Discuss the most annoying thing(s) people do in Vietnam

Thien Ngan wrote:

Richard Loo wrote:

I am here for more than a year and I think few things that really annoy me is seeing people peeing at the road side.....and many Vietnamese just nod their head even they do not understand  you.. omg....but now I got used to it. Just live with it and ignore what you do not like. There are many other positive things here.....enjoy expats

I am a Vietnamese, but I dont like that action too. People act that way either in cities of villages. many men leave their motorbikes and girlfriend at the road side to go to find a place to pee. I am really hate that thing. My co-worker (men) said that it's normal but I dont think so.

what do you do then to take care of business? Pee in a bottle?

Men can use toilets at: + gas station ( if they are on highway or suburb areas)
                                     + coffee shops, public toilets (in big cities). When I was at a Highlands coffee, I saw a foreigner going to there to use toilet. Then he left. I think it's ok.

Thien Ngan wrote:

Men can use toilets at: + gas station ( if they are on highway or suburb areas)
                                     + coffee shops, public toilets (in big cities). When I was at a Highlands coffee, I saw a foreigner going to there to use toilet. Then he left. I think it's ok.

Yeah , I agree. Just have a habit to empty your bladder before you go out from anywhere. Cafe shops are plenty everywhere. Plan ahead. Peeing at the road side is very annoying for the newbie foreigners here. Definitely. Maybe the new generation will put an end to this action.

To add to the list is honking of the vehicles.  The bikes and cars create a large amount of noise pollution adding to the stress of the  road users. I'm sure most foreigners are stressed out from the chaotic traffic would not be happy with the sound of more horns from all directions.  I noticed that many users do not even bother to see who honk at them...so why bother to use it. We hope we get less stress from using the road.

When folks have a multi story home,with a top level deck area but never use it.
Sure there's a few plants and a granite table and bench seat.
BUT where's the BBQ?
It's a wasted space that's dying to be used.

Well one thing I find annoying is eating at outdoor restaurants and then some guy pulls up on a motor bike with a huge amplified speaker and starts singing karaoke at full volume. After 4 songs he proceeds to walk from table to table selling cheap chocolate. Vendors and ticket sellers aren't a problem but these singers prevent you from having any kind of conversation for 30 minutes.

Frank Malt wrote:

Well one thing I find annoying is eating at outdoor restaurants and then some guy pulls up on a motor bike with a huge amplified speaker and starts singing karaoke at full volume. After 4 songs he proceeds to walk from table to table selling cheap chocolate. Vendors and ticket sellers aren't a problem but these singers prevent you from having any kind of conversation for 30 minutes.

Oh ...darn....They really do that? I didn't come across any...where are they usually attack?

Richard Loo wrote:

Oh ...darn....They really do that? I didn't come across any...where are they usually attack?

Yes unfortunately they do.... District 1, 3 and 4..... I'm beginning to think that they're following me...

Frank Malt wrote:

Richard Loo wrote:

Oh ...darn....They really do that? I didn't come across any...where are they usually attack?

Yes unfortunately they do.... District 1, 3 and 4..... I'm beginning to think that they're following me...

I'm surprised as I didn't encounter  any. Next time...you pull the mike over any sing your favourite  song. Hihi

Richard Loo wrote:

I'm surprised as I didn't encounter  any. Next time...you pull the mike over any sing your favourite  song. Hihi

If you want to see that, go to Thu Duc district and eat in some restaurants here .
I don't like that too, even in Bui Vien, when I eat there, I often see small girls sell some stuffs.

Couldn't agree more with you Frank Malt.  But why is it that everything is on full volume here.🔊
Recently went into a Pizza Hut  to eat, we had to shout to be heard, We told them "sorry turn it down, or we gotta go, yep, they turned it down, then few minutes later up she goes again, then looking at us to see our reaction, and yep I we all eight of us walked out, even though we had ordered our meal. and the staff look shocked, but that was it, amazing.            Went to buy a television in a electrical store,  same thing happened.   Doesn't frustrate me anymore, I just walk out
And the horns on trucks & buses sound like huge diesel train locomotives.😳🙉

Mariner42 wrote:

Couldn't agree more with you Frank Malt.  But why is it that everything is on full volume here.🔊
Recently went into a Pizza Hut  to eat, we had to shout to be heard, We told them "sorry turn it down, or we gotta go, yep, they turned it down, then few minutes later up she goes again, then looking at us to see our reaction, and yep I we all eight of us walked out, even though we had ordered our meal. and the staff look shocked, but that was it, amazing.            Went to buy a television in a electrical store,  same thing happened.   Doesn't frustrate me anymore, I just walk out
And the horns on trucks & buses sound like huge diesel train locomotives.😳🙉

Bro n law was happy to see me, but couldn't understand why I wouldn't stay, ( there was an equal amount of speakers on the opposite side as well )

Cut in line / Take everyone else's orders before mine.

bluenz wrote:

Mariner42 wrote:

Couldn't agree more with you Frank Malt.  But why is it that everything is on full volume here.🔊
Recently went into a Pizza Hut  to eat, we had to shout to be heard, We told them "sorry turn it down, or we gotta go, yep, they turned it down, then few minutes later up she goes again, then looking at us to see our reaction, and yep I we all eight of us walked out, even though we had ordered our meal. and the staff look shocked, but that was it, amazing.            Went to buy a television in a electrical store,  same thing happened.   Doesn't frustrate me anymore, I just walk out
And the horns on trucks & buses sound like huge diesel train locomotives.😳🙉

[img align=c]https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11960062_911450808927078_5412058294446893622_n.jpg?oh=74e738971cce39e5eec8adb126397fef&oe=567C2B06&__gda__=1450038415_c25ae5cf78d14562aa1ced0de52f2a60[/url]
Bro n law was happy to see me, but couldn't understand why I wouldn't stay, ( there was an equal amount of speakers on the opposite side as well )

I'd love to spin some jay z tracks off those pioneer speakers. 'Can I get a whoop whoop? '

bluenz wrote:

Mariner42 wrote:

Couldn't agree more with you Frank Malt.  But why is it that everything is on full volume here.🔊
Recently went into a Pizza Hut  to eat, we had to shout to be heard, We told them "sorry turn it down, or we gotta go, yep, they turned it down, then few minutes later up she goes again, then looking at us to see our reaction, and yep I we all eight of us walked out, even though we had ordered our meal. and the staff look shocked, but that was it, amazing.            Went to buy a television in a electrical store,  same thing happened.   Doesn't frustrate me anymore, I just walk out
And the horns on trucks & buses sound like huge diesel train locomotives.😳🙉

[img align=c]https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/11960062_911450808927078_5412058294446893622_n.jpg?oh=74e738971cce39e5eec8adb126397fef&oe=567C2B06&__gda__=1450038415_c25ae5cf78d14562aa1ced0de52f2a60[/url]
Bro n law was happy to see me, but couldn't understand why I wouldn't stay, ( there was an equal amount of speakers on the opposite side as well )

You're not in Cambo.
That is the spitting image of  a wedding; birthday;
house warming or new car/bike party in the Cambodian provinces.
Dirt floors.Excessive level 11 volume.Hot afternoon and getting blind by 4pm.

Street directions & Time management.

Yogi finds it amusing and annoying when people give directions to some place.    The foreigners They'll say   " it's just near that place, you'll know it when you see it. ". 

Well if Yogi knew that he wouldn't have asked them in the first place.

But with locals , it's worse.  Maps and addresses seem alien to them.

Would you believe I'm expected to find my lady friends brothers house in Saigon next week.  She has no clue how to get there, it's apparantly 40 Ks from the Airport when we arrive.  Not sure of which direction, but she said I should be able to find it.   She said we'll hire a bike and start looking.

She doesn't have an address, but thinks it's near Bien Hoa.  Unbelievable.
But it does have a big white fence.   She thinks...😩

We will rely on phone messages from the brother giving directions . I don't think he even knows his address. He just knows how to get there.   

Same thing here in Nha Trang.  We go out to restaurant, she doesn't know how to get there. Women and Maps.......impossible.   So we just ride around until she sees the place and yells " that's the one" . 

That probably explains why so many local people ride around texting on phones ,  they have no idea where they're going.😄

So....when Yogi gets to Saigon Airport on Tuesday, he's got 5 hours to find this place and then get back to catch a connecting flight to Thailand.

I'm not looking forward to Tuesday anymore, and she said it's not a problem.

Grrrrrrr

Yogi007 wrote:

khanh44 wrote:

Sitting next to people on buses. The men will man spread and the ladies will sleep on me.

Giving the locals some ideas. They will always reply this is how it is done in Vietnam or traditions dictate that it has to be done this way. Is it any wonder that Vietnam's growth is at snail pace.

The ladies do what.....

Yogi would like to know the number of that bus. 😄

The ladies will sleep on the bus with their head on my shoulder.

Street directions.

Had it happened to me once in HCM city while walking with my wife. Some local dude on motorbike would ask us directions. My wife said tell we don't know even though we know where it is.

I later learned this is a common trick criminal gangs use to get a read on their victim. Sometimes they work with 2 motorbikes with 1 asking and he'll secretly signal the other motorbike in the back to rob the victim.

Yogi007 wrote:

Street directions & Time management.

Yogi finds it amusing and annoying when people give directions to some place.    The foreigners They'll say   " it's just near that place, you'll know it when you see it. ". 

Well if Yogi knew that he wouldn't have asked them in the first place.

But with locals , it's worse.  Maps and addresses seem alien to them.

Would you believe I'm expected to find my lady friends brothers house in Saigon next week.  She has no clue how to get there, it's apparantly 40 Ks from the Airport when we arrive.  Not sure of which direction, but she said I should be able to find it.   She said we'll hire a bike and start looking.

She doesn't have an address, but thinks it's near Bien Hoa.  Unbelievable.
But it does have a big white fence.   She thinks...😩

We will rely on phone messages from the brother giving directions . I don't think he even knows his address. He just knows how to get there.   

Same thing here in Nha Trang.  We go out to restaurant, she doesn't know how to get there. Women and Maps.......impossible.   So we just ride around until she sees the place and yells " that's the one" . 

That probably explains why so many local people ride around texting on phones ,  they have no idea where they're going.😄

So....when Yogi gets to Saigon Airport on Tuesday, he's got 5 hours to find this place and then get back to catch a connecting flight to Thailand.

I'm not looking forward to Tuesday anymore, and she said it's not a problem.

Grrrrrrr

Ithink I know where your brother in-law lives.I went through Bien Hoa yesterday and say a house with a white fence and a vietnamese guy standing out front. It was next to the house with the green fence.

I had it when my neighbour walks out of his house at least 10 times a day and cleans his nose out in front of my house.

Thanks Colin,

That Vietnamese guy, did he have a dog. ?   

The guy I'm looking for is about 5ft 6" , black hair ,brown eyes and of Asian appearance.  The guy you saw sounds like him.   

Yogi's starting to worry.   My lady friend thinks GPS is a brand of perfume.

Yogi007 If I was you I'd have the guy meet me at the Airport:

https://www.google.com/search?sourceid= … o+Bien+Hoa

Don't the airlines have a report time of 3 hours before departure on International Flights? Or did you have that already figured into the 5 hours.

Budman1 wrote:

Yogi007 If I was you I'd have the guy meet me at the Airport:

https://www.google.com/search?sourceid= … o+Bien+Hoa

Don't the airlines have a report time of 3 hours before departure on International Flights? Or did you have that already figured into the 5 hours.

Yeah, that's the problem. AirAsia have a 90 minute cut off check in for Thai flights.   Even last time we got there 2 hours ahead and only just made boarding because AirAsia only had 3 people on the counter.

I've only now just bumped us onto earlier flights.   Now we have time on our side.
The brothers wife has just had a baby so they can't come into Saigon .

This was just supposed to be a simple Visa run for me.  Do a bit of shopping and come back.   BUT ,....I got generous and asked my lady friend to come along.

What could possibly go wrong Huh.....

Just don't ask me about her taste in Handbags, shoes and watches. 😀

Yogi007 wrote:

Thanks Colin,

That Vietnamese guy, did he have a dog. ?   

The guy I'm looking for is about 5ft 6" , black hair ,brown eyes and of Asian appearance.  The guy you saw sounds like him.   

Yogi's starting to worry.   My lady friend thinks GPS is a brand of perfume.

Yes that sounds like him,it was a bit hard to see his whole face as he had his finger up to the second knuckle in his nose. He was wearing a Armani shirt lifted up over his fat stomach and smoking Jet cigs whilst drinking cafe da.