1. More authentically Vietnamese, less globalized, simpler than Saigon
2. The way the locals chill out after a hectic day – you can feel the city center relaxing and people cheering up
3. Exciting, photogenic street scenes, scattered small shops, exotic markets
4. The old buildings from the French colonial times
5. The inviting smells of the massive amount of good restaurants
6. Spectacular lakes
7. The top tourist sights are within walking distance of each other
8. The strange communist propaganda things
9. We had fun spotting the hilarious brand names of fake designer clothes
10. Enjoying how low the prices are
11. Locals with bamboo hats, overloaded motorbikes, the elegant traditional dress (áo dài)
1. Noisy, wild, chaotic streets during the day
2. Some local travel agencies use quite subtle tricks to rip tourists off
3. The shady guys harassing tourists with their “exclusive” offers
4. Smog, dusty, polluted air
5. The time it takes to learn how to cross a street and survive
6. The following can hereby be concluded once and for all: communism has a specific knack for erecting ugly buildings
7. Not as many quality services as in Saigon
8. Repeatedly letting the street sellers know that we do not want to buy a postcard
9. The water puppet theatre - boring as hell
10. The scooter drivers who seem to think nonstop honking will help them move forward