I have to thanks the guys who put up this post. So basic yet we often neglect them because we are in Vietnam.
A full article with proper heading style and pictures can be found here: http://www.citypassguide.com/vietnam-travel-blog/thirteen-mistakes-first-time-visitors-vietnam
--------------
The Thirteen Mistakes of First-Time Visitors to Vietnam
1. "I never burn"
Tourists at Vietnamese beach resorts are divided into three broad categories, based on the severity of their sunburn. Category I, also known as “Snow White”, applies to those who arrived yesterday morning fresh off the plane from some grey, winter-locked country, jumped out of the airport taxi and sprinted to the beach in order to devour all the tropical sea and sun laid before them.
Advice from expats to beware of Vietnam’s unusually cruel sun, and to smother oneself in sunscreen from head to toe, is summarily ignored with a dismissive flick of a lily-white hand. A few hours later these Snow Whites have transformed into Cat II: “Elmos” (of Sesame Street fame). These absolute muppets are of a bright pink hue and normally walk gingerly about the resort strip at night, unable to either sit down or sleep. Consequently you often see them standing around bars until 3 or 4am, drawing upon the properties of alcohol to dull their discomfort. The Elmos then hibernate for three or four days, undergoing their final metamorphosis into Cat III: Bronzed Homo sapiens. The blistered red flesh has fallen away to reveal a nicely tanned body, with a 73% chance of developing melanoma.
To avoid falling into any of these categories, the solution is simple: don’t go sunbathing or swimming between 11am and 3pm, and use sunscreen with a high Sun Protection Factor (SPF). An SPF of at least 30 is recommended, or even 50 if you can find it. Sunscreen is expensive in Vietnam, so bring it with you. Also keep in mind that your travel insurance is unlikely to cover any medical conditions arising from excessive exposure to the sun.
2. "Riding a motorbike is easy and pleasant"
That may be so if you are Valentino Rossi (who, as fate would have it, rarely gets sunburnt), but there’s no need to rush headlong into a death-defying feat. First, even if you are Valentino, your motorcycle licence (required to ride anything over 49cc) is not valid in Vietnam, which means a friendly member of the local constabulary may stop you, utter something incomprehensible and take your motorbike to the pound, culminating in a relatively large outflowing of cash from your travel fund.
Second, if you have an accident without a valid Vietnamese licence, your travel insurance may not pay out, while wealthy foreigners are held responsible even if it is not their fault. And third, traffic ain’t traffic: the chaos on the roads is ruled by common sense – a sense that is ‘common’ mostly to the locals and not to you. If you don’t feel comfortable riding as if you were in some kind of Tron video game death match, and particularly if you have never ridden a motorbike before, then perhaps just jump on the back of a motorbike taxi to feel the wind blowing through your hair.
3. "You need to buy your coffee and tea in Dalat"
In fact, coffee and tea are much the same all over Vietnam, and most of it comes from the region that includes Dalat anyway. The only difference is that it’s often cheaper if you buy it elsewhere. If you do happen to go to Dalat and feel the urge to buy something peculiar and cool, try to get hold of some local cocoa – that is the real deal.
4. "Air-conditioning is good!"
Sure, but in moderation. Any respectable Vietnamese worth their salt will tell you that 87% of all disease and famine is caused by an air-conditioner accidentally trained upon your head during the sleeping hours, so please take care in case this tale is true. And slightly more seriously, you are at higher risk of acquiring respiratory ailments and colds if the temperature variation between the outside air and your igloo exceeds 10 degrees.
A big difference also makes it harder to adjust to the outside temperature. Many locals set their air-cons between 25 and 29 degrees Celsius – if they use it at all.
5. "Clothes in Vietnam are of poor quality"
Not so. In Vietnam, you can kit yourself up and dress well from head to toe, and as a matter of fact, many of the locals do exactly this. Tourists are often particularly pleased with the quantity and quality of children's clothing. So, do not lug over a massive family-sized suitcase full of your can’t-do-withouts. You’ll end up not wearing or using most of it (except for that leopard-skin G-string mankini, perhaps), and come the end of your holiday, stuffing all your shopping bounty into your Louis Vuitton will be nigh on impossible.
Textiles and garments have become Vietnam’s leading export sector, and with two million workers, it accounts for a quarter of all industrial employment. The United States is the largest buyer, followed by Japan, South Korea, Germany and Great Britain.
6. "Learning to kite-surf takes five minutes"
Make that three to five hours of grilling training, tearing intercostal muscles and face-planting into scorching sand, before you actually manage to stay on the board for longer than an instant. It's not as easy as Don Johnson made it look in Miami Vice, and he probably used a stunt double anyway.
7. "You cannot buy trips at local travel agencies"
This is a common ploy by foreign travel agents to grab your hard-earned cash. Popular tourist areas in Vietnam boast many long-standing and reliable travel agents (check out Tripadvisor – or “??????? ????????” as the Cossacks call it), where good tours can be purchased at a good price with little risk. The same applies to many attractions and activities.
8. "I can see a lot in 12-14 days"
In theory, yes. But distances and travel time here kill this dream after your first big outing, spending over six hours to get somewhere less than 200 kilometers away. A more reasonable approach is to plan for one or two long trips (for example, from Mui Ne to Dalat and/or Nha Trang) and two shorter trips in the Mui Ne/Phan Thiet vicinity.
9. “I’ll find out all I need to know when I get there”
A mistake often made by novice travellers, especially if they’ve booked a tour. Take a bit of time to read a short history or a set of travel tips that have taken someone months to painstakingly research and write. You will gain so much more from your visit to this amazing country if you make even the most cursory attempt at entering the culture, sampling the cuisine and looking at life from their point of view.
10. “I’ll get my visa on arrival”
Unless you’re a national of one of 17 countries who may enter Vietnam without a visa for varying time periods, you will need to apply and pay in advance – either through a Vietnamese diplomatic mission abroad, or through an agency or online application process so that the visa will be waiting for you on arrival. The latter is only possible if you’re flying in.
A recent change in policy has allowed tourists a 30-day visa exemption for Phu Quoc island if they enter by sea or through the international transit lounge at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City, but they still need a visa if they proceed to the Vietnamese mainland from there.
11. “I don’t need to ask what something costs”
Vietnam is generally very cheap for foreigners, but you do need to ask what a particular item, meal or service will cost. Business etiquette is not always what it should be, and if you don’t ask beforehand, the owner/seller may charge whatever they like. Also, prices are often ‘flexible’ not just at markets, and bargaining may be expected.
12. “That guy offering a taxi at the airport seems very nice”
He may be very nice indeed but he is out to earn money, and it will be (far) more than the fare in a normal, metered cab. And unless you’re after a limousine service, the same applies to the private taxi desks in the arrival hall. Best to go outside to the regular taxi rank. Reliable operators include Mai Linh, Hanoi Taxi and Vina Sun. Make sure they turn on the meter.
13. “I’m going to Halong Bay between December and March”
It’s too cold at that time of year, and any water activities such as swimming are out of the question.
Vietnam
Living in Vietnam Guide
Vietnam Forum
Contribute
Best Places to Live in Vietnam
Healthcare in Vietnam
Moving to Vietnam Guide
Pros & Cons of Living in Vietnam
10 Tips for Living in Vietnam