For foreign women, Vietnam is an easy country. You can walk around alone in complete safety at just about any time of day or night. Vietnamese men can be quite macho in the way they see the role of women,..
For foreign women, Vietnam is an easy country. You can walk around alone in complete safety at just about any time of day or night. Vietnamese men can be quite macho in the way they see the role of women, bur they rarely apply this offensively to foreign women. You won’t be whistled at, followed, chased after… except of course by the cycles, postcard sellers and conical hat hawkers. Even though Vietnam is probably one of the securest places on earth, don’t tempt fate: as anywhere, a modicum of prudence and a splash of common sense are the order of the day.
DON’T wear your nicest gold jeweler at night; DO keep your handbag tucked tightly under your arm, especially while riding in cycles. There are a few grab-and-ride motorcyclists in the cities and they are fast. For women traveling alone, the biggest problem will probably be curiosity (meaning downright nosiness sometimes), which comes with an avalanche of questions: “So where is your husband?”, “Where are your children?” “But why aren’t you married? How old are you, then?”, etc. The same applies to any single (or divorced) woman over the age of twenty-three and a half Living alone in this country is never understood as a matter of personal choice and will immediately foster bafflement and suspicion … and a barrage of questions!
