Tips for travelling to Vietnam

A thread ( 1/n)

1. While in Hanoi, book Hotel Lotte

PS: Thank me later

I've been asking people after their trips if they liked it or not.
854 trip reviews later, here's the % most liked cities:

Mexico City: 100% liked it
Vienna: 100%
Saint Petersburg: 100%
Madrid: 100%
Tokyo: 100%
Belgrade: 100%
Budapest: 93%
Lisbon: 93%
Berlin: 93%
Singapore: 91%

Most disliked cities by trip reviews:

Ho Chi Minh City: 36% disliked it
Bucharest: 30% disliked it
London: 29% disliked it
Canggu: 29% disliked it
Warsaw: 27% disliked it
Krakow: 25% disliked it
Amsterdam: 24% disliked it

Interestingly, almost 1 out of 3 people (29%) going to top destination Canggu have a bad time. Not unexpected because it takes quite some effort to have a good time there with no choice other than having to drive a motorbike the biggest one.

More than 1 out of 3 people (36%) have a bad time in Ho Chi Minh City. That's also understandable. It's not an easy city either. Locals are less easygoing than for ex Thai and again you have to drive a motorbike everywhere. Not much public transport except buses I think

The divide between 93% of people having a good time in Berlin vs. 29% having a bad time in London is interesting too. These are two big W-EU cities. It's been said before that London is a playground for the rich. Berlin is more affordable, spacious, creative and fun I think

Best resort on the Ganga at Rishikesh

@niteen_india He could calc his hotel valuation in following way ...

25000 rooms @ Rs 2 crore per room = Rs 50000 cr
400 restaurants @ Rs 5 /10 crore = Rs 3000 crores

+ Banquet halls + Gym + Store space + commission business

Figure a lot of people have a lot of questions right now so thought a quick thread signposting to where what info we have is might be helpful...

This is the current law on travel restrictions, in force now. It includes a legal ban on travel between Scotland and the rest of the UK, and in and out of council areas in levels three and four, without a “reasonable excuse”

Again the cross-border travel laws are in force *now* - the plan was they would be relaxed for Christmas, the change is that they now will not. Travel *within* Scotland permitted on Christmas Day - but next day whole mainland goes into L4, which means no movement between councils

There are a LOT of potential exemptions included in the travel-ban regulations and the list is non-exhaustive. *As it stands* I haven’t heard any talk of removing specific exemptions, just of potentially toughening enforcement.

“Toughening enforcement” might just mean “starting some enforcement” because police insist their approach didn’t change when the law came in. They are not setting up roadblocks or spot checks, they mainly just occasionally fine people they stumble across who are clearly in breach

1. THE PLAN

We see countries like China & New Zealand succeed by implementing border controls and wonder why our government didn’t do the same. Unfortunately, it’s been following the 2011 influenza pandemic plan, which says...

2. China & New Zealand have international travel (limited in the case of New Zealand) and freight, and rather than delay their peaks, their border controls have helped keep cases to a minimum. Border controls might not work in a flu pandemic, but they worked for #COVID19.

3. Countries that have done well against #COVID19 have high adherence to mask wearing. The pandemic plan tells us the British people won’t bother wearing masks over time so let’s no bother asking them to, eh.

4. Mass super spreading events have been shown to play a significant role in the transmission of #COVID19.

But the pandemic plan tells us they don’t play a role (perhaps the source of Jenny Harries’ comments about Cheltenham?) and therefore the government will not restrict them

5. I call this the white flag clause. Surrender was built into the assumptions behind our pandemic response. The success of other countries has proved this clause completely wrong.