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Vietnam is a good place to eat in - not just because the food is so good, but also because you can eat so well in so little. A meal at one of the many roadside food stalls - cooked right before your eyes, absolutely fresh and completely authentic- need not cost more than US$ 1 or 2, though you may end up paying much more if you decide to dine at a regular restaurant, with proper tables and chairs.
In most of Vietnam- the smaller towns and villages, for instance- you’ll find good, wholesome food, but all basically Vietnamese. In larger cities and popular tourist destinations, however, you’ve more choice. Places like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as a case in point, have a large number of restaurants, big and small, which serve a host of international cuisines, ranging all the way from Chinese and Thai to French and American.
Traditional forms of entertainment- in the way of performing arts like dance, theatre and musical concerts- can be seen at some venues in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City. Have a look at travel or tourism related publications like Vietnam Travel, or the daily newspapers, for listings of programmes featuring cultural performances.
If you’re lucky, you might get to see the celebrations at some traditional Vietnamese festivals- many of them showcase traditional performing arts. The Master Pagoda Festival (Ha Tay) has puppet shows as a highlight, while occasions like The Phu Giay Festival, the Hung Temple Festival and the Lim Festival are excellent occasions to listen to folk songs.
For Western style `night life’, perhaps the only two cities you can actually rely upon are Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. These two cities have a fairly large number of bars and nightclubs that offer pretty lively evenings out.
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