I’ve traveled to over 100 countries. This was the first time where I had real trouble communicating with locals. (Asia)

I’ve traveled extensively and have visited all of the countries in Central America and South America, as well as most of the countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Everywhere I go, I’ve been able to easily communicate with locals. Most of the time they speak some basic English, and if they don’t, then I can usually get by with hand gestures and translation apps on my phone. <br><br>Until I visited Vietnam this month. I was visiting the northern part of the country on my own, and more often than not, any time I tried to interact with someone, I was met with blank stares. It didn’t matter how slow I spoke, how loud I spoke, whether I wrote down what I was saying, or whether I used a translation app. It seemed like nobody spoke English at all and they often couldn’t understand me. <br><br>I would be at a restaurant looking at the menu which had English written on it, and I would point to something on the menu and they would look at me like I was speaking to them in Ancient Sumerian. I once went into a bakery and they had all of the pastries unlabeled so I asked them what one of them was. They looked confused and didn’t respond. <br><br>I went into a cell phone store to buy a SIM card. I asked if they spoke English. They said yes. I asked to purchase a SIM card. They said they didn’t speak English. <br><br>I went into a taxi and showed the driver the address I was going to on my phone. He looked at it and started driving. I looked at my GPS and he was taking me in the opposite direction of my destination. So I showed him the address again. Then he started driving in the correct direction. <br><br>I took a train from Sapa to Hanoi and they gave out menus with all of the food options in both Vietnamese and English. I tried to order something to eat. They said that they didn’t understand what I was saying. <br><br>I went to a local market in Sapa and they had a fruit stand with a sign that said Passion Fruit for 20,000 Dong. I tried to give her 20,000 Dong for a passion fruit. She looked confused. I tried to give her 40,000 Dong for two passion fruits. She was still confused and kept asking for more money. <br><br>This went on and on for the entire trip. It was never like this in any other country. <br><br>Edit - this was in the northern part of the country in Hanoi and Sapa