Coronavirus Vietnam – is it safe to travel in Vietnam now?
Is Vietnam safe to travel now during the coronavirus COVID-19?
a street seller with a face mask
My opinion about coronavirus
The power of media
Why media do not use their power to tell people to stop eating animal products (meat and dairy) to save millions of lives, both animal and human?But the same media do tell you to stop traveling and to cover your face with a mask to avoid ”flu”. Seriously??
Vietnamese wearing face masks
Vietnam coronavirus
Now back to coronavirus in Vietnam…
During my visit in February, I read on internet that it was easier to travel around Southern Vietnam than in North of the country. Not really sure what it meant exactly but just sharing here what I heard.
And how was my personal experience? If not for all the media and the messages I received, I would have not heard about the virus in person while traveling around Southern Vietnam for the first 3 weeks there. Not joking.
It’s true that it was my first time in Vietnam but everything seemed more than fine to me. It was as I expected.
Locals wear face masks a lot anyway because of air pollution, dust and smog. I saw many Vietnamese with face masks at the street, riding motorbikes, on buses, trains and ferries, and sometimes also at restaurants. There were many Vietnamese with face masks out there, that’s for sure.
My friends said that maybe twice as many people are wearing masks now in Vietnam because of coronavirus. Mostly in crowded and confided spaces. Besides locals, I noticed some tourists with face masks as well.
Changes I noticed
Below I specify the only situations when I personally noticed mentions about coronavirus in Southern Vietnam.
1. I wanted to visit Hang Duong cemetery on Con Son island but the security guy did not let me in without a face mask. There was nowhere to buy it close by at that time so I ended up not visiting the cemetery. I did not want to purchase any face mask anyway, and even less for a 30-minute visit so it was ok.
2. I saw 2 billboards with information about coronavirus in Vung Tau city center. There was information about how many people died (numbers and pictures so I understood them). The rest of billboards was written text in Vietnamese so I had no idea what it meant.
3. They were checking temperature of all the people who wanted to enter the Opera house in Ho Chi Minh city. First, we were just looking at the building facade from the outside. But when I wanted to use indoor bathroom, they did not let me in without a ticket as it was just before an evening performance. That’s how I noticed there were 2 men at the door placing thermometers at the center of the forehead of each person entering the Opera house.
Ho Chi Minh Opera house
4. As all the flights from Vietnam to China were cancelled in February, my flights out of Vietnam changed. Originally I was supposed to fly from Ho Chi Minh via Shanghai to Vienna, but I talked to Swiss and Edelweiss airlines who I booked my flights with, and they gave me new flights from Ho Chi Minh via Zurich to Vienna. Way better and faster than my original flights, for no extra charge. And I even arrived to Vienna a couple of hours earlier. It was a positive change for me. Thank you, coronavirus!
No one checked my temperature anywhere the entire month in Vietnam. Not even at the Ho Chi Minh airport before flying out of Vietnam. It was the same at Zurich and Vienna airports on my way home. Nothing about coronavirus. No thermometers.
The only way the coronavirus impacted my month trip around Vietnam was the change of flights resulting in getting back home faster for the same price. And not visiting the Con Dao cemetery. That’s it.
And if you ask me if it’s ok to travel to Vietnam now when coronavirus is spreading? My answer would be yes.
But that’s just me. I do not care about diseases and all the mess media is making about them.
I take the best care of my health and that’s all I can do.
And having a positive mindset helps, too.
I will not stop traveling just because there’s a new disease out there.
We will all die one day. The question is not IF, but WHEN. And it all depends on us and our health.
Personally, I do my best when it comes to my health and immune system. I have been vegan since 2013. I really believe that is the best thing I can do. Not eating something dead.
……..
UPDATE from 13.3.2020:
I’ve heard that since my departure from Vietnam on the 21st February 2020, the situation has changed and the country is taking more precautions. They have been giving antibacterial gels to people at places like banks or shops. And also checking temperature at many places. Slowly they are also closing all tourist attractions and even hotels.
They do not give visa on arrival right now as before but you need to go to the Embassy in person. Vietnam is going to close borders to most Europeans these days.
TIP: Planning a trip to Vietnam? Here’s 10 things to do before your trip to Vietnam. Have a read to avoid forgetting about something important.
TIP 2: If you’d like to take better care of yourself and your health, check out my ebook focusing on vegan diet. You’ll find many other tips there that will help you to be more fit not only on the road. Here’s the similar ebook also in my mother tongue Slovak.
