Vietnam compared to Costa Rica

Having now travelled in Costa Rica and Vietnam in close succession has led us to consider the similarities and differences between the two. In case any of you are interested in these reflections, I have tried to capture them here.

Vietnam is a much larger country than Costa Rica, with about 90 million people as opposed to 5 million. Thus there are more people and bigger cities and a LOT more traffic, especially motorbikes - crossing the road here feels like taking you life in your hands sometimes and made Costa Rican road crossing seem tame in comparison! The road quality in Vietnam seems a bit better than Costa Rica too, with more surfaced roads and MUCH better road signage (in Costa Rica you had to use SatNav or just guess and cross your fingers!). Vietnam has trains (which we loved) but there are none in Costa Rica. Pavements are pretty poor quality in both countries but it was even harder to walk in Vietnam due to the number of motorbikes parked on the pavements. I wouldn't fancy having to push a buggy or wheelchair in either country but in Vietnam it would be impossible without pushing it in the road. We are so pleased we brought a sling for Solana, rather than a buggy - thanks again to Libby for the idea and to Gemma & Joe for the sale. Healthcare, on the other hand, is MUCH better in Costa Rica; in fact it is such high quality that many Americans fly here to have treatment because it is much cheaper and similar quality to healthcare in the US. Education is free in Costa Rica but has to be paid for in Vietnam, meaning that not all children go to school. Sanitation is also better in Costa Rica - to the extent that you can actually drink the tap water there, whereas in Vietnam even the locals don't drink tap water. In both countries you have to throw toilet paper in the bin, rather than in the loo - we're used to doing it now and will no doubt continue to do it when we get to New Zealand where we don't need to! We have enjoyed the food much more in Vietnam than we did in Costa Rica (where there wasn't much variety). We weren't worried about what Solana might eat in Costa Rica (she likes rice, beans and egg - the staple diet!) yet she didn't eat that well there - yet we worried a bit about what she might eat in Vietnam and she has eaten better here - trying lots of new things and eating rice, beef, noodles and boiled eggs like they were going out of fashion! May it continue into Cambodia and Thailand (I fear it may not, when the food gets spicier). Vietnam also has better bread than Costa Rica - thanks to the legacy of French colonial rule.

Vietnam is undoubtedly cheaper than Costa Rica - on average, we are spending just over half as much each day here than we did in Costa Rica. It is particularly nice being able to order anything we like from a menu, without worrying about cost; we know that will change again when we get to New Zealand... Vietnam definitely has better overall customer service and seems more attuned to what tourists might want or need. However, along with this comes more hard sell in some places and we have seen that more in Vietnam than in Costa Rica. There are more hotels in Vietnam involved in running/arranging (with commission) days tours and transport - this didn't really happen in Costa Rica; it makes travel life a bit easier, especially if you have only limited time in one place, but the hotels take a cut so it is a bit more expensive than organising things yourself. There also seems to be a few more scams in operation in Vietnam than we heard about in Costa Rica - so far, we have only been scammed by a taxi driver speeding up the meter but I think things like that happen quite a lot, until you get wise to them. Costa Rica won hands down on the wildlife front - but then it beats most, if not all, other countries in the world on that front. We have seen some wildlife in Vietnam but nowhere near the Costa Rica scale. Finally, Vietnam has MUCH better WiFi access. In Costa Rica most of our hotels had WiFi but the quality and speed were variable and it was difficult to keep up with this blog at times. Here every hotel has had WiFi and almost all have been fast and reliable; in fact, even the tiniest, most basic café or restaurant seems to have WiFi, with the access code sellotaped to the plastic tables.

It will be interesting to cross the border into Cambodia tomorrow and see how that compares too. I hope we enjoy it as much as we have Vietnam. Meanwhile, now that March is here we hope that Spring is in the air for you and that you enjoy the daffodils, blossom, lambs and brightness that Spring brings. I'm thinking of my little cherry tree, that should be in blossom in our garden at home as I write.Read more