Vietnam or South Korea?

[MumtoLaura]

Hi,
Thinking about next years holiday (already). I'm considering either Vietnam or South Korea, with DP and DD (will be 3 and a half). Has anybody been to either? We'll be going for two weeks, and travelling around the country.

i've been to Vietnam, not with kids, but when i was a backpacker. it's a pretty big country so you won't get time to do it all in just 2 weeks. what time of year is it you're thinkign of going, as the north and south have very distinctive wet seasons. are you happy to travel by public transport - it is pretty easy to get around Vietnam as an independent traveller. if you want something a bit more organised you can always get it all pre-booked before hand and have a car and driver for soem of it.
let me know a bit more info and i'll see what other advice springs to mind.

I LOVED Vietnam, I was there pre dd, about 5 years ago. It's easy enough to travel around, cheap and relativly safe. I would be a bit cautious about food as from memory, not all of the food preparation was of the highest standards of hygiene. However, I managed 5 weeks without a bug. Can I suggest Nga Trang for the beaches, HoiAn for lots of clothes made to measure incredibly cheaply, the islands in the South China Sea near Hanoi, and if you can manage it, try and get to Sapa or Baca, in the highlands near the Chinese border. When I was there there were so few foreigners that I was followed down the streets by curious people touching my red hair.

I found the Vietnamese really friendly and chatty. Taking a 3 year old with you will be a huge bonus, they love kids.

echo everything that slug has said! Was there nearly 8 years ago now, pre kids. Is still my favourite place that I've been to. They seem to love children. It isn't as populated as South Korea, and the cities won't be as 'city like' either. Enjoy your trip!

I have never been to vietnam but have been to S.Korea several times on business. It is not somewhere I would take children. It is not a very easy place to get around unless you speak Korean and even in Seoul not much is written in western script. Seoul is a large modern city with very little to do with kids. An additional problem is that unless your children are very adventurous the food could be a problem. Except for 5* hotels and trendy restaurants non-korean food is still difficult to get and often bears no resemblence to what you are expecting (though this has improved in the past few years).

Thanks for your responses. I was veering towards Korea, so your advise is very useful. Valleygirl, I'll be going the last two weeks of August, and yes, we're happy to travel around by public transport. I've checked into flights and it's possible to fly into Hanoi and out of Ho Chi Minh City (or visa versa) with an internal flight mid holiday - do you think this would be too much travelling? Did you take malaria tablets? - any advice would be very welcome. Elljay - I hadn't considered the food in Korea, what's it like?

well august is typically pretty wet in most places in south east asia, so hot and sticky wherever you go, but typically less wet in the south than in the north. however having said that i went for the whole of november and the rain followed us the whole way in the south, which is meant to be dry season!!
i'd do somethign like this: fly to hanoi, spend the night out in halong bay, train to Hue (i don;t think i've ever been as wet as when i stayed in Hue!!), train to Hoi An is really sceinic (really pretty place), beach Nha Trang (if the weather allows) and then flight to Ho Chi Minh. this might be a bit rtight in just 2 weeks though, so maybe fly from Hanoi to Hue as well? i thought the north was more interesting than the south, so i guess it depends whether you want to visit the Mekong Delta and the Chu Chi Tunnels. persoanlly i'd rate halong bay above the Mekong Delta, especially when travelling with a child.
how lucky you are to have a 3 and a half year old who will have the staying power for this kind of trip!
i'm baulking at a island hoping trip to greece next summer cos i'm not sure my two step sons can stop whinging for long enough for us all to enjoy ourselves!

Dh and I went to vietnam on our honeymoon (got pregnant with ds there) almost 5 years ago and loved it. Sanitary conditions aren't great and seatbelts are non-existant, so I would probably have some reservations about going with a 3.5 year old, but as long as you are prepared (at least mentally) for a 3rd world country, it's great. We loved the food, but only ate vietnamese and both eat everything (we did a lot of pointing and eating things that were non-identifiable). What about china? I travelled around china quite a bit about 9 years ago and loved it. I found it less basic and less scary than vietnam.

Thanks for your comments ValleyGirl and Issymum. I'm going to buy a Lonely Planet to Vietnam this evening, and I'll look up your suggestions. SofieAmes I went to China a few years ago (pre DD), and enjoyed it, but I want to go somewhere I havn't been yet - so much of the world to see!

Korean food is an acquired taste. Lots of very meaty dishes and most of it very spicy - eg Korean barbecue. Kimchee (cabbage preserved with chilli and garlic) accompanies almost everything..otherwise plenty of rice/noodle dishes but with a particularly korean flavour - often lots of chilli. I dont know what kind of cooking oil they use but it has a strong flavour which can taste a bit like rancid butter. On the other hand they do very tasty ommlette/pancake things full of fresh vet and spring onions. Japanese food is easy to get in Korea and that is more palatable to western tastes. Having said that things have improved - a few years ago it ws hard to get hold of butter!..

sorry for hijacking - but when i was in san francisco expecting my first dd, a little adopted vietnamese girl who was about 4 yrs old asked me if I knew what the baby was, and i said no, i don't know if it's a boy or a girl - and she said oh it might be a vietnamese baby (v cute, she knew she was so special, issymum ) (dh & me both v caucasian!)