Jason De Andrea

Griffith University, Australia
Exchange to Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, Vietnam

I spent 3 months in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on an exchange to the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology. All in all, it was one of the best experiences of my life.

Ho Chi Minh City is the largest city in Vietnam, with a population of over 7 million people. It is located in southern Vietnam near the Mekong Delta. As a result, it is hot and humid all year. There are 2 seasons in Ho Chi Minh City, dry summer and wet summer. Luckily for me, my stay was during the dry summer so it only rained for a few days out of the 3 months.

The first thing that you notice about Ho Chi Minh City is that the roads are packed with what looks like way too many motorbikes. At first it’s hard to see how everyone doesn’t run into each other. After a day or 2 you start to get used to crossing the roads with motorbikes flying in front of and behind you and you realise that it’s a sort of controlled mayhem. After about 2 weeks, I decided to try it out myself and hired a little scooter-style motorbike. And to be honest, it isn’t that hard to drive around amongst thousands of other motorbikes.

Traveling around Vietnam can be quite time consuming, with a bus trip of 450 kilometres taking at least 10 hours. And the trains aren’t any quicker or more efficient. That being said, traveling around is quite easy and there are an ample amount of services to any town you could want to visit. An essential experience when you visit Vietnam is “pho”. It’s the national dish which is eaten for breakfast lunch and dinner. Basically a rice noodle soup, pho has many, many different variations depending on where you are in Vietnam. And almost any Vietnamese person will say that their mum’s pho is the best.

In my trips to other countries, I have been hard pressed to find people more friendly and helpful than the Vietnamese. During my stay, I made many good friends with the people I worked with, as well as the street vendors and locals who worked near my residence. It was a very good feeling to be living in another country and still able to walk down the street and see friendly faces that are happy to see you.

Food has always been a highlight of my trips overseas and it was no different in Vietnam. No matter what your taste is, you will be able to find it in Ho Chi Minh City. Whether you want to eat a $50 steak on the top floor of the tallest building in Vietnam or try some dubious looking street food, Ho Chi Minh has you covered. If I can offer any advice, stay away from the Vietnamese restaurants in the backpacker and tourist areas. The food isn’t that bad, it’s quite good actually, but the local restaurants are where you will find the best traditional Vietnamese food. And a lot of the time it is much cheaper.

The highlight of my trip would have been when I did a 3-day motorbike cruise through the central highlands. In 3 days, we covered just under 700 kilometres and I got to see some of the most spectacular rainforests I have ever seen (and I grew up in the Daintree). The devastation from the Vietnam War is still very evident in a lot of places. Any area that had Agent Orange dropped on it will only grow weeds and the people in the surrounding areas are still suffering the effects of this horrendous war.

If you ever find yourself in Nha Trang and meet an easy rider guy named Eddie Murphy, don’t ask questions – just take a tour with him. He was the coolest, funniest, and most informative tour guide I have ever met. Eddie took us around the highlands and introduced us to many local minority tribes who invited us in for tea. Eddie will go out of his way to help you out. He even set it up so I could get a tattoo over there, which is apparently illegal. Check out the tattoo he has on his arm – it’ll prove he’s the real Eddie and I should know because he got it while we were traveling around.

Vietnam is an amazing country, full of interesting places and people. If you spend any time in one place it will be hard for you to not make friends with the locals.

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