VIETNAM
Vietnam is one of the most scenically diverse countries we have come across, a country that certainly does not lack the element of surprise. This blog will be a little different than our other guides as we took to the roads of Vietnam on the back of a motorbike, making our way from the South (Ho Chi Minh) all the way to the North as far as the Chinese border, finishing off in Hanoi.
We believe to see any country properly you should get off the touristy track, this applies even more to Vietnam. You won't find places such as Ha Long Bay or Sa Pa in our blog but you will find unique places that have the same amount of beauty without having to share it with the other tour buses. |
IMPORTANT LINKS
Newly Nomads blog on our 29 day trip to Vietnam Here you'll not only find our daily blog, but also places to stay, eat and visit.
JAide Photography's website, go here to view Justin's awesome snaps of our time in Vietnam. *All prices on this page are of AUD and are current from November 2014* |
the budget
Vietnam most definitely has earned its tick of approval in the budget friendly department. Accommodation is ridiculously cheap and all the places we stayed were above decent quality. This budget is different than our other country's budgets, below we outline the food, drink, accommodation and other daily expenses, but as places are pretty far away from each other in Vietnam (and you must visit more than one place) we have outlined transport in more detail below. You can view our planning guide here.
* Food/Drink: $10-$20 a day
This scale varies largely on what you want to eat, if you are happy eating from local restaurants three times a day then consider the lower end of the scale. $20 a day was serving us both a mixture of local and international cuisine, mostly with bakery food for breakfast.
* Accommodation: $10-$15 a day
We only ever found ourselves paying a few dollars over this if we were stopping over in a small town with very few accommodation choices (most of the time we were hot and sweaty and it didn't bother us forking out an extra two or three dollars to cool down in some A/C and get off the bike). Accommodation in Vietnam is good quality for little Dong, plenty of bang for your Dong.
* Other: $5 - $10 a day
We rarely found ourselves paying money for extras in Vietnam, if it was it was to get into a waterfall or something similar, most of which aren't much more than a dollar.
* Food/Drink: $10-$20 a day
This scale varies largely on what you want to eat, if you are happy eating from local restaurants three times a day then consider the lower end of the scale. $20 a day was serving us both a mixture of local and international cuisine, mostly with bakery food for breakfast.
* Accommodation: $10-$15 a day
We only ever found ourselves paying a few dollars over this if we were stopping over in a small town with very few accommodation choices (most of the time we were hot and sweaty and it didn't bother us forking out an extra two or three dollars to cool down in some A/C and get off the bike). Accommodation in Vietnam is good quality for little Dong, plenty of bang for your Dong.
* Other: $5 - $10 a day
We rarely found ourselves paying money for extras in Vietnam, if it was it was to get into a waterfall or something similar, most of which aren't much more than a dollar.
food/drinks
There is a huge array of Vietnamese food available most of which is extremely delicious, you will find that most provinces have a specialty dish. If you are travelling independently through Vietnam, rather than by bus or plane, it's worth learning a few Vietnamese dishes prior to your trip as a lot of the small towns out of the tourist trail know little English.
A few useful words are: Bó - Beef Gà - Chicken Heo - Pork Phở - Noodle soup Cơm - Rice Mì - Noodle |
Prices of food vary a lot depending on the meal and where you are eating, local food in a local restaurant ranges from $2-3 a meal, up to $5-6 in a tourist oriented restaurant with Western mains heading towards $7-10.
Beers are extremely cheap, under and around the $1 mark, however in Hoi An we did manage to find a place that did beers for a whopping $0.16!!! This is from a big steel keg which they pump themselves, which I assume is a home brew type beer, but it was delicious and most of all, $0.16. Soft drinks tend to be around $1 and as usual, going to mini mart's drops this by about half. You can find more information on Vietnam's food and drinks, as well as a list of places we ate on our Vietnam Blog page. |
accomodation
For detailed information about the guesthouses we stayed in during our time in Vietnam, you can go to our Blog. All of the accommodation we have come across has exceeded what we would expect considering what we were paying.
In a few towns, guesthouses have employed people to ride around on motorbikes and approach tourists as they ride in. When this happened, we followed them to the guesthouse to check it out and make sure it was located near town. Both times this happened we were extremely happy with the accommodation and ended up staying there. Each star on the map to the left shows somewhere we stopped during our 29 days in Vietnam and spent as least 1 night in a hotel. This is also a good guide if you are planning on riding the length of Vietnam but as we did, it's best to make it up as you go. |
transport
The main way of transportation throughout Vietnam seems to be by bus, unless money isn't an option or you happen to score super cheap internal flights. We arrived in Vietnam with the intention to buy 'Hop-On Hop-Off' bus tickets but after speaking to our friend Trevor (who is an expat in Vietnam) we decided to buy a bike and test our luck and skill out on the roads.
If you have read/watched/spoke to anyone about Vietnam it's likely you already know just how chaotic the roads are here. We came to Vietnam with full expectations of it to be just a mess of motorbikes. But somehow, in all of the madness there is a plan, a way things work. The motorbikes move in unity, provided a nice shield from the crazy cars/buses that can sometimes run you off the road. If you are confident in SE Asian traffic then we would definitely recommend buying a motorbike and taking the trip, it was one of the highlights of our whole trip, something which we cannot describe. There are several companies in HCM/Hanoi that have a buy sell method, meaning you buy the motorbike off them and sell it back to them at the other end. We bought our motorbike privately for $400 AUD, and sold it at the other end for $290 which we were pretty happy with. If you are thinking of purchasing a motorbike the only real thing you need to know about is the blue slip. This small rectangular blue piece of paper indicates who owns the motorbike, |
don't buy a motorbike if it doesn't come with one, it means its not legally your bike and it'll make it very difficult for you to sell it at the other end.
We were extremely lucky with our trip, we only came across police once and they happily ushered us on our way. We have heard about people being targeted by police and fined for doing things wrong (such as being in a car lane, not having helmets on or not having a license). Most of the time you will be 'fined' aka allowed to bribe the officer. |
helpful infoTip#1 - Get off the tourist track. We sound like an old record right? But you will be amazed with how many hidden gems Vietnam is hiding.
Tip#2 - Locals will love you. Even more so in less built up areas. They will come over and excitedly use their 5 words of English, kids will want you to take photos of them or just be around you in general. To locals, you are the worlds cutest puppy. Embrace it and enjoy making conversation using your hands! Tip#3 - Be careful. Whether you're crossing the road, sitting comfortably in a bus or riding on a bike, be aware of your surroundings, this is a country which is constantly moving, constantly changing and always fast paced. Tip#4 - Vietnamese LOVE their rice wine. It's rude to say no, so if the person looks safe and your gut isn't sending out huge red flags, take a shot! tippingTipping is not essential, although very much appreciated.
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moneyWe have used many ATM's across Vietnam and have never had any problems with them.
Money Denominations: 500,000 200,000 100,000 50,000 20,000 10,000 5000 2000 1000 500 visa & departure taxAs an Australian Citizen you must get a visa prior to your entry into Vietnam. There are many online sites that do this, or you can most probably arrange one in the country you are in before Vietnam (we got ours in Phnom Penh in 1 day). You will also need 2 passport photos. Prices vary depending on the company fee, usually around $60 for a 1 month single entry. Multiple entry/3month visas are also available.
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