When traveling in Vietnam, it’s good to have an idea of what you can eat and buy as you go from town to town. Vietnamese cuisine is extremely well-known, so ask your guide to introduce some popular dishes. In terms of souvenirs, you could purchase many inexpensive traditional wares and toys.

Vietnamese food is mostly based on rice and noodles, like most other Asian countries, but the flavors here come from herbs and spices such as lemongrass, mint and even curry powder. The most popular and famous of Vietnamese dishes is Pho, a hot rice noodle soup made with a beef broth boiled from large bones. It is served with slices of filet mignon together with ginger, although you can also order your pho with chicken or vegetables. Cha Ca is another classic Vietnamese street food, made by mixing minced fish with spices like coriander and dill.

Since being introduced by the French, coffee has become an essential part of Vietnamese culture, and Vietnamese iced coffee is particularly unique for its brewing style and taste. It is brewed using fresh Vietnamese roast coffee and a French drip filter, then sweetened with canned condensed milk and poured over ice.

Forget about fast, throwaway fashion, because it’s custom-made tailoring you want to get in Vietnam. Vietnam is well known for its superb bespoke tailoring of suits and dresses, and the best part is that you can get complete outfits for a fraction of the price anywhere else, even in Asia. If you work in business, you can get all your suits made here to last you a lifetime, and if you are a lady, you can make yourself a beautiful ‘ao dai’ or a western-style dress.

Volumes have been said and printed about Vietnam’s bitter past, a scar that will continue a scalding reminder from the struggles and hardship they long endured. The Vietnamese core family values and also the spirit to take proper care of one’s family, one’s relative, and the relative’s kin, sum up the collective resolve of a country, battered and beaten to a pulp, but stood up again; this occasion internationally economic stage. Vietnam is standing proudly. It may be the political and economic progress of this nation of 83 million inhabitants during the last ten years that catapulted this nation into a onset of tiger economy, a long way from its initial political and economic isolation inside the aftermath of the Vietnam war and properly into the 80′s.

Vietnam is the place to find two Globe Organic Heritage sites namely Halong Bay and Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in addition to scenic normal landscapes such as the PhuQuoc island and also the historic villages along the Mekong River. Vietnamese cuisine is fast gaining popularity and recognition for its elegant simplicity and healthful preparation characterized by utilizing hardly any oil and a mix of vegetables. The Vietnamese coastal regions abound with popular and world-class beaches and scenic boat rides. But nothing strikes on spot the essence of Vietnam as a striking view of large expanse of rice fields using the harvesters, clad in their native Ao’Dai and wearing their familiar conical hats to protect them from the heat.

Now that the Tiger has finally roused from his deep slumber, progress is seen all around, flowing, like the lots of motorbikes, massing and gushing forward in a sea of headlights and honkers around the streets of Hanoi. International acceptance of Vietnam’s fresh- discovered status is very much apparent in the booming tourism industry. And it would hurt a bit if you finally give it a try for Vietnam.