with the peel on and peel it yourself. Then wash both your hands and the fruit. Sigh….
The “foreigner” price. To be fair, you can get away with a lot by being a foreigner and get a lot of deferential treatment. The downside is that you will NEVER get the local price if the cost is not already listed - and if it is listed in English, it will probably be already inflated. But this behaviour is pan-asian. I speak fluent Indonesian but I still struggle to get the full local price when I am there. It is annoying but hardly a Vietnamese thing.
The beautiful women. This is sort of a corollary to the above foreign deference as many young beautiful women will happily flirt with even fat aging foreigners. What is wrong with that you say? Nothing, unless you are already in a loving relationship. Many many divorces in Vietnam. I have discussed with friends whether this is because of the lack of control of the men or the god damn gorgeous women and the short sexy clothing. Even the famous Áo dài

, which is neither short nor revealing, is an absolute delight to behold. Add that to the legacy of French poise many Vietnamese retain … well … you explain to your girlfriend that the conversation was purely platonic
The language. So damn difficult. If you are a native English speaker, you are used to a “vocabulary” based language - so the more words you know, the better your English skills. Vietnamese, like so many east Asian languages is “tonal” and it does not matter how many words you know, being able to actually speak them without total mis-comprehension is a challenge to say the least. I can read a menu (sort of) but I cannot actually order it without pointing to the dishes. I am still derided by friends for the mispronunciation of the famous Hoi An dish called Cau Lau. Apparently I was saying something along the lines of that I enjoyed cunnilingus while in Hoi An…

Perhaps you can now see why my (monogamous) relationship has so many ups and downs……

Answer 3

Vietnam is a beautiful and diverse country with a rich culture and history. However, like any place, there may be certain aspects of the culture or behavior that some foreigners find annoying or difficult to understand.Some foreigners may find the heavy traffic and lack of personal space in Vietnam to be overwhelming. The honking of horns and the crowded streets can be quite loud and chaotic. Additionally, the Vietnamese culture places a strong emphasis on respect for authority and elders, and some foreigners may find the lack of personal freedom to be stifling.Another aspect of Vietnamese culture that some foreigners may find confusing or difficult to navigate is the social hierarchy. The Vietnamese place a strong emphasis on respect for those in positions of power, and may be more reserved or formal in their interactions with foreigners.It's important to remember that these are generalizations and that everyone's experience in Vietnam will be unique. It's also important to be respectful and open-minded when traveling and visiting new places, and to try to understand and appreciate the local culture.

Answer 4

To answer the very question I did not find any particular annoyance about Vietnam.

I spent one month all by my own in Vietnam. From North (Lao Cai) to south and Phu Quock Island. I saw fine landscapes and monuments. But I was most fascinated by the people themselves. I mean their “living together art” was a constant lesson for me. I was first scared of town trafic but eventually I admired the way everybody manage to make it fluent with no annoyance. I never felt insecure and on the contrary I often thought that nothing bad could happen to me. Vietnamese are very caring and protective people. It was very hard for me to leave Vietnam. We usually arrogant occidental people have much to learn from them.

I wish peace and health for Vietnam.