UNUSUAL TRAVEL TIPS FOR VIETNAM

Cycling trip to Vietnem bewitched former political reporter Barbara Adam so much that she chucked in her job, sold her car and moved there. Nearly 10 years later, the Aussie expat has made a new life – and family – in Ho Chi Minh City, running street food tours with her partner, Vu Vo, writing The Dropout Diaries blog, and contributing to guide books on various spots throughout Asia, including her own cross-cultural guide to her beloved adopted home. Here she gives us some of her more unusual travel tips for Vietnam.

THINGS TO DO

  • Take a south-north route
  • Visit Ho Chi Minh City in the rainy season
  • Taste the dragon’s eyeballs
  • Avoid tomb fatigue
  • Make time for the Vietnam Museum of Ethnology

CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

  • Cover up tattoos
  • The school of fish principle
  • Observe temple etiquette

FOOD & SHOPPING

  • Napkins aren’t free
  • Don’t create bad luck
  • The most important Vietnamese phrase