Vietnam Facts

Vietnam is one of the most beautiful countries located in the South East Asia. In the North, Vietnam shares the long borderline with China. In the East, Vietnam is bordered by the Gulf of Tonkin, inn the East and South by the South China Sea, in the South West by the Gulf of Thailand, and in the West by Cambodia and Laos. Owning to stretching the length of the Indochinese Peninsula, Vietnam boasts a unique shape of an elongated S and a long coastline of 3,444km (2,140 miles) with a lot of wonderful sites.

Country: Socialist Republic of Vietnam

Cities:

• Hanoi is the Capital. It is the centre of economy, politic, culture and society of Vietnam country.

• Hochiminh City (normally called Saigon – in the past) is the largest city and more exciting industrial centre.

• Hue – an ancient citadel of Vietnam - the Capital of the last Kingdom up to 1945 is still maintaining traces of the old reigns, which reflect through the tangible cultural values such as the Imperial Citadel, system of Tombs, and through the intangible one such as the Royal Music and cultural festivals.

• Danang City is one of the most important cities in Centre of Vietnam. This city is close to two of World Natural Heritages of Vietnam: Hoian Ancient Town and My Son Holy Land.

• Halong is endowed with one of the World Natural Heritages Halong bay – which attracts more and more domestic and foreign tourists because of its imposing and charming beauty.

Population:

The population of Vietnam is about 85 millions with 54 ethnics, of which the Kinh (or Viet) ethnic forms around 86% of population and mostly inhabit in larger towns. The rest are ethnic minorities (Tay, Thai, Muong, H’mong, Khmer, Nung …) living in mountainous areas (such as the North Mountain and the Central …). A larger Chinese community of less than 2 millions inhabit mainly in Hochiminh City.

Area: 331,212 km square (larger than Italy and almost the size of Germany).

Shape:

Vietnam country has neither boot-shaped nor gathering hundreds of islands. However, up to now, the shape of a huge "S" lying half-facing the Pacific Ocean has been considered as the pride of Vietnamese people.

Land Borders: North to China, upper West to Laos, Lower West to Cambodia, East and South to Pacific Ocean.

Sea Borders: Northeast to East Sea or so-called South China Sea, Southwest to the Gulf of Thailand.

Climate:

Vietnam lies in the tropical monsoon area. The climate is divided into four seasons in the North (Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter); two main season: dry and rainy seasons in the South. The weather conditions vary North to South with elevation changes.

Geography: 75% of the territory is Limestone Mountains, the rest are River Deltas, Fertile Highlands, and small deserts.

Language:

The official language of Vietnam is Vietnamese. Vietnamese is a tonal language using Roman letters together with tone markers – which mainly cause difficulties to foreign students. English is the most popular foreign language and French, Chinese, Japanese and Korean are expected to speak at service points. Literacy rate is 88%.

Religion:

It is estimated that about 60% – 70% of Vietnamese population believe in Buddhist tenets with strong Confucian and Taoist influences. Catholic accounts for perhaps 8% – 10% of the population. Cao Dai and Hoa Hao - local sects of Buddhism - are strong in the Mekong Delta.  Only small group (of about 50,000 people) are Islamic followers living dominantly in the central part of the central coast of Vietnam.

Government:

Vietnam has Government of sole-party Socialist Republic under the leadership of the Communist Party. Important persons to name are the Party's General Secretary (Mr. Nong Duc Manh), the Country's President (Mr. Nguyen Minh Triet), and the Prime Minister (Mr. Nguyen Tan Dung). The leading offices are Politburo and National Assembly.

Economy:

The economy of Vietnam is market-based economy. Vietnam ranks the second world leading rice exporter and coffee exporter. Other exported products are rubber, timber, garment, shoes, seafood, tea, crude oil, coal, and electricity.   

Festival:

New moon and full moon days are main anniversaries at pagodas and temples. Lunar Calendar New Year (which called “Tet”) is the main Festival of the year. Tet Festival falls in Spring (often mid-February). During Tet Festival, most of businesses in Vietnam have 5 days to a week off, except tourist points. Flower markets are easily to find every where before the New Year Eve. Especially, temples and shrines are exciting with traditional anniversaries and pilgrims before and after Tet.

National Public Holidays:

Telephone and Fax

Fixed telephone and fax

• Provided by Vietnam Post and Telecommunication (VNPT), Viettel and EVN Telecom;
• Phone number code: Seven digits (for Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City only) and six digits (for other cities). Each city has its own code (city code), such as: 4 (Hanoi), 8 (Hochiminh City), 54 (Hue) etc … Now, if you want to make a phone call, you have to press the number 3 right after the city code, such as 43 (Hanoi), 83 Hochiminh City), 543 (Hue), etc.

Mobile phones

• Provided by VNPT, Viettel and some other state-owned companies, including:
  GSM: Vinaphone (code: 91, 94, …), Mobiphone (code: 90, 93, … ), Viettel (code: 98, 97, … );
  CDMA: Vietnam Mobile (code: 92) and EVN-Telecom (code: 96)
• Using GSM 900/1800 with standard SIM card which is compatible with most of Asia, Europe and Australia, but not with North America;
• Phone number code: Network code + seven digits (e.g: 098.9992988)

City phone (available in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City)

• Provided by VNPT, a mixture between mobile phone and fixed telephone, offers cheaper cost, mobility but limited usage (within the city only);
• Phone number code: 7 digits, begins with ‘391’ (e.g: 39176613)

Make direct calls

International code: 00
Domestic code: 0
Vietnamese code: 84

Important phone numbers (available in every Vietnam cities)

113 Police
114 Fire Brigade
115 Ambulance
1080 Information about society, economy, culture (in Vietnamese, English, French)
101 Long Distance Domestic telephone service
102 Directory assistance for long distance domestic telephone service
103 Operator-assisted long distance domestic telephone service
110 International telephone service
112 International telephone service rate
113 International telephone service inquiries
116 Phone number inquiries
117 Time inquiries
118 Ring back test
119 Advice on telephone repairs
1088 Consultation in areas of health, law, informatics, psychology, living skills...
 

Time zone and Business Hours

Time zone: Standard time zone: UTC/GMT + 7 hours
Business Hours
Government Offices: Opens Monday to Friday from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm.

Working hours: Vietnamese work 8 hours from 7.30 am to 4.30 pm; or 8.00 am to 5.00 pm
Saturday and Sunday are holidays.
Banks:Banks in Vietnam are normally open from 7.30 or 8.00 am in the morning and closes at 3.30 or 4.30 pm in the afternoon.

Language & Currency

Language

Vietnam’s official language (mother tongue) is Vietnamese, a tonal language spoken as a mother tongue by 90% the country’s population. Besides Vietnamese, around 50 other languages are spoken by ethnic minorities. Some popular of which are Chinese (spoken by Ethnic Chinese immigrants) and Muong (spoken by the Muong ethnic minority group in the Northern Moutain regions). However, it is not necessary to know these languages when visiting places with ethnic minorities, as Vietnamese is a common language used between groups.
 

Nowadays,English is the most popular foreign language in Vietnam and is taught at schools and universities. Many people speak English and information in English can be found easily in big cities such as Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh; and growing tourist places such as Danang or Nhatrang. French, Japanese, Korean and Chinese rank the next and also have been growing in popularity.

Currency

The currency is the Vietnamese Dong (VND). Notes are available in denominations of VND 500,000; 200,000; 100,000; 50,000; 20, 000; 10,000; 5,000; 2,000; 1,000; 500; and 200 (a small number of note 500 Dong and 200 Dong at present). That’s why many tourists call Vietnam is a country of many thousand Dongs.

For several years, coins have just been re-introduced and are available in 5,000; 2,000; 1,000; 500; and 200 Dong denominations. However, they are not widely used.

One important thing for foreign travelers is that the USD is widely used in almost cities of Vietnam. Hence, tourists can use USD when travel around Vietnam but please look at exchange rate in the exchange rate table before coming to Vietnam.

In addition, VISA, MasterCard and American Express cards are accepted in major hotels, restaurants, and shops in the urban areas. Travelers Checks are easily changeable at banks and money changers all over the country. Commissions are US$1 for a US$100 TC at Vietcombank, US$2 at ANZ Bank.